Pictures from Saturday afternoon

Here is the crew of kids produced/adopted by the two families serving at Lifeline. The oldest kid feels too old to be included in a photo like this. She is 16 after all! Left to right, Hope, Faith, Isaac, Kaden, Noah, Kolbe, and Neika. Paige is the wise old one in the back row.The two youngest from each family, their names are Faith and Noah but they might as well be called little Rhonda and little Troy. They are only three months apart in age.

Sad Baby

Good Morning. We like Saturday's too! All the kids slept until 7:30 this morning. That is an extra 90 minutes for everyone. Woo hoo!

Troy noticed yesterday that even in Haiti, there is a spring in the step of all employees on Friday. Loving weekends is not just a USA thing, Haitians who have jobs like the end of the work week too.

Today Britt and Paige are painting a rainbow in Paige's room. They are going to put up Genesis 9:16 underneath the rainbow.
Thursday we first saw this baby below. He came again this morning. He is the first little guy to bring Britt to tears. He screams the entire time you work on him and that was too much for Britt. This sort of rash is very common. The last little baby who had this cleared up with about three treatments, we pray we can soon say the same for this little one.















Tomorrow we are planning to go to church in Port-au-Prince. Everyone is looking forward to that. We hope you are enjoying your Saturday. We love you and thank you for your prayers. God is good.

EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

That is the sound Troy heard as three of us ran screaming out of the house. He said his first thought was that someone was in our house.

Not someone.

Something.

Rat number two.

We had a suspicion that we had a visitor. The banana that was nibbled on during the night was our clue. So Troy, being the expert exterminator that he is, put a glue trap next to the banana and we left to take our birthday girl to the beach for the afternoon.

We returned to find the banana loving rat in the glue trap right in the center of our family room. He had gotten stuck in the kitchen on the counter and had slap blap whapped his way over to the family room. Sick sick sick. Why do we live here again? Reminders would be good.

Just so we don't suffer alone, Britt took a photo of her birthday rat to share with all of you. Her little gift to you. It is the least she can do.


After Troy took care of today's mission business items we spent the afternoon at the beach. The photos below are some of the fun things we did. Britt loved your phone calls and emails, thanks so much to those of you who wrote.

In the midst of all of this beauty this afternoon, Isaac looks at me and says "Can we go back to Zimmerman sometime mom?" I said "I don't know when Isaac, it will be awhile." He said "okay, okay mom, just sometime okay?"

Then tonight Britt and Paige had been teasing him that they wish they were brown. He said "Paige you're beautiful white though that is the way the Lord made you. Sometime the Lord can make you into brown and make me into white."

Just a minute ago Paige gave him a single Gourde (worth two cents) and he said "Oh good, now I have money, I can fly home." So ... some of it might be to make us laugh, but he certainly still misses MN more than any of the rest of us. How odd that the kid from Haiti misses MN the most.

Before we go watch Castaway, one of Britt's birthday gifts ... thought we would share tonight's sunset with you.

Sweet 16

We Love you SO much!

Happy 16th Birthday to you Brittany Rachelle!
Sweet Sixteen and never been kissed.

Wrong, we kiss her every day!



Sixteen years ago today, a nervous, unprepared, and apprehensive 17 year old became a mom to a perfect little baby girl.

There are not many things about that day that I remember really well, at least not detailed memories. But I do vividly remember one thing.

I had missed an entire night of sleep in labor. My labor had lasted exactly 24 hours. Britt was born just before dawn.

It was later that night, the evening after she had been born at about 11pm and I still had not slept. I had given her back to the nurses to try and sleep. My bed was by the door and I was in the dark with the door to the hall open. I was alone in my room. The nurse kept walking by and glancing in at me. On her third time by she said, "quit smiling and go to sleep!" I was lying there grinning like a Cheshire cat in the dark ... so elated over my new baby girl.  Even if I was unsure and afraid of what our future might hold, I was still hopeful and totally in love.

