Well, I've started this post a couple different times now and I'm just not sure what all even to say. After two months of living in Haiti, we are going home for an unknown amount of time. The political unrest is still going strong as people are not giving up their fight to see the changes they want to see. While we still feel safe and things are peaceful where we live, we do feel the effects of the protesting going on down the mountain. Supplies for the hospital are limited and are very difficult to buy. The roads have been blocked enough so that it is much harder to get to town for groceries. There have been a couple people from the hospital who have been able to go and do minimal shopping, but nothing like the weekly trips we had when we first arrived. We are far from starving, but the people around us are not. Some days it seems there is a constant stream of people knocking at our gate asking for a bite to eat or trying to sell us something so they can buy food.
We had a conference call on Saturday with Harvest Call and they encouraged us to consider leaving. It's not necessarily what we wanted to do for several reasons. For one thing, the memories of that long day of travel are still fresh in our minds and we know it's tiring and not easy! But more than that, we don't want the people around us to think we are quitting on them when things get tough. It doesn't seem fair that we can leave but they can't. Plus we feel like we are starting to make some progress as far as language and getting to know people. Mind you, we still have a very long way to go on that. So leaving to us makes us feel like we will have to start completely over when we get back.
However, there are 37 people down here with Harvest Call. IF it would get to the point where we really felt like we needed to leave, it would be nearly impossible to get us all out at a moment's notice. Harvest Call is not making us feel forced to leave. Ultimately the decision was left up to each family. But we wanted to respect their leadership and concerns too, as they feel a big responsibility for us. 24 of the 37 people are here at the hospital and we collectively decided that we should go, leaving a bare bones missionary staff. So if all goes as planned, all but three people will be leaving from here. One family was already planning to leave on furlough this weekend and one single is already out on furlough. Rather than trying to drive to Port-au-Prince, we will be taking two small planes from Cayes, which really takes one of the hardest parts out of the travel. Although there is always the possibility we would be blocked from getting to Cayes, we are hopeful that won't be the case. If the protests and riots continue on long enough, the two men going out on Friday (one of them being Danny) will come back in by themselves and let the others who are staying take a turn going out. They will need a break after holding down the fort by themselves!
We are all at peace with this decision. We all bought one way tickets, not knowing how long we will be gone. But we all want to come back. I do have to say though, once we made this decision, I got pretty excited to be able to have my precious fall season! And to see people too of course:) Our family's plans are to fly into Ft. Wayne and spend the first bit with Danny's family and then head out to be with mine some. Our van never sold, so that's all taken care of, and we have family and friends who will be providing out kids with winter clothes and car seats. There are so many unknowns, and it's not a non-stressful situation. But we trust God and know he is faithful. However long or however short this time may be, he will provide. Both for us and the Haitian people.
And on a completely different note, just for the sake of a picture or two, here's what I see sometimes when I wash dishes. Pretty cute!
And this is what I found one day when I walked into the kids's room. She was just sitting in the box quiet as a mouse. Flaps down with just her head sticking out. It cracked me up!
Lord willing, we will see many of you soon!
