'You do not have, because you do not ask'

I have never been great at asking for help. I'm not good at receiving help either. But this time is different...it isn't for me. And plus, so many people have been asking how they can help. So, this post is going to give you all the options of how you can help us in this process to get our precious friend, Ana Maria, here to have the surgery to remove the brain tumor.

We do not have any further details on when the surgery will be or how much we will even need, so that makes this part a little bit harder but I don't want to lose momentum.

What we are aiming for right now is for her to fly to the states on Tuesday, May 8th and hopefully have the surgery shortly thereafter.

So here's what we need:

(I am going to list them out, starting out with the really crazy, impractical questions/needs. I was encouraged by a friend the other day to ask for the things that seem too big to ask for. She said (quoting the book of James) 'you have not because you ask not.' And she said, 'you never know who might be out there, able to meet that need.'

So here goes nothing:

1. does anyone have a plane? haha! That sounds so ridiculous to ask but there are people out there who have access to private planes and as far as I can figure, that would be the easiest way to get her here.
2.  does anyone have airline points or friends/family benefits that we can use if we have to fly her commercial?
3. Charleston friends: do you know anyone with any pull at MUSC that might be able to help us get the hospital fees reduced even more? (or completely waived!)
4. Money. we need money. I don't know how much yet - but I know that we will be responsible for 50% of the hospital stay and any follow up outpatient care she will need. I imagine this will not be a small bill. If you are able to give at all, please send me an email at lizbailey1978@gmail.com and I will tell you how to get it to me. I am hoping to set up a pay pal account soon to make it even easier to donate but until then, you can send checks.
5. Spanish speakers. We will need help while Ana Maria is in Charleston to help with translating. If you speak fluent Spanish and would be willing to accompany her to an appointment, please let me know. We are hoping that her son, Owaldy, will be able to be with her most of her stay. He is in college in Ohio and speaks English fluently but we want to have some other Spanish speaking people as options.
6. Housing. We think we've got this figured out but if you are interested in hosting Ana Maria and Owaldy for a night or 2 or know of a place she can stay, contact me.
7.  PRAY! I have been overwhelmed by the support we have had over the last several weeks and could without a doubt feel your prayers last week while I was in the DR. Keep praying! It's the most valuable weapon we have!

I know there's more - but these are the big, immediate ones. Please contact me if you have any ideas about how you can help...even if it's something that isn't on this list.

Here are a few pics from last week: (more to come later on FB)

O.M.G.

