Little milestones, busy time of life

I couldn't quite figure out how to title this post, obviously! Seems like there's SO much going on I just can't keep up.

Okay, for the biggest milestone first: I have one completely out of diapers!!!  Eliott graduated to undies at bedtime after being dry at least 7 nights out of 8! I'm impressed!!! I expect every once in awhile I'll still have to change wet sheets, but he's even been waking us up at night so he can go potty. Nice. Now for the other two. . .

Leanna's about to put in her next three teeth all at the same time from the looks of it. She has 5 right now. What a doll. She just discovered she can climb up on the child-size chair we have! She stands on it, grasping the back, and rocks back and forth laughing hilariously! I set it up against the soft recliner to make sure she stays upright, and she has a blast. Too cute!

The first time I saw her up on the chair!

 

Jaron has been doing very, very well in school. He's reading quite well for his age, often able to read through a whole sentence and comprehend it the first time! Of course if some of the words are too hard he has to go back over it, but I'm quite happy with his progress. Yesterday I saw him valiantly trying to sound out the words in his little Bible. SO sweet. He doesn't know his long vowels yet so it was impossible for him to get it right, but he was trying so hard!

 

Puppies are taking up a lot of my time these days. Between keeping the website updated and answering emails, I also have to supplement the feeding of the little runt of the litter. Poor little guy isn't as big and strong as the others and doesn't get his fair share--or even enough to survive on.  I've been bottle feeding him three times a day, but he's still not gaining so I'm afraid it will have to go up to four times a day, if not more. I feel like I totally do NOT have time for it, but the children so love the puppy coming in to be fed, and the boys fight for the priviledge of getting to put the bottle back in the fridge when Browning doesn't finish it all. So we relax and enjoy it since we have to do it anyway!

 

I've started making our own yogurt again, instead of buying it, and I'm experimenting with sour cream. Plus I'm trying to get back in the swing of making granola and all of our bread, and cutting down on the food we buy. We have a freezer and cupboards bursting with food--good, healthy food from our garden--so why should we have to spend so much at the store? Yes, it takes more time and effort to prepare meals, but it's healthier and cheaper too. So I'm enjoying the challenge most days, and some days wonder why I even try! ;-) I am finding, though, that it forces me to be more faithful and diligent, and inspires me to find things the boys can help with. They love helping SO much, and then when they know its really needed they just thrive. And that keeps them from fighting over toys or making bigger messes too!

 

And that reminds me, the house IS rather a mess right now and I'm needing to clean up the kitchen to get started on some supper! Better get it done while Leanna is sleeping, since she seems to be in the habit of cat-napping these days and not sleeping very long at all. Ah, little ones!

Our Thanksgiving

Well, here at last are a few pictures of our Thanksgiving! It was a little different this year. On Tuesday evening we were at Jere's folks for the big Thanksgiving dinner with all the family. That was fun!

Mama, with two of the grand-daughters.

Uncle Jon was giving mass "horsey rides" to the nieces and nephews! What a riot!

 

 On Thursday, we decided to make lefse, a traditional food from the Norwegian side of my family that we often make over the holidays. It was a royal mess, but oh, SO good! Then in the evening we went to Jere's Uncle Darwin's for supper and had a lovely evening visiting with them!

Jere and Jaron rolling out lefse.

Leanna's first piece of lefse! Oh my, did she ever love it!

 

 By Thursday evening we were pretty sure we'd be having puppies pretty soon!  I guess I already posted about that, but here's another picture anyway! (Megan, we'll start getting more once they start getting cuter!!)

Branson

Puppies!

7 new members of the menagerie arrived last night! Whisper gave birth to 7 squiggly, wiggly puppies! Actually, when I checked on them at 8 this morning there were 6, but when I went to take pictures of them around noon I had one too many puppies for the chosen names! So another one was born in the meantime. Whisper makes a great mother, and we have heaters running to try ward off some of this sudden cold. Yesterday it was sunny and 60+ degrees. Today, it's struggling to hit the mid-20's and flurrying here and there. Our bodies aren't sure what to think of the abrupt change!

