katie loves haiti: A day of rest and an evening of stress

I know that I have said this at least a dozen times before, but I am going to say it again. This house is crazy! I was on baby duty with Frances all night and Dorothy took Francesca. Luckily Frances sleeps better so I was able to get some rest myself. Dorothy got a call today from a friend here in Haiti. She wanted to know if we could take in a 5 year old girl with cerebral palsy that was found abandoned on the streets. Unfortunately, Dorothy had to refuse. We have 33 children, and neither of us can even imagine taking in any more right now. We simply do not have enough help or space. Especially because we have several children with special needs. It seems like we are really being bombarded with children right now.

The twins have been keeping me pretty busy during the day. We entrusted Jude and Francesca to Miss Audette for the day so that Dorothy and I could have a little rest. I still have Frances with me in my room, but she has been pretty easy to take care of so I don't mind. Dorothy has really been in need of rest so she is “taking the day off” and locked herself in her room. Sometimes I feel like God has turned me into the energizer bunny because I haven't been too tired yet even with the lack of sleep. I still decided to take some time to myself though. The peace and quiet of my bedroom and a good book is really nice.

In the evening, Dorothy needed me to ride along with her to the hospital to pick up the nanny that was staying with Christian. Dorothy wanted me to go along because our driver somehow broke our stick shift today. Now, we can only shift gears if we pull up on the stick shift while moving it into gear at the same time. As if it isn't difficult enough to drive here already?! Dorothy was having a lot of trouble shifting on the way to the hospital and was not able to get the truck into 2^nd gear. So, we had to drive the ENTIRE way to the hospital and back in 1^st gear!! Since most of you have never been to Haiti, it is hard to describe how insane the traffic is here, especially at night. There are no rules, no road signs, no street lights, few stop lights, potholes, and INSANE drivers. On top of that, there are no rules on emissions so the exhaust fumes are terrible. Lastly, throw in the fact that this a really dusty country and it makes for nasty driving conditions. Now, imagine dealing with all of that and only being able to stay in 1^st. We got side swiped twice on the way home. Once on each side of the truck. Luckily that is not uncommon here with the way people drive, and we just laugh it off. On top of the stress of driving and the broken stick shift, Dorothy was angry with our driver for breaking it and angry at the nanny for miss communication about needing a ride. She was not a happy camper to put it mildly, haha. She said that she likes me being around for my “calming presence”.

When we finally got home, Dorothy discovered that the nannies had fed Jude through his feeding tube while we were gone without knowing how to do it. That can be VERY dangerous because the tube could shift and put fluids into his lungs. You need to check it using a stethoscope first and neither of the nannies knew that. Thankfully, it was still in place and he was fine.

Dorothy took one twin tonight and I have the other. They are still pretty fragile and we are not ready to pass them over to the nannies during the night. They have their hands full with the other babies/kids. Plus, the nannies here are not always the most competent people. It is a lack of education, a lack of what we call common sense, and a cultural difference in how to care for/raise children. The Haitian staff can often times be very frustrating, but we would not be able to care for the children without them.

Please continue praying for everyone here. It seems that we have some type of respiratory virus sweeping through the house. I have been sick with a nasty cough for two weeks. Now, over ten of our kids are running fevers and coughing excessively. Several of the kiddos have diarrhea. Christian is still in the hospital. Like I said, this house is crazy!