- Last Saturday I came down the stairs with Lyd in my arms (like I do every morning) and gave her some breakfast. She finished quickly and wanted out of her high chair. Jeronne was buzzing around the house cleaning. I took Lydia out and put her shoes on and off she went to play. I began cleaning out the refrigerator ... a truly disgusting job, I live with pigs. I heard Lyd toddle out the front door of the house. Not a problem, our house is completely surrounded by a cement wall and she is safe to ride her little bike in the front "yard". I continued to clean unidentifable substances off of the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Two minutes later I hear Jeronne yelling "Lydie lydie lydie lydie" and running down the stairs and out toward the front." I stopped cleaning and followed her out to see what the issue was. Jeronne had been up since 6am and had swept the front "yard" - she had noticed one thing out of the ordinary while she was sweeping. It came to her mind two hours later while she was upstairs putting laundry away. Because it came to her mind, Lydia is still here. When Jeronne got outside Lydie was inside the pool gate, sitting down on her butt, beginning to lower herself into the water. Lydie is 18 months old and has a false sense of her swimming ability. She seems to think she is a trained Olympian. She trusts that when she flings herself in, someone will pull her back out. The pool pump was on, I never would have heard her go in. Jeronne was the only one that knew the gate was open. The gate is NEVER left unlocked. Until last Saturday. My heart rate did not slow down for an hour. We all held Lydie very tightly and thanked God for using Jeronne to save her. The pool will never be left unlocked again...Heart rate back up just in the retelling it.
- Yesterday at the grocery store Hope and Noah got into an argument about a Nun, in front of the Nun. Noah said, "Hey, look at her - she is all ready to go in her get married outfit." The Nun was wearing an all white habit. Hope checked her out and said, "She is not getting married today, that is just a regular outfit." Noah said "She has the thing on her head Hope, that means she is a bride." Hope, shaking her head said "Noah, that lady is at least 40 or maybe 60 she is waaaay too old to get married today." At that point I suggested that maybe they suspend their argument until we got to the car and away from the super old Nun.
- We're going through a cruddy time lately. I guess we are sort of down on Haiti in a way. This becomes very apparent out on the roads. When I am irritated and not coping well I am much more annoyed (angry) with the ridiculous driving. I mutter things out loud as I drive. Noah proved that my mood is not cool by asking me, "Hey Mom, is that guy an ____ too?" when we got cut off for the fifth time yesteday. Ooops. (It was three letter word not four - if that helps you feel any less disgusted with me.) Time to adjust the filter - or hire a driver.
- I decided to find something fun and different for dinner last night to cheer myself up while Troy was not going to be home. I got tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese and had a delicious salad with homeade Balsamic Vinigerette dressing. It was a lovely break from the usual, boring choices and it actually proved to improve my crabby mood.
- The Haitian Government has asked that all private vehicles stay off the roads Sunday. Church has been canceled. While I likely would have stayed home all weekend, I now feel very strongly that I ought to be out and about running multiple errands that did not exist prior to the announcment. I know this proves serious personality flaws.
- I watched the movie Marley and Me with Paige last night. It sounds like I am the first person not to cry at the end. I have a few ideas why everyone else cried while I just thought, "Huh - the dog got old and died." I've been talking with Heather, a missionary up in the North part of the country. She confirmed that Haiti has changed her in ways she did not necessarily like. We think it does that to anyone who stays very long. After seeing enough really horrible things ... movies like Marley and Me just won't move me to tears. It was a dog. He was old. Then he died. Seemed like a good thing. See. I am not sensitive to things like that anymore. We all change. [Maybe not for the better.]
- I wish Burkina Faso would send me the 2.2 billion dollar check they keep promising, I would use it to go talk to someone about how insensitive and angry I am.
- 就是已經跟銀行借過錢,再用殘值向民 - that comment keeps popping up in the comments. Translation anyone? I bet it says a lot of very kind things.
- These are not really short stories anymore. But I really wanted to end at a nice round 10.
- There is one totally untrue thing is this post. Can you guess what it is? Fabulous prizes of little to no monetary worth to be awarded for the correct answer.
Mom to three boys - Amie - Sassy Britt - Heather ... Your prize choices:
1. Ask
a.) Isaac b.) Noah or c.) Hope - a question, any question - I will relay it and video their answer and a short greeting to you. OR
2. Artwork by our artist Hope. You tell her what you'd like her to draw.
Of course I would not make homemade dressing!!!! (Thanks Britt/Amie for so lovingly pointing that out.) And no, that picture looks nothing like what *I* put together, but it tasted as good as that picture looked (thanks Paul Newman) and it did make me happy.