New blog

Just for your information, I have begun writing a blog on health and healthy stuff. We'll see how it goes--but I am hoping for some interaction/feedback as that blog goes forward!

http://thehealthyfamiliespage.blogspot.com/

Happy birthday for 2!

Last Thursday was the first dual birthday party we've had to throw! Leanna turned the big 1, and Mama turned 31. It was a little soon after our trip to plan anything too big and fancy--though we would have liked to have invited some more company to enjoy it with us! Micah and Amy came, and Preston and Carolyn Oberholtzer with their little Mercy who was one in August. Jere confessed later that he had plans to invite a whole crowd more, but Jaron coming down with a cold the day before nixed that! (Jaron had a fever, hurting eyes, and a runny nose. Since then the rest have come down with other cold symptoms, though thankfully no more fevers!) We had a very pleasant evening together as it was.

 

Here's a photo of the birthday "cake" for our big one-year-old! Look girlie enough?

And here's Daddy with his birthday princess! She was fascinated with the burning candle, and though she didn't get the idea to blow on it she sure wanted to grab it!

 

Leanna seemed to know just how to do it--till she was done (nearly finishing off an entire cupcake!) she had frosting and crumbs everywhere!

 

Me with the chocolate cheesecake Amy decorated for me! 

Leanna opening the package with her very first dolly.

Leanna decided to do the one-year-old thing and practice her walking during the evening! She took her first steps on Sunday evening, and then on her birthday was having a blast showing off her new-found walking skills!

Re-adjusting

Well, not quite sure what to say about adjusting to life back home. It's a welcome adjustment for most of us! Leanna has struggled the most, but she seems to be settling down now. I feel just a little wimpy or something when I sink down into my nice, soft, bed, and am SO grateful for the comforts of home! Or curl up in the easy chair with a blanket and my Bible while the children nap and know no one is going to come popping in the door. The biggest thing I've noticed is that I can relax. I thought I was relaxed in Haiti, but once I'm home I realize I was on edge more than I thought! I don't have to look before I grab something, lest a lizard go scampering out of my reach and startle me. When we come home from being away for awhile I don't stand in the doorway and scan for scuttling roaches, fuzzy tarantulas, or beady eyed rats staring back at me as soon as the light gets switched on. My children's naps don't get interupted by people coming for the rice and beans stored in their bedroom. We don't lay awake at night listening to the wails of a laboring mother, crowing roosters, and the little leg boy wailing for his mother. And we have a freezer chuck full of good things to eat, supplemented by a well stocked grocery store a scant 20 minute drive away over smooth roads in a very comfortable van. We are SPOILED!!!!!!

But we are also adjusting to Jere going back to work--leaving us without wheels till his truck gets fixed. That's not going over real well!! We miss being able to step out our door and visit with someone, and the traffic of folks going by (and in and out of) our house. I took a big step down in the washing machine department by coming home--and I do miss getting to do everyone else's laundry too! And I miss the flowers everywhere. Things look rather bare and bleak around here!

Oh yes, Leanna took her first steps Sunday evening! We were at Jon and Lisa's house, and she walked between the sofa and the coffee table when no one was looking--Jere and I both caught it out of the corner of our eyes. She refuses, of course, to do it again when we're paying full attention!

Sunday, birthday party, and HOME!!!

Well, looks like I have an awful lot of catching up to do on here! :-)

Here are some pictures from our last Sunday in Haiti, when the church was so full we had to sit on the rock pile out back!

The "vending machine" where the children (and adults!) could buy cookies, candy, etc during the service.

 

The church choir singng. They did a really good job--I enjoyed it!

