old friends, new friends (part 2)

it would only let me post 5 pictures, and i had 6!

old friends, new friends, i love my friends!

After many tears and sadness, our friends left in the big red truck to fly home to Kentucky this morning. I have so many stories and funny things to post from the week...it was AMAZING! I will be putting all my pictures from last week on facebook very soon, but I promised I wouldn't do it until they got home and could put their's up first. So, here is a sneak peek with just a few pictures from the funniest week I've had since moving to Haiti. I am so glad I got to be with so many HILARIOUS people who CONTINUALLY had me and Ashley cracking up! We love you all so much and we miss you a lot!

let me see your grill...

first of all...yes, my friends are here and i am having the best week of my life! it's so great to have so many familiar faces around...and it's such a blessing to have so many funny people to make me laugh. i feel like i don't laugh nearly as much in haiti as i do in america. except this week. oh my, the laughing that we have done has been ridiculous! there are no people in the world like kentucky people and definitely no people like southland people!

but, that's another post for another day (with other pictures and lots of crazy stories!)


anyway, on to what i was really planning on writing about. after our dentist's visit last week, several of my children were glad to show me their new clean teeth. one of my poor little girls had to have 5 crowns, 2 teeth pulled, 2 cavities filled, and something else. they had to knock her out 2 days last week just to get it all done. but she was definitely a trooper.

my dear friend, alai, didn't have to have quite as much work done...but he was definitely proud to show me his mouth...and here is what i saw:




he's got a nice shiny new grill. hilarious!

so funny!!!

Check out Ashley's video on Youtube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpFunLt4-JU


It's so funny you might just pee your pants!

you've got mail...really?

Yesterday was mail day...what a glorious day! I love it when Carmen gets a big bag of letters to pass out!!! The best part about mail day was that I got 4 pieces of mail yesterday! That's the most I've ever gotten (usually I am lucky to get 1 thing!). So thanks to Dad and Bonnie for my Valentine card, Nancy for my letter, and Kimmie for the card and newsletter! What a great surprise!

When it rains, it pours...

I don't know whose idea it was to have a visiting dentist AND for the "Health Department" to give our kids vaccines all in one week, but it has been NUTS!

Having the dentist here is bad enough! Of course, my students have the worst teeth since most of them have never seen a dentist before. I have already had 2 students get "knocked out" for extensive dental work (one of them has to go back for more) and I have at least 1 more. Many more of my students have to go in to have cavities filled, etc.

And to top it all off, today, the "Health Department" showed up to do vaccines...so not only are 1/2 of my students getting tortured by the dentist, they ALL had to have a shot. And apparently, the people giving the shots aren't really trained medical professionals. I saw some of them sticking the needle in, pulling it back out and sticking it back in the child's arm. I also saw several of my kids wiggle and wriggle because they were in such pain.

There are no pictures today. Preschool was too sad for pictures :(

February Newsletter

Life happens best in community...that's what my home church in the United States claims. I truly believe this with my whole heart...but for the longest time, I never realized how true this was. Of course, my community is so important to me. People I can count on to share my joys and sorrows...People that will drop everything to tend to any "need" I might have. But for the longest time, sub-consiously, this was completely an "American" thing. However, over the past few weeks and months, I have come to find this true of life in Haiti.

First, personally, because I dearly miss my community. In America, I was surrounded by so many people that I love, who love me, who are my support and my backbone through life. They make me laugh, they hug me when I cry, they are there to just hang out and do life with me. People that I could count on to do everything and do nothing...all at the same time.

But I have finally seen this concept is not an "American" thing. It is a "human" thing. People in Haiti are in constant communication with each other. Everyone speaks to each other on the streets. Haitian people ALWAYS ask how you are and how your family is. And it is quite possible that I know as many Haitians that have cell phones as I know Americans that have them. They don't have electricity, but they have cell phones (you should see what a funny sight it is on Sunday mornings at church--EVERY SINGLE electrical outlet is in use, charging someone's phone). Seriously...people living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere have cell phones.

It is just more proof that communication and community is more important that other material things that I sometimes consider necessities.

Life happens best in community.



Teaching Preschool
I think the best part about teaching preschool is that I get to teach my kids whatever I want. I do have books and curriculum that I go by, but other than teaching them the alphabet, colors, numbers, etc. I get to teach them anything else I want. This semester, they have learned (or are learning) "awesome" and "peace out." Today I started teaching them to say "cheese" when someone was taking their picture. But the funniest thing I have tried to teach my kids is smiling! Most Haitians don't smile for pictures, so sometimes it can be hard to get my kids to smile when I am snapping shots of them! Most of them understand now, but some still have a little trouble. Check out Clyde's and Alai's smiles:


RETREAT

We had our ladies' retreat at Cap-Haitien this month. It was such a nice time to relax and rejuvenate! It was really fun to get to know some of the other ladies a little better. And yes, my nerdiness came out on the day trip that Ashley, Kala, and Allison and I took to the historic Citadelle and Sans-Souci Palace. I won't bother you with all the details of that, but it was AMAZING!! (if you are a nerd like me and enjoy history, I would love to share more about it!).

For more pictures from our trip, check out mine and Ashley's (because Ashley takes AMAZING pictures) facebook links:
Mine -- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2100165&l=78378&id=38312267
Ashley's -- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11707&l=0fb29&id=500539845


Answered Prayers

Thank you for all the prayers about our church building because we are FINALLY building!!! Just as a quick reminder, the mayor came out at the beginning of the school year and told us we weren't allowed to build anymore...eventually it came out that he wanted to bargain with us to do/buy some things for the city. But we finally got approved by a judge (who apparently is higher than the mayor) and we have been building for a couple weeks! This is such an answer to prayer with all the groups that will be coming in this spring! Hopefully with their help, we will progress and get a little closer to a finished SonCenter!!!

Also, you have heard many stories about Emilien over the past year. He is 14 years old and works with John at the school doing construction and maintenance. He is absolutely one of the sweetest boys I have ever met.

John had the privilege of baptizing Emilien a few weeks ago! He is such an amazing boy who is going to do amazing things in Haiti!