The Super Secret!!!!

Hello Friends :-)

It comes as no surprise, to those who know me best, that I have a hard time keeping exciting secrets!  Like when I get an awesome birthday gift for my mom and I end up telling her before her birthday because I am just to dang excited, I can not keep it to myself.  I have done this for as long as I can remember :-)  And it is something that I have been working on over the years.  Well I have successfully pulled off the BIGGEST Super Secret/Surprise in my life :-)

I knew after my first three weeks in Haiti that I would need to visit my family at least once during the summer, just to keep the homesick feeling at bay.  So I booked a flight back home for July 8th and the only people, back home, I told were my parents and my dearest friend MaryBeth.  This secret stayed safe with me for almost four weeks!!!!!! Amazing I know.  When July 8th came around, nothing went as it was suppose to.  Every flight was delayed and instead of arriving back in MN at 11:00 pm on Tuesday night I arrived back 6 am Wednesday morning.  By at least I got home in time to spend all of Wednesday with them.

My mother picked me up and we headed to my house where Paige, my lovely daughter, was sound asleep.  As I reached her door I slowly opened it........she was a bit grumpy that she was being woken up at 6:30 am.

But as soon as she realized it was me she got super excited!!!!  Yelling "Mommy, Mommy"!

Honestly it was a great reaction.  Then the dog, Roscoe, got so excited to see me he just kept on crying and the foster pup, Eloise, just started dancing around.  It was super Awesome.  Since I arrived so late my lovely husband, Luke, was already at work.  So, Paige and I got in the car and drove to his job site. We pulled up to the job site and I yelled "Hudak" to the handsome skinny guy that was on the roof!  Hind sight being 20/20, I probably should have waited until he was off the roof but I didn't :-)  He was dazed and almost fell off the roof.......another awesome reaction.  

Goofy Mr. Hudak

I got to spend Wednesday - Friday hanging out with my awesome family.  We spent time at my parents, saw my dearest friend and her lovely daughters, got to be there when my sister got engaged, ate awesome food, spend quality snuggle time with my pups, and best of all got to get a much needed pedicure...hahaha. (My feet were so bad I actually gave myself a home pedicure before having it professionally done)

Haiti is where I am suppose to be right now and I truly know that, but I do so miss my family greatly when I am here.  

Thanks Mom, Dad and MaryBeth for helping me pull this surprise off and helping me to keep the secret.  

Now I am back to work in Haiti and oddly enough I slept better last night than I did when home.  Probably a little exhaustion from all the traveling.  

I will check in soon!

Love, 

Laura 

Way to Long

So it has been way to long since I up dated my blog and I apologize.  Time tends to run away from you here in Haiti.  With that said I will try to fill you in on the last three weeks. 

First off meet Elisa........She is the friend I get to work with this summer.

She has been a great friend in the last few weeks.  Not only is she helping me with my work here, she is also helping me find my path for when I get back home. It is nice being able to bounce thoughts off of such a great person.

After the last four weeks I have gotten the Guesthouse Intern job down pretty well.  The job itself changes day by day and keeps you on your toes.  No two days are ever the same which is actually nice.  Last week I went out for water truck day and that was greatly needed.  It was great to spend time with the kids and deliver the water to Cite Soleil.  Also I had a great time with the teams!  I had a great time hanging out with my friend, Debbie Peterson, who had me laughing so hard some nights it hurt.

This week is a restoration week, which means no teams.  This week is actually giving us the time to get a lot of things accomplished.  Today alone I was able to get medical kits set up for our team vehicles and get a bunch of things organized.  Yesterday I got to go to Grace Village to do some work.  Below is one of the Grace Village girls.

Tomorrow I get to go to Grace Village to watch our Grace kids play soccer.  It should be a blast!  Speaking about soccer, the World Cup is crazy in this country.  The Haitians really LOVE the game and you can hear the cheers from all around.  It really is cool.  The rest of the week should be great!  Getting more things organized and preparing for the next two teams that arrive on Monday. I will make sure I send another update in the next week or so.  I will definitely not wait three weeks again.

Love 

Laura

Week One Complete

Hello Friends and Family :-)

So week one in Haiti is completed and things are going well.  I am learning my job quickly and I really am enjoying it.  You are definitely pushed a little out of your comfort zone here but that is a good thing.