I learned firsthand that the things that happen in your life that are classified as "mistakes" can eventually result in something beautiful. I am no theologian, far from it actually. My thinking is probably simple and jumbled. Hopefully I am not pulling this verse out of context. There is a verse in Genesis Chapter 50 that basically says It may have been your plan to harm me, but what you intended for evil, God intends for good.

Now, that was about Joseph and he was speaking to his mean and nasty brothers. Joseph had been betrayed and had done nothing wrong. I certainly cannot claim I ended up a teen Mom because of betrayal or anything other than by own choices, but I still think I can count on God to turn it for my good and His glory.

Britt is one of my best gifts. God is faithful, God is just. God works out all things to bring glory to himself. Romans 11:36 says "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." (NASB)

Britt has continued to be a blessing. The day of grinning in my hospital bed was just the beginning of hundreds of ear to ear grins my baby girl has brought me. She has a tremendous sense of humor and keeps us smiling. The way she has taken on the move to Haiti with such a joyful and pleasant attitude has thrilled us. She is disciplined and determined. We have watched in amazement as she has blossomed into a lovely young woman. We cannot wait to watch her life unfold and see what God has planned for her. We know it will be good!

Happy, happy Birthday Brittany Rachelle!

Thursday's Highlights

A crew of tough guys, photo taken after lunch today. Edmon is on the right, he is our big toe patient, he is totally better now!

First, some people emailed wondering, what became of the dinner last night??? Well, the funky smelling beef also tasted odd. It reminded me of the way a mothball might taste if you ate one. Mothballs remind me of my grandma Pals. So, the whole dinner was kind of weird because I kept feeling like I was in Orange City, Iowa where my grandma kept many mothballs.

Despite it's odd taste and odd smell the beef made zero of seven people have a problem. It's all good. Next time we need ground beef it will not come from One Stop in Port au Prince. One Stop is fine for converting your U.S. dollars into Haitian dollars, but we now know they are not known for a high quality ground beef product.

Here we have a little man in the feeding program and then Paige and Isaac in the English/Creole class this afternoon. They are all too cute, don't you think?

Below are Isaac's newest best buddies. This is Isaac with Kolbe and Kaden Hoppa. These are the two boys that belong to Rhonda and Jason. They also have two little girls. Isaac is more than excited to have English speaking friends next door.

A view of the Lifeline property from the hill that is on the Southwest corner of the property.

The best news of the day, the tile guys left. They are not coming back. After seven days of having our furniture on the patio, the job is complete. The cloud of dust that grouting creates has left us all at high risk for lung cancer, but boy do our floors look great!

As soon as we get latex medical gloves in Noah's size, he will be treating the patients. Tonight he found out he really cannot help us too well with this size glove.

Tomorrow is the birthday of a really, super cool girl. We have some fun things planned for her.

Statistics

My only comment after reading this is UN article; statistics do not do justice to the reality of death and abuse and poverty. It is just math. A baby dying due to starvation has nothing to do with math. 300,000 children living as slaves is a number. Behind the numbers are real people, with real stories. This is not about statistics, it is about people...children, and babies.

Haitian children face greatest challenges to life in Western Hemisphere – UN -
22 March 2006 –

More children are likely to die during early childhood in Haiti than in any other country in the Western Hemisphere, with one in eight likely to succumb before the age of five, according to a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report released today.

“There are few more challenging places to have a healthy childhood than Haiti,� UNICEF’s Country Representative in Haiti Adriano González-Regueral said of the report 'Child Alert: Haiti.’

“While Haiti accounts for only two per cent of births in Latin America and the Caribbean, it accounts for 19 per cent of deaths for children under five. It has by far the highest death rates for children under five, with 117 children dying for every 1,000 births,� he added.

