I thought I’d share some of my favorite pictures that I’ve taken with my new Sony H9. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

I believe this is called a Passion Flower. Picture taken at Sophie’s Place in Jamaica.

Just some white fowers at Jacob’s Ladder in Jamaica.

Sunset at Jacob’s Ladder.

Flowers growing on a chainlink fence at Jacob’s Ladder.

Preparing for Mass at Jacob’s Ladder on our last day.

The rest of the pictures were taken at a park after my nephew’s Baptism in Athens, GA.

We woke up around 5:30 this morning to help with the children. We fed them, brushed their teeth, and then played with them. Before long, Jerome spotted me and flagged me over to him. He asked for the ball, but we couldn’t find it. He started playing with my watch and camera instead.

After our breakfast we had our final prayer/discussion group in the chapel. We were going around talking about what we would “take home” with us from the experience. Almost everyone was moved to tears while they talked. Jerome came in with his walker after a little while and refused to sit anywhere but beside me. Again, he played with my watch until he was bored with it, but then he just started leaning on me. He eventually laid across my lap and fell asleep.

I spoke about how I always thought it would be cool to experience a miracle. I got a little choked up when I hugged Jerome and said that he was a miracle, as well as everyone else there. We said goodbye to everyone at Sophie’s Place and loaded the bus.

Once at the airport we hung out for a while. Our flight was delayed, so I went shopping in the airport. I bought Michelle a purse for $2850 (Jamaican). The flight to Miami was uneventful. When we landed we went to the passport checkpoint. The guy scanned mine and said they needed to clear some information off of my passport. I was escorted to a back room where there was about 100-200 people waiting to be cleared to enter the U.S.  I asked the guy who escorted me if it would help if I showed him my badge. He said he would tell them when he gave them my passport. After about four people got called, they called my name, gave me my passport back and sent me on my way. The rest of the group was slightly concerned, but enjoyed my story.

I’m now in the air, about to land in Atlanta. This trip has been more meaningful than I ever could have imagined. I know we gave a lot to MSC, but we received so much more.

During Mass, the rain started coming down. We had a 50 gallon drum at one of the corners of the pavilion where we added the gutters. It filled in no time. During one of the breaks in rain, Dad and I grabbed three new 26 gallon trashcans and put them at the other corners of the pavilion. They were overflowing by the time we left.

There’s one guy at Jacob’s Ladder who is always yelling, “Where’s the bus at? Where!? Where?!” He says it over and over all day long. We all joked about it some, and asked the staff if he could get on the bus with us when it came.  When it pulled up, Dad walked him to the bus and he climbed up and sat down. As soon as he sat down, he stopped talking and just started smiling. It took a little bit of convincing to get him off the bus, but he seemed happy.

On the way to dinner, which was a long trip, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand. They asked if anyone wanted a coconut jelly. I couldn’t pass up the chance to try it, so I hopped out of the bus with Dad, Andrew, and John Paul. A guy with a big machete picked up a coconut and chopped off the top. I drank the milk and handed the shell back to the man with the machete. He chopped it in half and cut off a chunk of the shell. I used the chunk to scrape the jelly out of the shell. When the jelly dries, it forms what we normally think of as coconut. We continued to dinner but made a pit stop for the guys that drank the coconut milk. There wasn’t a bathroom anywhere around, so we watered the beach in a remote location.

Dinner was at a restaurant that was on the street. They just set up tables on the street until the road closes off. There was no indoor seating.  Dinner was at a seafood restaurant. Since fish tends to make me sick, they got some chicken for me from a nearby restaurant. Everyone had some Red Stripe beer that was brewed there in Kingston. The second round of beer was Heineken, which was brewed at the same place as the Red Stripe.

We’re now back at Sophie’s Place for the night. We’ll be flying home tomorrow.

Today we started and finished the railing on the stairs we built yesterday. After that, we cleaned up. We’re going to have Mass in the pavilion. The priest who concelebrated at St. Pius X on Sunday will be here. After we prayed the rosary this morning, Mark thanked us all for what we did. Then he went around and shook everyone’s hand saying, “Thank you.” When he got to Chris, Chris asked him if he could stay. Without missing a beat, Mark said, “No. Thank you.” And continued around the circle shaking hands.