Isaac

Overheard in the kitchen earlier today:

Isaac-
"Oooohhhh Lydie. I love you. Thank you so much for this experience you're giving me!"

Lydie-
(cooing - grinning)

Mom of Isaac-
"What experience is Lydie giving you?"

Isaac-
"The experience of having a baby OF COURSE! I just love this experience!"

Conclusion:
Someone taught Isaac the word experience this week. He is looking for ways to use it.

Hope you all have some great experiences this weekend.
Thanks for reading!

Her Casa is our Casa

We were sitting around as a family chatting ... Reflecting on the past and then dreaming about the future.

Britt says:
"Wow, you guys have no home of any sort in the USA now. You really truly are Nomads."
(side note: by definition, We are really truly NOT Nomads - we would need to move more frequently)

Troy says- "Yes, and I find it kind of freeing."

Tara says- "Yeah, well I find it kind of frightening."

Britt thinks a moment, then says, "I just want you guys to know - you always have 350 square feet in Waco, Texas that you can call home."

It is nice to know your kid will take you in if you're ever in need. Here's hoping it never comes to that. A kind offer in theory; but not too sure how it would play out in reality.

Paige would like to point out that today she is officially 13.5 years old. (we don't do half birthdays in our family - but maybe she thinks you do)

Britt is already gone, her flight is early today. :( That visit lasted two blinks. Boo.

(running to bedroom, throwing self on bed, curling to fetal position, crying an ugly faced cry)

To distract myself from a life-crushing self-pity party over Britt's departure, I was up early reading this site.

(Normally I would distract myself with an over-priced cup of coffee, a giant chocolate covered donut and some shopping for things I don't need or even want ... but none of that can be found in LaDigue.)

This site is hilarious. Well, maybe I better clarify ... it is hilarious to me. I recognize that there are plenty of folks who cannot laugh at themselves, so this blog that pokes so much fun would be a stretch. Because I believe sarcasm to be the forgotten spiritual gift, I think his blog is awesome. I've been told that sometimes the things I write are border-line offensive. If you agree, and you come here simply to see if I will offend ... then you won't like this guy at all.

For anyone doing fundraising for a short-term trip ... this is good. We might try something similar and that honest on our next fundraising letter. I think it would totally work. (Uncle Rick, check out that post!)

For anyone unsure of the rules when writing about spiritual things, go here.

I've been working on a post about this idea of "being offended" - like it is something that happens to you and we have no control over our response (false) ... but so far- it is too offensive. Once my editor (troy) tells me I am articulating my thoughts in a clear- yet non offensive manner, we'll post it... it could be a while.

Happy Friday to you!
tara

PS- To Kristen H. props and THANKS for the "SCL" hook-up/heads-up!

Malfeasance

The mission is crazy busy as the 07-08 school year is coming to an end. The kids are so LOUD. Recess is deafening. The end of the year hyper-activity is ramping up to new levels. Until June 6 the noise levels will increase ... and then, silence. It is almost eerily quiet once school lets out for the summer.

It seems impossible that it is June already.

The kids (our kids and the school kids) seem set on doing things for the sake of doing things. Everybody is acting out. Noah ended his day by spreading shampoo out all over his bedroom floor yesterday in a zig-zag pattern. We ask "WHY Son, why?!?!?!?" He has no answers for us. His plan to blame Phoebe back-fired terribly when we pointed out she was asleep, trapped in a crib, on the other end of the house and had been for quite some time.

All shampoos and lotions are under lock down once again.

tara

"Otherwise, it's just malfeasance for malfeasance's sake."
-Dwight Schrute The Office

Photo Shoot

One of my favorite things about Troy's love of photography is the direct benefits I receive. I am amazed by his eye and really enjoy his Haiti photos -- but I also get to document my kids' growth without getting totally stressed out going to the JC Penney's Portrait Studio. That whole experience of dressing your kids, hoping no one spits-up on their clothes or ruins their hair on the ride to the studio ... I loathe that experience.