Wow. There are no words adequate enough to explain the last 4 days...but since so many of you are asking about it and what's next, I'll see what I can do.........
I think in this post, I'll just give you a fly over of the trip from my perspective, including some funny outtakes. The next post will be a more practical update on Ana Maria and what's next for us in this process.
So, I think most of you know about the delays, cancellations etc from the beginning of the trip so I'll just fast forward to the trip to Santo Domingo for the Visa appointment b/c that's the one that will forever go down in history. Ana Maria and I left Jarabacoa around 4:30 pm on Sunday to catch a bus in La Vega. We were barely out of town when a terrifying noise emerged from the smelly man sitting next to me/half on top of me: it was the loudest cock-a-doodle-doo I've ever heard in my life. Perhaps that's because I've never had the pleasure of having a rooster so close to my ear. He has two roosters in a pillowcase. Terrifying. Oh, and at this point, I didn't realize that we were only on this bus for a short time - I thought I was going to have to sit next to this for 3 hours.
So the rest of the trip was smooth. We arrived at the hotel around 8pm and had a lovely dinner. If you want to experience maybe the coolest thing on the planet, take a person who has not ventured out of her village much in her whole life and give her an evening in a nice hotel. It was precious. You would have thought we were at the Ritz. (it was a Holiday Inn) =)
So, 5:45am: Visa day. Ana Maria and I both woke up before our alarms went off, eager to get this thing started. We were out the door at 6:30 and at the Embassy at 6:45. This is when crazy gets re-defined. Our taxi driver lets us off at a gas station and the screaming begins. People everywhere. Yelling at us. In Spanish. At 6:45 IN. THE. MORNING. I had not even had coffee yet. Anyway, next thing I know is Ana Maria is telling me that we need to pay this dude who is leaning up against the gas tank 600 pesos to keep our cell phones b/c they are not allowed in the Embassy. Great, I know what this means. I also cannot take my laptop, camera, or flip video in with me either. (or hair straightener - go figure). So before I had much time to think about it, I paid the guy 600 pesos (about $15) to keep about $2100 of my valuables. Awesome. Actually, as I walked away, I said to God 'if he runs off with all of that but we get a YES today, I don't care. It'll be worth it.' And it would have been.
What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Dominicans were standing in line. Not one line, but several very organized, straight lines. For those of you who have been to this country, you are laughing already because you know that asking Dominicans to form a line is more difficult than herding cats. I am not being critical - I want to be clear about that - because the very thing that causes Dominicans to be incapable of forming lines is the very thing that captured my heart 9 years ago and made me fall in love with this country and these people. They are warm and friendly and inclusive and loving - they form clumps, not lines. Anyway, after I picked my jaw up off the sidewalk, Ana Maria and I joined said line. We were not in it but 10 minutes or so before I was told I would not be able to go in with Ana Maria. I said 'ok, what should I do?' and they pointed across the street and said 'you can wait over there.' 'Over there' was across the very busy street, with several hundred others who were also not cool enough to go inside. So I gave Ana Maria a hug and said 'Jesus is with you' and then risked my life made my way across the street and leaned up against the fence with all the others. This experience was kind of like being at a parade, only there's no parade. Tons of people lining the street though, all facing the same direction - and lots of street vendors. Lollipops, drinks, sunglasses, cheese, fruit, snacks of many kind were being sold. Perhaps the smartest business man out there was a guy who was renting out little stools to sit on for 40 pesos. I looked at him and thought of my dad - and how dad would have loved this man's street sense - and how he was offering something very practical but extremely important. He also had the market cornered. I looked at him, gave his offer not a second thought and handed him 50 pesos because he deserved that extra 10 for being such a smart entrepreneur.
Well, the next 5 hours (yes, I said FIVE HOURS) consisted of not much but watching the door across the street, waiting, praying, and inhaling gas fumes. I remember at one point wishing I had my phone but then realized it was a good thing because if my mom and dad knew that I was sitting alone on a street corner in the Capitol of a developing country, they might have had me airlifted out. So, I sat. And sat and sat and sat. At about 12:30 I looked up and saw Ana Maria waving to me and calling me across the street. So once again I risked my life, I mean: crossed the street. Ana Maria had also been sitting and waiting for almost 5 hours. But she had just had her interview and now the officer wanted to speak to me. Ohhhhh Lord. 'this is it' I thought. So, we made our way through the gazillion people back to window number 7, where the lovely Joanne waited. Joanne is an American and I love her. As soon as I made eye contact with her, I knew everything was going to be ok. I could tell that she had been touched by Ana Maria's spirit, as so many of us have. She really only had one question 'who is going to pay for this?' - this is when I could have lied (!) but I didn't feel that would be right :). I simply told her that we (me and you) were in the process of fund raising and I was confident that all the money we needed would come in. She said 'do you know how much you need?' DARN IT. I could've lied here too. But I said 'I don't know. They couldn't tell me. But I know we are going to get what we need.' Then, she smiled and winked and said 'I'm going to approve this because I believe her and I believe you. I am familiar with fraudulent cases and this is not one. Best of luck to you.' At this point, I may have said 'I love you' to her. If I didn't I meant to. I love you, Joanne.
So, we walked away from the window, stopped and paid a delivery fee and headed out to the bus station to go back to Pedregal. We both slept the whole way home almost.
It was a long, very tiring day. (my backside and lungs are still suffering from sitting and inhaling diesel fumes). But it was worth it. I'd do it again (I think) if it meant what it means for Ana Maria.
SO....what next?
Watch this space and I'll tell ya (probably tomorrow - it's 1:20am, I'm at my gate in Santiago and I'm seeing double).
I love you all - thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Visa day!

Tomorrow is the big day! April 22...Ana Maria and I will be at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo in hopes that she will get approved for an emergency medical visa so she can come to the states to have the brain tumor removed. Being with her the last 24 hours has made me even more certain how urgent this is. Although she is still Ana Maria - strong and confident and fun and un-shakeable, it is obvious she is in a lot of pain. The answer from the immigration officer tomorrow needs to be yes! Please join with me in prayer for a smooth morning and one that ends with a stamp of approval on her visa application.

Our trip to Santo Domingo today began in a rather peculiar fashion. We were barely out of Jarabacoa before I realized that the smelly man next to me had 2 roosters in a pillowcase. I learned of this as one of them decided to let out a very loud cock-a-doodle-doo in my face. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. After that though, it was rather uneventful and we even got to rest a bit...