Thousands of Haiti’s children lead lives of daily struggle and youngsters in rural areas lack even the most basic services, often walking for hours just to reach the nearest health centre or water source, and in cities violence and abuse lock children in a cycle that is almost impossible to break, according to the report, the second in a UNICEF series of papers on the core challenges facing children in a particular crisis location.

“We applaud the public commitment of President-elect René Preval to improving the lives of Haiti’s children,� Mr. González-Regueral said. “Political leadership can bring the types of changes needed so that a good, basic education and decent health care is not a matter of good fortune for a child, but is instead a common standard.�

The threats to Haiti’s children detailed in the report include:

-Insufficient healthcare, with immunization rates for highly contagious and often fatal measles even lower than in Sub-Saharan Africa at just over half of all children vaccinated.
-Environmental degradation, with only 3 per cent of the entire country left with forest cover, leading to high death tolls during the hurricane season (3,000 deaths in 2004 alone).
-Lack of education, with many families unable to afford tuition, only 55 per cent of primary-school age children attending school, and one-third of those aged 15-24 illiterate.
-Violence and abuse, with thousands of street children forced to fight in gangs or become part of a subculture of bonded servitude, where 300,000 youngsters, three-quarters of them girls, work as unpaid domestic servants.

UNICEF’s activities in Haiti include supporting routine immunization, improved nutrition and back-to-school campaigns that would encourage widespread enrollment, and supporting children who have lost one or both parents as well as those made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in a country that has the region’s highest population of orphans.

UNICEF also delivers sanitation kits containing water containers, purification tablets and soap to households in Haiti as part of a package of basic emergency supplies.

House Call

(Written Wednesday Night - 3/22)
This morning I left the mission with Pastor Rony, his wife, and Noah. All I knew was that Rony asked me to come with him to visit his friend, who lives in another village north of here. (The drive took about thirty minutes, so it must have been around three miles away.) We entered the town of Luly (pronounced “lee-lee�) which is a small collection of cement huts with tin roofs on a hill next to the ocean. I found it beautiful. Noah was also impressed, but only with the pigs he insists on calling puppies.

On our drive, I learned that the man we were visiting sells bread on the street in La Digue, and Pastor Rony doesn’t know him well, but has witnessed to him on occasion. His name, when pronounced in Creole, sounds exactly like “elephant�. I still need to find out a proper spelling on that one – I’ll get back to you. He lives alone in an 8x8 foot cement room with a corrugated tin roof. The door was a lace curtain hung by a shoelace. I looked out the door and wondered why someone had spent the money to pour concrete between the buildings. Then I realized I was looking at the bare earth; the hard rocky surface where the soil has all been washed away.

“Elephant� changed out of his one pair of shorts and put on his one pair of pants since he had company. While he went to buy sodas for his guests (which I’m sure used quite a bit of his monthly income), Rony told me that he wanted to pay this man a visit to ask him to come to church and to see if we could pray with him.

We had a nice talk, and I participated as much as I could with my limited language skills, and got to know each other a little bit. The whole experience was educational and enjoyable, and one thing that really stood out to me was his answer to this question Rony asked: “Can you come and visit us at our church?� His response was this: “I don’t have time.�

That struck me as funny and sad all at once. And it sounds all too familiar. I’m sure that is the number one reason that Americans also use for not attending worship services. I can see the distractions and business of our culture in the US leading some to believe they are too “busy� for spiritual things. I’m sure that is by design and the intention of our enemy, Satan. We are not alone in falling for this lie. Even in this society, where there is 80% unemployment and no modern “conveniences� or technology to distract them, many people “don’t have time� for God.

As I was thinking it, I heard Pastor Rony telling him that if we don’t make time for God’s things now, we will have lots of time (forever) to regret it later.

