Hello, all!
Sorry for the silence! I've moved over to a new site... it seemed appropriate with a new last name, a new job, and new home. :) Thanks for following my adventures in Haiti, and I'd love for you to see what's new at:
http://thedownlowe-dianita.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Going to the Chapel...
... and gonna get married... :)
My wonderful boyfriend is now my wonderful fiancé!! Yay! Sorry about the dearth of blog posts, but you can read all about wedding stuff it our wedding website, created with love by my amazing maid of honor:
http://www.justproposed.com/dianeanddavid2010/
More news to come soon!
My wonderful boyfriend is now my wonderful fiancé!! Yay! Sorry about the dearth of blog posts, but you can read all about wedding stuff it our wedding website, created with love by my amazing maid of honor:
http://www.justproposed.com/dianeanddavid2010/
More news to come soon!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Never a Dull Moment
So, today started out a little bit crazy... By 7:15 this morning, I had run along the beach, kept Sassie from being eaten by another dog, febreezed the dog I'm dogsitting, found and cleaned up his doggie doodle left on the living room floor, killed the largest cockroach I'd ever seen (more than 2 inches!!), gotten fresh spinach from the garden, been asked for a doll by a girl on the street, and talked to several people in Creole.
Maybe all of that should have prepared me for this afternoon's adventure...
Around 4pm, I left my house to go greet some visitors. They had walked up from the wharf because Trisha, who normally would have picked them up, had taken our friend Neil to the airstrip. I called Trisha who agreed to come get us and take us to the wharf to get the visitors' suitcases. So, we head down there and just as we arrive home with the stuff, Trisha gets a call from Neil, who's in the airplane.
The plane had HIT A TREE leaving our airstrip and knocked off one of its landing wheels!!!! Neil asked us to go to the airstrip and pick it up. They were still heading to their destination and were going to attempt a crash landing. Crazy!!!!
Matt and Bena took off on the 4 wheeler and Trisha and I and like 5 WISH guys piled back into the truck. The whole drive down it was thundering and lightening and starting to rain, and we prayed and talked and prayed!!! It felt like something out of a movie!
When we finally got there, Matt and Bena had found the wheel, and Matt took me over to show me the spot and the HOUSE that the wheel had hit!!!! The plane was a privately owned small plane being flown by a retired pilot, not the regular missionary (MAF) flights that we usually use.The pilot did not have much experience flying in Haiti and took off from the middle of runway instead of using its entire length like the MAF guys do. He didn't get enough lift and smacked the top of a tree. The wheel came off landing on the corner of a thatched roof shack and causing a huge hole in the ceiling. The people and goat inside the building all ran outside, unharmed, and rushed down toward the seashore.
Matt and I rode the 4-wheeler home dodging goats and pigs while lightening lit up the sky. Trisha called us with updates as we continued to pray for a safe landing of the plane. They got rerouted to Port Au Prince, since there's better safety equipment and hospitals there, as they attempted to land with only half their landing gear! Butch (who is in Port overnight waiting to bring a doc back here for a short trip) and Dan were asked to meet the plane at the airport. They arrived just in time to watch it come in, make a shaky landing, spin in circles on the ground, sliding off the runway and finally come to a halt!
Praise the Lord! No one was hurt! Whew! What a day!
Maybe all of that should have prepared me for this afternoon's adventure...
Around 4pm, I left my house to go greet some visitors. They had walked up from the wharf because Trisha, who normally would have picked them up, had taken our friend Neil to the airstrip. I called Trisha who agreed to come get us and take us to the wharf to get the visitors' suitcases. So, we head down there and just as we arrive home with the stuff, Trisha gets a call from Neil, who's in the airplane.
The plane had HIT A TREE leaving our airstrip and knocked off one of its landing wheels!!!! Neil asked us to go to the airstrip and pick it up. They were still heading to their destination and were going to attempt a crash landing. Crazy!!!!