 

Monday evening we had a joint birthday party for Leanna and Cherie! They sure enjoyed the chance to mush up their cupcakes, and the rest of us enjoyed the pink frozen yogurt! It was a lot of fun all around.

 

 

 

On Tuesday morning Jere went to spend some time helping in the clinic. He seemed to really enjoy the chance to do that! He watched for awhile, and helped take blood pressures and did a glucose check.



 

The crowd waiting outside the clinic, just across the fence from our house.

Taking a blood pressure.

 

Tuesday evening we spent some one-on-one time with Anita, and had supper together. It was nice to just be able to relax and enjoy visiting.

Jaron and Anita drawing pictures together.

Wednesday I had everything all packed up in good time, and got bored sitting around waiting to go! Rather a big change from the crazy day we had on Tuesday. . . I'll spare the details on that day! Around 3 pm we crowded into the "ambulance" and off we went! Steve drove us, and Anita and Virginia went along to get out to a class in Port. In Grafor (the closest little tiny burg, where the trail to the mission turns off the main trail) we met up with Rhonda, who was flying back to the States for a visit. She climbed into the ambulance and Jere, Leanna, and I drove her UTV down to Ti Guove. It almost felt like a date! :-) We arrived in Ti Guove just after dark, dropped off the UTV, and continued on in the ambulance to Leogone where we spent the night. The rest of the crew took off for their class/flight pretty early in the morning, and left us to rest, relax, and get bored! At about noon, Steve came back to get us. So, off we went again to the airport! First thing in the door, with hardly room to manuever, they put us through a security scan. Sigh. Then we got to the check-ins desk, and the lady kindly got us seats all together. Whew. Then off to our gate. Oh, another security check. Ok. Well, they pulled out our lovely conch shell we'd picked up at the beach, and said that wasn't allowed on a carry-on! So back Jere went to check in that bag as well. Meanwhile the children and I continued upstairs to the gate--surprise! ANOTHER security check point. Which they wouldn't let us through since Jere had all our boarding passes. So we stood in the tiny spot at the top of the stairs for what seemed like forever, while Jere was downstairs arguing that yes, the baby IS allowed a check-in, thank you! She had one when we came down, and we're checking this bag in her name. Finally they gave in and he came to free us. Then we sat and waited for awhile. We noticed they were calling to start boarding our plane, but between the intercom not being clear and the Creole used on it (I think at one point I may have heard some English, BUT the accent was so thick I couldn't be sure) we didn't realize when it was our turn. Finally a flustered airline employee came across the room and asked if we were flying to Ft. Lauderdale, and said our plane was waiting for us! Whoops! They'd been paging us as "Hedge". Well, that didn't help either.

The clouds were lovely over the ocean!

 

We knew once we got to Ft. Lauderdale we were going to have to hurry, as we had just an hour and 20 minute layover. Which was shortish, but from what others said we should make it just fine. We were quickly off the plane, and hurried down the narrow aisles with a crowd of others. Then we got to the passport check. There was a hugely LONG line waiting ahead of us. Lovely. Jere cheerfully pointed out that it was moving quickly, and he thought we should be OK. He was right, it did move fairly quickly, and I was starting to feel hopeful again. Once through that check, we went to pick up our baggage. The baggage claim room was overflowing with people and luggage. Ours had been pulled off for the most part already, and we had to hunt for it through piles of other suitcases, etc. But we found it all, piled it on the cart, and went to find the line to go through customs. And discovered it stretched all the way around the room! I took one look at that line and said "We'll never make it now." A kind lady let us use her cell phone to call our ride in Wisconsin, but Jere got chewed out for using a cell phone in that building. So we waited. And the children went a little crazy. And I watched the clock. If we could only do it in another 10 minutes, there still might be hope. Well, we were finally "Next!!" And then we got turned around and sent into the ag department of the customs area, as we'd been on or near a farm. Well, show me a place in Haiti that isn't farm, please! So we put our bags through yet another scanner, and were finally free to go. Feeling like for sure there's no hope, we ran. And couldn't figure out where the check-in counter was at first. Finally we figured out we were on the wrong floor, and went up the elevator. The ladies at the check-in counter saw us coming and started checking us in before we even got there. "5 of you? Hege? These your bags? They're holding the flight for you, but they can't wait much longer. RUN!" And run again we did. Till we got to the security check point. Only one lane was open, and the officers were slowly and deliberately going over things. We hurried up and waited. And waited. And waited. For close to 10 minutes. Then we scurried through as fast as we could, and left the other side at a run. Thankfully it was the closest gate, and we didn't have to go far. There was someone else who had been on our first flight right ahead of us, and they had to unlock the door to the skyway for them. It was a happy moment when the official turned around from seeing the other two through the door, saw us, and called back over his shoulder "Hang on! Here's some more!" Whoopee!! We made it!

