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Monday is not a holiday here ... but we're with you in spirit America!Okay. I lie. We're not. Not at all.
We're crabby, a bit stressed, tired, and snapping at each other. We don't like us very much right now. You wouldn't either. The humidity and the health issues have made for a house of irritable people.
- Wed 7am - Lyd starts running fever
- Thur - get results and treat Lyd for Malaria
- Fri 4am - Troy starts puking
- Fri 5am - alarm goes off for the long run
- Fri 5:30 am - 3 kids awake, Troy is moaning- postpone running
- Fri 7am - take team to airport so Troy can sleep
- Fri 7:30 am - run 8 miles on treadmill - Troy starts Malaria meds
- Fri 10am - bring Paige and Viv to Women's center to work a clinic
- Fri 11am - pick up adoptive parents - spend time with them - keep them away from my disease carrying mosquito infested house
- Fri 3pm - drop parents back off to airport
- Fri 4pm- Run close to six miles on treadmill to finish what i did not have time for in the morning - call it good enough for lack of better option
- Friday 6:30 pm - I (tara) start running a fever and get a bad headache - take Malarone right away
- Sat 7am - Jeronne and Jenny leave (scheduled long ago)
- Satruday - survive the day. that was the main goal. take turns sleeping. all kids are fed and sort of watched
- Sunday - Troy, Tara and Lydie all wake with no fever. Things begin to look up. Paige reports a headache. Treating her to be safe. Jeronne comes home and tell us about the tap-tap she was in on Saturday being held up. The men that did it had a gun. They got $100 out of her pocket and her gold necklace. She is understandably not happy.
Sometimes just the pressure of so many little ones to care for can be A LOT - add in outside demands of ministry and social activities and little Haiti emergencies (there always seems to be one) and Troy and I snap on each other first. It can be hard for people with smaller families or only older kids to understand. I think we come off as unsocial at times. We don't turn down invitations to be rude. We're just trying to be here for our kids.
And ...
GOOD NEWS!!! Viv has decided she likes us enough to stay. School starts tomorrow! This week is the peak week for training. Illness not an option. Running 5m. on Monday, 10m. on Tuesday, 5m. on Wednesday, and 20m. on Friday. - We all better kiss this Malaria crap goodbye and get back in the saddle - real quick like.
Darn it. Lydie is covered in purple marker. Better go.
The pictures are-
From a few minutes ago - Lydie finally looking better - besides her bad baby hair. Renald looking short and totally flippin cute. AND in the tub- from when we went to Jacmel and left our little kids with Jessica & Jeronne. Jessica's photo.
15 comments:
We're just three, but I totally get what you're saying. I think we're right there with you on the snapping at each other thing, but I think you guys are better at the communication than we are. We're still learning. I've seen how the stress of the last 5-6 months has really worn on us individually and in our marriage. It sucks to see that. Life here is so full of "stuff" on top of trying to keep your marriage in tact and your family functioning. It's hard.
Someone once told me that we always seem to hurt the ones we're closest to first because it's with them that we can truly be ourselves. I think it's totally true. They know our ugly stuff and our good stuff and our guard is down.
I just said a prayer for you. Hang in there.
You don't need to publish this, I just wanted to say hi and "I hear ya!"
hugs,
Les
Funny, we have 4 kids and a relatively easy life (compared to yours anyway -- no one around here currently has malaria) and we frequently fight and miscommunicate. It is old and boring though. I'll give you that. I'm impressed by you guys daily. The perspective is incredible.
Renald looks like a little pixie in this picture! Very impish! Praying that this week will be disease-free.
Jodie
Divide and conquer. It's been Satan's modus operandi since the beginning. We get suckered by it way too often ourselves.
Wish we could come down and give you a date night. Praying for you and love you.
Seriously Renauld is such a little stunner. It is totally enough to be doing your "regular" job, not like any day is regular in Haiti, but then to be training, taking on another toddlerish age child and without Jeronne. If Viv is willing to stay after all this, she must have noticed what a fun fam you all are, great news (on Viv, everyone already knows you guys are fun)! Nice little advertising for the Melaluca Renew too!
Hang in there!
I can totally relate to the toddler, antisocial, snapping at your spouse thing. You are not alone, and it doesn't seem to matter what the humidity level is. The good news is that they do grow up into lovely, amazing, beautiful, godly people eventually.
Praying for a speedy recovery and no near misses on the roads.
At least you are part of the way through the rough few weeks you have been dreading. You are all strong and you will get through this. It definitely stinks.
Hugs to you all.
Erin
Praying for you! I totally get the need for alone/family time. It's hard to find a great balance, isn't it?
With 4 kids of my own I know a little tiny bit about how you feel. I can only imagine what that is like when you add the other stress' to that. My husband and I will always know when we need time alone....its when we fight. I will be praying for you today and ask God to be your everything. Keep holding on!
Peak week. You're gonna knock it out of the park. Enjoy this week!
Ryan-
I LOVE your enthusiasm. Knock it out of the park is not exactly what happened on the five miler this morning. At all. Sigh.
In fact my body was screaming "holy cats woman there are still protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium swimming in your blood".
I could not settle into a rhythm today with my breathing --- I felt fatigued,and winded, which I sort of expected.
The timing of my parasite visitors could not be worse but at least I caught it right away and hopefully at a sloth-like pace I can still get all these miles in this week.
I'm thinking between the bus and the Malaria it is possible someone has it out for me. I prayed as I ran "God I need you God I need you God I need you." And together we finished all five this morning. We'll do the same for tomorrow's ten-miler.
Oh boy. You are having quite the month. I am amazed that you have the perserverence you do. Training for a marathon with malaria . . . I think that makes you an official bad@$$.
And yeah, the snapping/antisocial/fighting thing. I feel like with my three little ones, that is sort of my baseline right now. Can't imagine how I would feel with the addition of heat and tropical diseases!
Thinking of the mileage each morning as I drive to work. But my work is 18 miles away so I cannot even drive as far as you will run. Prayers from Kentucky.
I have no idea how you do it all, and malaria too? I just pray and give lots of thanks for all that you do. Hang in there!
Renald smiles like Paige :]
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