Matt and Bena took off on the 4 wheeler and Trisha and I and like 5 WISH guys piled back into the truck. The whole drive down it was thundering and lightening and starting to rain, and we prayed and talked and prayed!!! It felt like something out of a movie!
When we finally got there, Matt and Bena had found the wheel, and Matt took me over to show me the spot and the HOUSE that the wheel had hit!!!! The plane was a privately owned small plane being flown by a retired pilot, not the regular missionary (MAF) flights that we usually use.The pilot did not have much experience flying in Haiti and took off from the middle of runway instead of using its entire length like the MAF guys do. He didn't get enough lift and smacked the top of a tree. The wheel came off landing on the corner of a thatched roof shack and causing a huge hole in the ceiling. The people and goat inside the building all ran outside, unharmed, and rushed down toward the seashore.
Matt and I rode the 4-wheeler home dodging goats and pigs while lightening lit up the sky. Trisha called us with updates as we continued to pray for a safe landing of the plane. They got rerouted to Port Au Prince, since there's better safety equipment and hospitals there, as they attempted to land with only half their landing gear! Butch (who is in Port overnight waiting to bring a doc back here for a short trip) and Dan were asked to meet the plane at the airport. They arrived just in time to watch it come in, make a shaky landing, spin in circles on the ground, sliding off the runway and finally come to a halt!
Praise the Lord! No one was hurt! Whew! What a day!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Christmas in July!!
It's so exciting!!!
After almost 2 years without a functioning x-ray machine, my hospital is getting ready to celebrate (and accurately diagnose fractures again!)!!! It feels like Christmas is coming! On July 2nd, our new machine is going to be shipped from FL to Port au Prince. Please join us in praying that it flies through customs and that we get our machine and training on it so very soon!
Praise the Lord!
After almost 2 years without a functioning x-ray machine, my hospital is getting ready to celebrate (and accurately diagnose fractures again!)!!! It feels like Christmas is coming! On July 2nd, our new machine is going to be shipped from FL to Port au Prince. Please join us in praying that it flies through customs and that we get our machine and training on it so very soon!
Praise the Lord!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
p.s.
Check out the Charite Service link for another post on all the little "coincidences" of the last couple of weeks... crazy awesome tales of summer homes, creole words, visitors, and good books!
My Life in Haiti, The Sequel
"Apre danse, tanbou toujou lou." (Haitian proverb)
"After the dance, the drum is always heavy. (i.e., after the excitement, life is boring)
About a month ago, that was exactly how I felt. One night, I was talking with a friend and realized that I felt like I was living in the epilogue of the my story in Haiti. The earthquake craziness is mostly over, we're settling into a new normal, and my life even has some semblance of a routine. We've started swapping war stories of what we all did right after "the event" of January 12th. It's almost easy to look back and to be able to say with some conviction, "yeah, I was supposed to be in Haiti for that season. I was supposed to help out. That was part of the plan." And that leaves this season sometimes feeling like an epilogue. There didn't seem to be much excitement or much to say now. I started to wonder if maybe my time here, my purpose here, was over. And there's not a lot to say in an epilogue; it's time to finish the book and start a new one.
My friend challenged me to live these next several months like I'm starting the next book. Instead of living in the memories of this crazy year, I want to focus on the new adventures that God offers for this time in Haiti. The dance isn't over yet.
And, thus far, the sequel has been incredible!!
God put some things on my heart last year and this winter that He is now bringing into existence! Last year while I was preparing to come to Haiti, I felt like God wanted me to do some discipleship with younger Christian girls and to spend time at the orphanage. And now He's opening doors for both!! My friend Esther (whose father passed away when she was 8)came over this week for a Bible study that the Lord showed me about being a beloved child of God (and which she loved so much that she invited me to share it with her youth group this afternoon!!). On Saturday, I had 9 older girls from the orphanage come to my house for a fun party of painting fingernails, eating cupcakes, singing, and sharing that same Bible lesson, with Esther as my co-teacher. How sweet to see God bringing to life dreams that He gave me so long ago!!
