Busy-ness

Things have been crazy! It's been a while since I've posted much. So, what's been going on?

• Keeping up with Kaylen's kindergarten things (a few worksheets per week, one small book per day, a library book every 6 days, and other random items, notes, etc.).
• Keeping up with Kaylen's Kid Central activities Wednesday nights at church (a small workbook with 7-8 short activities, including 2 Bible verse songs on the CD per week to learn, a key Bible verse to learn, daily prayer & discussion as needed).
• Keeping up with my own Bible study - a small group meetings weekly, but daily study and prayers - usually done over my lunch break. (Kaylen's songs and lessons help here too.)
• Church weekly, and helping with the 4-year-olds' Sunday school class once per month. I may also join the choir for the Thanksgiving services, which will add a few rehearsals - but they'll mostly be the nights while Kaylen's at Kid Central.
• Kaylen playing soccer one hour each Saturday - has now had 2 of the 6 week season.
• Learning my new Optimist Club duties - I'm the Secretary/Treasurer this year.
• Work.
• Being more deliberate about planning meals that are more healthful and economical (in terms of both time & $$) for our family.
• Laundry, house cleaning (although I won't pretend I've can always keep up-our floors are disgusting and please no white glove tests on any shelves, and there are laundry piles everywhere - clean and dirty!).
• Personal hygiene - both my own and assisting Kaylen. (What?! You mean those nails have to be trimmed once in a while? Well, mine do - Kaylen tends to bite hers but she's doing better. :)
• Managing the family's financials -- and trying to ignore the 401(k).
• Medical/dental appointments for myself and Kaylen.
• Keeping track of Kaylen's social activities - lots of daycare/kindergarten friends mean lots of birthday parties!
• Planning events with friends and family.
• The adoption processing is always on my mind, but I'm trying to not obsess about it. I do fluctuate back and forth, but I've tried to hand it all over to God. I know He is taking care of the children and of the process. I'm trying to seek out His will for my waiting period.
• Keeping up with blogs/facebook. Well, obviously that's fallen back a bit. I haven't been commenting, but I still read quite a few, and know that many of you are in my prayers.
• Exercising - coupled with good talks with a wonderful friend - the excellent stress-reliever!

Kaylen's really good about helping when she's needed, or going to play when it's easier for me to just handle things myself. She helps with loading/unloading the dishwasher, setting the table for meals, and also cleaning the bathrooms (well, marginally well - her "clean" is not always the same as my "clean", but better than before usually!). She also keeps her toys and books picked up - we've always stressed putting her things away before she gets out something else or moves on to a different activity, so that helps keep things under control a bit. She now also knows her expectations as far as school work and personal hygeine (although once in a while we still battle on a few things). Aren't routines wonderful?!

Jock's also awesome help. He keeps the home repairs/garage/basement/lawn under control, keeps the electronics and appliances working, and does dishes. He's starting to do the grocery shopping - works right next to where we shop, so that's very helpful when we have limited time to help Kaylen get her stuff done in the evenings - and he's better at watching for bargains than I am. He takes care of his own laundry and cooks meals sometimes, and helps a lot with really all of the stuff above - otherwise I'd really be crazy! :)

What keeps all of you busy these days?

Haiti Prayer Requests

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UPDATE 9/26: The storm has past Haiti with a lot less rain than was feared! However now it is officially named storm Kyle. It is now North of Haiti, headed further North, possible to hit the NE US or Canada in a couple days. Thank you for your prayers on that. No updates on the other items, so those are still on my request list.
****

OK prayer warriors: Of the many prayer needs on my list currently, here are some of the most pressing prayer needs, relating to Haiti:

• Haiti is getting hit by another storm this week. It's not organized enough to be a tropical depression yet, so it's unnamed at this point. It's just an "tropical wave" - whatever that means. But, it is a large storm, and it is dumping a lot of rain on the island. That's the last thing they need right now. Praying that it moves past or dissipates quickly.

• Praying for the three girls from E & J's orphanage, and their two adoptive families, who've been waiting in IBESR since late last fall. They so need to get out so the girls can move on in the process, so they can come home ASAP.

• Praying for Parquet approvals for many (17?) from our orphanage, including Elijah & Josephine. And for the many other children/adoptive families in various steps in the process.

