Hot, tired and drained- but thankful.

One week ago found us busy packing for a fast trip to LaGonave for the celebration / funeral of Mme. Geles' life. I felt like with the planning and travel that we skipped all of the restfulness, and quiet time that generally happens on Saturday afternoons and Sunday.

The travel tires out the body. Visiting with lots of people drains energy when not balanced with personal time. Stress of forgetting phones and catching up on the work that should of occurred while we were gone also add to feeling drained.

People all over Haiti note that the normal hot summer weather started earlier this year. Hot and dry winds and 2.5 weeks of no rain [remember our plants here are used to frequent rains so not very drought tolerant] have created a dusty compound with patches of crunchy, brown grass.

My creativity feels weak at this point so I hope you'll not be disappointed in this post. Yesterday I wrote a thank you letter to financial supporters and worked today on our next Newsletter. Teaching smart children and trying to find the answers to their inexhaustible supply of questions also takes mental energy and strength.

I've been missing my normal bed time, generally shortly after 'missionary midnight' of 9 p.m. Thursday night after the pastor's training session started in the afternoon, predictably the drums filled the night air close to the campus-which always disrupts my sleep.

Last night at bedtime Anna disrupted the normal winding down routine by showing me her abscess which she'd been treating with warm compresses and ointment for a few day. Uunfortunately the infection spread to the surrounding skin causing cellulitis. So after a bit of review of top choices of antibiotics Cory and I walked down to clinic to pick up some antibiotics. Thankfully Anna did not need to go nor did we need to wait for staff. Unfortunately, I know too much medicine to be able to treat my family without worst-case scenarios filtering through my head.

And I could not help thinking again of Mme. Geles. And Alex, on the Fauche clinic's staff, who's 9 month old died on Tuesday. [the smallest one in the picture, in the pink] The Pastor at Mme. Geles funeral reminded us that we're like a light-and God decides when to 'blow us out' or in modern terms, flip our light switch off. Living in Haiti one is often reminded of the fragility of life which is balanced by miracles of healing.

Cory and a couple visitors stopped in by the bakery today. Praise the Lord that the baker's wife felt well enough to receive them in home for prayer. She continues with treatment for metastatic
cancer.

This afternoon Anna's abscess finally opened up and drained. Thank you for the folks who saw my post on Facebook this morning and prayed. Please pray for Alex and family, Mme. Ambroise and Anna.