Sometime Friday night

Dinner is finished and it was another first for the February team. We enjoyed Hamburgers on the charcoal grill. Sue and Eric brought the meat. Garron and Sharon transported the charcoal. Larry got the buns from Tina’s bakery here in Cyvadier. Chip dug the pit and grilled the meat with Courtney’s help. And it a great meal was had by all. James is setting up the movie and it is Girl’s night and I’ve already forgotten what is supposed to be playing. There is a “gaggle of girls” outside the door trading girl stories. There is a lot of activity around me near the computer center on the third floor. It is about 14 degrees hotter on third floor than on second. The air conditioner is running on third and all of the hot air, me included, is on the third floor.
I need to correct a misstatement form a previous post. I said that Jeremy and Lori had made to Peoria. That is not right. I have since found out that they stopped in Alton, Illinois which is where they are from. Jeremy apparently went to the ER there and was admitted to the hospital in Alton. We do not have any update as of this moment, on how they are doing.
Today we saw 346 patients today, 305 on Thursday, 278 on Wednesday, 280 on Tuesday, and 347 on Monday. That puts us at about 2500 patients so far. Tomorrow is a half day and I expect that we will see nearly 200 on our last clinic day. Everyone is holding up well and their high spirits makes it even more fun for all. I know all of us are tired and have to concentrate even harder as we work. I drug out the pony tailed hat and clown nose today, The foam nose is hot as is the clown wig so it does not stay on very long but it does bring smiles to the children. We did have a little girl yesterday who had never seen a “blanch” as we are called by the Haitians. The girl cried and screamed whenever on of us came near her. I had to make two trips past her as she sat in the lab line which is outside the pharmacy storeroom and the second trip was very hard for me to make as I knew she was so frightened. Fortunately, she has calmed down by the time she got through treatment and provider areas and came into the pharmacy. Saturday afternoon we will be going to Cap Lamando hotel for swimming and dining. Sunday we will have our prayer service, afterwards some will go to Bassin Blu. After they return there is another trip planned to the beach at Ti Moulage. Monday will be inventory day and packing day. Our main bags will be trucked to Port-Au-Prince around 5 PM on Monday so we will not have an overloaded plane ride from Jacmel to Port-Au-Prince like we did last year. As I recall we used all of the Jacmel runway and more to get off the ground on that trip and flew near some of the mountain folks kitchen windows as we passed by-not over-their huts. It was quite a ride.
Thanks to Piper for the winning bid on my auction to tell who has been sick. She not only won the bid but gets the news that her mother is as healthy as ever. A note to our family members and friends who are reading this blog: Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We really do miss you very much and are anxious to return home. The work that we do here is really important to the people of this area and they greatly appreciate what we are doing. It is not a vacation on this tropical island and every one of the team works hard, plays hard, laughs a lot, cries when they hear or see a sad occasion or event, and feel like they have really made a difference in peoples lives at the end of the day. It is not easy to get up every morning at sunrise and get to work by 7:30 AM at the latest. The day usually ends somewhere around 5 PM each evening so it is also not your “banker’s hours.” But you, dear ones, are never far from our minds. With that, I’ll publish this, get my shower taken, and crash for the night. God bless you all…