Ana Maria is totally digging staying in a hotel and is now complaining that it is too cold in the room. No way am I turning off the AC :)

here's a pic she made me take of her in the lobby (she's on the phone with her son, Owaldy, who has been an absolute gem and rock star in this process - more on him in another post)

sorry about the quality of the pics - had to send them from my phone and had to make them small so I wouldn't subsequently have to owe at&t a billion dollars.

Ok, we're turning in - early wake up call to get doll-ed up for the immigration officers. 

Pray, pray, pray! (at 7:30am!)

Too many deep thoughts (in Fort Laudy) to not post...

1. Within 3.5 minutes of touching down in Ft. Lauderdale, I saw:
- a guy pop-locking whilst wearing a shirt that said 'naked is my drug'
- another guy wearing a shirt that had a completely naked woman drinking a beer on the front.
(I am not even kidding)
2. The carpet here is equally as ugly as Orlando's but not nearly as nauseating.
3. I had to go through that crazy scanner  that fries your brain so that the creepy airline security guys can look at us naked. Pretty sure I felt my brain shrink and my pupils dilate.
4. Ate a turkey burger for breakfast. My body said it was lunch.
5. Wall outlets are by far the hottest commodity in Fort Lauderdale airport. In Orlando, they were everywhere, on the wall, in special little kiosks. Here. Nary an outlet. I am currently pilfering from a Newsstand, which I'm sure is illegal. Any minute, I imagine the feds will descend upon me and take me in for racketeering or something like that. I don't even know what racketeering is, but if I ever have to get arrested for a major crime, I want it to be racketeering. It sounds so cool.
6. Over the intercom just now, a man just said 'paging a traveler who may have lost a hat: please return to security.' Really? I think the we just went from yellow to orange on the threat alert. Do they know how many travelers in this airport have hats? Do they know how many security checks there are here??
7. So, apparently, that announcement was enough to arouse concern in some travelers sitting near me. The lady 3 seats down (who is wearing an Angry Birds tshirt that says 'bird is the word' sat up at attention and said, 'a hat? we have a hat! do you have your hat? do you have your hat?' and proceeded to check with all of her fellow travelers to make sure their chapeau's were on their person.
8. I have decided that Duty-Free shops are an evil plot, probably conspired by aliens...or Russians or something like that. There are no items in duty free that I would normally want to purchase and yet, somehow, since they are 'duty free' and 1400 percent off, I want to buy everything in the store. So, if I come back really intoxicated and smelling like perfume, you know they got me.
9. There are manatees on the walls.
10. I just noticed that on the other side of the glass, where people get off their plane, there are millions of outlets. Cuz you know, when I am exiting a plane and being herded like cattle down a narrow hallway towards my bags and destination, the one thing that's on my mind is finding an outlet so I can plug a bunch of stuff in.
- the end. I promise -

deep thoughts from the Orlando airport, part TWO

1. I'm tired
2. My eyes are burning
3. There's a group of kids here who have been here since last night who are trying to get to Costa Rica. They are not very chipper this morning and they all need acne cream.
4. The carpet is still nauseating.
5. I left my glasses at security and didn't realize it until I was at my gate. When I went back to get them, the nicest airport security officer who has ever existed took me on a tour of the entire security check area shouting 'anybody find any glasses?' until we found mine. Bless that man. Bonus points re-gained.
6. I land in Santo Domingo at 3:28pm. The bus leaves for Jarabacoa at 4:30pm. The bus station is across town. This should be fun.
7. When I was leaving the airport last night, I saw this:

...if they announce one more delay, I'm gonna run down there and get on my face.

8. I wonder if Mickey is awake.

9. Last night, when I got to the hotel, I really wanted a glass of wine. The hotel bar was closed. They said the only place within walking distance (in the rain/tornado warnings) was Hooters. Um, no thanks. 

10. Still, I'm just ready to see Ana Maria.

- the end. again - 

let's try this again. tomorrow.

Good thing we get do-overs. I am still in Orlando. I'm running out of endurance in this process. I just want to see my friend and try to help her. So, apparently there's bad weather all over so we couldn't fly tonight. Great, so I'll just get on the next flight. 'um, ma'am: we only fly to Santiago every 3 days.'
AWESOME. So I'll fly to Santo Domingo instead. Get on a bus, ride 3 hours and get to Jarabacoa hopefully by 7:30 tomorrow evening. 20 hours later I'll get on the same bus to go back to Santo Domingo for the interview on Monday morning. Monday we'll return to Jarabacoa hopefully with a visa (which will make ALL of this worth it) and then Tuesday I may get to chill out and see a few people. At around 11pm Tuesday I'll head for the airport to come back to the states.
I'm tired already. Like I said earlier, I'm just ready to see my friend.
Good night all.

