Loving One More Joanna's journal in Haiti

I have now been back in the States from Haiti for just about a week.  It is a very different feeling than I have ever had before.  I can say with confidence that I feel healed and whole.  I was seeking healing on this trip but I never imagined that it could feel this good.  The trip was laced with many ups and downs but I feel that it was all part of what made me now feel whole.  This chapter of my life can now be closed but closed in a healthy way.  I am not looking back with regrets and things I wish I would have done differently. I am content and ready to move forward.

On Thursday morning, I “graduated” from counseling.  It was a wonderful feeling.  I told my therapist John when I started that I was seeking counseling to be sure that I came out on the other side of this tragic event as healthy as I could possibly be.  I wanted to be sure that I processed it all in a way that I would feel closure and I would not look back in years to come and realize I had so much that I didn’t resolve.  I am not foolish to think that in the rest of my days here on earth that I will not encounter any other tragic events.  I want to be able to handle and manage them in a healthy way and I feel that I have proved to myself that I am capable of doing just that.

Although the journey has been long and hard I feel that I am “in the light” at the end of the tunnel.  I knew I could get here I just wasn’t certain how or when.  I have arrived and I feel whole.

Now I can move forward; for myself, my family, my friends, my people in Haiti and doing it all while clumsily following Jesus!

Thanks to each and everyone of you for your amazing support. This journey wouldn’t have been complete without each one of you along the way.

Abundantly blessed!

Joanna