Plus, I don't have to listen to their rip-off package schemes. You know, the package that allows you to chose one crappy pose for $9.99 but if you want anything from the set of decent poses it is $169.99 plus your right arm. Outside of those reasons, neither Penney's or WalMart or their Portrait Studios have found their way into this market. We wait ever so patiently.

So, late this afternoon after naps I asked the kids (and Troy) to humor us with 30 minutes of posing. These are a few of my favorites. Once Annie was added into the mix, things got a bit more difficult. Phoebe proved that surly, teething 18 month olds and photo shoots don't mix all that well. In most of the photos she has ice in her mouth to keep her happy. One photo (below) with cousin Annie added in turned out decent. There are some other really great shots of smaller groupings, I'll post those for the Grandmas very soon.

Isn't Troy good? (The artsy one on the couch is my favorite.)

the chin

When The Links Hit Back

By Troy:
This week Britt and I shared one of Haiti's strangest experiences together - golfing in Port au Prince. This time, it was even stranger than usual. It is always a nice change to see grass in Haiti, especially this much at once, and right now it is very green from the recent rains.

When we approached the first green I noticed something else different - there was no flag marking the hole location. There was, however, a golf club sticking out of the hole. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a club from my bag - the caddy had run ahead and stuck it in there for us. When we found the same problem on the second green I asked Gerald, the 'Caddy Master', where their flags went. He told me "The man who puts the flags out didn't come to work today." Ahhhh, Haiti. I just smiled and continued on. This is Haiti, after all, and to get a chance to play golf here is such a treat - almost nothing can wreck it. Almost...but we'll get to that in a bit.

The temperature was in the 90's, but so was the humidity. We were totally soaked in sweat early on, yet one of the caddies wore black jeans and a windbreaker the entire time. I don't think he ever broke a sweat.

The beautiful Petionville Club Golf Course was in fine form - fairways were being mowed, as usual, with a push-mower.
Here's where things got really strange. Actually, it happened on the first tee. After I had completed shanking three balls out of play (that's not strange at all) we descended to the ladies' tees for Britt. She tried to settle in and get used to having an audience with the caddies standing there. Her first attempt was a whiff that we quickly decided was a practice swing.

Her second swing started out beautifully, straight takeaway, smooth tempo, beautiful contact with the ball....and then the strangest thing I've ever seen. I heard the club strike the ball and saw it sailing off - but then it reversed direction and came straight back at Britt. By the time I turned I saw the ball ricocheting off her face and hitting her in the shoulder. We were all stunned. Britt was holding her hand over her mouth and I was sure she had a mouth full of broken teeth. I was instantly scrambling in my head to think of where we could get dental care.

The caddies looked shocked and scared, and as I looked around to figure out what had happened one of them pointed to the tee-box marker. At the Petionville Club the markers are made of cement. They are made from a plastic cup with cement poured in and then turned upside down with a piece of rebar sticking out to hold them in place.

Somehow Britt's ball went way to the right and hit the marker, then ricocheted straight back into her face. I'd like to know the odds of that ever happening again.

Fortunately when she removed her hand I saw that her teeth had been spared - the ball hit her squarely on the chin. It made her eyes well up and even now she has quite a purple bruise to go with the egg on her face. The pain hadn't gone away by the time we finished nine holes, so we called it a day and went in search of some ice cream to soothe the pain.

not ours to carry

if you've been reading for any length of time; you've watched us struggle with questions about the point of being here and the desire to JUST KNOW what the point is!

we flip flop between:

1. saying and truly believing that being here is where we know God wants us - therefore the tangible and intangible results are irrelevant AND
   
2. why be here if we're unsure what sort of success and what sort of true impact is being made - maybe this is both idiotic and pointless
   

it is a cycle that repeats itself every few months. because we understand our own tendencies to be fickle; we let the feelings and questions come and we work slowly through them without jumping to conclusions one way or the other. we've come to be sloooow decision makers.

i was blessed to see some small- yet- tangible things this weekend. even the littlest things can encourage when sometimes it feels like you're swimming in a sea of problems and you're totally unsure that anything being done matters.