So lets go over a few things.  First off this is the house where I am staying at while I am here:

It is quite comfortable and I am very grateful to be staying here.  My job while I am here is to take care of the guesthouses.  We have two of them and this is where our missions teams stay while they are here.We have two (Sometimes three) teams staying with us each week.  The team sizes average 12-16.  Sometimes a little bigger and sometimes a little smaller.  Here are some pics of the houses and the views.

It is hard to get a good pic of guesthouse two but the second photo is of the balcony.  Next the teams and myself travel in a Tap Tap.

The roads around here are not very vehicle friendly so things are always bumpy.  Not to mention Haitian driving can be a little scary.  I close my eyes often........we always manage to get where we are going safely.

The guesthouses are protected at night by a guard and the below dogs.  These guys are good friends of mine.

Bacon

Gracey

Bitsy

Princess (She has a bad wrap around here but I love her)

Gracey likes to sleep in weird places.....I will get a better picture soon.

This week I learned how to run our gift shop.  This is a fun part of the job for me.  I get to look for things to sell in the shop and this week I picked up the following crosses to sell.

I successfully went to the grocery store twice this week with just me and one of our Haitian Staff.  The first trip was difficult as the staff member that was with me did not understand anything I was saying.  But I managed to get everything on the list.  The pharmacy however I did not get what I thought I was getting.  O'well .......Luke is sending me a care package with one of the teams coming this week.

I took a few pictures of my new neighbors.  First is Harry.....he is the screaming goat next store.  Then we have Frank, the pig, he is new.  The other picture is of the neighborhood boys playing soccer next door.

Harry

Frank

So I will be learning the rest of my job this week. Elisa is leaving for the states Thursday so I will be on my own for a few days.  I am a little nervous but things have a way of working out around here.

Lastly I have to say I have an Amazing husband. Luke has been doing an awesome job back home and has been putting up with my daily calls for things I need sent down.  God gave me a good one.  My parents have been helping out with Paige and keeping her entertained during the day and I am very grateful for that as well.  She will be heading to camp this next Sunday......Super excited for her :-)  I miss them all.  Trying to get my Lovely Mother to come visit me ....... We will see how that goes......Love you Mom :-)

I will post again soon.

God Bless

Laura Hudak
Healing Haiti Guesthouse

16 Hours and Counting

So I am prepairing for my flight at 6:30 am tomorrow.  It sure is not easy to prepare for three months in another country.  Not to mention bug spray cans can get very heavy in a suit case :-)  As of right now I have two full suit cases, a carry on case and a back pack and I still was not able to get all the Bug Spray packed!  Good thing I have an awesome husband who will send it down to me in a few weeks. 

It is exciting to realize that I will be in Haiti tomorrow for 90 days.  But it is also hard to leave my family.  This summer really is goingto be life changing and I am excited to see how God uses it.  It is exciting and a bit scary at the same time. 

I am sure that I will not get much sleep tonight :-)  Will just have to enjoy the night with Family and enjoy the 3:30 am drive to the airport.

Will update in a few days !!

Head Spinning Over the Past Four Months

Four months ago I was working at a career that I was not happy with and seeking for answers as to what God wanted me to do with my life.  In February Luke and I went on a missions trip to Haiti.  This was Luke's first trip and my second.  This trip confirmed my love for the Haitian people and started me on a new path.  Since then I decided to leave my career of 15 years to really figure out what God wants me to be when I grow up :-)  This was a scary step but has been very freeing.  My family and I have really put everything into God's hands and it really has been amazing to watch Him make things happen.  

Monday I found out that I was choosen for a new Intership with Healing Haiti.  I will be spending the next three months working at the Healing Haiti guesthouses.  This should be an amazing experience.  While I am gone Paige has the great opportunity to spend the summer volunteering at Trout Lake camp.  She will be making great friends, learning more about who she is, learning independance, and spending some great time with God.  Luke will be spending sometime advancing his career as a home builder, taking care of the family stateside, and doing the summer activities he enjoys.  This is going to be a great learning summer with God leading the way.

Preparing for the trip the last few days has been fun and trying.  A lot to do and a short amount of time to do it in.  It is important for me to keep calm and let God do his job.  That is usually easier said than done.  Very grateful that my parents are supportive of this change.  They are willing to help my family through these next few months.  Great parents :-)  

Well for now I will just enjoy this process and I will check in soon.

God Bless :-)