I found myself sitting in a shack today worlds away from where I’m from. The truth of God’s love for us and our need for Him is the same no matter where we are sitting, how busy we are, or what challenges we face. God was there with us in that room today, and the man we came to visit recognized his need for the saving grace of our Creator. He saw that apart from God, we are striving after wind, lost in our sin. Even Noah listened intently as we gained a brother in Christ, and witnessed a man receive unending grace and eternal salvation.
~Troy

Deep Thoughts come in waves

Today I wanted to post my deep thoughts about Voodoo and false religion in general ... but I cannot get the thoughts to come together enough to put them up for all to see. I need to wait and see if it ever organizes itself in my brain. It could be awhile. It could be never.

The Blog thing ... well, we never would have thought it would be a big/fun thing ... but we are finding it keeps people informed, and more than that it is cathartic. (An excellent way to emotionally purge.)

Neither of us have ever kept a diary or done the "journaling" thing in our lives. Actually, I avoided it. Mainly, I cannot read my own handwriting anyway so it seems pointless to write something down if I cannot go back and read it a few weeks or months later. Troy's friend Matt G. said "blogs are very now" but we are not "very now" so we must have caught up with the times or something ... which is funny since we now live in a country that is 100 years behind.

Some things that are inside your head, need to stay there. We are doing our best to discern which things need never to go to print.

Today was sort of out of control, but not in a bad way ... just in a crazy way. Lots to do, lots of mess from grouting the tile and lots of smaller sized kids who were not all that cooperative or helpful. Troy had a cool outing, hopefully he shares later.

Isaac has recently announced that he wants to be white. We are not really sure how to help him with that. Unless he wants to go the way of Michael Jackson ... we don't have a ton of good ideas for him. Before we moved here he didn't know he was brown, but now that he hears us being called white he realizes he is different than us. We are trying to convice him he is a total babe just the way he is and that God made him pefect. He seems semi-convinced.

I need to go finish dinner. The ground beef I browned, to put in my dinner, smells funky. We are going to eat it anyway, just to see what happens. This is the sort of thing you do for entertainment here. Have a good night!
Peace,
Tara

Paul Simon Lyrics

Here is the song that goes through my head at some point almost every day. It has become sort of the soundtrack to my life, if you will: You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon. Ridiculous, I know. But here are some of the lyrics, and maybe you'll see why it has struck a chord in me:

A man walks down the street

It's a street in a strange world

Maybe it's the Third World

Maybe it's his first time around

He doesn't speak the language

He holds no currency

He is a foreign man

He is surrounded by the sound

The sound of Cattle in the marketplace

Scatterlings and orphanages

The song is random, and most of it makes no sense. But these verses apply.
Later in the song he says "I don't find this place amusing anymore."
But, I am still amused by almsot all of it. ~Troy

The Professor Returns

Paige, and twelve pounds of Jolly Ranchers, arrived safely into Port au Prince around 1pm today.

We won't lie. It was nerve-racking wondering if the airline would hand deliver her the way they promised. They did.

She said she was never scared and that all the flight attendents called her "babe." The hand-off went better than most airport experiences we have had.

All along this Haiti journey we have focused on taking small steps of faith. All of those small steps were easy if we just focused only on that individual step. Keeping our eyes focused on the fact that God would ultimately bring about whatever His plan was, also helped immensely.

Little steps of faith, focus on God. That is the formula. It works, we're attempting to stick with it.

For me, as a mom, the hardest one has been to place Paige in God's hands as she travels to and from Minnesota. We figured if God wanted us in Haiti He would work it out for the best situation for Paige, and everyone involved. We are trusting Him to do that. We're not saying it is/was easy, we prayed a lot! Praise the Lord she is fine and had no troubles getting back into the country.

A few of the employees came to welcome her back home. It touched us to see how excited they were to see her, even after a relatively short time away.

We're off to enjoy some family time. Thanks for praying for little Miss Paige! English classes in LaDigue resume tomorrow at 1pm. :)

This are applicable verses Paige wrote down for a homeschooling assignement a few weeks ago. The page she wrote on has been sitting in front of the computer for days. They have been cool reminders to us.

