Welcome Home!

It was heavenly to have my hubby back. The boys were just as excited as I was, even though they barely recognized his thin and grizzly new look. It was such a happy reunion. He had so many amazing experiences and so many gorgeous pictures to share...I have loved listening to him give chats and firesides. The stories are incredible and compelling and make you want to be better, more giving and more appreciative for the abundance we all have. If you would like him to come talk to your social, school or church group he would love to. He wants as many people as possible to feel a tie to the Haitian people, and hopefully be willing to help and give to make things better for a nation that has suffered so greatly, so just let us know if you are interested!

Haiti Day Eight

So, I almost lost it today. Little did I know how emotionally spent I am. I returned to University of Miami's hospital today and again helped out in the adult ward. The children's ward is cute but heart wrenching when they get operated on. I was catching up with all of our PT patients for the first half of the day. The second half of the day I worked with a doctor and a nurse updating patient charts and changing IV's.

It all came to a head when we started working with the patients who have spinal cord injuries. The first patient was great news. He could move his toes and feet and even though he was in an incredible amount of pain he looked extremely hopeful.

The next patient was the heart breaker. The doc started telling this young kid in his early twenties that he had a severe spinal cord injury and only had a 5% chance of walking again after his surgery. He looked at me with this blank stare and then began to tear up. I was taken back because I figured he already knew this since he'd been in the hospital for a week. Then he started begging with me to fix him. He said he had a child and a wife that he needed to care for and he couldn't be handicapped. I turned to the doc and said, “Doc, this is the first time this patient has received this news.” She was surprised too but we had to continue. She explained to him that she would work with him to get him accustomed to the new lifestyle. I had to bite my lip a few times but I told him over and over again that he couldn't lose hope and he had to have faith that he would be okay.

The rest of the day was draining but rewarding, but after that encounter I had to walk outside of the hospital and take a breather for a little bit. I'm so glad we are here but never imagined what this was really going to be like.

Haiti Day Seven

I decided to shower last night rather than post. Sorry. I'm only showering every three days so it’s a big deal.

Right now I'm sitting in a typical Haitian blokis (traffic jam) that won't go away anytime soon because this 4 lane two way main boulevard has just turned into a 4 lane one way nightmare. The best part is that we're right across from the main outdoor market and all the foods mixed with burning garbage combine for quite the sensory overload.

Yesterday I assisted Dr. Matt Huish for the second day at Miami's field hospital and we continued our rehab therapy with our same group of 25 patients. 7 of them have lost a limb, one is a 60 year old with two broken legs, one is a complete headache but we help her still because we love her, several have multiple fractures, and one guy is so weak that when we helped him walk with his crutches for about 20 yards he told me he was getting light headed and then proceeded to faint on me. Dr. Huish said it was a good thing he has someone to speak the language or he never would have known that was coming.
A quarter of the patients live outside of the actual hospital building in tents, two patients to a tent, and have to do their rehab in the burning sun. I spent the entire day encouraging some, aggressively convincing some of the stubborn ones, and telling all of them to not lose hope. The best part of the long day was towards the end when I'd been joking around with a group of the patients and an older gentleman came over and said thank you for the joking around because it lifts everyone's morale. That's all I needed to keep me going the rest of the day.

When we first arrived at the Univ. of Miami's hospital in the morning I spoke with a security guard from Delmas. He was a good looking intelligent kid who was about 21 years old and his name is Stanley. Stanley was only 1 year away from graduating with an education in statistics and was going to work for the government and be able to do some good. He is strong but humble. He has excellent ideas for changing the country and moving it forward. Unfortunately, now he won't be able to complete his studies because like so many other schools his was damaged and completely destroyed. The saddest part though was that he lost his best friend of 15 years in the earthquake. They were out in the street together and a wall fell on his friend and killed him instantly. He said what made it worse was that he couldn't bury him properly. Because of the magnitude of the devastation he was forced to bury his friend right there rather than having someone else come by and burn his body along with the hundreds of others. To see the sadness in his eyes as recounted the experience to me broke my heart. I asked him how hard it’s been without him and he told me that he can't ever be alone because he'll start to remember him. He thinks if him every day and every night. The loss here is unimaginable. I told a mother the other day that I don't know what I would do if I lost one of my boys. Thank goodness for the gospel.

