Lucky Doesn't Even Scratch the Surface

In my 22 years of life I have had the privilege of visiting four foreign countries.  This week I will chalk that up to five.  That’s a lot more than what most adults can say.  I get “oh you’re so lucky!” or “it must be nice!” a lot!  I’m not lucky.  Lucky doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. 

The trips I have been on have been a lot less than glamourous.  When people think of places like Costa Rica they think of the beaches and palm trees and all the ritzy places in the city.  They never think of the third-world country that is the reality of the country.  These are the places I’ve been and these are the places I love the most. 

The first mission trip I went on was to Guatemala when I was 16 years old.  I didn’t know what to expect and it was culture shock.  Nine times out of ten there wasn’t a clean bathroom anywhere within a fifty mile radius.  One time I had to use a cornfield, and lemme tell you, that was quite an experience!  Haha!  There were no five star restaurants for us to dine in either.  During the day we had lunch at a local church.  We ate whatever they ate, and being the picky eater I am, it was quite difficult since it was so much different than what I was used to.

The following year in Costa Rica we stayed in a hotel that had dirt all over the walls.  In one room, I swear there was blood on the wall.  It was pretty gross.  There was also no air conditioning in any of the rooms, and might I add it was the middle of July.  The whole week was like being in a sauna the whole time.  The group carried around baby wipes and had to use them to wipe the sweat from our bodies at least once every other hour.  It was hot and miserable and very far out of my comfort zone.  And I don’t know how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I consumed that week.  Ugh…

These trips are definitely not for the faint of heart neat freaks.  However, it doesn’t matter how uncomfortable and dirty those two trips were, they were beyond rewarding.  The purpose of the trips were to go into the schools, perform some dramas, and pass out the Book of Hope.  Most of the performances were done outdoors with our stage being the dirty ground.  When we walked in the kids lit up.  Their little brown eyes glistened with excitement.  The smiles when we distributed the books were priceless.  If nothing else, their smiles are the reason I would go back over and over again. 

While we were in Guatemala, we visited a village that had never seen white people.  Their eyes were wide with wonder as we stepped out of the bus.  They were even more excited when we started playing with them, and speaking to them in our broken Spanish.  The satisfaction of knowing I made an impact in those kids’ lives is worth it to me. 

It does have some other perks though.  I have been to the ocean twice, and this week I’ll be going on a cruise in the Caribbean.  I’m pretty stoked about it.  This is how I can say I am truly blessed to have the privilege of being the one taking the good news to them.  It is an honor to be chosen to do this, because I know a lot of people cannot handle it.  The experience is truly humbling.  I always come home realizing how spoiled I am!  I have so much that I take for granted, and there the kids are lucky if they get new shoes.  It’s a heartbreaking realization.  I’m praying about my next venture, but I am so ready to get down and dirty.  Hopefully in India.  J

Weddings!

This past weekend has been one of the funnest weekends I've had in a long time!  Early Saturday morning, my brother, boyfriend, and I trekked up to Fredericktown to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Tony to the beautiful Hollie!  I was especially excited to do these pictures because the reception was to be held at a Vineyard with tons of great locations for pictures!  Unfortunately, it began to rain really hard and we ended up doing the pictures in a church there in town.  Despite that, the pictures turned out great.  The rain had let up a little so we planned to get some pictures when we went out for the reception.  

After the dinner, everybody loaded up to head to the Vineyard.  There was very little rain in sight and everything seemed to be taking a turn for the better.  When we arrived, everybody started setting the tables and getting things ready for the guests to arrive.  The music was thumping and everything was coming together perfectly!  Everything was in place to be one of the greatest and most memorable nights for the Bride and Groom and their many guests!  

However, it started to sprinkle again.  At first it wasn't a very big deal, even though we were outside.  The pavilion had tarps on the sides that were helping keep the rain out.  We definitely weren't going to let a little rain get in the way of having a blast!  

After a few minutes, the rain began to pick up and the sides that were zip-tied to the poles snapped and began flapping in the wind.  People started shoving the tables to the middle, and helping the DJ get his sound equipment out of the way of the storm.  People were rushing around to save the decorations on the tables from blowing away in the wind.