Genesis 28:15 -
And behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
Deut 31:6 -
Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or tremble at them for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.

Timing is Everything

The timing of this email I received about God's perfect timing was (of course) timed perfectly. Just thought I'd share.
-Troy

GOD'S TIMING IS PERFECT By James MacDonald
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… So, when [Jesus] heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was … Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days… So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died� (John 11:1-21).
What do you do when you hear your child crying in the middle of the night? Do you say, “Hey! Make a note of your problem and check with me in the morning.� Of course the answer is no. If my wife tells me, “James, my heart is really heavy about something. Can we talk?� I don’t say, “Well, I think I’m free on Tuesday.� If someone from my small group calls after midnight and says, “There is a problem. Can you come over?� I don’t say, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.�
We respond immediately to the people that we love, don’t we?
That’s what’s so confusing about Jesus’ response to Mary and Martha’s request for Him to come heal their dying brother, Lazarus. We’ll look at this account from Jesus’ life on the broadcast this week in our series Meeting God In… The setting is John 11, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was� (vv. 5-6).
I’m totally puzzled by that. Jesus’ actions don’t square up with my understanding of God. Surely if Jesus really loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, He would have rushed to help them. That’s what I would do. Yeah, and that’s what makes me human and Jesus, God.
It’s important to your faith that you know that God isn’t like us. He doesn’t always act like we want Him to. God often makes us wait because He has a higher good or bigger picture in view.
You can’t draw a line from God’s heart, to the clock, to your problem. We often see no relative connection between the three, but I can assure you, His timing is always perfect. Mary and Martha learned God never arrives too late. You don’t need to be worried one minute, even if it seems like midnight has come and gone.
What are you waiting on God for today? Relief? Provision? Direction? I bring you this good news—God’s timing is always perfect.
Though it seemed to all who were grieving Lazarus’ death that the Lord failed to come through for them, there was no failure. In their wildest imaginations they couldn’t have guessed the purpose for Jesus’ seeming delay. They probably all laughed about it that night around the dinner table. I can imagine Lazarus laughed the loudest.

Culture Club

Lifeline added tile floors to the mission house. It is 80% finished. This morning when Mme Lumen came to do dishes she was so excited about the tile floor. She came to get me and said "tre bon" "belle belle" very good, pretty, pretty ----- at the time it did not occur to me, but now that I am thinking about it I am realizing it is an interesting response.

Here she is, a Lifeline employee who comes to help for about an hour a day with our house chores, she lives in a 12 X 12 house that has a dirt floor; but she is still excited for me to upgrade from cement to ceramic tile. How sweet and sad all at once.

Then ...
The sun was not very strong this morning, it started out overcast. The bread got a late start. Usually we wait for it to have lunch. Today we gave up, nap time was calling out to three cranky kids. When they finally brought the bread up at 2pm, I was on the treadmill. The cook who brought the bread looked at me like I was totally nuts.

I thought about trying to explain it to her ... but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it would just make her think I was even crazier. I contemplated explaining: I am doing this for excercise, your country is depressing and this helps me cope, burns calories, incresease the serotonin in my brain, I pray while I run... and on and on.

Aaahhh, yeah, you can see why I tought better of it and decided to shrug, smile at her, and keep running. I am sure she went downstairs and described the crazy machine she had seen and the crazy white woman who was running in place on it. Oh well.

And...
Does anyone have a small hand-held vaccum they would want to part with? The dust here is amazing ... and almost impossible to keep up with. If you pat the couch arm too heavily a plume of dust rises. We are looking for a small vacuum that could be used to pull dust off the couches. If this is something you might be willing to send down via AGAPE mail, please contact us. Thanks!

~Tara

Mwen la

One of the first things we all learned to say was "Komen ou ye?" or "How are you?"

Most people will reply one of three things:

1. Bien (Good)
2. Papi Mal (Not too bad)
3. Mwen la (I'm here)

Almost all children reply, "Mwen la."

