Season's Blessings

Even though we aren't home for the holidays and are missing out on family, friends, and all the activities of the season, we are still finding we are very blessed here in Haiti!  Here are some of the festivities we've been having!


We had a special dinner for Madam Ino (who cooks for us) and Emannier (who works in our yard).  I found it very amusing the differences in culture.  Emannier has been showing up for work around 7am - and sometimes before!!  When he started, I had told him he could come around 9am.  The other day I told him he didn't have to come that early (please!!) and he said he didn't know what time it was.  He was doing better the past few days, showing up more around 8 or 8:30, but now it's back to 7....think he's going to get a clock for Christmas :).  Anyway, I had said supper would be at 5pm, and I wondered what time they would both show up....  It was around 5:30 before they came :)  So funny.  I can't figure it out, but I go by the clock so much that I can't fathom a life otherwise....

I had made an american meal for them....hopefully they liked it ok.  The menu was chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese, bacon, spinach, and Parmesan cheese; seasoned cubed baked potatoes; apples and dip (cream cheese and brown sugar - yum!); sweet and sour green beans; and finished with fruit pie and whipped cream.  I told David I'm pretty sure it was a gastronomic nightmare for them....since they are probably used to pretty much beans and rice, chicken, and everything fried that you can imagine.  All the cheese was probably crazy to them, but what can I say?? It was an american meal :)  I was kind of bummed because I didn't know spinach out of a can is TERRIBLE, and it totally killed the flavor of the otherwise most awesome recipe out there....but oh well....better luck next time.  We had an enjoyable meal with quiet Christmas music playing in the background.....

The next day was my birthday, and I got surprised by so many emails of birthday wishes (thanks Rhonda for spreading the word! :) ).  David made breakfast of crepes with nutella and berries from the pie ;)  (Why is this post centered around food?  Any ideas :) ?)

The day was pretty normal, then I walked Orrin up to Sheila's house where he was going to be babysat for the supper hour.  I just really wanted a nice quiet birthday supper :)  She gave me a small brick of feta cheese for my birthday....a treat to go on the salad for supper!  Crazy how the smallest things are exciting down here....feta is quite un-findable here.  When I got back home, David had supper cooked.  It was better than going to a restaurant ;)  Ribeyes we had brought down with us when we came, salad (with feta and Olive Garden dressing!), pineapple, green beans, and served with a Shirley Temple (sprite with grenadine).  It was lovely to have some time by ourselves without a high-maintenance, energetic, won't-stay-on-his-chair 2 year old!  We walked back up to get Orrin after supper.  Mail had come that day (from Agape), so we opened the packages we had gotten in the mail, and that was exciting too :)  All around a nice birthday!!

Wednesday night was the school kids' Christmas program.  They did a play about the stories behind different Christmas hymns.  It was pulled off very well (as usual), and then at the end, some of the men played guitar with the song Silent Night, as this was how it was supposedly first performed.  The kids did a great job, and we really enjoyed it!


Saturday we woke up to a really awesome morning...it felt like spring!  So we took our chairs down to our "patio" to hang out and read a while.  Orrin got to run around, push his dump truck, climb over rock walls, and in general do what a young boy should be doing!!  Later, Madam Ino came by bringing our market items, and also chickens for us!  We had asked her to buy two chickens for eggs, and she came back with them plus a rooster :(  David had built a chicken coop this summer, made with tin and then a "run" outside made out of pallets.  Totally redneck.  Anyway, we put  the chickens in, and one promptly walked right out of the slats between the pallets.  So a little modification really quick and we had our chickens in the coop.  We've gotten two eggs so far, and Orrin is loving going over to check on them all the time :)

I can send him out with a bowl of table scraps, and he toddles out and dumps the food to the chickens.  Makes us both happy :)  The other night someone came to the door asking for money, and we gave him the rooster.  Again, everyone was happy...well, maybe not the rooster.....

Sunday evening we had a supper together with all the other Bonne Fin missionary families.  It would be the last time we all are together.  Eric and Jami and family were going home on furlough for a few weeks, and they are planning to come back the day Daryl and Norma move back home.  After supper, the kids sang the "farewell" song from The Sound of Music and presented Daryl and Norma with their going away gift.

