Dumay the Third

For the third year in a row, we made it to Dumay to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma Zimm!  David had his first solar install team here and was super busy, and so the kids and I left early to avoid going crazy :) We got in on Tuesday, then David came Saturday.  This year we got to spend two weeks so that was really great!

Dumay seems to be a language gauge each year...it's kind of fun to be able to remember a specific time each year and see how we've gotten better.  My goal from last year was to be fluent by the time we hit Dumay #3, but I'm afraid we're not quite there yet.  If it's a conversation between me and someone else, I can usually follow most of what's being said.  But if it's long (no pauses) or between two or more other people...I'm still lost most of the time.  I think the next step is to work on just thinking in Creole, not trying to translate it into English to understand what's being said.  One thing that's been good for me was when someone related language learning to a puzzle....at first you have all these random pieces that you start putting together...it's so fragmented and unrelated, slow and frustrating.  But then the closer and closer you get to being done, the faster it is to find those missing pieces.

We got in on a lot of celebrations this year, including Dad Z's 60th birthday, and Dad and Mom's 40th anniversary (on an island in the Caribbean no less! :D )

The first week was a really big team, and there were lots of projects going on:  work on a church in Tahmazoo about an hour and a half away, building trusses at the compound to be taken out to the church, putting up a house and roofing it, getting a house built for a man who will be taking care of raising chickens, working with his well, putting together a solar power system to be able to run the well for the chickens, lots and lots of painting, and finally trying to figure out WHY the radiator cap was off of the generator.  ("Yes, yes, it will be back tomorrow.")  I don't think it ever showed back up, and we had quite the power issues through the weeks. :)  Anyway, this big group got a lot of work done, and we had a lot of fun seeing people we knew and making new friends!!

Matt made his signature thin pancakes for breakfast several times, and always made a special Mickey Mouse one for Orrin.  He was a little zoned out this morning :)  A month or so before, we told Orrin that we would make him pancakes for breakfast if he sleeps in his own bed all night long (no sneaking in in the middle of the night) because he wanted pancakes every morning, and it seemed like a good bribe.  It took a few nights, but it finally worked.  One time we had some company overnight, and he was wailing because he was going to have to sleep in our room and he wouldn't get pancakes in the morning :)  We were really enjoying making pancakes every morning, but in Dumay he slept with me in a bunk bed for two weeks, and he still got pancakes in the morning, so we're in the middle of retraining again.

So beautiful!

The chicken house with solar panels!

Orrin doing his "tricks".  This boy loves to be upside down :-P

One day some of the guys needed to go into town for some supplies, so I went along to translate.  I don't know that I was terribly helpful, but we did find what we needed, and as usual it took alll day.  We even found a solar store that was right by the hardware store that we normally go to.  It was a really good find, and they even delivered the stuff all the way out to Dumay the next day.

Saturday we went back into Port to get some more supplies and pick up David.  We got ready to leave, but we couldn't for about an hour because the bus was stuck behind a padlocked fence, and Tutu had went off to Tahmazoo with the keys.  Does Claude have keys?  No, Claude does not have keys.  Does Pastor Nathan have keys?  (Wait 10 minutes).  Can someone please find Pastor Nathan!?!?  Finally Ted got a really good idea and just pulled the gate off its hinges and moved it out of the way.  Now we could get on our way :)



We picked up David, and did our shopping.  Here are two shopping scenarios that we had that day:

The first was the hardware store.  We found some of our stuff.  Do you have electrical boxes?  The ones that belong right here??  No, we're out.  You don't have any in the back?  No, we ordered them but they're not here yet.  (Slight wail)  I miss Menards!!  We get up to the checkout and they work on ringing us up.  The lady looks at one item and it doesn't have a sticker.  She asks us how much it is.  We don't know.  Why would we know?  So evidently it is our job to go find out.  While David is checking that out, the cashier starts ringing up the things of the people in line behind us.  David gets back with a piece of paper.  We wait until the people behind us finish paying, and then we can finish checking out.  (What!?)

We went across the street to a new supermarket, called Giant.  It was simply amazing.  We could not believe our eyes when we walked in.  It was so beautiful.  And so clean.  And so bright.  And had so much good food.  Apples.  Lettuce.  Avocados the size of watermelons.  Ice cream.  Steak.  Spinich dip and tortilla chips.  More than 6 options of cereal.  Did I say it was beautiful??

David got in on some work on Claude's house, and we had fun putting a roof on it.

Cass was giving Grandma snuggles, and she started blinking before I took the picture to avoid the flash :)

Yeah, the kids got a little spoiled by all the candy and grandparents :)

Matt and Cassia, off to work!

Cassia wanted to be outside allll the time (as usual), but she kept picking up rocks and eating them.  And she wasn't walking yet, so this was not so great.  Finally she just got stuck in the pack n play outside where she could watch all the people going to work, and the kids going off to school.  Orrin thought it looked fun and joined her.