• Praying that Elijah's mom and Josephine's dad can be located, proper IDs located or obtained, so that their birth parent interviews can be scheduled at the embassy. This is the next step to the US side of our process that can be going on at the same time as the Haiti side of things (currently Parquet). This is one of the requirements for them to get their US Visa. More on this when we find out the date(s) of the interview appointments.

There are many others on my list, but I need to get to bed. I just wanted to get these out there now that my internet service is back up - it's been out all evening - and typing/editing on the blackberry isn't fun...

Homecomings **UPDATED**

And two more home now this weekend - that makes 8 this month! AWESOME!!!

Random Stuff from the last while

We went camping with my Dad & Terry, near where my sister lives, over Labor Day Weekend. Dad & Terry have a permanent spot there now for their RV, and we set up our tent on their space. I wish I could post more pictures - I had some good mini-golfing pictures, one of Jock & Kaylen working on the tent, and a few others. But, my camera is nowhere to be found. :( I took this one of Caden & Kenny and their furry, multi-legged friend on my phone though. Notice Kenny's shirt and then look here, at Elijah's shirt. Caden saw those pictures of E and wanted to know why E was wearing Kenny's shirt. :)

Two weekends ago (after our meal packaging - pictures from my phone again) we spent an evening at our neighborhood block party. We're not home much, being that we both work full-time, so it was fun to chat with some of our neighbors. We also had a visit from a fire truck and an ambulance. When you register your block party to get the street barricades, you can have them stop by. (I think last year a police officer came.) It was fun for the adults and the kids to get to see inside the rigs. In the ambulance, they hooked the kids up to a monitor, so they could see their heart rates on the computer screen. I'm hoping to get a picture or two from one of our neighbors (this is when we realized our camera was MIA).

Last weekend we had a last-minute change in plans. Some friends had two tickets offered to them to the big UI/ISU game. So, Friday night we threw things in the car, grabbed fast food drive-through, and drove 3 hours in heavy traffic and pouring rain (it's usually a 2-hour drive). Dawn & I left our husbands home with the kids, and met her dad and a friend at the game. Not the outcome we wanted to see - ISU lost, but it was so much fun! We really didn't get harassed too much, being ISU fans at UI. I hadn't been to a game in years, and it was very nice to spend the weekend with our friends. I did take a few pictures on my phone (and threw in the one I took of Ben, because is just so darn cute!)

Kaylen sprained her wrist last weekend too. It was a little swollen and hurting her to even do some minor personal care things, like going to the bathroom, etc. But we knew it was going to be fine when she complained Monday evening that at school she fell and hurt her wrist (four times!). I slyly asked her how she fell and hurt her wrist again she said one time she fell from the monkey bars. Hmmmm... Can we say milking things just a bit?! I know she really injured it - it's now bruised a little bit, and she still has a little pain when she moves it just right, but it's no reason to be getting out of holding my hand when crossing the street!

The past few weeks have been challenging with Kaylen. She's been fine with Daddy, but it seems with me, her disrespect, disobedience, defiance, are at an all-time high. It's been tough. Jock and I have had long conversations several evenings. We're working on it. It's frustrating and exhausting, but we are keeping on top of it. We could use some prayers for this.

Kindergarten is tough! Not really for Kaylen though - she's for the most part doing beautifully. But for the parents! :) There's a lot to keep track of. I think I'm pulling it off, but there's a lot. There's a library book that has to be returned to school before the next library day - on a 6-day rotation. There's homework worksheets to be completed, signed and returned to school. There are notes from the teacher at least weekly telling me what they've been learning, and what we should ask about at home to reinforce things. There is the "book-in-a-bag", that Kaylen reads to us and returns to school the next day to get a different one. It's hard to get it all in between 5:30 and 7:30, in addition to dinner and a shower, and a little playing.

And, to top things off, today was school picture day. Kaylen for some reason decided she wasn't going to ("couldn't") snap her pants today, so it took us an extra 5-10 minutes to get ready to go in the morning. Then I had to finish fixing her hair and literally run out the door. We got across town to daycare just in time, but then as I was on my way to work, I realized the school picture order form was next to me on the seat of the van. So, I have to drive back across town to drop it off at the school for her. It all worked out fine - I was a little late to work, but Kaylen got to school, so did the order form. The pictures got taken as planned. And, when you're running late for work, there is less traffic on the freeway. :)

Tomorrow Kaylen starts the 6 weeks of fall soccer. Same format as last year - one hour each Saturday - practice for 15 minutes, then a game - playing a different team each week. Then she has a birthday party at the bowling alley - with pizza, cake and ice cream for dinner. Sunday we're planning to go to an apple orchard. It should be a fun weekend. Hope you all have a great one.