On the surface this is a questionable response ... at least to our way of thinking. Britt & Paige started out saying "Mwen la????? Poukisa ou pa bien?" (You're here???? Why you not good?)

When you ask someone how they are; you really just want to hear that they are good. It is almost the automatic response and it is certainly the desired response. If you ask someone how they are and they say "not good", it requires you to take time and find out why. Most of us can honestly say we just hope the person we asked will say they are fine, that way we can move on without an extended conversation.

The response that Haitian children give is a reflection of their lives. It says a lot.

If they are here, well then...they must be doing okay. The statistic, even if not totally accurate is staggering. Nearly 50% of the children born in this country will die before they turn 15 years old. 25% die before their 5th birthday. Babies dying is just a fact of life, the people have come to expect it and it upsets them less than you would imagine because it is so common.

The way Sunday ended up going ...

Today, no beach & no swimming. But that was okay with everyone, except maybe Britt. We are going on Friday for her 16th Birthday instead. Paige will be back then so it made more sense to wait. I knew the girls would get closer once we moved here, and the pool of English speaking friends diminshed considerably ... and it seems I was right because Britt is lonely for Paige and ready for her to be back. All moms love when their kids get along. I am no exception.

In church today Pastor Rony preached on James Chapter 5. We know because if we miss it when he gives the reference; someone will usually come over and show us. We have just taken to reading our Bible during church and making it Bible Study time until we are able to get more from the preaching in Creole. Next week we plan to go to Port for church in English again.

We have learned one of the songs well enough to confidently join in. It says "Hallelujah, I found Jesus I had searched for so long." Some of the words are almost impossible to say ... mwen jen Jezi does not exactly roll off the tounge for us.

After church we started some projects around the (mission/our) house. Sunday's are the quietest days here so it is a good day to get some uninterupted work time. (Yes, we know it is supposed to be a day of rest.) While Jack napped I painted the kitchen, and Troy worked on sealing the screens with big gaps so the bugs cannot get in so easily. Britt baked cookies (we found chocolate chips last week!!!!) and Isaac and Hope ran around in the house that is cleared of most of the furniture while the tile guys work.

The tile looks great, we think they have two days of work left before we can put our things back and move on with life. So far we are having the kids wear the same few clothes and washing them each night because my poor planning placed the dressers in a spot where I cannot get at their clothes. Oh well.
As usual, once Noah was up from nap, he was a huge help. Here he is covered in dirt climbing a ladder in the office.

While we worked today we listened to CD after CD of Church of the Open Door services ... really good worship music, and Dave Johnson's preaching. It was encouraging and enjoyable. Thanks Lisa and Declan for the hook up.

Paige tells me (by phone last night) that her Jolly Rancher needs are totally met. She estimated that she had ten pounds of Jolly Ranchers to bring back. Her next blog entry may list how much she misses having teeth ... or an American dentist at her disposal.

That's the deal with our Sunday. If Paige comes to mind the next couple days please pray for safe travel. She goes to Miami with Mom tomorrow (Monday) and then comes the rest of the way on Tuesday mid morning. Her fan club in LaDigue anxiously awaits her return. Have a terrific week. Thanks for checking in on us. Know that we love you and appreciate everything you do to help us be here. ~Tara

The naughty bucket

This is a five gallon bucket overflowing with naughty.

Thankfully, this bucket did not contain green paint.

Have a great Sunday!

We are attending church here on Lifeline property and tampering with the idea of going swimming.

For Him in Haiti,

T & T & tribe

Fun Girls Day Out

On our way out ...

