While still on familiar ground...

Monday, September 21st, 2009 9:45 a.m.

Dear ___________________,

As I write this entry, I am sitting on the floor of a friend's apartment. I can hear the buzz of an air conditioner, the water running in the sink as my friend gets ready for the day, and footsteps back and forth across a carpeted floor. All of these are normal morning sounds, but as they will not fall on my ears for many months after this day, I am trying to soak them in as best I can.
Though I will miss these familiar and comfortable sounds, I am excited and ready to grow accustomed to the sights and sounds of a Haitian morning. Some of these I already know and love: bare feet on the pavement, rossters crowing at the crack of dawn, pots and pans clinking as breakfast is prepared, and the voices of the people as they speak in beautiful, rhythmic Creole to each other.
I am thrilled to be able to share with you my adventures in the land of Haiti, and I pray that these entries will touch your heart as the stories I will tell have touched mine. Even as I strive to teach the girls, I know God will be giving me many lessons of my own while I am there, and I will do my best to share these with you. But while I am still on famliar turf I would like to say hello to all, and goodbye to all...look for my next entry, which will be posted from across the ocean! I love all of you very much, and you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Shaina Marie

"By awesome deeds you answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves and the tumult of the peoples. They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy."

Psalm 65:5-8