Multiple times a year we lose all track of what month it is. The other day I was running and wondered, "How many more weeks till Easter?" For some reason I was suddenly transported into March and forgot that Easter came and went quite recently. Occasionally someone will bring up something about sports and we'll think "Huh, it is football/baseball/basketball season?" With weather that doesn't change much and nobody decorating things to remind us of the season changes, we just sort of get lost in time warps.
All of that was the long introduction into the bad news that Father's Day kind of snuck up on us.
Because we thought of it for the first time on Saturday night we needed to degaje a bit. (Degaje means make it work in any way possible including but not limited to sketchy and unconventional ways.)
Sunday morning we made signs moments before leaving for church. Troy was leading worship and we figured a Father's Day greeting from our row would be way better than any dumb $5 Hallmark card.
When we returned home we had lunch with visiting friends. Later in the day, all at once, ten weak little hands gave Troy a back, foot, leg, hand, arm, shoulder, and head massage that was everything you can hope a massage will be ... except relaxing.
Here is Noah's giant gift card for the aforementioned massage:
In other current (weird) events ...
Heartline is in the middle of an unusual month of non-stop teams. The leader of the current team is someone I met when I was 15 or 16 when he was my youth Pastor in Brooklyn Park, MN. He and his wife were at the church for about a year or so when I went through the drama and shame and yada yada yada of pregnancy at age 17. He was incredibly kind to me back then and helped make me feel supported/loved in the middle of a cruddy and difficult time.
This a photo of me (Tara) (the one with big hair and the scary expression) and Todd (Britt's Dad) dedicating Brittany in June 1990.
The Pastor on the right is Brent Bromstrup. The guy that officiated my (1st) wedding and dedicated Britt is currently down the block from our house in Haiti. Seven billion people on the planet, and someone that significant in my life (that I have not seen in 22 years) shows up in our neighborhood. That's just a special kind of weird.
Following up and other things ...
All of that was the long introduction into the bad news that Father's Day kind of snuck up on us.
Because we thought of it for the first time on Saturday night we needed to degaje a bit. (Degaje means make it work in any way possible including but not limited to sketchy and unconventional ways.)
Sunday morning we made signs moments before leaving for church. Troy was leading worship and we figured a Father's Day greeting from our row would be way better than any dumb $5 Hallmark card.
When we returned home we had lunch with visiting friends. Later in the day, all at once, ten weak little hands gave Troy a back, foot, leg, hand, arm, shoulder, and head massage that was everything you can hope a massage will be ... except relaxing.
Here is Noah's giant gift card for the aforementioned massage:
You get a free musuch all ofer you'r bady
Translation: You get a free massage all over your body
(You also get to laugh so hard you cry and your sides hurt. Still free!)
In other current (weird) events ...
Heartline is in the middle of an unusual month of non-stop teams. The leader of the current team is someone I met when I was 15 or 16 when he was my youth Pastor in Brooklyn Park, MN. He and his wife were at the church for about a year or so when I went through the drama and shame and yada yada yada of pregnancy at age 17. He was incredibly kind to me back then and helped make me feel supported/loved in the middle of a cruddy and difficult time.
This a photo of me (Tara) (the one with big hair and the scary expression) and Todd (Britt's Dad) dedicating Brittany in June 1990.
The Pastor on the right is Brent Bromstrup. The guy that officiated my (1st) wedding and dedicated Britt is currently down the block from our house in Haiti. Seven billion people on the planet, and someone that significant in my life (that I have not seen in 22 years) shows up in our neighborhood. That's just a special kind of weird.
Following up and other things ...
- Nadege (Friday's post) was treated for Malaria and brought home by Dr. Jen.
- Jeronie's labor stopped. She went home Saturday too. Beth put in a sleepless night before convincing Jeronie that this wasn't the real thing.
- We have found a couple options for our kids' school books to get to Haiti -Thank you!
- Sergline and Joanne at the Harbor House both graduated in the large class that graduated from sewing school on Friday - Congratulations to all the graduates!
- Dr. Jen took part of the team to donate blood today. For travelers to Haiti: Please consider donating blood while you are here. It is a huge gift you can give. Most people that need blood in Haiti cannot get it and they literally have to barter and beg. Anytime we've needed it we've also needed to repay it by donating to give back what we used. That is how it works here. In the USA the Red Cross does not allow people that have traveled to Haiti to donate for one year after travel. All that to say, you may as well leave some blood here.



7 comments:
The expression on your face in that dedication photo...priceless. I wish you'd blog about what you were thinking in that moment.
I didn't know that about blood donation. Willl leave some in Haiti next time we travel!
Tara,
Where does Jen take folks to donate blood?
You can donate down at General Hospital (kind of sketchy for uber newbies - maybe only go there with people that are not nervous) - at the Red Cross office there.
You can donate in the big nice (many story) Digicel Building. (AIR CONDITIONED!!!!)
Today they went to MSF to donate because there is a patient there that cannot be released until she pays back the blood she used -- so they are paying her blood debt and setting her free :)
(They (Haiti Red Cross) of course have donor guidelines -- BP cannot be too low - cannot be anemic - need to be healthy and not participating in any sketchy "extracurricular activities".)
Love the hair
Oh! Good to know! Haven't ever been able to donate blood before because I travel to Haiti "too often". I like the thought of leaving my blood in Haiti (is that weird?). One day the rest of me will stay too...
Thanks Tara...Same thing as Beth. I haven't donated blood since 2004 and I used to go A. LOT. I also know folks who would be interested in donating. I am excited to learn more details on this and a little embarrassed that I had no idea this was a possibility! Thanks for the info. And yes, cushy Digicel building might seem a little less scary at first. I was wondering what they do with all that space in there!!
Behind on the news while we try to get off Guam on a military / Space available flight...spent many hours sitting and waiting for our name to be called - only to drive home later when it wasn't.
Thinking of you all and how this is a daily thing in Haiti....waiting.
I suck at it.
So....have to admit - that Noah's musuch letter did actually make me laugh out loud and I thought I'd return the favor in confessing that while reading Paige's update from Cali (at a crazy hour without coffee) that I thought the sentence said something about horses' asses ....and I went WHAT?
and then went back and understood the word "assess" not to be confused with "asses"
GOOD GRIEF!!!
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