Woo hoo! I just finished a marathon of traveling. I am so sorry it has been another long time since I left an update but life has been a whirlwind. I love it though. This blog is going to be a brief overview of what the last month has looked like for me and then hopefully sometime this week when I have time to breath I can go in depth on more of my adventures with pictures and such. Here it goes.
On Mach 6th, I left for another amazing trip to San Luis Mexico with a beautiful team of 12 Geneva College Students. I was the leader and loved every minute of it. I have made some life long friends from that trip for sure.
We left early in the morning for Phoenix ARIZONA. We arrived on time to beautiful weather. We then drove four hours to the border of SONORA(the state that i was in) MEXICO where we grocery shopped. We crossed the border around 8pm that night. We arrived at Oasis boys home shortly after. My heart immediately was overwhelmed with joy, I was in the place where my heart feels most complete once again. In a few words the week was-- refreshing, amazing, challenging, emotional, and well it just feels like home to me. I will share many stories and pictures in a later blog. I am still having a really hard time transitioning back into the estados unidos and it is a month later.
March 11th was probably one of the very hardest days that I have experienced in a very long time. I had to leave the boys and the family that I love so much. They are a huge impact of my life. To give you a very miniscule visual of what goodbye looked like-- I was sitting in the passenger seat of a 12 passenger van with two mexican boys asking me to stay one more week. They were wearing my clothes that I left behind telling me that it smelled like the United States, they say thats a good thing. With my arms reached the whole way out the window we started to pull away. We were driving away from a family that took us in with open arms, just for us to leave them at the end of the week, They stood at the gates until we couldnt see them anymore and I could still hear them shouting "Adios!" As we drove down the sand road I started to cry because I didnt know when I was going to ever feel like I do when I am in Mexico. Not only in Mexico, but with 14 boys who have been abandoned and two families that have raised them and loved them as their own children. They are complete and they are a family. I was honored to be considered part of their beautiful family.
We waited two hours to cross back over the border of the US. We were still so close to the boys' home but too far away to see them again. I started to become broken. We stayed in a hotel in Tempe, ARIZONA for the night to debrief and prepare our selves for the real world that was going to hit us hard.
The next day, I still was crying non-stop because I was still close, I was still within driving distance to the place I love the most. Then we boarded a plan headed to Las Vegas, NEVADA. The further we got, the sadder I became. The flight was short and Risa and stuck together in the airport. We jokingly planned that if they offered for people to stay back, that we would do it together. Sure enough, they offered for two people to stay back and we agreed! We spent the night in Las Vegas for free! We prolonged the real life for two more days.
The next day, we went sight seeing and then boarded a plan to Chicago, ILLINOIS. We were there for a short stay. So we spent it laying on the floor of the airport over the night hours. We talked about Mexico and sang D.C RETO -Vida (of course)
March 15th- most of you know what day this is. My birthday!! We boarded a plane to Pittsburgh PENNSYLVANIA . I was drained and ready to sleep for 24 hours. I spent most of my birthday in bed sleeping and missing Mexico. My land lord bought me a cake and my sweet room mates came home later in the day to celebrate with some gift giving.
I took my room mates all home with me for a little birthday celebration the following weekend and then celebrated the beautiful Alexandras birthday the following weekend in the City. (O:
School was back in swing for a week then it was Easter break. I hopped back in the car and drove to Warren, CONNECTICUT to visit Diana ( my other room mate's home) We made sure to drive through NEW YORK too. We celebrated the resurrection in MASSACHUSETTS with Diana's extended family and enjoyed the beautiful weather of New England. It was a great little trip.
This past weekend, was the last big trip for me this month. I went to a overseas teaching conference in Hartford, INDIANA. It was also incredible and I learned so much. I met a lot of really cool people who inspire me to dream big and travel to change to world. Can't wait to see what is in store for me! I had to go to this conference because of my teaching placement in Hawaii in the fall. It made me so excited and prepared me in ways that I didnt even know I needed to be prepared for! ( Oh and I bet you are thinking, she doesnt know how to count that it only 9-- psst.. we drove through the WHOLE STATE of OHIO to get to INDIANA (0;
So welcome to my crazy life.. I am trying to catch my breath before I get in the mood to cram in more travel (:
Love you all.. ill put pictures up soon and some journal excerpts too! EVEN through all of this choas in this month, I managed to finish a whole journal!!
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