Deep thoughts from the Orlando airport

1. All the restaurants in my terminal close at 7pm. Last time I checked, that was pretty much dinner time. Bonus points subtracted.
2. There is more Spanish spoken here than English.
3. If you look down at the carpet whilst walking, you might get dizzy and barf. Maybe that's why they don't want us to eat.
4. Dress codes are hilarious in airports. I'm the classiest one here.
5. I wonder if I can see the Disney illuminations show from here.
6. How do people drink coffee at 10pm?
7. I hope I don't have to sit next to anyone who wants to talk to me. Or anyone who has bad breath.
8. I hope whoever I sit next to cant smell my feet. Cuz I got a pedi yesterday and my feet were all oily when I put my sandals back on. And now my sandals have 'turnt'
9. Since starting this post, I've seen 2 plumbers cracks
10. I'm ready to see Ana Maria
- the end -

tres, dos, uno...take off

So I'm here at my gate in Orlando (free wifi - bonus points for Orlando International Airport!) about to begin my 9th trip down to the Dominican Republic. Each visit has been unique unto itself but none of them have been as important as the one I'm on now. In my last post, I told you all about Ana Maria and that she had a brain tumor. Over the last several weeks, we have prayed cried, gritted our teeth at immigration hoops - all to try and get Ana Maria to the states so that she can have a surgery that will, in the short term, save her vision and, in the long term, her life. At this point, every detail we could think of has been covered. Now it's up to God (and hopefully a very understanding and compassionate immigration officer).
Ana Maria and I will travel to the capitol, Santo Domingo, on Sunday evening for a 7:30 am appointment at the embassy to apply for an emergency humanitarian parole visa. Please be praying for us. This is a tricky and complicated process. Thank you for your prayers thus far...and thank you to those who have sent money, support, resources and insight into the visa process.
Once I am in the village, I may or may not be able to update here. I will try my best though. I am certain I'll be able to give you all an update once we are in Santo Domingo.
Love you all - keep praying!!!

Ana Maria

For those of you who know me well, you know that a big part of my heart lives in the Dominican Republic. My journey and love affair with the DR began in the summer of 2003 when I spent 3 months there in a tiny little village on top of a mountain. I, just like every other 'missionary,' set off thinking I was going to help the poor people of the 3rd world. And just like most, returned realizing that the person who had been helped the most was yours truly. I went down there damaged and hurting from a difficult life experience and came back changed, renewed, full of hope for the future.
A big part of the transformation that took place inside of me was Ana Maria. She was my cook and became my best friend. The lessons I learned from her changed me to my core. All of the lenses that I saw the world through, understood faith through, were shattered because of her influence. I have never been more grateful for a human being like I am for Ana Maria. She opened up her heart and her home for me in a way that communicated grace to me in ways that I had never encountered and haven't since. She built a room for me on her house. You heard that right. With her own hands, she built me the most precious room on top of her house so that I would always have a place to stay. She painted it pink because she knew that was my favorite color. This is a woman who struggles to get mouths fed in her house each day - but she found a way to buy materials so that I could have my own room at her house.

me and Ana Maria, summer 2003

I have countless stories of Ana Maria that would astonish you. She is a remarkable woman and I plan to share much more about her in later posts but I want to get to what is important:
Ana Maria is very sick. She has recently discovered that she has a large tumor growing behind her nose and because of the 3rd world health care situation, she has limited options. Through some great friends of mine here in the states, we have been able to consult with a neurosurgeon at Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston and he is willing to operate on her if we can get her here. Here begins the uphill climb. There are so many hoops to jump through with immigration. We are trying to figure out how to get an emergency medical visa but have not heard anything yet. And then there's...cost. You knew it was coming. The good news is that through some amazingly generous people, we have raised a good bit of money on Ana Maria's behalf. But the medical bills are piling up. She already owes more than she makes in a year. And then when we start adding travel to the states, etc...we don't even know the figure we're looking for. We do know, however, that God will provide somehow.
So here's how you can help: PRAY. We need that more than anything. The money will come in - we know that. But if you feel like contributing, I would be so grateful. Email me, call me, Facebook me and I'll let you know how you can get it to me.
I am set to travel down to the DR on Friday the 20th of April and will return on Wednesday the 25th (hopefully WITH Ana Maria). Please be praying for everything to come together.
Thank you all for your prayers. I will keep you posted.

Ana Maria just a few weeks ago. You can see in her eyes that she is in a great deal of pain. The tumor causes severe, constant headaches and is pressing on her optic nerve, which is impairing her vision