All of that was the long introduction into the bad news that Father's Day kind of snuck up on us.
Because we thought of it for the first time on Saturday night we needed to degaje a bit. (Degaje means make it work in any way possible including but not limited to sketchy and unconventional ways.)
Sunday morning we made signs moments before leaving for church. Troy was leading worship and we figured a Father's Day greeting from our row would be way better than any dumb $5 Hallmark card.
When we returned home we had lunch with visiting friends. Later in the day, all at once, ten weak little hands gave Troy a back, foot, leg, hand, arm, shoulder, and head massage that was everything you can hope a massage will be ... except relaxing.
Here is Noah's giant gift card for the aforementioned massage:
You get a free musuch all ofer you'r bady
Translation: You get a free massage all over your body
(You also get to laugh so hard you cry and your sides hurt. Still free!)
In other current (weird) events ...
Heartline is in the middle of an unusual month of non-stop teams. The leader of the current team is someone I met when I was 15 or 16 when he was my youth Pastor in Brooklyn Park, MN. He and his wife were at the church for about a year or so when I went through the drama and shame and yada yada yada of pregnancy at age 17. He was incredibly kind to me back then and helped make me feel supported/loved in the middle of a cruddy and difficult time.
This a photo of me (Tara) (the one with big hair and the scary expression) and Todd (Britt's Dad) dedicating Brittany in June 1990.
The Pastor on the right is Brent Bromstrup. The guy that officiated my (1st) wedding and dedicated Britt is currently down the block from our house in Haiti. Seven billion people on the planet, and someone that significant in my life (that I have not seen in 22 years) shows up in our neighborhood. That's just a special kind of weird.
Following up and other things ...
- Nadege (Friday's post) was treated for Malaria and brought home by Dr. Jen.
- Jeronie's labor stopped. She went home Saturday too. Beth put in a sleepless night before convincing Jeronie that this wasn't the real thing.
- We have found a couple options for our kids' school books to get to Haiti -Thank you!
- Sergline and Joanne at the Harbor House both graduated in the large class that graduated from sewing school on Friday - Congratulations to all the graduates!
- Dr. Jen took part of the team to donate blood today. For travelers to Haiti: Please consider donating blood while you are here. It is a huge gift you can give. Most people that need blood in Haiti cannot get it and they literally have to barter and beg. Anytime we've needed it we've also needed to repay it by donating to give back what we used. That is how it works here. In the USA the Red Cross does not allow people that have traveled to Haiti to donate for one year after travel. All that to say, you may as well leave some blood here.
