Catching Up

June 6, 2007

It’s hot today; upwards of 95F and humidity as high or higher. Today we went to share soccer equipment that Adam had purchased for the school associated with the church here in Dessalines. No need to attempt to explain how excited we made that place with just a couple hundred dollars worth of soccer gear! We were told there would be an organized match played in our honor over the weekend; they were ecstatic!

Hospital has been painted outside completely; new window glass ordered where needed and will be delivered on Saturday – everything has to come from PAP; it’s over 3.5 hours away! We have started the inside and have finished the pediatrics ward; have first coated part of the ICU as well as two additional smaller rooms. Tomorrow is a Haitian holiday of some sort and we should be able to move quite quickly if not having to accommodate constant patient arrival and departures – its hard to tell how many Haitians have white and/or green stripes on them somewhere!

Little Fanya is doing well these last several days; I don’t believe she has been subjected to the beating I witnessed prior to my earlier email to you since I asked you all to pray for His plan for her life. She is a constant encouragement to us and sings to herself virtually all day as she goes about completing her chores for the day. She is truly a flower among a group of thorns and has no place in the family she resides with at this time.

I went to the market today for pictures and audio and was excited about what I was able to record both visually and through the audio recorder loaned to me. I was so encouraged that I intend to just keep recording and let Paul assist me in getting it transferred to my computer for including with my yet-to-be-created DVD of our trip. Hopefully, sufficient numbers of the files I have attempted will be of a quality that can be used; getting the recording levels accurate here is virtually impossible for the neophyte – there are extremes almost by the minute here and one can only attempt to anticipate what might come next.

We are closing in on our stay here and Jane has been asked if she would consider an additional month; please pray with us that God would make it clear as to her next steps. I am probably off to Singapore immediately after returning home and perhaps on and off for the remainder of the summer assuming my security clearance comes through from the White House.

It is tough for us to be so engrossed in our daily activity and not feel the absolute needs of the moment. The hospital is coming along nicely; there are training needs in virtually every corner and hardly anything is off limits. With the staff available to them it will be years of training to accomplish a self-sustaining mode of operation.

A huge cheer has just gone up outside (usually means the city electricity has come back on for the evening) and we have discovered that Haiti is playing Guatemala in the CONCACAF GOLD CUP soccer match. These folks may not have a lot but what they do have in the way of athletics they are most passionate.