we went on a walk over to barbancourt. i love this walk because it is on a narrow path through plantain tress with water running along side of the path, as you look up you seen green mountains and blue sky; it is beautiful. early in our walk we visited Tipap's house. he has built a nice little home in a shady spot among the mango trees. he seemed genuinely happy to see us and encouraged by our visit. along the path we ran into Tiroy. he was happy to talk to Britt and show her how perfect his toe looks (or the place where a toe used to be) and he thanked her for her help last year. there is no getting around the fact that we are the outsiders, therefore in the littlest things there is encouragement.

additionally, we have been blessed to see how excited Jeronne was when we asked her if she would help us out for about five hours a day, Monday through Friday. she is helping with Annie and our other kids too, as well as daily chores. she seemed thrilled with an opportunity to make more money and i think she knows that she is a huge help to us. she is an amazing lady, we're happy it worked out for her to help in the mornings.

i grinned this morning when she asked Noah to come over after breakfast and have his hands and faced wiped off. he knew what she was asking and Noah said, "Merci Jeronne" - and a little thing like that is encouraging. i sincerely hope that Jeronne will help the kids and i move forward with our creole - it is important to me that we all speak the language fairly well some day - not just Troy and Paige and Britt.

one on one relationships are important to me. maybe that is why these little things matter.

we're feeling more and more convicted to focus our attention on areas where the impact could possibly be longer range. we're feeling called to working with single moms, orphans, and projects that will impact individual lives and are more than a handout. it is all quite overwhelming at times ... and it is in those times that we need to remember to keep laying it down. it is not ours to carry. God sees and He hears and we'll keep giving it back to Him to deal with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

right now our friends in Cazale are a bit down. there is a real concern regarding their budget. to put it bluntly, their costs have gone up enough that they cannot operate at the level of the need for very much longer. what they really need are people who feel moved by the holy spirit to do something EVERY month. if you would consider partnering with them at a $10 to $100 a month level and commit to stay with them for a year, it would really REALLY help them. i am not into guilting people to give, i believe if you're convicted - you'll give -- and having your arm twisted is not conviction. pray about it. maybe you want to help. if you do please check out these blogs below in the coming days for information about getting involved. i for one, have a feeling that God is going to show up in that situation very soon.

www.aaronivey.wordpress.com
www.dreamingbigdreams.wordpress.com
www.xanga.com/no_im_not_a_nurse
www.xanga.com/haitinurse4life

Lastly, Jen has posted some cute pics and final thoughts on her time in Haiti. AND, Troy and Britt have funny stories to tell about their day in Port today, they'll get on that tomorrow.

Goodnight!

naps for all

troy and britt are in town today. the rest of us had a busy morning ... but now, every single child in this house is asleep.
what should i do?!!??!
not sit here.

i peeked in to paige's room to find her, noah, isaac, and hope asleep. annie and lydie and phoebe are down.

this has never happened before and may never happen again. i need to choose wisely.

hope you're having a good day off (if you're in the usa.)

Making Your Own Electricity

Before I lived here I never knew:

• A coffee maker uses 7 amps (therefore brew it, then turn it off)
  
• An electric fry pan uses 10 amps (therefore make your pancakes quickly)
  
• A fan uses only 1 or 2 amps (therefore you can cool down without getting anyone too worked up)
  
• How much is involved in using electricity wisely (Duh - I had no worries, the bill was always under $100)
  
• How Diesel costs matter (Diesel used to be a thing that I thought only over the road truckers cared about)
• The value of solar panels and batteries
• The importance of planning out your laundry duties
  

Happens often at our house:
A person walks into a room and turns a light or fan on, and then rounds the corner and heads to the bathroom ... A certain guy walks by, sees no one in the actual bedroom portion of the room ... BAM - The person is very likely to have the lights and fan turned off while they are using the facilities. But only because Troy is an electricity Nazi. At the end of each day we get to hear the rundown on who he busted that day. Today he got Britt once, Paige once, and Isaac twice. If you lived with him, you would withdraw your Facebook friendships. I know you would.
;)

SisterLove

Britt and Lydie are having a great time together Britt has a thing for Lyd, and has since day one. She gets to golf with Troy at the famous Petionville course this week, climb to Petit Bwa with Paige - they last did that in August of '07. She is also doing some wound care for the patients that Dr. Jen had been seeing. Today she took stitches out of a dog bite and worked on a burn. She said it is very fun to be here and able to work again.