The kids also got to interact with the local kids a lot.  Mom said, the kids kept asking "Is Orrin coming?" before we got there.  White babies are a novelty there :)  Orrin got a little cranked about all the kids touching him, but sometimes he could play without getting upset.  One day some kids came back from school early.  It must be the time of the school year to send kids home if they aren't paid up.  They sat with us on the guest house porch and wrote english words in chalk.  I think they got a good lesson for the day, even if it wasn't in school.  Here are a bunch of kids all looking at Cassia through the door at the guest house :)

The trusses got finished, and then came the problem of how to get them taken out all the way to Tahmazoo.  First was the loading process, which was a lot of fun :)

The guys spent a lot of time getting the load stabilized and supported.  It was loaded in the church yard, but the truck was pointed right when it needed to go left to get onto the road.  Unfortunately, the driver got both of his back tires into the little drainage ditch running along the road at the same time, instead of backing up and taking it at an angle.  It didn't work out.  The truck got stuck good and tight.  There was a lot of effort put into getting it unstuck, and after about an hour, it was on the way.  It was a slow trip, but all trusses made it out to Tahmazoo safely.

The second week work team.  This week was a lot smaller, but continued on with most of the previous week's projects.  Some of the team came in later on in the week, to come to the Bethel Church conference.  The conference went on for about four days and was a really big event for the community!  Our church ministers came and shared a lot of topics from the Word during the day. In the evenings, there were services with a lot of singing and a sermon.  The choir (which has grown to about 120 people) sang the Hallelujah Chorus.  It was so amazing.



Although we never personally made it out to the Tahmazoo church, here is what it looked like in the process.  A big ol' project!!



This week, the chicks came!!  Cassia loves chickens, and so she was pretty excited to watch them.

We didn't have as much fresh fruits this year, but we did get some good mangoes.  After cutting them up to serve for dinner, we left some of the pits for the adventurous to eat "the Haitian way."

There's a big fence going up around the property (in the background) and these guys were working on making a gate to put in.  They said there's a reason they're farmers, not carpenters :)  Everyone got to use their talents, and some people used talents they didn't know they had ;)

The church got painted, and David was chosen to paint the top part and the cross.  David says this picture looks like something you'd find on a redneck site :)

One night some kids came back by the fence behind the guest house and just sat down and watched us.  David thought it would be a good idea to show them how funny this was by going over and just sitting in front of them.  Matt joined him and so they sat and looked at each other for a while :)

Sunday was the big day of the conference.  Everyone was dressed up to a "T".  These kids are some that usually come to the guest house after church.  They were all so dressed up.  Then there's Orrin :)

My goal for the trip was that Cassia would learn to walk by herself.  Little stinker has been able to for so long, but she was scared to let go of my finger.  She finally performed for the grandparents, and she figured out she loves the freedom!

May We Bloom

Soon before David and I were engaged, I was talking to someone who had moved when she got married (and so, knowing I may be getting married and moving soon, of course I was all ears to what she was saying).  Over the years, I may have the direct quote wrong, but it went something like this... "The first year you survive, the second you put down roots, and the third, you bloom." 

I feel like there's a lot of truth to that. The first year I kind of wandered around Illinois trying to figure out how to get to the hardware store without a map, and some days the  change from the familiar to the unfamiliar (even in little things like what they called a serving bowl!) was difficult.  Putting down roots took a while, getting to know soooo many new people, starting a new job in a new community... Then there was the day I got a text from one of my new friends announcing the arrival of her baby. It was a small, but oh so normal friend thing to do :) And I realized that things had become really good without me realizing it.

In Haiti, and I think we followed the pattern again.  How long did we take that dictionary to the door whenever there was a knock? And it took so long to be able to figure out basic things again...driving, shopping, locations, friends.  Then we put down roots, made friends, had a baby here, created relationships, began to be able to communicate on more than a 3 year old level.  

In January on Cassia's first birthday, we marked the beginning of our third year here. I'm really hoping the pattern continues and that the "blooming" will come, that the beauty is unfolding. Not that the first things are bad...putting down roots and growing have been good, have been necessary, but I'm ready for it to get "easier."  We ask for your prayers in this coming year... that our relationships, our language, our sense of belonging, our love for others, our understanding of culture and the life situations of those around us, our compassion, our discernment .... will bloom.

One Year in Pictures

A year ago on January 11, we met our little Cassia Morgan for the first time.  It was a wonderful day with great memories.  Wow, how much they grow in a year!

3 Days Old

6 Weeks

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

1 Year Pictures:

 Hahaha :)

For her birthday, we Skyped with the grandparents...sang a "round" of Happy Birthday with the delay, and watched her destroy a cupcake :)

The little miss is a small thing...about 17 pounds, ranking about 15% for weight and 10% for height.  She's pretty happy most of the time, as long as she is rested, fed, and being walked around outside :)  She sometimes sleeps through the night - 7:30-6:30, which is really nice when it happens!!  She likes to give kisses and roughhouse with Orrin, and pretends to talk on the phone (her arm).  She generally seems to *maybe* be a little more calm than her brother, but I think it will be a few years before she sits and crochets for hours :)

Adventure

It started out a normal trip to Cayes, looking forward to long, hot, stressful, and slow business. But things went a little different than planned...