The Lord also put on my heart to work on offering continuing medical education (CME) at the hospital. And, Lord willing, this week we will host our first guest speaker, an OB/GYN from Texas who will share on difficult birth presentations, prenatal care, and eclampsia! While I love seeing patients, taking care of them, and praying with them, I can only see so many. But if we can pass more education on to the health care providers who will be here for years, what a wonderful thing to leave behind!!
Thus far, I'm likin' the sequel an awful lot!! This week looks like it's going to be an exciting next chapter!
"After the dance, the drum is always heavy. (i.e., after the excitement, life is boring)
About a month ago, that was exactly how I felt. One night, I was talking with a friend and realized that I felt like I was living in the epilogue of the my story in Haiti. The earthquake craziness is mostly over, we're settling into a new normal, and my life even has some semblance of a routine. We've started swapping war stories of what we all did right after "the event" of January 12th. It's almost easy to look back and to be able to say with some conviction, "yeah, I was supposed to be in Haiti for that season. I was supposed to help out. That was part of the plan." And that leaves this season sometimes feeling like an epilogue. There didn't seem to be much excitement or much to say now. I started to wonder if maybe my time here, my purpose here, was over. And there's not a lot to say in an epilogue; it's time to finish the book and start a new one.
My friend challenged me to live these next several months like I'm starting the next book. Instead of living in the memories of this crazy year, I want to focus on the new adventures that God offers for this time in Haiti. The dance isn't over yet.
And, thus far, the sequel has been incredible!!
God put some things on my heart last year and this winter that He is now bringing into existence! Last year while I was preparing to come to Haiti, I felt like God wanted me to do some discipleship with younger Christian girls and to spend time at the orphanage. And now He's opening doors for both!! My friend Esther (whose father passed away when she was 8)came over this week for a Bible study that the Lord showed me about being a beloved child of God (and which she loved so much that she invited me to share it with her youth group this afternoon!!). On Saturday, I had 9 older girls from the orphanage come to my house for a fun party of painting fingernails, eating cupcakes, singing, and sharing that same Bible lesson, with Esther as my co-teacher. How sweet to see God bringing to life dreams that He gave me so long ago!!
The Lord also put on my heart to work on offering continuing medical education (CME) at the hospital. And, Lord willing, this week we will host our first guest speaker, an OB/GYN from Texas who will share on difficult birth presentations, prenatal care, and eclampsia! While I love seeing patients, taking care of them, and praying with them, I can only see so many. But if we can pass more education on to the health care providers who will be here for years, what a wonderful thing to leave behind!!
Thus far, I'm likin' the sequel an awful lot!! This week looks like it's going to be an exciting next chapter!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Lost in Translation
David got the funniest email today! When he was in Haiti in March, he made friends with a guy who did a great job teaching him Creole. They've written a few times, and David sent him a gift when friends of his from Clemson went down to Haiti this week.
David was in Georgia when the group left for Haiti, so he had his buddy Adam pick up something for the Haitian friend. He mentioned something like a Clemson hat or t-shirt.
Today, David got a thank-you email from his Haitian friend, thanking him profusely in English for remembering him and sending him such a wonderful... casket!!
What on earth did David's friend pick up in Clemson?! I looked up the word casket for the Creole translation and couldn't find it. And then I decided to check the Creole-English side and found that the word "kasket" means baseball cap!
O the joys of translation!
David was in Georgia when the group left for Haiti, so he had his buddy Adam pick up something for the Haitian friend. He mentioned something like a Clemson hat or t-shirt.
Today, David got a thank-you email from his Haitian friend, thanking him profusely in English for remembering him and sending him such a wonderful... casket!!
What on earth did David's friend pick up in Clemson?! I looked up the word casket for the Creole translation and couldn't find it. And then I decided to check the Creole-English side and found that the word "kasket" means baseball cap!
O the joys of translation!
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