Homecomings

Six children from our orphanage have gone home to their forever families in the last couple weeks. So exciting! It's a long ways off yet for us, but oh, how I long for that day!

E & J Updates Aug-Sep2008

Well, things have obviously been a little crazy with the weather in Haiti. When there is bad weather email communications are difficult. This on top of the internet service providers coming and going out of business. We didn't get July update photos, but I was in Haiti, so I did my own.

We got our August photos, but not until around the first of September. We got our August process update around the same time. There was nothing new to update on, as expected. We're still in Parquet.

I'm not expecting new pictures next week as scheduled, with all that is going on in Haiti. I do still check our secured website daily - sometimes even multiple times daily - just in case. If there was something new, I don't want to not know as soon as possible! I was pleasantly surprised today to find out that it required me to enter my password today - it remembers me unless new information has been added. The new info was the new measurements and updates about the kids. I've included them below, along with their August update photos.

Elijah Ralph
Weight: 24lbs
Height: 29.25in
He has approximately 20teeth including two molars that are on their way out. Comparatively, he is not really outgoing as the other kids are. Sometimes he is just curious when someone is doing something.



Josephine Celena
Weight: 18.25lbs
Height: 29.5in
She is very happy and outgoing, she likes to play and smile.






The personality info sounds about right, but I'm not sure the measurements are 100% accurate. Josephine surely has grown in height, but I didn't think she was as tall as Elijah yet - I thought he had a few inches on her when I was there. She wasn't walking on her own though, so the leaning against the bed could have made my calculations accurate. The weights I have no clue on. The only thing is if I could compare to other children here who are about the same ages. Who knows though...

Lies & the Truth (Part II)

(continued)
...So not 15 minutes before, I'd had a conversation with Kaylen after I caught her in a blatant lie, over something very trivial. Now, I would understand a little better (although still unacceptable) if she were lying about something she thought she would get in trouble about...

Over dinner, Jock and I had some conversation about work, the happenings of the day. Then Kaylen pipes in with a tidbit of what happened in her day - and just came right out with it: "We were lining up, and C (a boy in her class) spit in my face -- for no reason at all!" (Nodding her head as if trying to convince herself and us that story was real.)

Now, let me tell you, after 2 1/2 years, we've learned to recognize when she's lying, and how to be real sly, so as to catch her in her lies so that she can't back out. So we innocently ask questions for her to tell us more about the story, without being accusatory. This takes practice, folks!

So, we ask her what she did after C spit in her face. She says she told a nearby teacher, and that teacher asked their names and who their classroom teacher was and said she'd make sure she told Mrs. S. what happened.

Then we ask what Mrs. S. did - if she talked to Kaylen and C about it later. Kaylen said yes. First Mrs. S. talked to Kaylen and asked her what happened and Kaylen told her that C spit in her face. Mrs. S. then asked Kaylen why she thought C did that to her, and Kaylen told her she didn't know - she didn't do anything to him. (Again nodding her head trying to be very convincing as she's recalling the story to us - she probably nodded like that to Mrs. S. too.)

I then ask her if Mrs. S. then asked C what happened. She said yes, and that Mrs. S. asked him why he did that. I asked Kaylen what his response was, and I can see the panic wash across her face. She realizes she doesn't want to answer that question so she says C didn't answer Mrs. S. Then, she didn't hear his answer because he talks very softly. Then, she really backtracks and says that Mrs. S. really didn't ask C why he did that. Hmmm... Finally she really realizes she's not getting out of this lie, and she finally comes out with C told Mrs. S. that he did it because Kaylen did it to him first, and follows that up very quickly by, "but I really didn't!" (Again with the attempt at the convincing nodding.)

At this point, Jock and I have to take a step back. We realize that we probably won't ever know the truth about what happened when those kids were standing in line. So, we focus on the telling lies, changing her stories, not telling the truth right away.

We talk about some of the same things we always do. How, if you do something wrong, that we know you don't want to tell us, but that also lying about it is worse - because then you've done two things wrong rather than just one...

