Throughout Haiti and What Melissa Found There

"The time has come," the walrus said,
"to talk of many things...

of shoes
So I didn't finish everything on my Haiti Truck-It List... so I decided to change it into a Haiti Bucket List.  In other words, just because I haven't seen Steven walk yet, I will someday.  Therefore, "see Steven walk by himself" is officially on my new Haiti Bucket List

I have, however, seen a lot of improvement.  Some of it is physical.  Steven is already walking much better then the first time he tried.  He especially walks better when he is wearing his shoes!  But some of his improvements are mental.  Whereas he used to tire and give up easily, now he asks me to walk with him.  I even caught him walking around holding onto a wheelchair by himself once!

I nearly started crying when I was holding him today.  He knows I'm leaving, so he latched on and told me I couldn't go.  How old does a kid have to be to be able to sit on your lap in a plane?...

and ships
Oh, nothing makes me feel more like a pirate than sailing to Tortuga--expect maybe sailing at camp with Nikita, Dominic, and Sarah...  Anyway, my most recent sail out to Tortuga made me feel more like Peter than a pirate.  The waves were so crazy I really did half expect Jesus to come strolling across the water telling them to calm themselves down!

I only got to see Wencha a couple of times this summer, and her mother even less often, which makes me sad.  But the girl's definitely growing up without me... I wish I could have seen her one more time, but I will see you again someday.

and ceiling wax
Okay, okay, so I know that the original poem actually says "sealing wax..." but come on... It's punny!

How could I forget the new ceiling on the church in Berger?  That is still one of my favorite moments this summer.  We planned for a new tarp, and God gave us a new ceiling altogether.  Praise God for plans gone wrong!

of cabbages
I haven't talked much about Aquaponics this summer... in fact, I may have not mentioned it at all since last summer!  So for the newbees, here's Aquaponics in a nutshell: Fish in big tanks poo, poo fertilizes water, seeds float on water--BAM--vegetables without soil.

Last year I kept you updated on the progress of this greenhouse being built.  This summer, it was finished being built, but just wasn't being run yet.  We are in the beginning processes of  starting it up though!  We have fish food (which I helped carry down Haitian-style, if you can imagine that...) and are waiting for fish.

Eventually, we will be able to grow all sorts of vegetables that don't even normally grow in Haiti.  You know what this means, right?  Lettuce in our salads instead of cabbage!

Okay, okay, so maybe there are more exciting things about this than lettuce in a salad... but you get the point.

and Kings
There's really only one King worth talking about here, and I think you can take a wild guess who I'm referring to.  It seems to me that a lot of Haitians look down on themselves for being poor.  They won't come into church because they don't have the "right clothes."  They won't pose for a picture because they're "dirty."

What a blessing it has been this summer to remind them that we are all sons and daughters of the King--that makes us royalty!  Sometimes even I need that reminder...

and why the sea is boiling hot
There are not too many things in this world worse than spending a whole day sweating in Haiti and looking forward to the beach, and then jumping in to boiling hot water.  Opposite of refreshing.

I remember, though, all those crazy hikes we did and jumping into the Infinity Pool.  Now that was refreshing.  I will never ever get sick of the beauty of Haiti.

and whether pigs have wings!"
"When pigs fly."

That's what people say when something is impossible.  Well, I'm happy to say, ladies and gentleboys, that pigs have been flying today!

Wednesday, I left for Beauchamp to check out a couple of communities in the area.  The best way to describe how it went would be something like this: Satan really really really didn't want me to go.  God really really really could care less about what Satan wanted.

The plan was to spend all day Thursday looking at two different villages and then leaving this morning.  But it rained Wednesday, and the second community (Viewjoupa) is high up in the mountains.  So that got scratched.  So we went to Savoyard and checked it out.  Super great community.  And then our four-wheeler broke down.  It turned out that Atrel was not much further and the mission hasn't even checked it out yet.  So we got some motos (Satan: 0, God:1) and I got to see two communities yesterday anyway.  (Satan: 0, God: 2)

By this time, I considered myself pretty done.  We can't see Viewjoupa.  Too far, up a mountain, too muddy, etc.  But Odinas, the Haitian who runs Beauchamp, said we could see it in the morning.  *Spoiler: here's where the pigs start to fly.  So this morning, we woke up, packed breakfast, and headed up the mountain.  When taking a moto up a mountain with bad roads... let's just say we both did a whole lot of praying.  Don't worry... if it really wasn't safe, I had to get off and walk up the mountain to meet him at the top.  I did a lot of climbing this morning.

So we're going and going.  The moto breaks down more than once, but always starts back up again.  (Satan: 0, God: 4)  And we get lost.  In the mountains.  Of Haiti.  Just when I was about to give up and suggest we just go home, Odinas points to a man and says, "That is the pastor of Viewjoupa."  And then, all of a sudden, pigs flew! (Satan: 0, God: 5)

Long story short, we got to Viewjoupa safely, against all odds, and I fell in love with a third Haitian community.  Oh yeah, and God beat Satan five to zip.

Creole Lesson:
Amen!
Hey, some words are just universal.

PS Ten points to whomever knows the book reference of this post.  No Google-cheating!

Flying home tomorrow!