Thank you so much for all of your kind words. I think I am realizing that no matter what the situation, life is just plain hard in Haiti. I can get overwhelmed easily and I need to try harder.
Yesterday (Monday) was another day of ups and downs. When I say that the ups definitely outweigh the downs. Anne and I spent much of the day waiting. As I have posted before, this is very common in Haiti. Gertrude was going to pick us up in the morning. Then she called and said she would be there by 2pm, she finally arrived at 4:00pm. We made the most of our time. We actually had lots of fun. We spent some time in the morning at the Heartline field hospital. It was fun for me to go and spend a little time with the patients. Many of them are our first patients that we saw after the earthquake. They were having so much fun gathered around watching the soccer game. It was fun to see them having so much fun together as a community. We also spent some time jumping on the trampoline with Rosemond and Emmanuel. I thought I was hot and sweaty before.
We then did a little damage shopping at the Heartline giftshop. The women sew beautiful purses and I think we purchased most of them!!. We pretended that we were out for the day shopping at Ridgedale!!
Gertrude and a car full of friends picked us up and we made our way to the orphanage. This is always a bittersweet place for me. I love being with the kids but I hate that they have to live in these conditions. I just think that every child should go to be at night knowing they are loved. I know this isn’t true for many kids around the world but it breaks my heart. I do know that Gertrude and the nannies love these children but I hope that they can feel the love.
We did get to spend time and play Uno with Rosie. She just arrived back in Haiti on Sunday. So fun to see her.
Anne and I were getting a little slap happy and when we were getting ready for bed we really got the giggles. We positioned our fans and were ready to crawl in for the night. We forgot to put on bug spray. Note to self, don’t put on bug spray in front of a oscelating fan. It tastes terrible and burns the eyes! It was fun to go to be laughing after a long day.
My friend Beth said today, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole
staircase. Just take the first step.” – Dr Martin Luther
Posted by Dorene McDougall on June 15, 2010 at 9:42 am
Ladies,
Love the up-dates. So happy that you can see so many dear ones, Joanna, and that Anne can share this time with you. We are praying for you two that you are comfortable and that you will have peace seeing all of these dear children of God and they knowing you care.
Dorene
Posted by Peter on June 15, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Had lunch today with Sarah and Melanie and they clued me in letting me know you were in Haiti again. Hope the trip goes well and I hope you can bring home your summer clothes.