The Mountain

Thanks Chey...

"Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow."

-Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

As seen through the eyes of a three year old

So this really has nothing to do with any of my past and future travels but I want to put into writing the wisdom that I'm gaining through my interaction with the precious three, almost four-year-old that I take care of a few afternoons a week. I seriously wish that I had a tape recorder when I'm with him because every word that comes out of that kid's mouth is worth saving. It is impossible to have a bad day when you're with Ty.

Yesterday, our time together began when I picked him up from preschool. As we were walking to the car, he said something about how the daffodils were starting to pop up. I asked him to show me where, which was apparently a slight mistake because he goes over to this woman's garden and plucks one out of the ground, sweetly looks up at me and hands me the flower. "It's for you," he said with a shy smile. Quite cute but I'm hoping that the true owner of the flower was not watching.

A snapshot of our conversation in the car ride back to his house:

Ty: "Do you know what a glowing orange round ball is called?"
Me: "Nope. Tell me."
Ty: "A burning ember. You have to be careful because they're hot and can catch trees on fire."

Me: "Do you like country music?"
(He completely ignored the question, which Ty tends to do a lot when he doesn't feel like answering or doesn't know the answer.)
Ty: "Do you know why they call it counTREE?"
Me: "Nope. Why?"
Ty: "Because there are many trees."

So at this point, we're home and playing in the backyard. I was sitting on the deck reading and he was in the sandbox filling up a bucket with sand, pretending that he's cooking something. He calls me down to eat the chocolate crackers that he's made for me.

Ty: "I think I made too much. Well, we can eat 'em everyday. Chocolate crackers."
Me: "Ty you know chocolate is my favorite."
Ty: "Yeah that's why I made them. Come get some."
Me: "Well why did you make so much if there are only two of us?"
Ty: "So you can eat some every time you come over here."
Me: "Okay."
Ty: "But it's just pretend."
Me: "Well it's okay to pretend."
Ty: "Well yes as long as you don't actually put it in your mouth."
Me: "Yeah."
Ty: "But sometimes I forget and I do."
Me: "How do you make chocolate crackers?"
Ty: "You put in lots and lots of chocolate. And dough. And sugar."

So there you have it folks. Chocolate crackers. He proceeded to create a farmers market which I went shopping at and asked for chicken and apples, which were buried in the buckets of chocolate crackers so I had to eat them all mixed all together. Gross. :)

Some more

1.) Miriam and me
2.) Ezekiel and me (one of the translators and students at the school)
3.) Miriam and Miquette searching for glasses

A few photos from the clinic

I guess I don't have too much more to add and I'm sure you all have had enough to read for now. Here are a few photos from the clinic. I'll post some more of other things later although I'm sure many of you have already seen them on facebook. I'll also write later and tell you a little more about what is going on this summer...

Haiti 2009

So I was going to send this as a mass e-mail as so many people have asked about my most recent trip to Haiti but I have been wanting to start another blog anyway as I'm off to a remote area of Uganda this summer and this seems as good a way as any to keep people updated every once and awhile and let you all know that I'm alive. :)

Thank you all so much for your prayers and interest in finding out what went on. As most of you know, I feel like Haiti is more home for me than being here in Chapel Hill so it is always hard to get re-adjusted to my life in the States when I return from these trips so your continued prayers for my focus on school and all that are much appreciated.

So here goes: I flew into Port au Prince and met up with a friend of mine, Art, who is a teacher at Quisqueya, an international Christian elementary, middle and high school there in PAP. There are some Haitian students who attend the school but mostly a lot of missionary kids and students whose parents are doing awesome work in Haiti. I got to hang out there a couple of days and meet some of the students and teachers, sit in on some classes etc., which was really cool. Then Art and I, along with another one of the teachers, Miriam, and the school nurse, Miquette, flew on a small plane to Cap Haitian and subsequently took a "taxi" to Ouanaminthe, which is in the northen part of Haiti, right on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Since I've spent most of my time in Haiti down around Fondwa and Jacmel and La Cayes, it was fun to see another part of the country. A couple of vehicle changes and two flat tires later, we made it to our destination. :) The second flat tire took awhile to remedy but it was fun hanging out with some of the locals and making ourselves at home on their property.

In Ouanaminthe, we met up with the rest of our team, 13 more people who flew in from Ohio, and stayed in a sort of guest house attached to an amazing school. Some of our people spent most of the time at the school, painting and cleaning and doing repair work- plumbing etc. The rest of us spent the week in a Haitian run clinic a few blocks away. The stories of both the school and the clinic are amazing. Specifically, we were fitting people with eye glasses. Someone far more intelligent and technologically savvy than I developed an apparatus which scans people's eyes and determines their glasses prescription. It then prints out that prescription and the number to several options of glasses which most closely match that prescription and have been donated to the clinic. There is a whole closest full of them. The team also brought down hundreds of reading glasses and sunglasses and eyedrops. As you can imagine, it was a bit choatic at times as people definitely have their preferences as to which glasses they want and some don't fully understand that they are all different prescriptions. We made it through though, with God's grace and hopefully helped some people see better. The best part for me was being able to pray with hundreds of people who were really excited about that and shared their faith with me. It's always amazing to me how close I can feel to my brothers and sisters in Christ whose lives are so different from my own. I also got to spend sometime in the actual clinic with the Haitian physicians and residents which was certainly educational and helpful for me to see in terms of how things were run. They actually had an electronic medical record system and prescriptions that printed out in the pharmacy! It seems to function quite well.

Additionally, I was asked by Hughes, the Haitian man whose vision from God brought the school and clinic about, to speak, with Miquette, in the 12th and 13th grade classrooms about medical school and nursing school. We had a good time doing that and I enjoyed sharing what God has done to bring me this far on this particular path.

The time in the evenings spent with the team were amazing. I was really challenged in many ways and was blessed by the people that I met who came down from Ohio. The precious time that I spent with some of the individuals on that team was probably what made this trip particularly special for me. I learned so much from their openness and encouragement.

One afternoon Art and Miriam and I walked over to the Dominican just to set foot in that country (and get some ice cream). Its absolutely astounding how different it is just right over the border. You can't even imagine! (As you can tell, the border is tightly patrolled :) (That was sarcastic by the way.)

I'll wrap this up a little later because I have a few more thoughts but I've got to go wake a three year old up who doesn't want to get out of bed...