October Going Ons

 The October going ons consist of the usual and the mundane.  Time is such a weird thing, isn't it?  When I think about the time we have left here it can either seem like we have so much time left or it can seem like it's so close to being done I just want it to slow down.  It really depends on my mood at any given hour and can change multiple times a day.  If I'm being totally honest, it usually leans a little more to the "seems really far away" side of things.  But I really do try to not wish it away.  As lonely as our days can be, we won't ever regret this time here.

We got a couple packages in the mail which was a huge boost.  We hadn't got much in awhile and it was really fun to get something again.  Grandma sent down bath crayons for Tucker's birthday and the kids spent about 30 minutes decorating the shower.  One out of two packages was completely used up:)

One day I looked outside at the shadows and noticed that it just looked like fall.  It made me so happy and I had a strong urge to snack on popcorn and apples.  It's a great fall snack and reminds me of my days at the elevator.  Good times!!

Sawyer has been asking to play games lately during his rest time.  One day he had the chess and checkers set and I walked in to him playing against Summer's doll who apparently forgot to get dressed that day!

Tanner loves to go outside.  He's able to just crawl around the areas close to the house.  However I do check on him periodically if only to get whatever rocks/dirt/dogfood etc. he has in his mouth at the time. 

He's okay just being quiet sometimes.

This one, not so much.

Lydianne stopped by to say goodbye before she moved to Cayes.  She'll be back and forth a little bit still and we love the times she's back!

One day I realized that Summer should have a 1st grade school picture.  For an iphone picture taken by a technologically challenged person on a whim, I'll take it.

Sawyer turned 5!  He was soooooo excited.

I do like to do cakes for my kids but with such limited resources down here it's hard to get really excited. We just make do.  Sawyer helped with sprinkles and put on all the little decorations by himself and he was happy.  The one thing we forgot was that he wanted Doritos on his piece of cake.  So strange.  But it never happened and he didn't seem to mind too much.

This chair is starting to unravel and Tucker uses that part of the chair for his microphone.  We have a water bottle or something that lost a rubber ring and he put that on like an earring.  Rockstar in the making.  By the way the chair was made by a Haitian with old plastic pop bottles.  I was hesitant to buy it when he came knocking at our gate but it turned out to be a great purchase!

I went outside to see these three sprawled on the concrete eating their snack while discussing who knows what.  And yes, Sawyer does eat!  I'm not sure there's ever been a time in my life when you could count my ribs!

We were glad to have Rick back for a coupe weeks along with Tom, a board member.  Saturday we have someone who is supposed to come in for a week to work on electrical stuff.  It's nice to see some other faces around!

Please continue to pray for Haiti and all it's people.  Gangs, kidnappings, economic and political woes make it hard for them to feel anything but hopeless.  Our workers just found out today that we plan to leave in January.  It was right before lunch that it came out and we had a very quiet and somber meal together.  We had told them once about the general plan for the hospital but they didn't know for sure our timeline.  They are sad and scared and don't have much confidence that the hospital can succeed without missionaries on the ground.  It's hard to know what to say that doesn't sound like an empty cliché to them.  Our cook's husband works in security at the hospital so for now they will still have some income, but the rest of them will not. It's just hard.

Psalm 34:18- The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.