I think the thing that really sunk in was that if you keep telling lies, people/your friends will eventually realize that you're never telling the truth, and that they'll stop listening to you. She says, "but my friends listen to me now." Daddy says yes, but that they're young - they don't realize that they're not being told the truth. She's sly, and we, as adults and her parents know when she's lying. But, they'll learn and they'll figure it out, and they'll stop listening.

Knowing Kaylen's personality, it's not surprising that this part really sunk in to her. She just broke down and really cried about this. She has a very strong need to be heard, for people to pay attention to her. There have been times when I've just had to tell her that I'm not going to listen to her if she isn't going to tell me the truth. I think that really sunk in tonight.

So, Daddy goes on to talk about how she won't get in as much trouble if she comes and tells us something she did wrong right away. She's still very upset by all this, because she knows this is a hard thing to do, and says, "but it's hard to tell the truth!" Yes, he says, but isn't it easier if you come and tell us something right away, rather than waiting? She agreed, after we gave her some examples. A couple weeks ago, she was playing with her jewelry box. Now, she has one that has play jewelry and the other good jewelry she's not supposed to play with. I must have been gone, and she came down and told Daddy that she'd broken one of her necklaces, very upset about it. She remembered that Daddy had thanked her for telling him, and asked her to be more careful with her things. Nothing more. I think I sometimes am more harsh on her, so I had to think of an example too - a time she wasn't being careful turning pages in one of her big books, and accidentally ripped one of the pages. I taped it back up for her and asked her to be more careful... (and I think we had a few other examples too).

So, by this time it's about bedtime, and we've about talked this thing blue in the face (hence, the long rambling blog posts - sorry!). Jock and I had long finished our dinners, and I had her hurry up and finish while I cleaned up and Jock moved on to work on his laundry. I'm across the kitchen not even looking her way, and she says, "Mommy, I'm sorry. I just spilled some food on the table." Now this isn't a big deal, but we do get tired of telling her several times per meal to lean over her plate so she doesn't spill on clothes, table, floor, etc. I said, that's OK, that she should clean it up and use better manners so it doesn't happen again.

After dinner, she's upstairs, and she confesses to Daddy that she hasn't been wiping when she goes to the bathroom unless we're in there with her. (Which we knew because she complains sometimes at bath time that her bottom stings - she's kind of got a slight diaper rash most the time.) This one we've told her over and over, how unhealthy this is, but she just is always in a hurry to not miss something, and of course we're not watching her, because she's at school/daycare during the day, and she's old enough to go to the bathroom herself without us watching over her (or so we thought!)

...And a few other confessions between supper and bedtime. All were things we knew about, and obviously we just praised her for telling us and to try to do correct them. For her bedtime prayers, I didn't hear what she said, because I didn't make it upstairs in time - but I know that it wasn't the standard rhyme prayer she sometimes does. It sounded a bit like she was repeating the prayer we'd done earlier together about asking God to help her tell the truth.

Anyway, my point is, I think it really did sink in this time. I hope it sticks. I'm not delusional to think she'll never lie again, but I really think/hope that she really got it this time, and she really wants to tell the truth now.

And then, as a side effect to telling us the truth about things she's done wrong, maybe she'll start getting tired of telling us, and think about the rules and instructions we've given her before she acts, and we won't have to make so many mindless reminders or hear quite so many confessions.

Yikes! This makes me tired! But I'm excited for what I think was a breakthrough - finally! Praying tonight and in these next few weeks especially, that she really takes this to heart. Thinks about her words and her behaviors a lot more.

I think I'm going to also follow up this conversation this week with some other evidence rather than just Mom & Dad's talking. Maybe the story of the boy who cried wolf, the Sky is Falling story, and probably some other biblical stories as well. Maybe that will give her some other sources and help set it in too. We'll see how this goes...

Lies & the Truth (Part I)

Wow! It's been quite a week - yes, already. We've been struggling quite a bit lately with Kaylen not telling the truth and telling lies.

Yes, there's a difference, but yes, she does both. She tries to get around things by just not telling the whole truth. But after 2 1/2 years with us, we know her too well. We start asking questions, and then the lies come out too.

We've talked and talked until we were blue in the face, she's had punishments,lost privileges she's cried, we've prayed together. You name it, we've tried it all - it just wasn't getting through.

Until tonight.