I was supposed to go see Dr Mario (the OB doctor) on Monday, but after waiting 2 hours, I found out he was in surgery.....so we got to go back the next day....and wait another hour and a half :)  Seems to be the name of the game here.  I've learned to take a good book....and NOT bring Orrin!  Dr Mario said the baby is head down and ready to go in two and a half weeks.  (He said to tell the baby not to come early because he's going to be out of town until January 3.  I told him we'd wait :) ).  Lordwilling, it looks like we should hopefully be good to go and no c-section in the future.  Side note just for me to remember someday.....I was sitting in clinic waiting for Dr Mario, and there was this old lady sitting on the bench too.  She was the most round Haitian woman I have seen yet :)  As we were sitting there, she leaned over and told me I shouldn't have my arms crossed over my preggo stomach.  I smiled and uncrossed my arms.  David and I decided she looked like she had the personality of "Queen Bee" and was used to having her many opinions obeyed :)  I didn't argue with her, but I wonder what her reasoning was....  Then a little later, I was talking to a hospital employee, holding my book, phone, and water bottle.  He advised me that I shouldn't put my phone next to my stomach.  Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!  I thought I'd have a few weeks yet before everyone started telling me that I should be wrapping my baby in sweaters, blankets, hats and socks, but I guess they found things I was doing wrong already :-P

Christmas Eve, and Orrin took two naps...yay!  Or maybe he's just getting sick again :(  I made supper while listening to people at church practicing for the Christmas Eve song service that night.  I finally realized I was hearing the same guy sing the same "Noel" song over and over again.  Then, I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I text David and told him I was going to turn into Scrooge if I had to hear that song one more time!!  I turned the fan up on high and tried to play my own Christmas music :)  After supper we went up to the hospital and sang Christmas carols, handed out blankets and prayed with patients.  Orrin went around bumping fists with some patients and saying "Bon swa" (good evening).  That got a lot of smiles.

When we got home, Orrin opened his presents.  We weren't quite ready to start yet, but Orrin pulled the tissue paper out of one of his gifts and saw the semi book inside, and he started going crazy.  "Semi!  Semi!  Semi!"  It was a book "Big Rig" that I had gotten from the library this summer and it was his favorite.  So I had to spoil him and buy it for him for Christmas.  We've been reading nothing else since :)  This summer we were at IKEA and bought Orrin a rug with buildings and roads printed on it.  We had it shipped down on the sea container this fall...how does that compare with overnight shipping from Amazon? :)

Christmas morning we Skyped with my parents, then called in to Forrest Church service.  That afternoon, all the families met at Lee and Desma Klopfenstein's for our Christmas dinner.  Inside it felt all Christmas-y, with a beautifully set table, lots of good food, a whole dessert spread, and christmas lights and music.  Outside, though, it was warm, sunny and breezy.  

The kids (and adults) took turns whacking on a homemade gecko pinata that was nearly impossible to break :)  

The afternoon was filled with visting and playing games, and we Skyped with David's family who was together for their family Christmas.  We were finally able to have empty enough stomachs to eat some chili for supper around 7.  Then some (ahem, smart people) went home, and some others stayed to play instruments and sing.  My Christmas was complete after we sang "Lo How a Rose Ere Blooming" and it was the best I've ever heard it sound.....  The music and singing sounded so beautiful it was hard to leave, but we did around 1030.  So much past our bedtime, we are such old people now :)

The next day we were dragging ourselves around (again, may I say we're pathetic? :) ), tired, and with a slight stomachache.  (I won't even tell how many honey butter dinner rolls I ate on Christmas.......) We are very thankful for the blessings of this holiday, even though it was different from others.  But, I guess it was better than Christmas on the ambulance, which is probably what one of us would have been doing were we home...

Now we are just on the countdown for January 10, (not so patiently) waiting for Baby Zimm to make it's arrival!  Trying to find fun things to do each day to make it pass quicker.   We're pretty much back to normal now...back to laundry and dishes, work, studying and changing diapers....  But let me just say.... anything that is below knee level now, will remain there until a future date when I can see my feet again :)  

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  LOVE TO ALL!!

Contract for a Soul

 When I take my language lesson, the thing I enjoy most is learning about Haitian culture.  There are some things I learn from the book, but other times I just ask our instructor a bunch of questions :)  Do kids not knock on the door before they come into your house??  What kind of toys do they have to play with?  Do people have running water in their houses?  I get a lot of interesting answers....maybe more on that some other time.....