At this point, it seemed like our party was going to be shut down because of the bad weather, but the owner of the Vineyard told us to move it into the basement, and then gave us an extra two hours to celebrate!  

Several people lent their umbrellas to a couple guys who escorted people from the pavilion into the basement.  Everybody was doing all they could to keep the party going and make it one of the best evenings for Tony and Hollie.  

Once inside, decorations were thrown up, the cake was set out, and snacks were placed for the guests.  Everything came together perfectly because everybody was lending a hand and pitching in to get things back in order.  Soon after, the DJ was able to get his sound equipment set back up with the help of some of the men at the event.  The Bride and Groom entered and soon cut the cake.  

To kick off the rest of the festivities, the best man, and brother of the groom, gave an unforgettable speech!  Everyone within earshot was dying from laughter!  Though very comical, it was completely sincere and wins my award for "Best Toast Ever."  I'm not sure how anything could compete!  

The rest of the evening was filled with dancing!  It was the best wedding reception I have ever been to!  I am so honored to have been able to be a part in capturing the entire event for them!  The pictures turned out far better than I imagined, despite the set backs.  I wish Tony and Hollie many memorable years together full of happiness and love. Congratulations you two!

This is my rant for Dani

Ok, so I apologize for being absent for a bit.  I've had a lot going on with school and trying  to get my portfolio finished for graduation.  Thank God that's turned in and I'm one step closer to my degree.  Yay!

Here's where my rant starts.  I FREAKING HATE POETRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I want to stab it in the throat because I cannot get the hang of it!!!!!!!!!!!  It can go jump off a cliff for all I care.  I've been sitting on my bed for almost two hours trying to write something that even remotely looks like poetry.  Right now I'm at the point where I'm going to just throw some words on a piece of paper and break them up into rhythmic lines, and if my teacher doesn't like it, then she can just deal with it.  I didn't want to take that stupid class anyway.  Just pass me so I can be on my happy way.

Agh!  This is not worth my tears.

Dancing on Ivory

"Dancing on Ivory" is my first piece of flash fiction.  I had to write this piece for my creative writing class.  Hope you enjoy it!!

            She knew she had to get this right.  This was her first attempt at unveiling her very livelihood, her passion, in front of a thousand critical eyes.  The fear of failure almost overtook her, but she was confident enough in her ability that she knew everything would turn out great.  She took her first steps out onto the silent stage.  She tried to get a glimpse of her audience, but the bright stage lights forced her eyes back to her goal.  Her steps felt heavy, but her heart was pounding far louder than the clops from her shoes.

 Shaking, she took her seat on the black leather stool, and gingerly placed her right foot on the sustain pedal.    She took a deep breath, and let her long, thin fingers take over.  After the first few bars, every frantic nerve was calmed, and she slowly became immersed in her composition.  It was just her and the piano, and nothing else mattered.  Her fingers danced on the ivory keys the way a ballerina dances across a stage.  Her passion poured out of her as she put everything she had into her piece.

A hush fell over the auditorium as spectators became more and more captivated by the melodious sounds she was producing.  They were stunned.  Many had no idea she could play piano so beautifully.    After the final “ping,” the audience jumped to their feet and roared with applause.  Glowing, she took a bow and floated off stage feeling quite proud of herself for facing her fear.  

Hola!

Howdy, y'all!  Well, as you can see this is my first entry.  As of right now I'm pretty burned out on writing, since I have just written three 10 page papers for school.  However, I've been wanting to get this thing started for a bit, so I figured, why not now?  So here it is!

Sometimes I have some pretty good ideas, with some pretty good points with little lessons that can be learned.  My plan with this blog is to post some of those little observations to make you people take a step back and think about it.  I'm also going to post a couple pieces of fiction, since I've just recently gotten into story writing.  It's pretty fun!

Also, this summer I'm planning on doing quite a bit of travelling with my camera.  I'll be writing up some segments on my journeys, and use photos to help enhance the readings.  Hope you all enjoy this!

xx Beckie