It started with she and I working on her homework pages this evening (yes, even in Kindergarten the send home a few worksheets each week). For the last one, she had to get out a book. Her library book she'd checked out was sitting right there on the table next to us, but she didn't want to read it. I asked her why, and she gets this attitude and says she's read it 5 times already - at the library before she checked it out. I kind of looked at her funny, and said, "You mean, you looked through the pages 5 times?" She says, "No, I really read all the words 5 times!"

Now, the book is called "The Mysterious Giant of Barletta." It's got LOTS of words in it - and lots of big and difficult words that I know that's not possible. If I read it to her, it would probably take me 10-15 minutes - so I know she didn't read it 5 times during the 20 minutes she was at the library. So, I sent her to timeout and said she could come out when she was ready to tell the truth. Instead of realizing that she was caught and I was already 100% sure that she wasn't telling the truth, she threw a fit and continued to tell me that she really did read it 5 times. Well, the punishment escalated with her continued lying, until she realized she wasn't getting out of it and finally told me the truth.

I thanked her for telling me the truth, and then I asked her why. She said she wanted me to be proud of her for being a good reader. I told her I was already proud of her reading abilities - she's an awesome reader already, but I know that she doesn't know some of those big words, and that's OK - I know she's still learning. I told her it really didn't matter - I don't mind that she hasn't read it 5 times already - in fact, I like it when she picks out books that she hasn't read before so she can learn more or hear more interesting stories, etc...

Then I talked to her about the rules. We have many rules. Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom. No playing at bedtime. Use your manners at meals. Tell the truth. Say please and thank you. But I told her that the rule about telling the truth is more important than many of those other rules. It was so important that God put it in the Bible. It's one of God's rules! That's how important it is. Then we prayed together, asking God help Kaylen to tell the truth...

We've done this before though. I know she understands what we talk about. But does she really? She doesn't see the importance of it. Somehow it just doesn't sink in. Us talking about it being important in her mind. How do we get through to her?

Well, Jock got home from work right about the time we were praying together, so he knew what we'd talked about.

Then at dinner, it rears its ugly head again - not 15 minutes later!
(to be continued...)

What's for dinner?

To lighten the mood a bit...

Last weekend when we were visiting my family, my sister graciously sent us home with some YUMMY produce from her garden. We hadn't ever tried a spaghetti squash before, so I have to admit I was a little unsure of it. I really like zucchini and yellow/summer squash, but I've never been a fan of the acorn or butternut squash.

So, my sister gave me some hints for how to cook it. Then, because I can't remember and I'm not a good cook (I need to have a detailed recipe spelled out for me), I started looking for recipes that were similar to what she'd told me. What I made was delicious! Jock and Kaylen liked it too - although not too surprising because they like most anything. And healthy too - substituting the veggies for the pasta! I didn't even know there was such a thing as spaghetti squash, but it really is very stringy and looks a bit like spaghetti when you run your fork through it.

Here's a picture (pardon the blurryness - I've misplaced my camera and I'm not very good with the one on my phone).






...and the recipe (from cooks.com):
BAKED SPAGHETTI SQUASH DINNER

1 spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise
1 lb. hamburger, extra lean
1 sm. onion, grated
Salt and pepper
1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 c. canned tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. basil leaves, crumbled

Boil halves of spaghetti squash face down in 2 inches of water for 20 minutes or until mildly tender. Break hamburger into small pieces and partially fry with onion, salt and pepper in butter. When cooled, remove inner shreds of spaghetti squash from both halves and mix lightly with hamburger and tomato sauce. Add basil; return mixture to spaghetti squash shells. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

(**Actually, I didn't fry the meat/onions in butter, just browned almost all the way done. I also didn't use basil or tomato sauce - used my standard Prego Traditional spaghetti sauce - that's what I had available in my pantry today.)

The three of us polished off 1/2 of the recipe, and saved the other 1/2 for dinner tomorrow. I'm sure we could have eaten more, but we didn't. I served it with fresh tomatoes also from Amy's garden - YUMMY! Enjoy!

Orphanage Update

We got another message from our orphanage today. After Ike went through, things are still fine at the orphanage. There is flooding lower-lying areas in Port-au-Prince, but most of the devastation is in the rest of the country. We've of course heard horror stories of the flood-waters carrying people away, drownings, mud-slides, etc. I appreciate the concern of all our friends and family - several I've heard from this past week. Definitely your prayers are coveted, for all of Haiti. Our children are safe and well.

