It’s that time again. It’s time to look back at some of the best photos from 2014. Everyday we’ll be taking a look at a new category. Voting is open till midnight and the winners will be announced Monday. The winning entries will each receive a 16×20 print.

Today’s category: Wedding Rings

Take a look at the entries then vote at the bottom of this post.

1. XY

2. Map

3. Popcorn

4. Cork

5. USA

6. Tweet

7. Burn

8. Rain

9. Whoop!

10. Dart

Jo & I both had an amazing week in Haiti.  Thank you so much to all of you who helped get us there.  This post in no way can capture what it was like to experience Haiti first hand, but I’ll do my best.

Ever since I told Jo that he *might* be able to go, he had been looking forward to the trip.  I was a bit nervous about how he would do, but he went above and beyond impressing me.

This is the church we stay at while we are there and also the church we attended.   That’s my preacher on the front row.  In a room with over 1,000 Haitians he kinda sticks out.

The church is also a school/community center and has a little basketball court attached to it.  Even though he was the youngest one on the trip and didn’t speak the language, he held his own on the court.  He even earned the nickname J-Money.

By far my favorite part of the trip was watching Jo as he experienced a new culture and people group.  There were times he teared up crying, others where he laughed and could not stop.  He played hard and worked harder and came home more of a man than when he left.

One night while I was editing, I look over the balcony and see a group of people playing charades.  But, rather than having different people take turns, Jo was the only one acting things out.  People would think of a movie title and he would act it out.  This lasted for about an hour.

These were our sleeping arrangements.  Danielle packed the sheets.   Thank you, wife.

The only way to describe the people of Haiti would be joyful.  There is so, so much love.  They have been dealt a hard hand yet their spirit is not broken.

The kids would play a coin game to earn rubber bands.  Next year I’m bringing a bag full and cashing in.

We spent about 3 days solid doing construction work on a church.  This involves moving buckets full of rocks, cement, or cinderblocks.  It’s hard work.  It’s work that I’m not used to doing.  It made me thankful for my job.

When we did get a break, we would spend it playing with kids from the neighborhood.

And when the break ended…. back to the buckets.

These are some of the Haitian workers that we worked along side.  We had some big dudes from the states on our trip.  The Haitian men put them to shame with how hard they worked.  These guys are men.  Men that work.  Men that do a job.  They do it everyday, year after year.  They don’t work because I’m there photographing. They work because there is work to be done.

The thing I came away with this year is just how similar we are.  There are advantages and benefits we have here in America, but at our core we are so much the same.

Haitians want to learn.

Haitians want to pimp their ride.

Haitians have a beautiful country.

Haitians have a feminine hygiene section in their store.

In Haiti they have the trucks everywhere called “tap taps”.  They are like taxies only super crowded.  Jo was giddy to be able to ride in one.

I can’t say enough about how much I loved having Jo on the trip.  It was great to share the experience with him.  Last year I went to Haiti, and then the following week  he & I both went to pre-teen camp.  I told him that if we go to Haiti together we are not doing pre-teen camp.  At first he was a bit nervous, but by the time the trip ended, he could not wait to go back next year.  He told me after the trip that he liked it “way more” than camp. :)

Like I said, I am so proud of him.
Proud of how hard he played.
Proud of how he stepped out of his comfort zone.
Proud of how hard he worked.

They were hard days; days that leave you exhausted.  Days that make you wanna fall asleep on the bus ride back to the room.

My other most favorite memory was seeing so many of the kids from last year.  I brought back a big pile of photos that I took last year and passed them out.  The kids were so, so excited to have a photo of themselves.  (Apparently they heard that AlexM is kinda a big deal.)

I don’t go to Haiti to change Haiti.

I go to change myself.

I like the person Haiti helps me become.   I want to be more of that type of person here.

This is Cati.  On the left is a photo I took of us last year.  The right one was taken this year.  I could go back every year and take a cute photo of us, but that would not change much.

But the more I think of her, the more I remember her; the more I make decisions with her in mind.  Little by little change happens.

That is why I go.
That is why I wanted Jo to go.
That is why you should go.

you want to see 59 images from my trip to haiti right?  i thought so.

leaving my wife and kids for the week was by far the hardest part.  the longest i had been away from them up to this point was 3 days.  it was a long 8 days for me and a longer 8 days for danielle.  HUGE shout out to her for allowing me to go and taking her parenting to another level while i was gone.

this is what a sunrise looks like in haiti.  it’s kinda cool.

our church partnered with an organization called praying pelican.  they have groups coming and going all the time and this was our swanky school bus that we rode around in.

we arrived late saturday night and so we missed the “early” church service.  we ended up going to the late one at 9:30am. :)  this was the church we attended and one of the kids’ sunday school classes.

there were steps coming down from one of the classrooms and right on the other side of them was this.  the theme of beauty right next to trash was something that kept appearing the whole week we were there.

having a camera around your neck makes you pretty popular with kids and less so with grown ups.  the boys all posed on their own for their shots.

i found this on one of the bulletin boards at the church.

for most of the week, we spent our days moving rocks and shoveling dirt to help build a church.  this tent is where they meet now and the building should be done in about a year.

here i am being a baller at an orphanage.  i crushed the 10 & 12 year old kids.  i got mad skillz.

there were so many adorable kids everywhere you looked.  here are just a few of them.

boom.  just like that.  i didn’t pose them.

i loved seeing their faces when they saw their pictures on the back of my camera.

check out the toy car this kid made.  it’s both awesome and heartbreaking all at once.

again, haiti is both beautiful and sad all at once.  gorgeous coast line filled with tent houses that have tarps for roofs.

trash piles along the city road.

many of the houses had broken bottles along the walls for security.  keeps people from jumping over.  pretty cool idea.

i went to one orphanage/school that had this for a basketball goal.  for comparison we have 4 basketball goals with backboards, rims and nets at our house.

these three kids were walking a long long way to bring some water back home.

they have these things called “tap tap”s there. you jump on when you want to, tap when you want to get off, and then pay.  this was a nice one.  most of them are really small pickups.

saw two tires buried in random locations.  figured they were worth photographing.

that tiny white dot is a man doing a bit of farming.

our last day we went to this beach.  how awesome is this coast line.

and this is along the shore.
again, haiti was an amazing experience and my heart breaks for the people there.  they live in a gorgeous country and have been dealt an incredibly hard hand.  it’s both the most beautiful place i’ve ever been to as well as the saddest place i have ever visited.  i can’t wait to go back.

just got back from a week in haiti.  it was a heartbreaking experience.  i’ll be posting images in the coming week but for now i’ll share a video that i put together for us to show in our church yesterday morning.