The mosquitoes are horrific right now, as you can see two of them found Lyd's head in the night. Dumb bugs. I woke up with 8 new bites. (Jen & Tess - we remembered the Chloroquine without your prompting. We're all grownz-up.) The house full of runny noses and red eyes seems to be heading toward winding down ... well, except Troy seems to have the man cold version ... no further comment on that.
;)

It is really odd to look back at old blog posts from a year and two ago ... I try not to because sometimes I think Huh, I wish I had not said that or wow, I don't feel that way anymore! I guess it proves we're all on a journey and things change, even without us knowing it.

Love Affair

Weekend Outlook ...

... mostly snotty, 80% chance of coughing - with scattered periods of headaches. Intermittent whining expected.

`

Ugh. In the last 12 hours - Ike-Hope-Lydie-Troy-and Paige have come down with a nasty cold of some sort. Noah and Phoebe and I seem to be on the cusp of the same thing. Annie appears to be done with a cold that started for her on Monday. All 18 minutes of our "rest" last night were peppered with coughing and crying. A sick kid in this house translates to seven to nine sick people. This is nothing short of exhausting. (Forgive the whining - I am almost done ... )

`

Envision me shaking my fist in the air in frustration.Now envision me on the floor having a Phoebe-like tantrum.

`

Dear Lord, make it five days from now. Amen.

Moving on...

`

Four of Eight pounds of strawberries that Britt carried in are now consumed and in the digestive tract. Noah can put away one pound per sitting without much effort at all. It is very impressive. Of the four pounds that have been devoured, Isaac and Noah are taking credit for 90% of that work. If we lived where strawberries were available, we would immediately be bankrupt.

`

Outside of our silly little colds, and the ongoing massive intake of strawberries ... We're also working through another situation. We would really appreciate prayers for direction and patience and wisdom over the next few days. Thank you!

`

Have a terrific weekend.

reunion

Britt made it in this morning. We're having fun showing her anything and everything that has changed since she was last here. 2 pounds of Strawberries down, 6 to go.

Today as I laid Lydie down for nap and she grinned at us, Hope said, "That is such a crazy baby you adopted Mama" I said, "What?" Hope repeated her statement. I said, "I didn't adopt Lydia honey." She gave me a blank look and said, "Oh, huh!?" Isaac chimed in with kind of a "sorry about your luck" tone of voice and said "Yeah, well ... what do you call it when you're not adopted?" I love that these kids view adoption as a superior way to join a family. So wonderfully cute.

Lots of catching up to do here with our oldest baby girl. The crowd of siblings cheering on the porch as we drove up the drive earlier today could be heard throughout LaDigue. The excitement and fanfare matched that of an astronaut returning from a long space journey.

Lean on God's Promises

2 Thessalonians 1:2-5 and 11
(The Message) A letter from Paul, Silas and Timothy

Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you're to be. You need to know friends, that thanking God over and over for you is not only a pleasure; it's a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally; your love for each other is developing wonderfully. Why, it's only right that we give thanks. We're so proud of you; you're so steady and determined in your faith despite all the hard times that have come down on you. All this trouble is a clear sign that God has decided to make you fit for the kingdom. You're suffering now, but justice is on the way. 11 Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time - pray that God will make you fit for what he's called you to be, pray that he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something.

Random recent photos

(photo credit Marcia Erickson - above and below)

Manly recent photos

(Greg and Troy and Fred and Isaac)

Bon Voyage

Troy officially loses all "his ladies" tomorrow morning.

Tess and Jen are headed to Minnesota where many people anxiously await their return.