Meals from the Heartland

**Update: We had a great time yesterday. People were split up into teams of 10 per table - one each for scooping rice, dried veggies, soy powder, placing a vitamin tablet, and holding the bag under the funnel - then two for weighing, two for sealing the bags, and one to box them up. Kaylen did the vitamin tablet the whole time. She wanted to trade, but I don't think she could have reached over the tubs to scoop other things into the funnel. I worked some bagging, a little bit with the veggie scoop and a bit with the soy scoop. Erin worked on the measuring. We filled 360 packages - 10 boxes of 36 packages each. Here are a few pictures...

When we got there, one of the organizers of this event told us that, with two packaging days to go, they'd already packaged the 3 million meals they'd hoped to do. Friday night, they trucked in another semi-full or two of ingredients, so they could keep all their packaging volunteers busy on Saturday and Sunday - to make a total of 4 million! That's just awesome! We also got a tiny spoonful to taste what we'd helped package on our way out - tastes pretty bland, but very good - almost like chicken-flavored rice. We bought a packet for a $5 donation - so we'll add a little salt and try it at home. We may head over to an auto dealership some other Saturdays when we're not busy and package meals again - next time we'll bring Daddy with us. :) They host packaging volunteers each Saturday from 10 am - 12 pm - check it out here.

Kaylen and I, and my friend Erin, are going tomorrow to downtown Des Moines, to HyVee Hall, to help package food for this event. The food packaging time slots are all filled (Awesome!!!), but they're still accepting volunteers for other positions. They are also still taking donations. Check out their website to see how you can help.

When I mentioned this to Kaylen yesterday she was very excited about it. We're planning to watch the promotional clips tonight and then the training video online, so she knows what to expect - and I think they'll show us the training video when we get there before we start working too. I told her it wasn't going to be fun, but hard work - however, we should feel good that we're helping people who are in need. It didn't matter to her that it was going to be hard work - she was still excited about it. I told her generically that the meals we're helping to prepare are going to help people who don't have enough food to eat. She immediately asked, excitedly if it would go to children in Haiti and China. I'm not sure about China, but Haiti was on the list, along with many other places. She's got such a heart of gold! She's always wanting to help others. I'm so proud of her.

Hurricane Update #? of ?

We did hear from our orphanage last night, that everyone in the orphanage is safe. They did have some flooding in the "depot" (storage area), and boxes from the shipment that just recently got through customs got wet. However, they were fortunate to have been able to unpack those boxes and didn't lose anything. There is a lot of flooding around the orphanage. The almost constant rain the past couple days make travel impossible, and the staff at the orphanage have not been able to leave. Water is hard to keep supplied with the rains and floods. They had enough food, but were also going to be stocking up on that when the rains let up. This cooler weather and storms this time of year tend to bring about illnesses in the children, but fortunately there have been no reports at this point.

While it's good to hear that our children are safe, the rest of the news is very hard to hear - the death toll in other areas is rising, and expected to go even higher, as many parts are still flooded and/or covered in mud/rocks. Haiti did finally get some more media attention this morning. I wish the circumstances were different, but in my opinion the media attention is good in terms of getting more aid flowing into the country. Here is a link to the msnbc article. It's so sad to me how many people are living in the flooded areas. They aren't being rescued and brought to safer areas - except for mothers in labor. They're being brought food and water to wait out the floods - and that's if the aid can even get to them!. I can't even imagine. It seems to be a hopeless situation.

While the US this afternoon has shifted focus to our East coast, and the arrival of Tropical Storm Hannah, I have been also watching a Caribbean Hurricane Network. They track the progress of hurricanes as they develop off the horn of Africa, travel across the Atlantic, and make their way towards the Caribbean. They are keeping a very close eye now on Hurricane Ike - a fast-moving and very strong (category 3) storm. It is predicted to pass along to the north of Haiti. They cannot take the devastation that is possible from another storm at the moment. The ground is saturated. The rivers are already overflowing. I'm praying that it weakens to a tropical depression, and speeds up so it blows over fast. Haiti needs the sun to come and dry things out. I'm praying for no further loss of life and destruction. I'm praying for safety and health for the children and all of Haiti.

So much to say, so little time..

