5:30am goat chase... and someone squeezing the chickens!

Started today with the boys chasing goats at 5:30am!

...and Kenni waking up and struggling to figure out what that crazy noise was and the following is the interaction between she and Amy in their room.  Kenni wakes up and says, ""What is that 
noise?"  " I say, "just the chickens." She says, "Those are no chickens, it sounds like people are 
outside getting squeezed to death." 

Yep!  Welcome to Haiti!  

You can read Amy's post about today's adventures too -- http://amyzipf.blogspot.com/2011/08/haiti.html

I must say that my wonderful wife was up with them at that hour, but I was still attempting to sleep  but heard the boys running around with the goats.    I think it may have already been in the mid 70s or 80s by then so they were sweaty at breakfast but their pancakes sausage and bacon went down fast due to their early workout. 

After breakfast we hung out, prayed together, planned the day, encountered the regular unforeseen Haitian obstacles (today I think it was “O, we’ve got the generator… later on… Oh, hey the guy with the generator can’t come… still later... but we found another friend with one to use.)  -- 

Then David Ojeda and I discussed a design for the bunk beds and I sketched out a design and jumped in the “tap tap” (that’s Haitian for a late 80’s or 90’s style Isuzu mini truck with a colorful elevated bed cap with benches in the back – taxi looking thing.)  Tap Taps are great fun!

I think it was only about 5-7 miles… maybe less to get to the large Lowe’s equivalent – but it took us about 40mins to navigate the earthquake damaged roads and joyous and overcapacity Port au Prince streets to get there.  Once we arrived, Dr Franco and Kim went with our driver to make the internet payment for the month.   David Ojeda and “Mahano” browsed the store and purchased the supplies we needed for the bunk beds, window security bars and the frame to build the movie screen.

Now, to get your head around this picture the following items –

1 – 20 ft. strip of metal bar .25” thick

8- 12 ft. pieces of 1x4 lumber

4- 10 ft. pieces of 2x4 lumber

2 – 20ft. pieces of ½” thick iron re-bar

a couple boxes of assorted other hardware 

Got that?

Additionally, did you catch we were riding in a MINI Isuzu pick up truck?  I have no idea what the exact dimention of the pick up bed was, but it can’t be more than 5.5ft…. You had to be there to really appreciate it, but we loaded ALL those above items in the truck successfully and drove off.  To make things just a little “safer”, we bent the steel bar and steel strip in half so only about 5 feet of the ends were sticking out of the back of the truck.  So we drove off with our feet planted firmly on the steel bars attempting to prevent the metal from sliding out while our bodies were contorted around the wood beams sticking halfway out of the front of the bed, resting on the top of the truck over the driver’s head.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the truck… we were laughing all the way back to the compound…. What made matters even worse was the dreadful screech of the metal ends dragging on the rough pavement/dirt roads as we drove that perious journey back to the  GoHaiti property. What a ride!

I’ll try to post some pix later. :)

By the time we got back it had been a great half days’ work.   That’s just how it is here, but we got what we needed.

We unloaded the truck and had to do some repair work on the generator and David went to work rigging up Kim’s hammock which I think now will be the most coveted spot on the property.  All the kids had a relaxing turn in it listening to an incessant treatment of Michael Jackson greatest hits… but they keep playing one song over and over again.  Oh well…

Sasha has reconnected with her friends she met in January and she’s just kinda picked up those relationships where she left off. 

TK and Ashebir are having a blast playing with a ton of new very lively friends and their billion matchbox cars have been a classic hit with the rest of the children too.

Kenni is also enjoying being able to take on some more special responsibilities carrying and feeding some of the babies.  She’s great with young ones… just like her Mamma.  ;)

Tonight we had a great dinner of fish, potatoes, carrots, rice and good ol American Coke Cola!  After dinner the kids returned to their water play in the treated water that had been filled in the small inflatable pools. 

By the time we got all the kids dried off and cleaned up all of us were ready to call it a night. 

Lots more inbetween, but it was a full day. 

Can’t wait to start work on the first bunk beds and security windows tomorrow.  They will each be models for the others we’ll build next week.  We hope to build 4-5 beds and 3-4 security windows depending on how much money is available.   It’s awesome to be a part of something that is so needed for the long term success of the ministry here.

 

As I’ve been processing about today’s experiences, I continue to see areas in my life where I can be more patient and not be so focused on my own agenda.  Sure, we need to be focused and “drive” toward measurable goals and achieve results… but I think the condition of our heart and mind through the process is just as important than achieving the results we’re moving toward.  I know I need a refresher course in patience and selflessness more frequently. 

So… how about you? 

Here’s some questions I’ve been reflecting on tonight …

Do you like to server others? Why… what’s your real motive?  Is it healthy?   By what… or Whose standard? 

How would you respond to some of what we’ve encountered today in Haiti? 

Would it be with more patience, understanding and flexibility?... or not? 

Why would you respond the way you would? 

What has helped you learn to be more generous with your time or more flexible with your agenda?

~Relentless