Marie Lourdes and Easter

Last year at about this same time, I got a surprise visit from my Seguin friends, Marie Lourdes and Emmanuel. It was the day before Easter, and they came to get medical attention for Marie Lourdes, who suffers from a lot of health problems. They stayed a couple of days and got some tests done and some medicine. This past year, we've worked with Kyle and Dr. Jim and come up with what we thought were some solutions to Marie Lourdes' health problems. But, as things often turn out here in Haiti, our plans didn't shape up as we'd expected them to. Marie Lourdes got pregnant with twins. So, once again, it's Easter time, and this year, instead of a visit, I got a phone call from Emmanuel. "Marie Lourdes pa bon, mis". (Marie Lourdes isn't good). After asking about the situation, I found out that Emmanuel took Marie Lourdes to the hospital in Jacmel because of some pregnancy related issues. Danny went to visit Marie Lourdes and passed me around on the phone to her and the doctor (it's really good to have him back in Haiti and free!) It appears that she will have a c-section soon. This isn't great news, since the twins aren't due for at least another month. Please pray for Marie Lourdes, Emmanuel, their unborn twins, and their six children on the mountain that are awaiting their return.

Too Old to Blog?

Has it really been three months since I've blogged? Many people accuse me of being a "bad blogger", and I admit it, I am. My sister has a theory behind this. She says that I'm too old to correctly blog. I missed the window of good bloggage by a couple of years. This might be very true. For instance, I had no idea that if a person doesn't blog once every couple of weeks, people get tired of looking at the site and will stop following the blog. Hmmm. So I guess once every three or four months is probably bad, then. Interesting. Once again, I'm resolving to blog more often. We'll see if I'm able to stick to that.

I'm trying to remember what happened in our lives these past three months. Titus got bigger and started thinking about rolling over, every once in a while. Nora didn't gain any weight, but she grew up into a little girl who uses words and likes winnie the pooh and hangs out with the kids in the neighborhood when they come to wash the car or pick mangoes from the trees. Ryan and I got sick and had to cancel a long-awaited trip to Seguin at the end of March. I am hoping to reschedule and make it up there before our trip to the States this summer. It seems there's always something keeping us from visiting friends in Seguin. Thankfully, my Seguin friends have come to visit me recently. Margarethe spent a few days at our house during Mardi Gras. She brought her three kids and her sister, as well as a bunch of produce and a live chicken. She asked me whether I would like to cook it or if I wanted her to. It was a joke, though, since she knows what live chicken tastes like when I butcher and cook it (a little like jerky, but not as moist). She and her sister made us a great haitian meal. We had a good time talking and catching up, although I had an emergency at the clinic come up which kept me running and cut down on our "girl time". Her kids enjoyed the gadgets and toys at our house. The swings, blocks, and dvd player were their favorites. Sonson will be nine years old this summer. Craziness! My sister is right... I'm OLD! He is growing up into a great kid, and Joseph is really fun to have around, as well. Margarethe's little girl, Marie Phara, is talking and potty trained. I tried to get Eleanor to learn some skills from her, but I don't think it worked. The same weekend that Margarethe visited, we also got a visit from Chrisnet and his wife. They and their four girls are doing well. Chrisnet's wife, Dieula, needed some reading glasses so Ryan hooked her up with some. I can't believe Chrisnet still thinks of me as a friend, after I nearly ended his life in a watery grave in the river all those years ago, but forgiveness is his specialty.

The formula fund is alive and working well in Seguin. A haitian man named Qasim is in charge of it, and administering it well. I would post some pictures of the kids on the program, except that Qasim's flashdrive has too many viruses and crashed my computer last time I tried to download some pictures from it! There are two girls here in Christianville that I see regularly who have benefited from the formula we give out at the clinic here. One is a little Down's Syndrome girl who was found under a bridge in Carrefour at four months old. She is now 2 and has just learned to walk, which made her caregivers so happy. The other is a little girl born the same week as my Nora, named Isabella. I don't ever see her in the clinic anymore, because she's too healthy. I see her in church, though, and I can tell from the noise and disruptions she makes that she is doing just fine!

The boys in the Jacmel Boy's Home are hanging in there. They have gone through a hard year with many changes and stressors, including Danny's imprisonment. They were overjoyed, like the rest of us, to see him freed. They are doing well in school and we are able to see them every month or so. I think even Jackie will be taller than me soon.

For those of you who stuck with this blog, despite its disuse, I thank you. And maybe I'll even post something new next week....