I'm exhausted - must get to bed. Eventually. But my heart is heavy with the havoc that the rains from the hurricanes/tropical storms have wreaked on Haiti. I'm thankful that Gustav and Hanna have moved on (despite their paths beyond Haiti and the devastation elsewhere). But the loss left behind is weighing heavy on me. Our children's orphanage is doing fine -- as far as I know. They lost some of their supplies when the storage shed had water in it from Gustav. I pray that was the extent of their losses.

Many others were not as fortunate. Rice fields in the fertile region of the Haiti's countryside are flooded - leaving Haiti with an even shorter food supply that was already very lean - to put things nicely. People have lost their homes and all they had - which wasn't much to begin with by our American standards, swallowed up by previously-non-existent rivers, mud/rock slides, or heavy winds. People are stranded on their rooftops, hollering for help. People want to help, to rescue them, but they cannot be reached - whole cities being surrounded by vast seas of flood waters, leaving no way in or out. I can't even imagine the struggles that are occurring right now in Haiti. And this is not the end. More storms (Ike, Josephine, others?) could be taking the same path. They need our help. They need our prayers.

I was floored at an outpouring of support going on right now - this week - in our own community. I'm planning to go help. It's a small offer of support, but something I can easily give up just a couple of hours of my weekend. To help others. It's called "Meals from the Heartland", and follows the "Kids Against Hunger" campaign. It's been done in the past in our area, but I don't think to this caliber. Jock's busy Saturday, but I'm going to sign up for Kaylen and I to go help. They're taking hundreds of volunteers ages 5 and up to help package meals for two hours. Check it out here (and today's news story about it here), or search for a similar event in your area.

I know that these meal packets do get delivered to people in need. When I was in Haiti in Feb/Mar, I saw that our children's orphanage had received some of these meals. They had a few boxes remaining in their food storage area. It's awesome to see, first-hand, how these things make a difference in people's lives. Something that seems so small and inconsequential to us can make such a difference in someone else's life. Search out opportunities for you to use your time, talents, & resources for others. Maybe your only time, talent, or resource is to pray. That is very much in need too!

Tropical Storms

Haiti is getting rained on again - this time from Tropical Storm Hanna. It had been over the southern Bahamas, but then dropped down a bit, so that the outer bands were dumping more rain on northern Haiti.

From MSN this evening:

Families clutched mattresses, chairs and other belongings and slogged through waist-high floodwaters Tuesday as Tropical Storm Hanna killed at least 13 people in northern Haiti. The slow-moving storm threatened to hit the southeastern U.S. coast as a hurricane within days.

Heavy rain from the storm's outer bans fell relentlessly in Haiti, a country still recovering from drenchings by Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in the past two weeks. In all, floods and mudslides from the three storms have killed more than 100 people as Haiti's deforested hills melted away in the torrential rains.

"The situation is as bad as it can be," said Vadre Louis, a U.N. official in the coastal city Gonaives. "The wind is ripping up trees. Houses are flooded with water. Cars can't drive on the street. You can't rescue anyone, wherever they may be."

A U.N. aid convoy left Port-au-Prince with relief supplies including inflatable boats to rescue people stranded on rooftops.
...
Churning slowly through the southern Bahamas on Tuesday, Hanna swirled over the island of Great Inagua for hours, toppling power lines but otherwise doing little damage. There were reports of heavy winds stripping shingles from roofs and knocking down trees, but no injuries, said Chrystal Glinton, a spokeswoman for the Bahamas' National Emergency Management Agency.

"Everyone is alive and well," Glinton said. "The damages have been minimal."

The same could not be said for Haiti, a country particularly vulnerable to devastating floods because of its steep terrain and hills that have been deforested for agriculture and by peasants who burn trees for charcoal.

In the fertile Artibonite Valley, rice fields were flooded and farm animals huddled on small plots of dry land. In the village of L'Ester, Wilson Elie, a local official, said rain had overwhelmed his community and he pleaded for government help.

"The people cannot live in water," Elie said.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Ike was cruising westward across the Atlantic with top winds of 60 mph, projected to near the Bahamas by Sunday as a hurricane. Just behind it was Tropical Storm Josephine, with top winds of about 40 mph, and forecasters said it could near hurricane force by Wednesday or Thursday. ...

Sheesh! The storms are really lining up. More prayers are needed. Haiti is rain-soaked, and with storm after storm after storm, it's not leaving any time for drying out between storms.