It was just our family, and we headed down the mountain around 10am.  Cassia fell asleep before we got on the road.  We stopped at the chicken farm and bought two flats of eggs.  About 10 minutes further down the road, the gravel ended and the hard road of Cavillion started.  There were rocks across half of the road, with enough room for the vehicle to go by on one side.  Apparently there had been some small demonstrating/blocking going on recently.  After driving through town, we turned onto the main highway, but traffic was stopped.  It's not totally unusual, as this is a fairly busy town, and lots of buses, motos, and tap-taps come through here and lots are making stops.  There are roadside vendors, and people walking along the roads trying to sell things we would recognize as peanut brittle or tortillas.  There was an older man in a black suit with a crutch - sometimes he used it to walk, and other times he carried it and waved it at vehicles - who was trying to help direct traffic.  But there was no place to go, so we hung out for a bit.  A few minutes later and a truck with speakers in the back went across the road, with a large group following, some waving branches in the air.  Ok, that was the hangup, now we were moving.

We had only driven 100 yards before someone stepped in front of our vehicle and told us to stop.  A motorcycle pulled in front of us and stopped there.  Then a group of guys came up by the drivers side and we saw they had spray paint.  It was all kind of unreal.  Why?  It didn't make any sense.  They appeared to be painting on the vehicle, and of course David was super calm (as always) and kept telling me to quit reaching over and blasting the horn.  A moment later, one of the guys in the group apparently noticed the Hospital Lumiere sticker on the side of the vehicle and motioned to the other guy.  He stopped painting and looked over.  They let us go through.  About a mile out of town, we pulled over, told Orrin to not get out of the vehicle, and went to work on the spray paint with some baby wipes and a plastic card.  I was shaking from frustration, the adrenaline letdown, and probably fear.  Speeches of what I wanted to say to those guys ran through my head, and I wondered if pepper spray would be a Christian thing to do or not...

We got most of the paint off, and cooled down.  It still didn't make sense.  What did they think they were doing?  Don't they get that they're hurting their own country when they do things like this?  It makes it unstable and people or businesses aren't going to want to come here and things aren't going to get better.  But we don't understand what it's like to be in their situation, or feel a complete lack of control in life.

We got to Cayes and got our business done, actually really fast.  It was really not hot out (must be this nice winter weather) and we found a new place to eat...an outdoor cafe where the kids could run around and play while we waited for our food.  There was a kitty who really wanted us to feed him, and Cassia wanted to chase.  And the food was really, really good.

As we were driving through Cayes, we saw a bus at the gas station that had recently come through Cavillion, evidenced by the bright red "Viv (someone)" painted across the side.  The bus driver was standing outside looking at the sign, and didn't look to thrilled.  In the recent election, Cavillion's candidate lost to Bonne Fin and so the Cavillion supporters didn't want to go down easy.

We drove out to the airport to pick up our packages from Agape flights.  Orrin and Cassia both fell asleep on the way there, which was good as we had to wait about an hour for plane to arrive, unload, and get our stuff.  David talked to some others waiting there, and one family from the area said that they had come through Cavillion a few days before, returning from Port au Prince, and had had all of their tires on their vehicle slashed.  Ah, that's encouraging news.  It was then that we made the final decision to not go back that way on the way home.  

The only problem with that was there is no other way home...well, no other way that we knew how to get there anyway.  We knew you could take a road off of the airport road, and it would come out somewhere on the Bonne Fin road, but in between was a mystery.  We had some more errands to run, and picked up our letter mail in Citi Lumiere after it had been sorted.  We had picked up some chicken at a roadside stand, and ate that in the vehicle before heading out.  

It was about 5 and still light out when we left Cayes.  There was beautiful landscape that we hadn't seen before.  Super lush plains with so many crops...it was refreshing to see.  Clouds heavy with rain hung low over the green mountains, and we went past a swamp-like pond in a valley.

After about 15 minutes, we turned off the highway onto a road that was gravel and soon turned to red clay, with a few hairpin curves.  We were behind a dump truck, so we knew if he could get through, we should be able to too.  

David had his GPS on, and when he looked at it, it looked like a spider's web with all the roads and branches between here and the BF road.  We went through town after town, some had beautiful churches and buildings, and there was usually a fork in the road where David had to choose one or the other.  He couldn't believe that he stayed on the road on the GPS spot on...whoever put these roads on a GPS anyway?  And how in the world was there utility power all the way out here in the boonies??  We pretty much followed the power lines for a long ways...it got dark, Cassia fell asleep.  We came to a spot where the road trailed off in one direction, and the other direction looked like it fell off into a creek.  David got out to look and talk to some people who were by the water.  They said vehicles could go through, so we tried it.  Not like we had any other choice...besides going back to Cayes and that was not exciting prospect.  We kept waiting for the dirt road to end somewhere and we'd have to do that very thing.  But it didn't, and we got through the water ok.  After lots and lots of winding around, we finally came out on a main rock road...the Bonne Fin road!  Never had David been so glad to see that bouncy, pot-holed road!  Over two hours since leaving Cayes, we made it home...so so so glad to get back to our mountain :)