A white winter

I can't believe it's February already. And then in the next breath I want to say, I can hardly wait for this winter to be over! We have had a very cold, very snowy, and very blustery winter so far. I'll have to get out sometime and get some good snow pictures, but for now suffice to say we've carried the children from the end of our driveway several times, gotten vehicles stuck several times, had to deal with vehicles/tractor that won't start or won't keep running, and the furnace is a wood eating monster! There, that about sums up the weather this winter! And Jere still says he wants to move north... HELP!!!! :-)

Things around here have been nothing short of utterly hectic the last couple of weeks. We survived one weekend of EMT refresher, and we have one more coming up. Between that and Jere just getting back from Haiti and the weather and lots of church/social activities, we feel like our daily routine kind of went out the window. I'm hoping to get it back a little bit this week, for the children's sake. They're not dealing with it all the best sometimes, and it's time to step back and just take a breather right now. And for their mommy's sake, too! I have actually been doing very well. It seems my strength is coming back to a greater degree, and I'm beginning to feel more normal. I've been able to keep up with things better, so that feels really good. Well, if I could get some sleep. Our dogs have taken to howling at the moon the last couple of nights and I haven't been sleeping real well. But it's exciting to be able to start exercising again, not to mention running up and down stairs an awful lot and not feeling completely worn out after only two or three rounds.

Jere's been staying busy, obviously. He has his "new" skid steer almost back together and working, just has one more seal to change. He's actually working on a small job today, and I think he'll be there the rest of this week. And I believe he'll be starting to spend some time in the woods cutting trees before just too long. He's feeling a little like this winter isn't long enough!

I'm going to add a few pictures of his trip to Haiti... Enjoy!

Jere and Anita

View from the mountains down to the ocean.

Members of the SALT team looking over the ag program nursery where they are growing coffee seedlings and are experimenting with other plants.

Clint Bower, Darv Seibel, on left, as the SALT representatives in Haiti. Clinton Wolf, the other "blah" (white man) is the one who went with Jere and is the head of the SALT board Stateside.

Ocean view.

They "toured" a boat-building business they discovered along the beach. Sounded fascinating!

Birthdays and other blessings

Whew, it's been awhile since I posted anything! And we've had a lot going on in the last few weeks. So I'll try to catch up with things.

The two biggest events of the last couple of weeks have been birthdays!

Jere turned 34!

 

And Eliott turned 4!

His prized Bulldozer cake...

 

 

Our house is coming along, SLOOOWLY. But, it's coming! We had someone come spray foam insulation in the ceiling in our bedroom's new vaulted ceiling. So now our house is insulated--a help in this colder weather we've been having.

 

We now have all the sheetrock hung (sorry, no pictures yet) and a friend is doing the mudding for us. I'm hoping to have a painting day and get the upstairs painted before Jere gets back from Haiti. Oh, yes, I don't think I'd mentioned that before. Jere's going to Haiti as part of his involvement with the SALT board, leaving on Thursday, and he will be gone for a week. It's going to be a bit challenging to have him gone right now, but it seems I'm going to have some support from some of our friends at church so that should help.

And, last but certainly not least, I'm getting stronger. I think. As soon as I think I am I go do a bunch and get SO tired that it lays me out for a couple of days. Oh well. I finally got one curtain made! It was the simplest one in the house, and took me 3 days.

The kitchen window with the new curtain.

Today I worked up enough energy to touch up a few spots of paint on the kitchen cabinets that needed it, and painted the trim on one window upstairs. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to do my work again one day and not feel like I ran a marathon afterward!

We are getting a mild blizzard today. I enjoy watching snow blow! Though the wind seems to seep in all the little cracks everywhere. But the drifts outside are lovely!

Have a wonderful, blessed day! And please remember to pray for us over the next 10 days. For safe journeys for Jere, and safety and sanity for those he leaves behind!

Here are some pictures!

Here are a few shots of the children, taken while Daddy was in Haiti. They were enjoying the warmer weather for sure!

And here are a couple of pics of the house we plan to have moved onto our property. Oh, I can hardly wait to see it HERE!!!!

 

Here's Little Miss helping me with some baking.

End of school year party!!! Jaron finished K5, and Eliott did some preschool.

Here is a new decoration I just put up in the living room. We'd brought back the words from Haiti last fall, and I'd asked Jere to find me a flower to put up with them. Well, he found me two! And I think it looks just splendid!!

