Celebrations and Frustrations

The days can really get away from you here in Haiti...well, at least here at the Mission of Hope. We are finding it a struggle to seperate our work and home life. Between the community living and having "after hours" responsibilities when teams are here, it is a new experience for us. Our kids are loving it. They have freedom to move around and interact with lots of people. They are picking up the language amazingly fast. Even Riley speaks a neat mixture of English and Creole when we are at home. The girls are even trying to teach the dog some of her basic commands in Creole. We celebrated Maddy's 13th birthday this past weekend. She chose a day at the beach so 15 of us climbed in the old school bus and spent Saturday at the beach. Followed by an evening of junk food, cake and Guitar Hero. It was a great day overall. I (Sandy) have been fighting a nasty bug for the past 2 weeks which has left me without much strength or energy. The doctor here is trying to find the right medication and the right dosage to help but so far nothing has worked. I've spent a lot of time in bed which is OK at first but gets pretty annoying after a few days. I have watched almost 2 seasons of "Lost" just to have something to do when I'm not sleeping. As a wife and Mom, I also deal with the guilt issues of my family having to fend for themselves. The girls have been a great help to Grant (when he can "motivate" them!). Needless to say, Grant is feeling the stress right now. While his "job" is exciting at times, right now it is most stressful. There was a delay in getting some paperwork when the ambulance arrived so even though it is here on the mission, we have not been able to take it on the road as of yet. This was a frustration for Grant just yesterday when he had to put a motorcycle accident victim with a head injury in the back of a pickup truck for the 45 minute drive to the hospital. Then he was stuck in town for most of the day as the driver had other stops to make. Please pray for a quick resolution to the paperwork issues. We need that ambulance on the road! Grant has been able to use the ambulance a couple of times though. This picture shows a pregnant woman who was severely short of breath. She had shown up at the front gate after clinic hours so the guards called and Grant and his interpreter, Billy, drove the ambulance down to the patient. They were able to treat her in the "mobile" clinic and send her home.

Don't get me wrong, there have been more celebrations than frustrations. We truly believe we are where God wants us to be. We never thought it would be easy...things that are important rarely are. We are having some amazing experience and learning lots. We miss all of you at home and thank you for your prayers and support.

P.S. All our love and best wishes to Ryan and Nikki this Saturday as they celebrate their wedding. We wish we could be there. Know that you are in our thoughts, prayers and in our hearts. We love you!