A "Normal" Day

I thought it would be fun to share what a "normal" day in our lives is like.  

No two days are the same, but here's a general idea, based off of our day today :)

We wake up with the roosters (literally).  It's like old McDonald's farm here with 

roosters, chickens, goats and pigs running around.  Anyway, David gets up around 6 

and has his devotional time.  I wake up a little later :) and Orrin gets up usually around 

630 or 7.  This morning I had just gotten out of bed to pray when he woke up :( so I got him

 and brought him to our room.  He lay in bed for a few minutes and then saw my "hi" (phone)

on the nightstand and wanted to play with it.  That kept him occupied for a while.  

He likes to play his one game that is on the phone, but thankfully has been getting 

less attached to it the past few weeks.  I think he's getting bored with the one and only game.

Sometimes when I get the phone back, I find about 10 pictures of this: 

 Around 715 we ate breakfast (scrambled eggs and toast), and Orrin also had his first 

"apple" (banana) of the day.  David left around 730 for devotions at the hospital, then to

work when that was done.  He spent most of his morning in a meeting that happens once a week.

Other than that, a lot of times he is just fixing electrical and mechanical problems.

I do dishes (by hand, no dishwasher) and start a load of laundry.  

Today is dirty diaper day! 

Madam Ino (pictured below) comes to cook two days a week,

so she came around 830 this morning.  She set to work making lunch.

Orrin and I read books and did some cleaning until it was time for his nap,

around 930.  After he was sleeping, I went up to the hospital to do my little job.

I spend about an hour a day working on entering patient data into a spreadsheet.

It sounds maybe a little dry, but it does have benefits.  I go around to each of the wards

and look through the pt's charts, which gives me an opportunity to read the creole/french

and also to speak it a little with the nurses and doctors and patients.  

I was wondering how to use my time here as more outreach/ministry and not just 

computer work and dirty diapers :)  I bought a few Creole Bible story books and Bibles

and have been handing out the Bible story books to the kids that are there (along with some 

vitamins which they like too!)  It was probably my most exciting moment here when I 

handed out the story books and saw the looks of joy on the kids and their mom's faces.

And then when I came back the next day, one of the girls was reading hers :) 

May it bring forth fruit for the Kingdom!!

So, my hope is to give Bible story books to the children who come into the Hospital...

and I'm throwing this out as an opportunity if someone wants help with this...

if you would like to buy some Creole Bible story books for me to pass out,

visit  http://www.milestonebooks.com/item/41-x44-3/.  There is a shipment of various

things going down to the hospital in the next month or so.  I know Forrest plans to put

some clothing on this shipment, and so if you are interested in buying some books, maybe

they could be taken to the material aid center and placed in a box with my name on it, with the other items to be sent with the shipment.

When I came home, I worked on some cleaning.  Floors get swept every day here,

since the open windows create so much dust and dirt.  I'm sure it doesn't look like 

much, but that's one day and one room's worth of dirt :( Yuck!

When Orrin gets up, he has some snack (bananas are preferred, but raisins,

yogurt melts, pretzels, or such like will work).  He goes outside to play, and 

it works really well if the gates are locked so he can roam around in our nice big yard.

He is really getting to the age where he is entertaining himself !! Yay!!!  He likes to play

with rocks, and sometimes brings them into the house and dumps them all over.

(Wonder where my dirt comes from??)  

His other great thing to play with is keys and the padlock on the gate.  He could 

spend hours with it :)

David got back from his meeting around 1215, and we had lunch together.

Madam Ino had made rice and beans (like I have her make every day she comes :) )

along with some meatballs, some "spinich" with cooked carrots and tomatoes, and

fried plantains.  It was all really good!  And then she does dishes too!

All for $3.50-$4 a day!

After lunch, David and I do our language lesson on the computer.

Orrin runs around the yard some more :)

Madam Ino leaves around 2, and today, David had some work that

he needed help with, so Orrin and I left to help him for a little bit. 

Then it's take the laundry off the line (ahh, love warm weather), then

it's time for Orrin to get his afternoon nap.

This is when I get my computer stuff done, and finish up with

the spreadsheet that I don't get completely finished while I'm up at the hospital.

A lot of days, someone comes to the door wanting to sell something.

Sometimes its pineapple, tomatoes, eggs, beans, eggplant, bananas, you name it.

One time, a lady brought by a "yam" (pictured below).

I figured it would probably be like a sweet potato??

After she left, I took a picture and sent it to one of the other ladies 

who lives down here.  

"What did I buy??"
She said she didn't know...it's time for a cooking lesson :)

When Orrin wakes up, it's about time to wonder what's going to be for supper :(

He wandered around the yard again, and played with the neighbor boy for a 

while, then came in and wanted a snack.

For supper, I made some sweet potato casserole (no, actually not what is in the picture...

that was more of a real potato), 

and used the leftover meatballs from lunch.  Then cut up some fresh 

cabbage (I've never eaten so much cabbage in my life before I lived here!!) and 

made a cabbage salad with fresh Haitian carrots, green peppers and pineapple.

Then David got home a little after 5 and didn't think we had enough (ok, this is NOT part 

of a normal day, just today! ;) ) so we heated up some of the leftover rice 

and beans...no lunch for tomorrow anymore :)  And Orrin got another banana :)

After supper, it's wash dishes again.  

We live close to the Haitian church, and so some evenings we get

 to hear them sing.  That's nice :)

Some evenings we have meetings with the other missionaries

or with work teams that are here, but thankfully not tonight.

David said tonight he's going to read a book and relax...no more working!  

Orrin likes to read too :)  Actually, he LOVES to be read to.

We are going to have a bookworm on our hands someday!

David's reading and eating corosol slush, kind of the Haiti version of ice cream

made from a fruit.  Orrin is liking to steal bites too.  I am finishing this blog, and

maybe we will get to skype with grandpa and grandma before Orrin gets his 

bottle, reads his books, says his prayers, and goes to bed.  

Because before you know it, the roosters will be up again.