- Phoebe (fast approaching 3) got a "big girl" bed today. Tonight will begin the cruel process of teaching her she is now free to get up and move around on her own ... yet also NOT free to do that. I plan to count how many times we say "get back in bed" and share the stats later.
- Because of the new bed, Lydia moves out of our closet and into the room with Phoebe and Hope this week, out of a portable crib and into a real crib. It was beginning to feel abusive to put a child that size in a portable crib in a closet. Lucky for us- there is no Child Protective Services here.
- Troy mocked me for running excitedly to him in a store to say "I found where Easter comes to die." (not Easter so much as the commercialism that is Easter these days)
The graveyard for Easter candy that the USA does not consume is in Port au Prince. I am not telling where we found it because we need to go back and buy it out before the other missionary-types find it. Let me just say this: Cadbury Eggs for about 12 cents each ... victory is ours. Usually we can find the old candy - but at four times the USA price. So this was a big find! We'd sell them to J. McHoul for $1.00 each if he was in great need. Because we're giving like that. And just to be fair, we'll leave the melty marshmallow Peeps on the shelf for the rest of you expats in Ayiti. (See - always with the giving.)
- This is our swimming pool. What is that you say? You think pools are aqua colored? You must be mistaken. Troy keeps telling me he is simply trying to recreate a Minnesota lake in August. Because he loves his children so much. And he knows they miss Minnesota. Riiiiiiiight. Algae and tadpoles in a swimming pool? It takes a special brand of indifference to pull that level of nasty off. Troy wins The world's most indifferent about his pool award for August 2009. (Notice Troy is nowhere to be found in the photo. Total.Indifference.)
- The good news is, a miracle pool man came to fix that nightmare. He (blue shirt above)says it can be done without draining and re-filling. We will see about that.
- More than $1,600 has come in for Mamba in the last 24 hours ... we're SO pumped about that. Totals are forthcoming but I believe we surpassed 35K with mailed in donations.
- Total training miles complete after this mornings run - 252 miles. Total miles left to train before race day - 193. The next four weeks are high miles and important. We had an unusally cool day on Friday. For the most part the average heat index by mid run is about 96 degrees. Electrolyte drinks and gels (nasty goo packets that are jammed full of carbs) have become my close-personal-friends.
- We're happy to see that "Ana" is now just a tropical depression, and hurricane "Bill" will hopefully stay north of the island - we are praying for a totally boring season this year.
- Tomorrow among other things, we have two guests coming for the rest of the week, Women's program, 8 miles to run ... and whatever fun the kids of this house serve up.
