Thursday, April 13, 2006

A Wednesday without too much to say

So ... first, Britt's news. She is so thrilled (not) that everyone will know that she did not pass her drivers license test. That is the bad news. The good news is, she gets to take it again next Wednesday.

In reality, her genes were working against her. I cannot count the number of tickets and accidents I have had ... lets just say that with tickets and accidents combined it is in the neighborhood of a dozen. Okay, it is over a dozen. I stopped counting about two years ago.


She had no chance. ;-) REMEMBER Britt, laugh at yourself before anyone else does and you walk away a winner.


So, just as an incentive Troy and I have come up with an excellent reward for her after she passes next Wednesday. We bought her a car. We've always said 16 year olds don't need their own car, it might just cause trouble ... but we love our girl soooooooooo much that we are breaking our own rule. We found this for her today on the way to a hospital in Pierre Payen.


Britt, if you don't like this one we are also willing to buy you the blue truck on the road towards LaDigue. Your choice. Or, there is that hearse near Port too ... so many options really.

This is the hospital where we took a man from LaDigue today. He has a cyst or something growing on his stomach. This hospital is a cement building with an open air waiting area and small rooms that you enter from outside. No elevators, no long hallways, no confusion finding your way around, no parking ramps or Urgent Care. I wish I could have taken photos once we were inside the wall, but when you are sick, it is not so amusing to have some dumb white woman snapping your photo as you wait your turn. Suffice it to say, this hospital is nothing like any hospital you have ever seen in the USA.

As we sat outside the area where patients are waiting to be seen, we watched Noah jump and climb, jump and climb, jump and climb on a piece of unstable cement. A Haitian man even thought we should not be letting him do it and sort of warned us by pointing at him and what he was doing. (This is a very Haitian thing to do, not at all out of the ordinary for one Haitan to tell another Haitian that their child needs correction.) So, we assured our concerned new friend that we were watching our mad-man and would deal with the consequences if he face planted.

We watched him do this stupid, unsafe thing over and over... wondering again, why we brought a two year old here. In between jumps he would fake fall and laugh obnoxiously while rolling in the dust. Then, just for good measure he would sit in places where you can almost be sure someone went pee just a few hours prior.


Finally, after a lot of waiting and watching and chasing him down and swatting his butt, it was time to go. Troy's comment as we left: "Can you imagine being THAT clueless?" My answer to his rhetorical question: NO! I don't think many people in history have ever been so clueless. The child needs some sort of restraining system.


The ride home was lovely. We taught Pastor Rony what the words to some of the worship songs we were listening to meant. He approves of Nicole C. Mullen and thinks "Call on Jesus" is a very good song. (Lyrics below) The drive south has mountains on one side and ocean on the other. In spots it is breathtakingly beautiful.


On a sunny afternoon, listening to your favorite worship tunes, it almost cannot be beat.



I'm so very ordinary
Nothing special on my own
I have never walked on water
I have never calmed a storm
Sometimes I'm hiding away
from the madness around me
Like a child who's afraid of the dark

CHORUS:
But when I call on Jesus
All things are possible
I can mount on wings like eagles and soar
When I call on Jesus
Mountains are gonna fall
'Cause He'll move heaven
and earth to come rescue me when I call

Weary brother
Broken daughter
Widowed, widowed lover
You're not alone
If you're tired and
scared of the madness around you
If you can't find the strength to carry on

CHORUS

Call Him in the mornin'
In the afternoon time
Late in the evenin'
He'll be there
When your heart is broken
And you feel discouraged
You can just remember that He said
He'll be there