That seemed like an awfully long flight. We were all exhausted. The boys slept, and Jere did some too, but Leanna was as wide awake as ever and needed to be continually entertained. When we landed the boys woke up crying. It was a hectic few minutes as their crying upset Leanna, and Jere was trying to get my phone reconnected so we could call his folks and let them know we DID make it. We met them just outside where the baggage claim was, and that was a welcome sight!

The rest of the trip was uneventful, thankfully. We got home at 3:45 am, and crashed into our nice, soft, welcoming beds. Yes, we're GLAD to be home! :-)

In Wisconsin!

Just to let you know, we arrived home safely just before 4 this morning! The Lord was merciful to us and allowed us safe travels and all our connections were made--though just barely and we had to RUN!!!!! More later. Right now it's unpacking and resting time!

Invaded!

Sorry to the team members who just arrived, but I feel like we've been invaded! We had a team fly in on Thursday, though they didn't actually arrive until last night, due to multiple delays with the trail. The team consists of one girl and 4 guys, so now we have 6 single guys living in our house! (Including Michael, who has been here off and on the whole time, and Julian, Jere's cousin, who came with the last team and will be staying till February.) It was rainy when they came up the trail yesterday, so last night it seemed like there was mud everywhere! This morning when I got up I felt like I'd been transported to a bachelors' pad--dirty clothes on the floor in the bathroom and kitchen, suitcases, jackets, and a tool belt strewn hither and yon, welding rods and other shop things piled onto the table--wow. I won't dare go peek into their rooms! My dear husband cleaned up a lot of the mess while I started breakfast and laundry. . . Then Leanna proceeded to unload a duffel bag, and when stopped from that proceeding attmepted to relieve a tote of its contents. Guess guys just aren't used to thinking about little people and wondering fingers! :-) But all that aside, it is a lot of fun having more people around again even if it is a little overwhelming sometimes.

And before I forget, we went up to Rhonda's children's home again last night for the last time. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we left, but oh, was the trail ever MUDDY! We were all thankful for a driver who knew how to handle bigger rigs on slippery roads--Jere did a great job wiggling through with minimal traction between rock outcroppings on one side and sheer drop offs on the other, in the Land Cruiser that is harder to control than the faithful UTV's we often take. Too many people this time! We had a lovely time once we got there, though the highlight of it all was when we got out the glow sticks that we'd brought along and passed them out to the all the children. They happily ran out into the dark and played till we were ready to head back "home".

And, we are preparing for our trip back home. . . I'm working at our laundry today, hoping I can get it dry before it's time to pack. It looked like rain for awhile, but the sun came back out in force--and for once I'm thankful to be hot! Tonight we're having a birthday party for the little girls--though their birthdays aren't till the 15th, it seemed a shame to ignore that they WERE born on the same day, only a couple hours apart. Plus I think the folks here are ready to taste some ice cream again, and this makes a good excuse! ;-) So today and tomorrow the packing goes on, and Wednesday afternoon we are, Lord willing, planning to head out from here. Thursday afternoon we plan to fly home--arriving sometime in the wee hours of the morning Friday, I'm assuming. The next couple of days will be busy ones. . .