We've been blessed to have their help with our kids, with ministry, with an ear to listen. 2008 has been far more challenging than we imagined and God provided these two at the exact right time. We cannot possibly thank either of them enough. The connections we made will no doubt mean we have lots of adventures together and good times ahead of us.

Dear T and J,

We love you. We're praying abundant blessings upon you both. Thank you thank you thank you.

t & t

paige-ike-noah-hope-phoebe-annie-lydie-peanut

Safety Schmafety

I have a theory. I believe that if I gave Hope a DVD player that relooped the movie "Hairspray" over and over - I could not only leave her alone for hours on end - but she would happily spend an entire day or two watching that movie and not be the least bit concerned that none of her family was around. I honestly don't believe she would notice. She loves CeCe Winans and Kirk Franklin DVD's - she loves any musical production. Her brothers tire quickly of her choice of movies, yet she watches Transformers and Spiderman without complaint. Maybe someday soon I will reward her tolerance with a 24 hour Hairspray marathon.
`

Our three school-aged kids got to check out QCS today. It was very fun to see their excitement as they/we think/pray about attending there next year.
`

Paige, Isaac and Hope are all hoping to make the switch in the fall - now we wait to see if the finances fall in line with that desire. Paige gets the high priority, although Isaac loved it so much that he might talk his way into a spot. I kept saying "If you come here - IF buddy- we don't know yet honey!" And he kept saying "WHEN I come here" and "I love MY school." He told the teacher we met with that he "Can't wait to see her again." He is big into the power of positive thinking. How wonderful to ignore reality and lives in a happy Isaac-bubble. I envy the boy.
`

Isaac's oddness aside, I will say that the day that I thought I could home school three and have three babies (and Noah) and still handle laundry and administrative mission duties was a day of delusional thinking. I must have inhaled too many Port au Prince diesel fumes or something. It is time to explore plan B. Thankfully, Paige is on track and has not fallen behind. That felt good to all of us. Isaac is ready to be a 1st grader and Hope will probably take her beautiful smile to Mrs. Ackerman's class and give Kindergarten another shot. It helps that she is the size of the Keebler Elf. We think that having them in two different grades will also be good for both of them.
`

If you would, please pray that the plans and finances to switch the kids from homeschooling to QCS will come together.
`

Above is just one example of the many ways Haiti laughs in the face of safety measures.

Last week when Jamie and Aaron Ivey needed to put their kids on a motorcycle to return them to their temporary home in Cazale, Jamie said "That was really hard - because I am more of a five point harness type of Mom." - I chuckled at her comment and have since recognized that something about this culture's complete disregard for safety measures has led me to be a very laid back Mom. Maybe too laid back. Choking hazard you say? We scoff at you. Popcorn for babies! Strangulation? Here is some twine! Suffocation? Play with this plastic bag. Car accidents? Here baby, hang out the window and get a good view.

I am mostly kidding, but the reality is -- this is a safety concern-free or non-fearing culture. Putting a baby on a motorcycle is not something they worry about. I don't know what that says about us and I don't know what it says about them. I only know that there is no market for car seats here. Not even used ones.

After we dropped the four Minnesotans at the airport, we met with John and Beth this morning. We had a nice time catching up after an incredibly busy few months. We're so thrilled with the success they've been experiencing with their Women's Program. It is fun to watch them and see the way this ministry is meeting a real need in their area.

I think it is easy to get caught up in vision - and building on ideas and dreams - but it is hard to actually see a vision through to the point of a successful program - I give them props for doing what is necessary. They put their nose to the grindstone, their shoulder to the wheel, their nose to their shoulders where the wheel grinds ... or whatever.

I just like that they did more than say "lets have a womens program" they saw their dream through to this reality. Haiti needs more of that.

John and Troy exchanged stories about staying calm in Haiti traffic. The true test of what sort of person you are -- might just be getting through a day of Delmas traffic without losing your temper. We all agreed that the white guy going ballistic on a tap-tap driver might not be a good representation of the love of Jesus. Sometimes I think there is no greater testing ground for patience. Some days we pass and some days we fail. Our hope is always to improve on our pass/fail ratio. :) Patience *IS* a virtue you know. ;)

~tara

Britt - please call us sometime Wednesday. We want you to bring us strawberries!