So the other day, we were learning about the lottery in Haiti.  Falens said that a lot of people play the lottery, spending very little money to a lot of money at once.  They think they'll get rich, but it usually is a waste of money.  (Sounds the same as in the States!!)  Then he went on to explain about the numbers in the lottery system, and how sometimes if a person has a dream about an animal, they will find the number that animal represents and play that number in the lottery.  

Sometimes people will also go to the witch doctors to get winning lottery numbers.  The person will be able to win the lottery and make a lot of money, the problem is, they have to "sell their soul."  He explained how the person will make a contract with the witch doctor that they will win the lottery, but then they will die in a certain number of years.  Or in other cases, some may "sell" another person....their wife, someone they know....and after that period of time, that person will die.  "But," Falens said, "They can't make a contract for me, because I am a Christian, and the witch doctor can't have me."  Jesus is still stronger than the Devil!

It was crazy to hear him talk about this really happening, but he said Haitian culture is so full of voodoo.  And I got to thinking that really, we all make a contract for our soul, whether with God or with the Devil.  It may not be as stark as going to the witch doctor and selling your soul for a winning lottery number, but people all over the world do things in exchange for their soul all the time!

Thankfully, God also lets us make a "contract" with Him!  A few months ago, the pastor in church announced that the next weekend there was going to be baptisms of 15 people!  We were all excited to experience a Haitian baptism, so we got up early the next Sunday morning, and drove down to the river....

The line of people going to be baptized...dressed in white and black.

And everyone else following behind!

It was a beautiful day out, and it felt like we were back in Jesus' time when John the Baptist would baptize in the river!  The church members sang songs on the bank as the people would one by one go into the river to be baptized.  The pastor would talk with them and pray, and then they were baptized.  There were even a few little old ladies that were baptized that day!  It was really a neat experience and we are so glad we went!

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" 

Matthew 16:24-26

First Aid Class

A few weeks ago, David and I went to Cayes to teach a medical emergency first aid class to the MEBSH Construction group.  (Ok, David's the teacher....I was just the model for practice :) )  

This group takes long trips out into very remote areas of Haiti to build roofs for schools and churches.  In the event of an emergency, they have to figure out how to treat the injury, stabilize the patient, figure out what medical treatment facility options are available, and get the person there.  We went to refresh them on the basics of how to take care of a person who becomes sick or injured on a team.  We talked about heat emergencies, wound care, fractures, diabetic emergencies, allergic reactions....all sorts of stuff.  We did some hands-on practice too, teaching backboarding, blood pressures, how to use the AED, etc.  It was really fun for us to spend a few hours back in the emergency medicine mode....miss it so much!

David demonstrating the use of a c-collar and backboard with Brent.

We enjoyed spending the day with the construction group.  It was really fun!  

Agape Flights

Agape Flights is an organization that delivers mail and packages to missionaries in the Caribbean.  It's a super blessing for us to be able to receive mail and order things from the states that we need (or sometimes things that just remind us of home :) ).  We were really blessed to receive a turkey and a box of "fixin's" for Thanksgiving...donated by Agape!  I'm writing this post to say thanks to Agape for all they do for us, to those of you who have sent us letters in the mail already, and to make sure our address is out there in time for Christmas cards :)

Our address is:

C/O Agape Flights CAY 27783

100 Airport Ave

Venice, FL 34285

Normal mail is just a regular stamp, since it goes to Florida, and then we pay a flat fee to Agape no matter how much mail we get...so might as well use it ;)  Packages over 1 pound cost $4/pound to fly from Florida to Haiti, so we tend to think twice about what we send over.

We're looking forward to getting Christmas pics of you all, to remind us of friends and family back home.  We probably won't be sending out a normal Christmas pic this year...since it's a little more complicated to get it back the other direction....And with a new baby coming in January, Lordwilling, maybe we'll just email and post a Happy New Year pic later on!

Welcome

Last week we had the blessing of welcoming a new family to our Bonne Fin family!  We are so excited to have Kurt and Joan Platter and their children, Reggie, Toby, Hadley, and Brenna come join us in our work!  Orrin took to the kids right away, and they were running around the yard and rolling down the hills together :)  We had them over one evening for snacks, and enjoyed our time together.  We wish their family much grace and many blessings as they adjust to life here.  So thankful for God's working in their lives!

Another welcome blessing in our lives here was the experience of a REAL rainy season!!  Haiti has been in a severe drought, after having gone through several rainy seasons with virtually no rain.  But last week it started raining, and pretty much hasn't stopped :)  Even church was cancelled on Sunday because of the torrential downpour...we got 3 inches by 8am, and it rained hard all day.  (Think blizzard conditions for a comparison :) ).  So we put on our coats, raise our umbrellas, wish for boots, dry our laundry inside, and praise God!