 

More than half-way!

Yes, we're more than half-way to Jere's return home! That was an exciting milestone for us! Things have been going very well. They have been keeping Jere busy in Haiti, and though he hasn't said much, I think he's been learning an awful lot, and he's excited at how the Lord is leading them to contacts and in preparing to make decisions.

We've been busy here at home, too. For the first couple of days Jaron was running a fever, so we sat tight, besides a trip to the city park one evening when he was feeling better. Thursday he seemed well again, so along with Jessie Horner and her 3 children we went to a children's museum in La Crosse for the afternoon. They had a blast! And were utterly exhausted by the time we reached home. It's nice to have them tired, then they don't miss Daddy tucking them into bed quite so badly. Yesterday we spent the afternoon with some friends, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time! Even though it was cold and rainy, the children went out to the barn and played. After supper Jaron didn't seem to be feeling so great again, so I'm not sure what's up with him.

We had a few days of warm, sunny weather. One day it got into the 80's! But then it turned cold again, and yesterday we woke up to a sheet of ice on everything, with freezing rain still coming down. Today is a little warmer, and I think it's supposed to sort of warm up over the next week. This is a cool spring! But at least we didn't get snow... :-)

Where did last week go?

And that's what I'm really wondering! Seems like it was so busy, and full to overflowing, it just flew by. I certainly hope next week flies by just as fast or faster! A lot of this week was spent getting things planned and together for Jere's upcoming trip to Haiti. Remember a while back I said he was asked to join the SALT-Haiti board? Well, they've asked him to head down there for a week to get a feel for how things are working on the field and help out with some business stuff. He leaves Monday the 29th and comes home again on Tuesday the 7th. So please keep us all in your prayers in the next week+! I'm privileged to be married to a man of character, who is sought after to help with such important things! I proud of him. Pray for his safety as he travels quite a lot in such an unstable little country, and for the rest of us at home as we eagerly anticipate his return.

Besides that, the weather has warmed up beautifully the last couple of days, and we've been enjoying the fresh air blowing through the house, and sunshine! I love the sight of clean laundry flapping on the line, and the joy the children have playing outside making more dirty clothes. :-) I love the yard turning green, and being able to walk through the garden without sinking in mud past my ankles. I love the feel of soft grass under my bare feet, and the sight of Leanna enjoying the whipping wind on bare skin. Ah, spring! I'm so glad it finally showed up!

Life stays busy!

As many of you are aware, we just put our house up for sale. And that usually quite quickly brings the response: "So, where are you moving?" The long and short answer is, we don't know yet! We do have our eyes on a couple of places locally, but a lot depends on when we sell our house, what we sell it for, and how the Lord leads us meanwhile. Please pray with us that God would lead us clearly, and brings a buyer for our place! I just added a new page to the blog (to the right of where it says "Home" just above this section) to help us in advertising our house, so feel free to share the link to that page with anyone who you think might be interested, or know someone who is.

Another thing that has happened recently was that Jere was asked to be on the SALT-Haiti board. SALT is an organization that loans money to people in poor countries such as Haiti, and has it structured so that they actually have a very high success rate in people being able to actually support themselves after a time. SALT gives their clients a lot of teaching on saving money, paying back their loans, building a successful business, managing inventory, and even touch on health and family issues. One woman who was involved in the program, who had two children and no husband, is now able to pay for her children to go to school, with the money she is earning through the business SALT assisted her to start! (In addition to paying off her loan, and being able to buy decent food.) She stated to the rep who interviewed her that she has her dignity back. We are excited about the opportunity to help with such a successful, helpful program!

Jaron finished his K5 math book today, and tomorrow begins First Grade math! We're all excited about that! He is doing exceptionally well with his school work, and is reading very well for a 5 year old, I think.

I have started a handful of plants already, in preparation for hoping to garden still this summer. (That, of course, depends largely on what happens with selling our place.) The onions and petunias seem to be doing well, and I should be working on getting more seeds into dirt today yet. Spring isn't too far around the corner anymore!

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. . . .

 

Post-Sandra clean-up

Watching the tail end of Sandra blow herself out.

Trying to get a few things dry. (This is inside our house, shooting from the door.)

Leanna. More explanation needed?

Rhoda cleaning our bathroom. We had so many worker biting at the bit to DO something it was hard to keep them all busy!

 

Jere, Julian, and Jaron getting the apartment roof cleaned off.