(photos taken by Ericksons)

gorgeous girls

We have been meaning to politely ask this for a while. We hope you'll understand. If you wish to use a photo of Troy's for your blog, your kids' room, your slide show about Haiti, etc, etc; please just drop us a note first.

Maybe it sounds picky or snotty, and that is not our intention ... it is just that most of Troy's photos are untouched ... not cropped, not retouched. We are happy to share them, but they are still ours. To us they are a little piece of his artistic talent and eye for photography. Every once in a while we see one of his photos used elsewhere and it bums us out when no one asked permission or gave him photo credit. Thanks to all that have asked first in the past. We appreciate it.

Thank you!

I lied - We have Internet! Hurrah.

Internet restored. Nice. Very nice.

I got so much more sleep without Internet though. That was nice too.

I got tagged for this meme by Ruth last Thursday.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?
May of 2003 ... huuummmm. I guess I was:
1. Adjusting to life with four kids. Hope and Isaac had been home from Haiti for about 7 months. 2. I was only working part-time a couple nights a week.
3. We were starting to draw plans to add 800 sq feet to our house.
4. I was loving every minute of every day and enjoying my new kids and
5. having fun getting to be a stay-at-home-mom for the first time ever

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
1. Make Internet work (by asking Troy to make Internet work)
2. Write emails to a bunch of people that are waiting on replies
3. Check bank balance
4. Get kids ready for Tuesday
5. Laundry (on my list every single day)

What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Popcorn
2. Sam's Club Cajun Trail Mix
3. Chocolate (anything but dark)
4. Chips and Salsa
5. Crisp Apples

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. The first thing - I cannot say - it would ruffle feathers. But I would SO do it.
2. I would support a bunch of good people doing good work around the world - I would take away all of their fundraising headaches in one fell swoop
3. I would buy a massive swimming pool with slides for Isaac
4. I would go on some sort of amazing trip with Troy (just us)
5. I would pay off my ancient student loan debts and then pay for Britt's college (and maybe the rest of the kids too) ;)

What are five of your bad habits?
Only five?
1. Swearing
2. Staying up too late on the Internet
3. Caffeine and more caffeine (because of #2 - vicious cycle)
4. Jumping to conclusions
5. Fretting

What are five places where you have lived?
1. Omaha, NE
2. Brooklyn Park, MN
3. Buffalo, MN
4. Zimmerman, MN
5. Haiti

What are five jobs you’ve had?
1. Waitress (over and over and over - varying cuisine and atmosphere)
2. Amoco Gas Station Attendant (received a marriage proposal while at that job - help!)
3. Medical Sales (I sold tight socks, also known as "Compression stockings" which are indeed a medical product - who knew?!) (Hard job. Five State territory. Did.not.like.it.)
4. Catering/Banquet Sales (working with lunatic brides day in and day out)
5. Wedding DJ (don't ask)

What five people do you want to tag?
Tess
Jamie
Corey
Licia
Amie S.

(Feel free to ignore the tag if you are busy. M' pa gen pwoblem avek sa.)

Photos

Hope, Annie, Aidan, Noah, Isaac, Elise (Paige-Phoebe-Lydie are missing)

Lydie has had a big few days. She started taking bottles, cut a tooth and is finally sitting up unassisted.
She saved up all of her tricks and sprang them on us all at once.

blogging from a remote location

Where to start?
First…
As it turns out – blogging without internet is a bit challenging. Internet is seriously a major part of our existence in 2008. At least three times a day we’ll be talking and someone will say, “I don’t know – google it.” (And there is the rub.)

There seems to be no true hope of internet being restored anytime soon. We’ll start going other places because the mission business cannot happen without internet and being disconnected from news, family and friends feels very weird. We will get back to emails as soon as we can, I promise. Currently I am on an 11 Mbps connection, whoa!! And I don't have an hour per email that would be required to open them. It is all very circa 1994.

