Answers to our Prayers

Here's a little of what's been going on in relation to our last post of prayer requests:

Test. David's recert test went really good!  We went to Peoria and dropped him off, met my parents and Emily and kiddos and went to the Peoria Zoo together.  As soon as we got there, David called and said he was done!  Getting done so quick is a good sign...it's about impossible to fail that quickly :)  So, yes, he did pass!  Now he gets to relax for another year or so before worrying about it again...

Elections.  Haiti had their first round of Presidential elections resulting in two candidates.  From what I've heard, people have good hope for the options.  It seems like there are an increasing amount of demonstrations around this time, which seem to be connected to politics, if timing is any indication.  We get emails from the US Embassy about where the demonstrations are and I've been getting one or two a day for the past month now.  We went through one or two demonstrations on our way back from Port au Prince to Bonne Fin, but it wasn't bad other than slowing us down a bit.  We got in the middle of one, which is not something we like to happen, but it was not violent and we got through ok.  I'm thinking they will continue until the final elections, and probably after.  Just hope and pray it doesn't escalate.

Kids sleeping.  We weren't sure how arrange this, but it worked out pretty good.  Cassia got the spare room and the pack-n-play, and Orrin got the floor of our closet :-D  He was close enough to feel secure, but in his own "room" so that we didn't wake him when we came in at night.  And it was sure nice to have grandparents who got Cassia when she wanted to be an early bird!  This momma is going through serious withdraws!!  Thankfully, the transition back has been going pretty good and they've been sleeping good.

Our Furlough.  I think this was our best one yet.  We decided we wanted to be Professional Furlough-ers.  :)  It was so nice.  We scheduled ourselves a lot more "down" time this time, and are learning to be more intentional with the time we had.  There were a lot of fun times.  And a lot of meaningful times.  We enjoyed being able to share about the hospital with some of you when we were back.  I hope you now know more about it!

Here are some pics of some of the good times we had on furlough:

"Playing" on construction equipment at Steidinger's one day.  We missed harvest and a combine ride by about a week, but I think this made up for it!!

Our trip to the Peoria Zoo

We took the kids to Champaign for a day, did some shopping and saw the ambulance.  We also checked out a small children's science museum.  It was so perfect for Orrin!  He had such a great time!

We enjoyed being back in the States for fall.  We had some nice fall days and went on walks and to the park.  We also enjoyed other States things...ate out lots, made "carpet" angels when we felt mom's new carpet, drank lots of milk, enjoyed the use of a dishwasher, flat roads, and used some of those long-sleeve clothes!

Visiting U Joel at his job at Route 24!!!

Orrin with Cole and Addi on Halloween.  He wasn't too sure of the beard :)

We visited our old neighborhood with Trent and Tiffany and kids, and then went to see Grandma.  It was fun to see the cute outfits and Orrin thought the getting candy stuff was alright!

We enjoyed different times with David's family, and one night with all of us together for supper.

We spent a week in Iowa, and Grandma Luthi, Sheryl, and Galen came down for the weekend too.  Orrin enjoyed all the toys and knew exactly where to find them :)

Orrin was more interested in raking leaves than in jumping in them.  If only we can keep that work ethic up :)

Last furlough I told Orrin that maybe someday we can go on a train ride when we come back to Grandma Gerst's.  He never forgot that, and we planned and talked for weeks about our train ride.  We got on at Burlington and rode a half hour to Mount Pleasant, which was about enough for Orrin since it was dark and hard to see anything outside.  As soon as we got on, he started asking for a drink.  I was an unprepared mom and didn't have any.  He really wanted to know when they were going to bring him a drink.  Pretty sure this guy is used to airline service and was waiting for the stewardess to come bring him a pop!

At the end of the train ride, we met up with Nola, Bill and Judy, Karla, and Grandma and ate at Pizza Ranch.  It was a good night.  It was also good to spend a little normal time with Grandma during our time there.  Before we left to go back to Illinois, she went into the hospital with kidney failure, and has since been moved to the Hospice House.  I think she has been showered with company, cookies, and love, which is so good.  I've been able to talk to her on the phone, and on Skype.  It's special to hear all the people who do a little something extra...a church group cooked a Thanksgiving meal, people bringing food, some young men from church came to sing one evening....Thanks to everyone who has taken time out and done a little something for our family during this time.

Haha, thought this one was too good not to share :)

The Hospital.  Day to day, things have continued on.  It seems like morale has been really good recently, and we're so thankful for that!!  One day when we were on furlough, we heard that our inpatient census number was 104 patients - and our capacity is 106!!!  It didn't stay that way, but wow!  That's incredible!




We were also blessed to be able to go to the Hospital Lumiere Auction.  We met with Eric and Jami beforehand, and were able to spend a little time with them, which was so good.  Then we saw so many people at the auction that we've gotten to know from being here at the hospital.  It was great to see so much support.  And it was so touching to watch as people bid on items.  Especially when the auctioneers asked for those who would give $1,000 to run the OB ward, and to hear all the numbers read off.  When they asked for $500 bidders, I lost count between 25 and 30 numbers.  And when they read off those who gave $100, the person writing couldn't keep up.  I know a lot of people asked me if I heard how much was raised, so the numbers I heard was around $191,000 that one night.  Thanks so much to everyone who gave that night and those who give throughout the year.  Even with this and with what patients pay for their care, we will still need several hundred thousand more for the next year's operation.

Language.  I was hoping that we wouldn't forget Creole while we were away, and it seems like it's gone pretty good getting back in.  It was nice to have a break and speak only English for a month.  I just realized how much energy it takes to think about what words you need to put in sentences to talk in another language.  Sometimes you just don't say what you would normally say because it's too much work...and then you find out that you got by alright by just not talking so much :)  Maybe by the end of this I'll learn how to not talk so much.....  The week we got back, we were able to learn more about communication...this time about communication in times of tough conversations.  A few people from ACCFS (Apostolic Christian Counseling and Family Services) came and had a few topics they shared with us.  The one was a class called Crucial Conversations.  Very good info that should help us in our communication in English or Creole!

We were really excited to travel back to Haiti with Dad and Mom Z.  Dad went to Dumay for the week to prep for the winter work project, and Mom came and spent time with us!!  We had a lot of fun and hopefully this was the most painful part of her time with us :)