The workteam, under the direction of Gerry Rhyno, left here on Tuesday and arrived safely at their homes on Wednesday. We were scheduled to leave the mission at 6:00 a.m. The trip to Port au Prince actually started with the big van sitting on the mission compound needing a tire change before we could proceed. We were still off by 6:30 a.m. A good start to a long day.
A lot was accomplished in the week they were with us for which I am extremely thankful. They worked hard in the hot sun and high humidity but they also enjoyed time with my kids and, of course, my kids enjoyed attention and fun with the group. They took advantage of a very necessary break from the sun and heat at noon time to regain their strength as you will see from the photo of the four sleeping beauties. Judel joined them one day he decided he needed to get his rest too. Sofa or chair he did not need. Thank you to each and every one of the team members. God bless you all.
The Haitian workers are continuing with the work on the enclosure for our land located behind our school. As of yesterday there was a small section left to complete that job. Then on to another project.
Yesterday Martha delivered two sacks of rice to me on her horse. The kids loved seeing a horse on the compound. Ti Luc was not feeling well, but Martha took him outside and allowed him to sit on the horse. Wow, he loved it and kept telling it to go, go. I don’t think he needs a big stroller anymore when we have our walks along the canal. He just needs his own horse.
Today has been just another nice quiet normal Sunday at HATS. Ti Luc was not well Friday night, yesterday, and was worse last night. He was coughing a lot and having breathing problems again. He was with me all night so I could give him ventalin as needed. I was more tired when we got up this morning than when we lay on the bed last night. Antoinette left 6:30 a.m. for the service at her church and planned to be back here for our service at 9:00 a.m. Due to the cholera and to the fact one my kids has measles, and looks like others might be starting, I had decided to have Antoinette do the service at the school, and I would help her. Magalie would do a service here with my kids only. The best laid plans of mice and men…
Antoinette took a moto taxi to her church and paid him in advance to pick her back up at 8:50. Antoinette arrived home to find her husband ill, with fever and vomiting and she needed to look after him. Since the moto did not return for her she could not come back for an hour for church and then return to her husband. I was so very drained and tired from being awake with Ti Luc all night, and Ti Luc was still ill, so I did not even dress for church. I could hear kids at the school for church and I could hear Magalie and my kids worshipping here onsite. What to do now? So, I interupted their little service here and sent Magalie to the school to look after that service. I put Vladimy in charge of the service here. And I looked after Ti Luc. All is well.Yeah, right! Moise left that service and came in to tell me Josie and Ismyis were jumping up and down on the benches and not listening to Vladimy. I put in a quick appearance, which I knew would settle the mischievous kids down, but grabbed my camera on the way out. Glad I did. Josie and Ismyis saw me standing in the door and they quickly became the quietest and best behaved of my children. And I was able to take a photo of them all sitting and behaving nicely with Karena peeking out of JJ’s arms and laughing.
All was okay on the surface there so I decided to get back to Ti Luc but Karena chased me crying to come with me. She was happy to join Ti Luc inside and he loves to have her around.
Antoinette had to take the whole day to help her hubby and Magalie survived but not without several ‘dezod’ occasions by the children that I helped her deal with. At 1:00 p.m. I was informed we were out of water. Okay, no problem. I will turn on the pump. No water came. Needs to be primed. With Vladimy and the wrench and 5 gal of water off to the pump itself we went. We finally got the pump to pull the water, but before we could get one drop in the tanks the water pressure separated the pipe where it was joined and all the water went into the air and over me, with none in the tank. Nothing I did could fix it. No problem. We only have thirteen kids desperately in need of a shower, two sweaty adults, toilets to flush and dishes to wash with no water. Because the canal is contaminated we could not bring that in to flush toilets as we could in the past. Fun and games. Called the only person I trust here to touch this plumbing system, Luckner, but did not reach him. Eventually we did connect and by 6:30 the pipe was fixed and the tanks are now being filled.
I promised the children a video this afernoon. One way to give Magalie a chance to get something done I thought. So, turn on the generator first right. Can’t. No oil. Did anyone tell me we were out of oil. Of course not! Called someone outside the compound to purchase oil for me as I did not feel well enough to go. Eventually a gallon of diesel oil arrived. Okay. On with the generator and turn on TV and DVD player and in with the disc. Problem. The image was so dark the kids could hardly see anything. Couldn’t figure out the problem as I could find nothing in English. Had to rush back home to check on my sick boy who was here by himself. Judel, Dieunel, and Ismyis were cying when I left as I did not give them the promised video. I was a mean mama! Back down to the Kid’s Home again and this time I unplugged and replugged everything I could find. Okay. It worked. All the kids jumped up and down and hugged and kissed me because I had just made their day. I was the wonderful mama!
We all have days like that, where nothing seems to go right and we wonder how we manage to get through it all. And the days often come when we are overtired or ill. I know that I get through quieter days like today, or the days that are much more challenging, because I am learning to stay calm and ask God to take care of it. I am his. My kids are his. This work is his and he cares about it all. I am still learning and working on keeping Karen out of the way and asking him to take control of the various situations that constantly arise. For 15 1/2 years I have been saying “Never a dull moment at HATS”. For 15 1/2 years I have been asking for some ‘dull’ moments. I would still like to have some. Please continue to pray for the “right missionary couple” to join me and help me with the load. Just maybe the day will come when there will be a couple of ‘dull’ moments here. O Happy Day!!
Whether there comes a quiet and dull time or not, it has been, it is, and it always will be
“All About The Children”.
Blessings everyone.
~Karen
