Day 1 - July 21

Wow!  What a whirlwind of a day it was!  Praise goes out to God the Father for paving the path for us to get here! In addition to the bus & luggage fees, we pretty much went went unnoticed about the 10 matching army looking bags filled to the brim with stuff  - only 1 person was questioned about what we have in it and that answer was sufficient – Praise Jesus!  After we made it through customs – we then had to figure out how to get all of our bags/luggage out the door without our luggage carts (they were not allowed outsideL)  I’m sure the Jamaican men had some great stories to tell when they got home about how these American women tried to carry 2-3 50 pound bags 4 feet and barely made it!!  It was quite the sight!  But the best sight for us was to see who was waiting for us out the door – Julie & Carl!! Woo hoo – relief  - we had officially arrived!

After the short jaunt to The Verney house, we got somewhat settled in our new home for the next 2 weeks.  We are definitely not staying in a 5 star hotel (maybe a 2-3 star on the room but 4-5 stars on the hospitality!) But I think its good – we are here on a mission trip to serve Jesus not to be serving ourselves in worldly accommodations!  To confirm that notion – I was greeted with a dead 2 inch cockroach in my closet – suffice it to say that I will be zipping up my luggage every night and not getting up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom! J

WE only had about 30 minutes before we went to visit Blossom Garden’s children’s home.  WE had a short tour of the facility and then was quickly put to work feeding, bathing & playing with the kiddos! It was great!  The smiles on these children are precious and their willingness to be held & picked up by anyone is nice & helpful for us to feel comfortable but as I sit and write this I’m thinking about all of the other people that may have come in & out of their lives as quickly as we will be –it makes me sad.  So sad that they may never experience the constant love and compassion of a mother & father – I pray that they will someday have that and also know that they will always have the love & compassion of our heavenly Father.

It was a sweet sweet site to  look out at the team – each & every one of them engaged in a child’s precious life – playing with them, giving them the eye contact, human contact and attention they need.  I had to hold back the tears for a moment watching this and it will be etched in my mind forever.

The team did quickly start to fade after 2 hrs at blossom garden – we then headed to a market for snacks etc… it was then back to Verney House for some rest & showers before dinner. We had alovely meal at VH (verney house), reflection on our moments at BG (blossom garden) and some time of worship.  It was really cool to hear everyone’s reflection on BG J

Please keep Candi & Caleb in your prayers for healing of sickness – they came down with colds & icky stomach stuff after we got home from BG.