Seriously, I'm going to start talking about Haiti now. Or tomorrow.

It's been a couple of months now since my week long mission trip to Jacmel, Haiti. Before I left, I fully intended to return home and then write some awesome blog posts about my experiences there. And, of course, what I learned and generally amusing thoughts about the whole thing.

And then I actually got back and was completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the entire experience.  For the first week or two after I got back, I struggled mightily to summarize my trip for the nearest and dearest. I felt like I did right after I had my kids - I felt like my mind was working normally, but instance after instance proved that my mind was indeed abnormal. I would go to the phone to return a phone call and the mere thought of forming words into sentences to talk outloud to someone seemed too daunting to attempt.  People would ask about my trip and all I could muster was "it was good" or "it was amazing". Etc.

Now I have entered a new phase of post-missions thought. I'll call it "I've told this story so many times I keep losing track of what I'm saying", AKA "am I repeating myself?" Like, at this very moment I am fighting the urge to re-read my blog posts from the past few months because I am sure I have written this before. I will wait until I'm done and then go check! My apologies if you really have already seen this. That would be very sad.

I have told some version of my mission trip story to hundreds of people at this point. Most have been cozy, sitting around at dinner/coffee/cards type chat. But I've also given a 1 hour information talk at church for approximately 150 people and spoke 2 nights ago at Lutheran Women Missions League (also at church) to about 30 women about my trip.  There has also been an occasional, ambush style "tell me all about your trip and what you learned, but I only have 5 minutes" conversation.

And so, with all of that behind me, I am finally ready to start talking about my trip. Tomorrow. I kept a journal of my entire trip, starting from leaving my house for the airport. I haven't been able to re-read my journal yet. I told someone this the other day and the response made me feel like maybe that is weird. It is what it is. I have picked my journal up a few times to look at it and can't do it. Memories are too fresh. Or weirdness about reading my own "raw" thoughts. Or, I don't know I just can't open it. But, I will.

Here's my plan, and if I type it, I will stick to it. (In theory, at least.) Tomorrow I'm going to share a little about the last minute prep leading up to the trip. Then I'm going to transcribe or summarize my journal thoughts and use that as my mode for communicating about my trip. 2 birds with one stone - tell the story, force myself to process the journal.

For now, here is the (pretty long) photo-vid I made for the presentation at church, but mostly for myself and for the other people on the team to remember our trip. Feel free to check it out if you'd like!