Tina and Aidan and Deb and Elise (Tina’s sister-in-law and niece)all arrived safely last Wednesday and have had a nice visit. They actually leave very early tomorrow morning already.

Tess’ parents and Mr. Halverson all left a few days ago. The hotel Livesay is about to empty out and slow way down. Jen and Tess will be heading back to Minnesota on Thursday. Their time here is up. I could go on and on and on about the five months that Jen and Tess lived in LaDigue. Rather than do that here I will speak to them privately – through an ugly faced cry. Suffice it to say that living with people that are not your family could go terribly wrong. Troy and I both had some nervousness about how it would all play out. In the end Jen and Tess fit into our family like they were meant to be a part of it. The friendships we built mean more to me than either of them can possibly understand. We will miss them.

The clinic will be closing. That is sad too. We really hope that the money will be raised to open it. We found a Haitian Doc that is willing to run it, we just need to fund it. Jen worked for free for five months, making it all possible. There is no doubt that the clinic is needed. The people of LaDigue will miss Dokte Jen.

Yesterday a guy came to the gate with a hole in his neck. I could not even believe what I was seeing. He did not speak, he only motioned. He had a note and some information written down. He said he had been like that for three years, that he was trying to get to Cuba for medical help and wondered if we could pray for him and/or help him financially. The whole thing made me very sad. I don’t know how the guy is living like that. I have a photo but it is terribly depressing. Pastor Rony asked us to pray -- Jen and I did that and Rony gave him a little something and we said goodbye. It did not feel like enough.

On the personal front things are ... how shall we say ... uh ...not that good. I woke up with one eye swollen shut. I was flipping out and asking Troy if I looked terrible. Troy, being a liar, said "you look beautiful." Then Noah walked in the room and informed me that I looked like a monster. At least our son tells the truth. I have photos of it for posting - to prove it, but my stone-age connection won't allow it. You're probably better off not experiencing the horror of it all. Add the fat eye to the fact that Lydie is officially a bottle-fed baby ... and things are a bit "owie" right now. I lead such a glamorous life. Try not to envy me.

The mission is very quiet today, as we all observe Flag Day. Quiet is nice every once in a while. :)

Tomorrow Paige, Isaac, and Hope will be taking some tests at the Christian school in Port - maybe I will find some Internet to use and update you on the monster-eye and other situations. Thursday we'll be weeping as Tess and Jen head North and happy-crying when Britt comes in for 9 days. We can hardly wait to squeeze our Britty.

Until Later,
tara for all of us

Pa gen Internet

hey-
we're in port at an internet cafe. no internet at the mission. we're waiting to get some very important information about our satellite from the usa and hopefully that info will come soon - until then, we're without it. :(

have a great weekend.

photos from celebrate jen day

Photo Credit - Marcia Erickson

Jen's Dad treated us all to a SUPER fun day at Club Indigo.

Tina (my sister) and Deb (her sister-in-law) and kids come in today to see Annie Grace. Paige and Annie and I are headed to the airport soon to get them. Troy and Greg are moving the Internet satellite dish in a bit. If you don't hear from us you'll know it did not go well. ;)

Must go - lots to do. Have a great Wednesday.

Dr. 30

Later today we'll take off to celebrate Jen's 30th Birthday. There must be a reason to go to the beach, and 30 is definitely a good one. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!

We may be without Internet for a few days. Troy and Greg are going to take the satellite dish down and move it to a new location - we are hoping that by connecting to a new satellite we might increase our speed.

Noah has a crush on Marcia and walks around saying "Maaawshaaa" quite a bit. He has a thing for the Erickson women I guess. This morning both Isaac and Noah are having tummy problems and they wondered aloud together what would happen if they pooped in the pool. That should make for an interesting day. ;( I really hope we don't find out what would happen.

Congratulations to our sweet Britty who completed her first semester yesterday. She has also completed her post-finals melt-down and is ready to move on with life. Good job Britt - You did it!

More later ...

tara