It is funny, the things that are starting to become normal to us here.
For example:
Riding an ATV to school and work : Normal.
Hearing donkeys braying at night: Normal
A cockroach here a cockroach there: Normal
No power during the day: frustrating but Normal
Brushing teeth with drinking water (NOT THE TAP): Normal
Scurrying mice at night: Normal
Seeing a rat: kind of normal
Seeing a tarantula: NOT QUITE NORMAL YET
As I sit here writing this e-mail with bugs flying all around me, I am sticky and hot. There is nothing better than a shower at the end of the day in Haiti.
Trickling water for your shower: Normal
No hot water: Normal
We took our first tap tap a few days ago. On Sunday we ventured out to Cabaret to go to a "restaurant" called Yoltis. We had a fantastic meal of chicken and rice and plantain. This is quite an experience and I am sure we will soon be able to put it on our "normal" list. It will get there when normal becomes eating in a shack like building, with stray dogs under the table, chickens running though and people who live in behind bathing and doing life. The funny part is we loved it!
Today is our beautiful daughter Teagan's birthday. She turns 12. As we are still living out of bags waiting to move in our house we have not gotten many groceries yet. We usually eat with mission teams but today there are no teams and the cook has the day off. Because we did not have any cake ingredients nor a lot of food for dinner we had the funniest birthday meal! For dinner it was a mish mash of mac and cheese, ravioli, freeze dried rice and chicken and tuna. Yum yum. The power was out so we ate by candlelight (great ambiance)!
After dinner we surprised Teagan with her "cake". It was a bunch of marshmallows with chocolate chips stuck in them. Along with Jello, it was a great birthday meal.
To top it all off Teagan got her hair braided by Nicole a beautiful girl from our hope house orphanage. We hope to go to the beach Sat. to celebrate a day off with the kids.
As far as the mission goes, things have settled down here a bit. Laurens has been very busy with construction work on our house. He is working with the plumber, electrician, engineer and concrete crew. He hopes to have us moving in by next week.
I have been treating lots of patients but also gathering lots of information on how the hospital is currently running and am starting to generate lots of ideas. I am excited about how we can make things happen.
On our container from Canada was also boxes of clothes. We have been busy sorting clothes and stacking them up because tomorrow we will return to Cabaret to drop off clothes to those in the shelters who have lost everything. We are excited that the kids will get to be a part of this too.
I have realized that it is way past sundown and sunrise comes early and so must go.
God Bless and keep your eyes focused on the eternal.
Cheryl, Laurens and kids
6 comments:
Hi guys - we really enjoy and appreciate your posts. Thank-you so much!
I now subscribe to Google Reader so that I can keep track of blogs and easily see when there are new posts, and I encourage others to do the same! Makes following blogs much easier!
Happy Birthday, Teagan!! :) We hope you had a great day (even though it may not have been "normal")!
We really enjoy reading your blog. I'm sure we'll be experiencing our share of cockroaches, rats, etc. soon too! Fun times! :P
Thinking of you often and praying too!!
Arja (for our gang)
Laurens, Cheryl, and kids,
Wow! From the sounds of it, you have had an amazing journey and have been able to touch so many lives already. Just think of how many lives you'll be able to reach by the time your time there is done. Tell Teagan "Happy Birthday" from her cousins in Michigan.
Love,
Mindy and Sean
Happy birthday, Teagen! It sounds like you had an adventure for your birthday which is the most cool thing. It's those things you will remember...
Birthday hugs to Teagen!
cheryl... your blogging is so great! as i read i can totally hear your voice in the words, and you capture everything so accurately. i know it's difficult to balance keeping everybody in the loop with so much going on, but you are doing a great job!!!
Enjoyed reading your updates sounds like an adventure every day!
I pray for continued safety for your family and strength and enthusiasm to match the challenges
miss you!
Joanne
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