I came into the office Friday a bit frazzled. I had dropped my car off at that garage at 4:45 (on my way to a 5:00 a.m. Crossfit class), and I had forgotten to get my parking pass out of the car. That meant I could not get into my assigned parking area in the garage. I realized this en route. I used Siri to text my nurse manager to see if she could validate a parking card (if I pulled one to go in the public part of the deck) because I knew I did not have enough cash in my wa

Reentry into the American atmosphere is always difficult after leaving a Third World country. I found this reentry particularly challenging. Late in the day on Saturday, we arrived at the Miami airport. Quite frankly, travel had gone very smoothly. There were no hitches in getting to the airport in Port-au-Prince and no glitches getting through security. In fact, we had several hours in the Haitian airport to wander around and get our last bites of Haitian food. As we came t

I made it four days through my five-day journey, and I was feeling pretty good about my experience. After three trips, I knew what to expect concerning the staunch poverty and depravity that I would experience. I had been mentally prepared and emotionally strong. That is until Thursday. As you know, I am a general Internist. I do not see young children in my medical practice at home. I figure, I have enough children to manage at home! Thus, part of the challenge of being here

Wednesday is always a challenging day on these trips. It's the day that we pack up everything we need for a mobile clinic and drive to a remote site that does not have reliable medical care. We had two dentists on this trip, so that meant we were also going to be moving a dental clinic with us. Also, we were providing supervision to some physical therapy students from a new physical therapy school in an adjacent town. So, all of those physical therapy students were traveling

The first full day in Haiti is always enlightening. The best part is sharing a worship experience with our Haitian partners. Seeing and hearing our Haitian brothers and sisters belt out Matt Redman's worship songs in Creole and in English is pretty amazing and awe-inspiring. The men, women and children are dressed in their Sunday best with brightly colored ribbons in their hair. Although I attend a fairly casual church now, I'm reminded of my days as a little girl growing up

I had the privilege of returning to Haiti last week for my third trip. I was especially excited about this trip as I would be sharing it with my mother and my daughter. Three generations of my family serving together was a joy in a legacy of faith. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 Throughout the trip, I tried to capture thoughts and impressions, so I could remember and savor them. Our mission partners as