Today was much if the same with a twist. About 20 of our team members came down with some heavy sicknesses. By the end of the day one person was flown to Miami, 12 were on IVs and the rest of us are praying that we don't get hit with it. I'm praying that I remain healthy. Thank you for your prayers. I was at General Hospital translating for an Army Lieutenant and a Doctors without borders doctor. Tomorrow I head to a new hospital downtown!
Love from Haiti.

On the Home Front

It's been just over one week and the good news is we are surviving. The first few days were horrible...I'll be honest. I couldn't sleep or stop missing him. I'd cry at anything and my boys were struggling...strep throat, ear infection, cough and just missing dad. Jace is the only one that really understood what was happening. Here is his sad little face as he said his final good-bye to dad. We ate In-N-Out before he left...tried to make the day seem like a party, but we weren't fooling anyone. I'd already cried in his shoulder as we danced in our bedroom to one of our favorite songs as he was getting packed. Mike tried to be tough, like it was no big deal, but he was feeling the weight of what was going to happen.

Last Friday evening, Rick and Marci arrived. My boys ran to tackle them, and I was next. I don't know who was more excited to see them, my boys or me! It was such a relief to have reinforcements. I was shaky and hadn't slept much in 2 nights. They took us to dinner, let me sleep in on Saturday morning, and seemed to just take care of everything. It was such a nice little break. I feel so blessed to have in-laws that I love so much. They are so good to me and my family.

They also came to catch Jace's basketball game.

And Parker's soccer game, where he scored our team's first goal!!! Go Fighting Sharks!

On Saturday afternoon they took the kids bowling and to an arcade so I could get some work done. I so enjoyed those few hours of quiet. On Sunday we went to church, took a walk, played at the park, and just spent time together reading, playing charades and eating. I'm one of those people who loves my life full of people, and it was so nice to cook for someone besides my kiddos who would always rather just have a quesadilla.
Before they left on Monday, there was a lot of crazy play going on, they came to my workout, and then we picked up Jace early from school and headed to the dollar store where they got to spend $2 on anything they wanted. I loved watching their little minds go back and forth between buying candy or junk. They thought they were so cool. Then we all got a little frozen yogurt and said our good-byes. I was so sad to see them go.

Both Rick and Marci are just really GREAT people. Where can you find in-laws that are so supportive, kind and complimentary? Everytime they come to stay with us, they gush about how they love the way I mother and the way we raise our kids and way we discipline and the way we cook and the way we love each other and how beautiful we all look and how great it feels to be in our home. Even on weekends like this one where my kids were unusually hard and I was less patient than normal and my house was more messy than ever, they couldn't stop saying how much they admired Mike, me and our children. How in the world did I get so lucky? I was teary when they left, not because I was sad, but just because I was so grateful for them and their love and support.

This week has been good. We've all gotten back in our groove and my boys are helpful and kind and feeling better. They love it when I ask them to be "the dad," and they are instantly wonderful and mature. I found some patience again and more smiles and energy and have even slept okay a few nights here and there. We still miss Mike...my garbage can sat on the curb for 2 extra days, our scripture reading is a bit rushed, our dinners are pretty sub par, my phone batteries are all dead because I'm never the one that puts them back on the charger, and my garage and car are a mess and Mike will not be cleaning them out on Saturday. I'm lonely at night and stay up too late and read too much, but I'm so glad Mike is in Haiti with people that really need him. I love hearing from him and am so glad I married a man who can truly forget himself. Haiti is where he is supposed to be, but we can't wait to get him back with us.