We left at 7:30am to take Edmon to get his toe checked out. I was the driver. It was a blast. I can drive in this country, no pwoblem. (Haitian pronunciation & Creole spelling) I used my horn, I flashed my lights, I did just fine. The only mistake I made, was not seeing a speedbump, but we weathered the bump and lived to tell about it. Edmon is doing great! It was so good to go learn a little bit, but even better to hear that Britt had been treating him correctly for the last two weeks. We took him to a mission called Global Mission, they have a clinic where they mainly treat burns. The American lady that runs it is an RN from Colorado. We did determine that it was NOT a burn. He stepped on a pecan plant, at least that is what they call it. It has some sort of poison in it and it causes infection. The first time we saw him, two weeks ago it was inflamed so much it did not look like a toe. The toe had abscessed, but Britt had been doing the right thing. We learned a lot about signs of serious infection and what we could safely do and when we should seek help. It was a good trip. We learned a lot and got tips on some good resources to use in the future.

The driving on the way home was every bit as excellent as on the way there.

While we were gone, Troy and Hope and Isaac watched a video on the laptop to stay out of the tile guys' way.

Britt and I DID IT! We made it the whole way to Petit Bwa. It took about 1 hour and 25 minutes to get up and 45 minutes to get down. On the way up we stopped to rest 3 times for about two minutes each time. At some points the climb is very difficult ... we were huffing and puffing like a couple of heavy smokers. Meanwhile, small children with beds on their heads passed us by.
Some other sights along the way. The Hoppa's serve here at Lifeline, so we thought this was an important photo to take. :-) Someone found their box. The third one is Britt with Ti-pap and JeanRenell ... they came with to protect us, and mock us.

Britt and I, at the top. We were soaked in sweat, looking pretty nasty. Sweaty, but proud. That climb is tre difisil.
The kids from Petit Bwa that followed us around once we made it to the village, and some followed us the whole way back down the mountain to LaDigue.

One other thing that is interesting and unusual ... and not something we do in our American culture. Haitians like to state the obvious. "Captain Obvious" as Britt would say. On the way up, as you pass people going down they say "You're going up?" We respond "Oui." On the way down they say "You're going down?" One lady said "You're dirty?" and pointed to my nasty dust covered legs and shoes. It is an odd thing, in our opinion. Apparently they just want to make conversation. There was lots of laughing along the way today, mostly at us. We're down with that, it is "no pwoblem" for us. Go ahead and laugh.

Britt and I agree, that while there is much to dislike about Haiti ... there is way more to like and learn from. We are so happy to be here to see all the things God has in store for us.

~Tara & Britt reporting~

On the road

Today I (tara) will be using my Haiti Driver's License for the first time. I have had it for at least a few weeks but today is the day!

Britt and I are taking the little guy with the nasty toe down to a burn clinic about 50 minutes away. We hope to learn a little bit more about burns and treatment. We also hope to learn that he does not have some major infection.

Britt says she wants to make it all the way to the top of the mountain today when we return. If Troy is up for a full day of hanging with the little people we might attempt to make it to the top.

Nicknames are earned

When we first started referring to Noah as "Jack-Jack" it was more because he looked sort of funny like the cartoon character.

Then, shortly after that, he got mischievous and ornery and we called him Jack-Jack because he was so destructive and never sat still. Once he acted wild, his nick-name had been earned. We could not get out of our habit of calling him that.

Since moving here all the Haitian people call him Noah (long on the NOOOO & short on the ah) so we have gone back to calling him his real name at least half the time.

Today he reminded us again why he is "Jack-Jack." He managed to fall into a four gallon paint bucket that was 3/4 full of paint. Earlier this week he took a paint brush, dipped it in paint and whipped it around to watch the paint fly.

Today he sat down on the big can and fell in. He had on a diaper and a yellow shirt. The paint was green. The only reason he did not have pants on was because an hour earlier he walked up to the pile of wet cement the tile guys were working with and put a big handful on his legs. Just for fun.

He was so drenched in paint that I had to carry him out of the house and down to the garden hose. It created quite a show for all the sixth graders and a few staff members.

The photo is from earlier this week when he insisted on riding in the back of the bumpy truck for a long ride home. The kid needs a helmet and bubblewrap. Please send it soon.