The Voices in My Head

Well, my intention was to use this blog as a travel journal.  Not that my feeble mind can't remember details, it's just that...um...OK - it really is that my feeble mind can't remember details.  And I knew that the details of this trip were going to be important.  That was a gross underestimation on my part.

And maybe it isn't so much in the details, but in the thoughts that those details have provoked.  So, this blog will continue on for a while.  Maybe a week, maybe a month - maybe longer...who knows.  But there is so much more that I need to process.  And so very many things that I don't want to forget.

All last night in bed, and all today, the voices in my head have been screaming at me.  'You need to talk about this!  You need to wax poetic about that!  You need to hop on your soapbox and share this with the world!"  So, I am going to use today's post to try to get some of those subjects written down so that I don't forget them, and I can silence the voices.  (OK, the voices are metaphorical, so all you people (Kristen shout out, lol) who think you can finally commit me are wrong!)

First, let me update you on our walking wounded.  Dan R started his post exposure rabies treatment.  Another example of the bravery that the members of this team showed.  He didn't whine, or complain, or make a big deal out of it.  He kept the focus on what we were there for, and not on him.  As far as Rob's foot goes, the X-rays show no broken bones.  So probably just a bad sprain.  He is a strong man.  The morning after he hurt it it was UGLY.  But he grabbed his work boots, stuffed his swollen painful toe into them and went out to work.  An injury like that would have put this girl down, I would have been finished for the trip.  But my strong brave guy shrugged it off and went right back at it. 

So now, we are all safely back in the US, back to our normal everyday lives.  I'm not so sure that my life will ever be normal again though.  So, the big question is - What do we do with it?  What is the new normal?

One of the catch phrases for the team is that we need time 'to process'.  I am already tired of saying that.  But it is the best way to describe it.  What we saw was so much bigger than any of us, or all of us put together for that fact.  So, as I continue to write this blog (my way of processing?) here are some of the things that I really want to talk about:

Rosa - the poster child
Katarin - Rosa's sister - a sad sad story
Sharing
Oxymorons
Judgment
Perspectives on Blessings
Gifts and Talents
Base Hits vs Home Runs
Waste
Nicaraguan Military

There are more things - maybe less because all of the above things could blur into each other.  I would love if  some folks took this journey with me.  But in order for me to process, I need to be brutally honest, and I tend to be frank in ways that some people might not like.  So if that isn't your cup of tea, I understand.  But I hope that what I write provokes something - thought, conversation, action, questions...but selfishly I hope that it provokes some answers, because right now, I have a lot of questions.

May my steps be worship, may my thoughts be praise, may my words bring honor to Your name.