Happy Easter!

Today is that day when we all eat too much candy, hunt for eggs, and praise Jesus :).  Today after eating brunch with my family we dyed Easter eggs and then I got into a picture taking mood. Below are quite a few of the results :)

I hope you all are having a wonderful Easter! 

P.S. We leave in 22 days!!!!

ONE MONTH!!! :)

In exactly one month from today we will be on a plane to Sierra Leone! How exciting is that!?  As you can all imagine I am feeling very excited/nervous/anxious/ecstatic/etc.... So I have been going through some pictures on friends' facebooks, blogs, and the Raining Season website this morning.  Here are a couple of my favorites I thought you all would enjoy!

Formula, Flip Flops, and Diapers ... Oh My!

Ok folks...  In approximately 38 days I will be on a plane to a third world country half-way across the globe. WOAH.

We are finally beginning to get an agenda of the things we will be doing during the six short days we are in Sierra Leone while we are there and below you can see for yourself :)

• Visit children's hospital to pray over mothers and children and provide gift/food items.
• Love on children at orphanage daily and participate in their worship on Sunday at the Center
• Visit the beach.
• Visit another area of Freetown, either Kroo Bay, the slums or another orphanage and again provide some sort of gift or feeding in that area
• Assessing and training of staff and kids at the orphanage for academic statuses
• Hand out the t-shirts purchased through our fundraiser (you can still get one if you would like to!)  
• Take the teen moms out to eat or do something else with them.
• Daily small group activities with the kids at the orphanage.
• Etc. 

Also to all who have been following my journey, if you would like to send anything to the children of the orphanage please let me know (wilsonh1@central.edu)! They are in need of these three main things:

1. Soy formula
2. Diapers
3. Children's flip flops

Thank you to everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful April day!

PS- Here is Lucy in her first Central shirt!!!! There is a 50/50 possibility we may be bringing her back with us! Dr. Diers got a visa appointment for while we are there! Be hoping and praying that they say yes!!! 

Baggage

Have you ever sat and 'people watched'?

Watched the expressions they have on their faces? Watched what they do with themselves as they wait in a line?

It makes you wonder, what are they thinking? Why do they look sad? What did they see that made them smile? Where has life taken them so far? What baggage do they carry or do they even have any?

Some people seem to always be happy no matter where their life takes them.  Others get knocked on their feet too many times to count. For me life isn't about how or why you get knocked down... it's about how you get back up.  There is nothing in life that you can't handle.  There is no baggage that is too heavy... even though at the time it may seem unbearable.  Maybe you failed an exam, lost a family member, made some big mistakes and you're trying to fix it.  The point is it all happens for a reason and you may never know that reason... but picking yourself up and moving on is the only place you can start.

Whatever your beliefs may be... this is where the key to life and happiness lies. 

In the bible it says:

God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out in order for you to be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Oprah said, "Turn your wounds into wisdom."

John F. Kennedy said, "When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents dancer and the other represent opportunity."

And my little book about believing said, "Only in the darkness can you see the stars." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

So are you dragging your baggage behind you?

Are you letting it defeat you?

Or are you pushing it with you?  

Are you getting back up?

Flying forward. Living in the moment.

I will leave you with this quote by Phyllis Diller.

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."

believe

Today is the day that I move back to my dorm room for the remainder of the semester.  Spring Break is over and classes are about to resume. I got a book that is called 'believe' from a company called Peter Pauper Press.  It is a little pocket book with daily inspirational quotes.  As I have been reading the beginning pages I have been contemplating the word believe. People always tell you to believe, but believe in what? Is it in the things that I can do? In my faith? In those around me?

The introduction to the books says:

"Magic is believing in yourself," said 

Goethe. "If you can do that, you can 

make anything happen."  Let this little 

book of wisdom help you work that 

magic.  Take its words to heart as 

you pursue your dreams.  Believe, and 

live by your beliefs.  Persist, and make 

stepping stones of stumbling blocks.  

The key to your life is within you 

right now.  Take it, and unlock the 

door to life's possibilities.

I don't know that the word believe really has to be focused on simply one thing.  To believe is to have faith in everything.  It is hard to believe that we leave for Sierra Leone in 56 days. As the time gets closer and closer I am beginning to get more and more excited! I am ready to take advantage of this possibility. Actually it is no longer simply a possibility that I will be able to meet the children and people I have heard so much about this year in a country so far away.  It has become a reality and an opportunity and I BELIEVE in the change I will be able to help make.

Now... 

Are you living by your beliefs?  

Are your blocks still stumbling? 

Where is your key?  

Are you ready to believe?

Lucky's Clovers!

I have been spending my Spring Break helping out in my mom's first grade classroom! AND she let me come up with my own math lesson plan! So what I decided to do was create 30 fourth leaf clovers with math problems on them and hide them around the room.  When the students came back from lunch they found clovers and completed the math problems! It was a ton of fun and a nice way to incorporate St. Patrick's Day.

A funny quote from the afternoon:
Student: "This is fun!"
Mrs. Wilson: "Yup, you just need to add or subtract it."
Student: "Oh! It's a math problem!"

I guess he was learning and didn't even know it! :) Here are some pictures from the afternoon as well as a quote of what the worksheet that I created said:

"Lucky the Leprechaun has lost all of his four leaf clovers! Can you help him?  There are clovers hidden around the classroom.  Find a clover and bring it back to your seat.  Complete the math problem on the clover and put your answer in one of the gold coins below.   When you are done with the clover hide it back where you found it so that another friend can help Lucky! You need to find at least six clovers and do the math problems."

In the midst of midterms...

Attention all readers... ATTENTION ALL READERS! We have plane tickets!!!

We have our plane tickets for Sierra Leone! I cannot express the pure feelings of joy, excitement, and bliss I have been feeling this whole week even though it is the week of midterm exams.  I will be heading home this evening for Spring Break and I cannot wait to see my friends and family along with the added blessing of being able to purchase plane tickets at a much cheaper price than we ever expected!

In only 66 short days we will be flying out of the Des Moines airport and into a life changing experience!
Thank you again to everyone who has been able to contribute to this amazing opportunity!