“God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.” -Job 37:5-6

Language Lessons

David and I started language lessons with a Haitian man named Falens, who speaks very good English and is a great teacher.  We each have an hour lesson in the mornings M-F.  It has been nice that we know a little already, and aren't starting out knowing nothing, but we have a long ways to go!!!  The first week or two was kind of frustrating, for two reasons.  1 - I can't understand the difference in how they pronounce e, e (with accent), and en.  Or a, a accent, and an.  All sounds the same to me :(  And 2 - I have not known nor cared what a predicate or pronoun was since 8th grade English!!  David says he never did know what they were :)  So, after I got over my bad attitude of having to be back in school again, things seem to be going better.  It's really fun to see progress and have more words to use when talking to the people who come to my door, or who we see when we are out walking.  Makes it feel more like the lessons are working...and that's our main goal...to speak Creole!

Transition

Having been back in Haiti for about two weeks, we're getting settled back in.  The first few days were exhausting....hot, humid, tired from the trip, unpacking, and starting language lessons.  On Friday morning (three days after we got back), our sea container arrived, full of supplies for the hospital, and stuff for the families here.  We had lots of boxes, and unpacking and trying to organize took lots of time.

Then Saturday, we had a work team arrive from Rockville, CT.  David wasn't totally involved with this team, but still worked with them some.

Sunday we went back to Haitian church.  Orrin sat on my lap most of the whole time, mesmerized by the loud music and singing, the standing and sitting, the creole language, the Haitian people.  He made it partway through when I took him home for his nap.  We left right after church to go to Cayes to have an English AC church service with the people in Cayes.

We settled into more of a routine the next week....language lessons in the morning (more on that later), then David working in the afternoons.  I went to town grocery shopping on Friday, and Orrin stayed with Jami and kids while I was gone.  It was an arrangement enjoyed by both of us :)  I got to "get away" a little, and Orrin couldn't stop talking about how he "swim" at "Jami's house" and played in the "dirt" with the "dump truck".

Being back in our own house has given us the opportunity to do a little more disciplining (aka letting Orrin cry some things out a little).  He was very attached to his bottle and was very opinionated about it and what was in it.  So we made the rule that now it is only for night-night and he has to use a sippy cup for during the day.  A few time outs in his bedroom, followed by a little talk and praying together, and he seemed to get the message.  At first he would say "bottle" when I went to get him a drink, but he wouldn't fuss when I'd give him the cup.  And now, it seems to be a forgotten problem.  The same pattern seems to work when he's getting upset or not obeying.  He cries for a few minutes in his room, and when I go back there, immediately he takes my hand and says, "Pray."  Maybe he'd rather have the prayer than have to look me in the eye and listen to my lecture ;)

David has been working again on electrical problems...down to the hydro, installing a new generator, looking at wiring that has some problems....  We're trying to study, but sometimes it happens only in the mornings before our lessons, when we're trying to cram! :(

After living at someone else's house all summer and not having to cook much :-D I was afraid I was going to have to re-learn to cook again.  But I guess you don't forget totally, and we've been eating anyway.  We still have Madam Ino come cook us three lunches a week, and we eat the leftover rice and beans the next day for lunch too.  It's really nice :)

We brought lots of food with us, and so I've got a good selection of "american" food to work with for now, which makes things easier.  One night I pulled out a bag of blueberries from the freezer that we had brought with us.  Orrin saw it and was repeating "blueberries" over and over and over.  It's about all he would eat for supper.  Soon he had blueberry smeared all over his face, hands and chest.  David was trying to take a picture of him, when the kitchen timer went off.  David caught the look on Orrin's face at that instant.  It was priceless.

You mean that was the last blueberry!?

Yesterday, Orrin seemed to be totally used to Haitian church again.  He immediately wanted his toys and candy, and ignored most of what was going on around him.  After lunch, we went to the beach for a little relaxing, swimming and good lobster for supper.  Orrin really enjoyed the beach this time.  The waves were not huge, so he wasn't scared, and he had a new swim vest from his birthday that he used and was able to swim all by himself!!!

The transition seems to be going good overall.  I feel like I'm getting back into the routine, catching up on some sleep, and getting more energy back.  That's good, cuz now we have hills to climb again on our mountain in Bonne Fin!