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! :-)