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.

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.

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.

So far today we constructed some stairs in one of the bunk houses. As of now, all of the two story buildings have stairs on the outside. We cut out a portion of the upstairs floor to put the stairs inside. This will be helpful during the rainy season so the care takers can stay upstairs and come down when needed.

Fr. Gregory came to visit us today. He founded the Mustard Seed Communities. It was great to hear his vision for MSC. He made me think of Mother Theresa and the great things she did.

I can't leave here without talking about Mark. Mark is one of the residents here. He doesn't have any physical disabilities, but seems to have a very short memory. It's not uncommon for him to ask the same question several times in a short period. He introduces himself to us everyday as if we've never met. He's one of the most innocent people I've ever met. He helps out the staff here doing whatever they ask of him. He's just always so happy, as is everyone who lives here. Mark just kind of wanders around helping where he can. He says goodnight to us before he goes to bed. When he goes to bed, he locks himself in his house like the others are locked in, even though he knows how to unlock it. He seems so happy, but not has happy as Stefan. Stefan, another resident here, loves to run. He's not supposed to just run around, especially when we're out working with power tools, but at least once a day he escapes from the staff and just runs, waving his arms in the air and pumping his fists like Rocky. They eventually catch him and bring him back to his cottage, but he's not sad that he was caught. He's just happy that he was able to run.

To think that MSC got some of these people from insane asylums and cages is just heartbreaking. Some of the children had been kept naked in cages. They would throw their food on the ground, and hose them off when they were dirty. One girl had been found tied up in a chicken coop. When they took her to the hospital, they found 10 maggots in her head. Another boy was found tied up in a pig pen. Many of the children are abandoned at birth when they're found to be disabled.

At prayers and discussion last night we were asked how God has called us. I talked with jack about my experience, and then shared it with the group. I didn't realize it until then that God sent me to police work. For so long I thought God wanted me to be a priest. I asked Him, "What else can I do?" I knew I felt called to be a cop, but I didn't know until last night that I was being called by God.

Today, we finished the windows and made some doors as well. the other groups made great progress as well. They're building a new pavilion for the children to use. Tomorrow we'll be putting gutters on the roof of the existing pavilion so they can catch rain water. There's not really any running water here. All of the water is brought in by a tanker truck, and is put in tanks on the roofs. Gravity brings the water into the sinks, toilets, and showers. The showers don't really "flow," they dribble. It's expensive to bring in water too, so being able to harvest the rain water will help.

After Martha's House, we went to another similar house with only seven boys.  They had a steel drum which I got to play. We didn't stay long because we had to pick up four more from the airport. They had missed their flights for various reasons. From the airport we went to another of the Mustard Seed Communities, Jerusalem. I'm not sure how many people live there, but I believe it's the largest community that have as of now. They have a garden, chicken farm, fish farm, and the children make things that they sale. We then traveled what seemed like a couple of hours up a mountain and through the country side, and ended up here, at Jacob's Ladder. We'll be here for the rest of the week building new buildings and finishing others.

Once we were finished playing, we walked some of the children to a church about 200 yards down the street. There's a chapel at Sophie's Place, but the church down the street is used by the residents of the area.