i wanna hold your hand

The prenatal program is technically supposed to serve local women. It makes sense for ladies to travel a short distance to get their care and it makes sense for them to be able to get to us quickly once they are in labor.  Most of our ladies come from about a two mile radius.  Occasionally someone will come from up to six or seven miles away.  That is of course not a long distance in most places, but here in the greater Port au Prince metroplex six to seven miles can easily be an hour or much more travel time.  The plan to serve mainly local women makes a ton of sense. There are more than enough pregnant women very nearby. 

The trouble is, Troy has a serious problem. He has always had a soft spot for prego ladies and for more than two years he has been showing up with pregnant ladies he meets when he is out and about.  After the earthquake he sheepishly brought us a lady in labor and said he couldn't resist, that he'd met her and she needed help and things were nutty enough in those days that one more baby wasn't going to push us over the edge at that point. Lucky for him all the people capable of delivering babies were too deliriously tired to beat him for that stunt.

Above is a photo of Mirlande T. and a photo of her humble abode.  She lives out near the five houses that were built in an area now being called "Jerusalem 7".  (The community where the well is currently being drilled.) That area is no less than six miles from here. It is tough to get in and out because it is back in the foothills. Troy was out checking on progress of the latrines a while back when  he met Mirlande and spent time getting to know her story and her family. He called Beth to ask for a special admittance pass into the prenatal program. (We always have a wait list, we always have people trying to get in that we cannot admit.)

We now refer to Mirlande  as "Troy's girlfriend" and that name is sticking. We've asked Troy to try to control his urge to help every pregnant lady he sees. So far he is mainly failing. Last Thursday he tried to bring another woman from Jerusalem 7. As I was writing this I told him he should become a midwife if he loves pregnant ladies so much. He said, "No way. I don't want to deliver babies. I just like the big round bellies. They're so cute."

Below is a photo that has many quotes attached. We were out in Luly visiting a Pastor out there that we have known for a number of years. When the visit was over the Pastor grabbed Troy's hand to walk him to the car parked quite a distance away. Culturally this is what friends do. Men and women hold hands all the time when they talk or walk.

Troy said, "I hate you for that photo I hear you taking." When I showed him the shots I captured he said, "Ugh. I don't care how acclimated I get to this culture, that's just llyyach." (llyyach is apparently a more disconcerted form of blech)

All this to say that Troy has girlfriends and boyfriends.

This little guy never woke up during our visit.

Besides Troy's main focus in life, (looking for pregnant women to pick up), the weeks ahead look beyond nutty and uncontrolled. There is so much going on right now. We're guessing the last three weeks of summer will be butt-kickers.

Here are some of the extra haps that are happening on top of the regular haps:

~New guesthouse managers from Minnesota arrived not too long ago.  Ryan and Melissa are getting acclimated. The Heartline Guest House is under the direction of "our people" from the northland, obviously we're at ease with them.  People from the north "get" other people from the north. Plus we can all sit around and listen to each other pronounce O's the right way. Oh yah. You betcha.

~Evan Hunt arrived today to do a seven week assignment with Heartline as a driver. He'll help Ryan and Melissa with the huge job of running a guesthouse and likely be assigned all sorts of duties.

~Heather and the Hendrick boys arrive back in Haiti today. The kids reunited equals ornery trouble multiplied, but happy trouble!

~Dokte Jen arrives Monday she will be here six weeks.  We love that Jen lives with us and we're all very happy she gets to stay so long.  We're so grateful (thank you Lord) that 2011 has been such a healthy year for us. (Just Paige and that MRSA battle.) Zero Malaria is unheard of for 8 months in this family. Once Jen is in da house Livesay kids are allowed to need stitches or get sick. When Jen shows up at our house my stress level drastically decreases.  (No pressure or anything Jen.)

Jimmy & Becky

~Our friends the Ericksons from MN may come spend Tuesday night with us. Marcia is one of Paige's favorite people on earth. (Minnesota, hats off to thee, To thy colors true we shall ever be, Firm and strong, united are we.Rah! Rah! Rah! for Ski-U-Mah,RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!Rah for the U. of M.)

~Jimmy and Becky Burton (teachers) arrive Tuesday. We have two and half weeks to get the final things done on the building,   and for them to get settled before the year officially begins.

~The interior school painting begins Monday. We'll take photos. It's going to be cute. We're building shelves and assembling desks and making it look totally legit.

~There are about four ladies due to deliver anytime soon. We're really REALLY hoping they space things out for the sake of all that is good and sane. Things could get interesting.

~The next team from Austin, TX arrives Saturday the 20th.

~A new teen mom will likely move into HH on Thursday. Thank you to those that prayed over the interview process and decisions.

~Moses is probably going to get moved to an orphanage on Tuesday.  He'll be going to an orphanage that the Mayor of our city chose for him. We think it is a pretty good choice and know a few encouraging things about the program. Your prayers over this situation matter to us and Moses :) Paige is tired from his late-night parties and refusal to sleep from 3:30am on ... She has an interpreting gig lined up for Wednesday through Friday.

As always, we really appreciate that you engage with what is going on here and that you lift up the heavy situations in prayer. We're grateful for your love and care.

tara for all of us