. . . so, adios till we get home to Wisconsin again! We're looking forward to seeing many of you, and having phones to call people again!

Clinic emergency

Well, we had another emergency come in after hours at the clinic today. I heard over the 2-way radios that there was a moto on its way with a girl coming to the clinic with blood on her leg. I was doing school with Jaron and didn't bother to go look when I heard the moto roar up shortly. I knew there were people back and forth in front of our house, but hardly paid attention. Then Jere called to me on the radio and said that I was to bring the camera to the clinic, so we took recess and ran over. I found a girl about 10 years old who was in a moto accident in the market (remember how I said that the motos just go roaring through reckless of life and limb, and you'd better be out of their way?) and had a leg with a compound fracture. They had it all splinted up with an open cast and Ace bandages when I got there, but had lost the pulse in her foot so had to go back and re-do the bandaging.

Checking out how the cast material was hardening.

Checking the pedal pulse.

Starting to re-bandage the leg.

She had to be taken out to a bigger hospital than the one even in Ti Guove, so Steve and Shana are taking her and picking up the new team while they're out. They'll be back late tonight, I'm guessing. Poor folks, we were planning a pizza party and now they'll miss out. . .

Busy li'l helpers. . .

 

Here is a picture of my helpers:

They LOVE to help with the laundry--which is good, because I end up doing a lot of laundry! I do enjoy it, and get to do most everyone's wash at one time or another, since the compound wash machine is in our house.

On Tuesday Jere was helping a road crew with fixing the road. He invited the rest of us to join him for a bit. Here's Leanna enjoying watching the men throw rocks (for fill) into the Bobcat UTV/dump truck.

The men loading rocks.

 

We spent a little time playing in the water while waiting for Jere to finish his load.

 

A couple of ladies making their way down the rutted road--possibly coming home from market?

 

I was fully intending to write this update much sooner. However we've had a very busy couple of days! Tuesday a lady came into the clinic in labor. Which wasn't a big surprise, seeing it's baby season here. After a long night of laboring (and though I wasn't helping I didn't sleep much, due to the fact that the clinic is just outside our window and she was doing a lot of yelling!) she finally had a healthy little girl at 7:40 Wednesday morning--her due date, no less! I did attend the actual birth, as there was some meconium staining and they were afraid we were going to have to do a resuscitation. But I did nothing but watch--thankfully!

 

Later Wednesday morning I was walking back from picking up Eliott from helping his daddy down at the re-built clinic, and saw a lady come in on a stretcher to the current clinic. And she looked pregnant! Sure enough. . . She was kind enough to calm her yells in the afternoon long enough for me to sleep a little, which was a good thing. Then in the evening as we were out for a little family walk Steve and the faithful Bobcat UTV /ambulance brought in yet another laboring lady! About supper time the two-way radio crackled to life with the news, that Mom #1 admitted to having had an ultrasound, with confirmed twins. So that meant a trip out to town for poor Steve, as the babies were in a bad position and there was totally no way they would come without a C-section. Mom #2 was the biggest screamer I've heard yet, going at it full volume most of the night. I did get a few hours of sleep as I was too tired to stay awake any longer, but around 2:30 I headed over to the clinic to help since I wasn't sleeping anyway. At 3:32 another healthy, screaming baby girl was born! After helping bathe and dress and care for Baby, I was able to head home again around 4:30. So, needless to say, today has been a little draggy feeling! And we're hoping that tonight, at least, we'll get a bit of a break. The Lord knows, though!

 

Our team left this morning, leaving it feeling quiet and a bit more barren of English around here again, till the next group arrives Saturday I believe. We actually leave Haiti a week from today, so plan to enjoy it as much as we can in these last few days. Seems like the time is just flying by! And oh my, I'm ready for a nap again already. . . .