Kingston 2008

Well Jamaica was awesome as usual. I'll try to cover the highlights. Or my fingers might get tired so I may just quit. We'll see how it all pans out.
Saturday
I left my house about 1:30 AM and drove to Nashville. The plan was to leave at 2:30 or 3, but Pam called me Friday evening in a tizzy about the weather and very very strongly encouraged me to leave ASAP. After making several phone calls, I decided the best plan of action was just to leave plenty early and hope for the best. I now understand why people down here freak out over a little bit of snow. The closer I got to N-ville the worse it got and where there was maybe 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground, there were no plows and traffic was moving at a rapid pace of 25 mph. My flight left right on time though, thank goodness, at 6:15 and I met up with the Sarasota people in Miami. Saturday afternoon and evening consisted of just getting settled in for the week and waiting on the Gridley/Indiana people to get there. They didn't make it until about 11 pm.
Sunday
Had church, had chapel with the kids, and then went out for our tradtional trip to the "I Scream" ice cream shop. Best ice cream ever. mmmmmm............... Had chapel again Sunday night and put on our very thrown together at the last minute skit. I was the sick woman who touche the hem of Jesus' garmet. Pretty sure Hollywood wants me.
Monday through Wednesday
I've never made so many rebar cages in my life. We had a lot of cement to pour but it was almost all beams and pillars which require rebar cages. So before we could pour the concrete we had to cut the wire, straighten the wire, bend the wire the right way, and make the cages. There were a few odds-n-ends jobs tucked in there but that's mostly what I did Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we poured cement so I hauled sand most of the day.
Thursday
Thursday was our play day. Some stayed back and worked, some went to Ocho Rios and a few of us went to Knockpatrick where Erin D lives. It was a really really good day. It was fun to see where she lived and works, we got to see the Kingston kids who are at KP in the vocational program, and we got to eat Juici Patties. Which is really the reason I go to Jamaica. They might even be better than I Scream. This was probably my favorite day.
Friday
We spent a couple hours in the morning pouring more cement, then had Sports Day. It's their favorite day of the year I think. The kids and staff are divided into three teams- green, yellow and red- and have a track and field type day. With a hired DJ with speakers the size of a refrigerator that will blow you away. It's great fun. And they like us to get involved with it as much as we can. Some people join in the races. Some of us (ahem) just cheer them on. After Sports Day most of the kids left for Easter break so we had to say goodbye to a lot of them. But I think it's easier if they leave first. Friday night me and Lisa Roth challenged her brother Johnathan and Josh Stoller to a three legged race. Somehow we thought we could win. But after taking about 2 steps we were on the ground and I have a lovely bruise on my left knee. By the time we got up they had crossed the finish line. But we got up and finished the race. They always make the kids finish even if they way behind. So we did the same.
Saturday
Always a little hard to leave. Spent the morning packing up and waiting for the busses to come. All but 6 of the team was on the same flight back to Miami. But once we got to Miami, some went to Tampa and some went to Chicago and I went back to Nashville. And they all had to leave as soon as we got through immigration and customs and I had a 7 hour layover. By myself. Long story short, I was feeling really alone by the time I got there. My plane landed about 12:10 am and the shuttle to long term parking was done for the night. It's not like O'Hare where the parking is a mile away, though, I could see it from right outside baggage claim. I just couldn't figure out how to get there because there was a lot of fences in the way. So I walked off trying to figure it out then went back to ask someone if they knew where I needed to go. And this really nice lady from Mississippi helped me and she was just so worried about me going off by myself like that and I just broke down and cried. So she just sat there and talked to me about how she had been visiting her missionary son while I sat there and cried. Her husband pulled up and they drove me out to my car and gave me their phone number and made me feel so much better. That's really not all the details, but I fully believe that God put them there just for me.
All right well that's my week in a nutshell. It was awesome. That's all there is to it. And now my hands are very tired. Bye mon.