Beginning to Catch Up

I have not posted much in the last couple weeks, because they have
been busy, growing experiences...and because Dr. Ken left for two
weeks to go back to the States which meant Amber and I were here at
the beach house just the two of us (though Travis did come stay with
us and our friends were awesome to come by regularly and check in on
us). The real test as to my comfort living here – off a compound, in
a community. So over the next few days I will post things I wrote
while he was gone, but waited to publish until he returned as I didn't
want to publicize that we were living "alone" any more than necessary.

Days one and two have gone well! Thursday (Day ONE) began with a lady
coming into our yard through the beach gate. She kept saying something
in Kreyol about Travay (work). I tried to communicate with her but
she didn't seem to understand me. I tried asking her to come back
another day, in Kreyol, but she wouldn't leave. We ended up calling
Sarah from Olive Tree Project and handing her the phone. Sarah talked
to her – apparently she wanted us to give her a job. Sarah told her we
already had all the people we needed right now working for us, Thank
you, Sarah for handling that one! Then we went by Hands and Feet and I
dug around their depot and found all the clothes I was missing except
my swimsuit - oh and my baby sling, I just thought of that one... We
met Cameron Peoples' parents and saw Rebekah (never enough time).
Then we went over to Dave and Darlys' house and helped them with some
office work - QuickBooks and filing papers. Darlys took us over to
Cyvadier Plage for Jus au Lait, which is not on the menu but they made
it for us anyway :-) and French Fries – thank you Darlys for that
treat! We ran into Nick and Gwen while we were there, as well as the
Hands and Feet crew. Then we headed back to the house. Travis came to
stay with us for most of the time Dr. Ken is going to be gone. It was
a day full of people and friends, just like being at home – which is
nice because sometimes being here can feel very isolating. So many
people want things from you, everywhere you go, everywhere you turn,
so having a community of people who are not demanding anything but
friendship from you is really important and running into them all day
is really a treat.

Friday (DAY TWO), we spent some time doing Bible Study together,
looking up different verses that talk about prayer and discussing
their implications....The Bible says to pray without ceasing, but it
also says to be careful how you approach God, to listen rather than
say a lot of words. Those are two things I've been pondering how they
fit together. We are told to ask God for things, but to examine our
motives before we ask. We are told to submit all requests to HIS WILL.
Then we walked along the road towards Marigot, came back and swam.
Then headed to Cyvadier Market for water and eggs (the eggs were
really fresh looking!) We got some cleaning done in our room and Kris
(a French surfer friend) called to say he would be coming Saturday, so
Amber and I spent the afternoon cleaning the guest house for his
arrival. I paid our weekly staff all by myself today! That consisted
of Eva, who I am quickly becoming a big fan of, who cleans for us
twice a week and Benji who takes care of our yard and generally looks
out for us girls. I had to hunt Benji down, I think he thought maybe
with Dr. Ken gone he wasn't going to be paid but once I found him, he
came and did his job as well as he usually does it. Angenita showed
up and started fussing at us, she does our laundry, she was quite put
out that we hadn't had her wash in 5 days! She gets paid by the month
and does the most amazing job ever! We had clothes that weren't white
when we brought them (but were supposed to be) that are now as white
as if they were new. Laundry is done by hand and Angenita definitely
has skills. Then we had visitors stop by looking for Diane. We sat
around a while staring awkwardly at each other. I tried to talk to
them, in both Kreyol and English. But mostly we sat there. Then they
left. The funny thing is that I know one of them speaks English – she
used to talk to be pretty often. Oh well :-)