The boys doing what boys do best. Throwing rocks into water! This riverbed is normally dry.

Breanna and Janelle having a chat and a soak by the water's edge. In this channel it was almost knee deep with an obviously strong current. Clear and beautiful!!

The children all came down with diarrhea Saturday evening, so Sunday morning they got to enjoy "charcoal juice"!

Sandy's something!

Tuesday evening we had Anita for supper as the storm was thinking of starting. The children sure enjoy their aunt!

Hurricane Sandy has been an experience for us all. Tuesday it blew off and on, and started raining some. Wednesday we were waiting for the team, and watching the increasing wind and rain with a concerned eye. Praise the Lord, the team arrived sooner than expected, with a good--if wet and muddy--trip behind them. The rain and wind increased as the day wore on, and pounded us pretty good through the night. My recollection of the this storm is likely to be most the sounds. Maybe in part due to my ears not still being recovered from their waxy ordeal, or maybe just because we can't see much from our front porch. The wind didn't howl or scream as I've heard many times in the north. It thundered. We could hear it roaring up the valley, and soon the sound was all around us, engulfing us in waves of tossing branches, flying leaves, and the steady sound of the wind pounding through the mountain passes. The rain, sounding against a thin metal roof, seemed more like a waterfall being poured around us than a rain storm. As the river rose, a faint roar could be heard through lulls in the storm. Sometime through the night there was a rattle and crash, as the porch roof on the girl's apartment flew up and over, landing upsidedown on their roof and sending a post through the shop roof:

Needless to say the radio quickly crackled on and Anita hollered requesting that Jere please come down. They'd been up all night still at that point (somewhere around 3 am I was told, as I'd been laying awake for who knows how long already) sopping up the water leaking through the concrete wall at a tremendous pace. Three girls could hardly keep ahead of it, sopping it up with towels and wringing it into buckets. Jere and his cousin Julian (came on the team, and will be replacing Jere as the mechanic) ran down through the storm and checked it out as well as they could, pushing one piece of tin back into place in an effort to stanch some of the water flow. At that point the girls decided it was hopeless to try to keep up anymore, and packed up anything that could get ruined by water into plastic totes, then found spots between their leaky roof enough to sleep for a few hours. Jere came back to find that water was now seeping into our house through the office wall, so he and Julian sopped water for awhile in there.

Thursday morning we rubbed the sleep out of still groggy eyes and surveyed the damages through still torrential rain and wind. Here's a shot of the riverbed from our porch--it had been dry only the night before, the large white rocks hiding any previous run-off underneath them:

Our house wall. Those are pieces of leaves, plastered tight to the wall from the wind. Usually the wall is white.

A tree went over the compound fence. They tell me there's another like situation down in the lower fence.

The incredible wind and rain continued more fitfully on Thursday. We provided breakfast for the team--thankfully several of them had slept through the night so there were a few people on the compound who weren't bushed! Unfortuneatley for the trees, we have a somewhat better view from our place now. It was kind of a lazy day. No clinic, hardly anyone at the gate, and we were unable to do much of anything outside. Jaron did school as usual, and many rested.

This morning we woke up to. . . more rain. The wind has pretty well died off, and the rain is, thankfully, coming straight down so we can at least stay dry on the porch, most of the time. Added to noises are the fussies of cranky children who are tired of the weather! We do let them go out and get good and wet when they want to, but still the continuing rain must work on their nerves. And the smells are starting to become more prominant. Added to the fresh, clean smell of the rain is the smell of wet. Old wet. Humid, moist, and mildewy. Wet towels used to dry people shivering from the cold shower. Wet towels used to sop up muddy water from the floors. No where to go to dry anything. Wet jackets that are getting rather fuzzy in places. Wet, dirty jeans that have been tramping through mud and water and laid on the edge of the laundry basket in vain hopes of drying, and are now stacking up. The rain is much more fitfull, but still coming down in buckets off and on. Still no signs of clearing off, or sunshine. But, one of these days I'm sure it will!!! It can't stay this way forever!

I hear a vehicle outside. Makes me wonder if the exploration team got back. They were out checking out damages. And, I assume, that means hopefully being able to tell how many days till we will be able to get out of this valley again! Not that we really need to get out for anything (except, yes, the team's luggage that didn't show up at the airport when they did. . .) but it's still kind of an isolating feeling. Makes me very glad for internet!