It's good to be three!

I think that I have reverted back to being a three-year-old. I speak in short sentences, I go to bed at 9pm, and I get really excited when someone gives me a cookie. Perhaps this needs a little more explanation... :o)

This week has been a week chock-full of language learning, and hence my regression in age! Matt and I each have a 2 hour lesson in Creole every weekday, and then spend the rest of our time memorizing more Creole words and playing with Thea and Zahra (see-- we play with other kids! we're 3 again! :). Our Creole is progressing "piti piti" (little by little), and usually we just make people laugh a lot. I don't know a whole lot of words, but I sure can get creative in how I use the ones I know! :o) Also, Creole kind of sounds like baby-talk. It's very musical, but many words contain sounds like "kap" and "w'ap" and things that sound much like a baby learning to English.

DISCLAIMER: I may be forgetting some English, or at least how to spell! I apologize in advance if I miss something and the spellcheck doesn't get it! From now on, please don't hold me responsible for the grammar/spelling of my blogs! Thanks!!

Nine pm bedtime-- It's true!! I really have gone to bed that early! And it's really not a weird or difficult thing around here!  Not everyone has electricity, even here in the capital city, so most people's days revolve around sunlight. That means getting up with the roosters before 6am and heading home by 5:30 pm when the sun sets. 

So when missionary midnight (9pm) rolls around, you're quite ready to sleep. Also, learning a new language wears me out, so getting 8 or 9 hours a sleep is so helpful for my memory!

Cookies-- we've had lots of yummy homemade cookies this week! And that makes me so happy... I think that's all I need to say about that. ;o)

Thea is my favorite person to try out Creole with. As an 18-month-old, she doesn't correct my grammar, doesn't care if it takes me a few minutes to get a simple phrase out, and will giggle incessantly if I spin her in circles. I'm a little nervous that I may be corrupting her Creole, but I figure that her dad (a native Haitian) will have the rest of his life to straighten her out if I'm leading her astray! :o)

I've also been learning to trust the Lord with childlike faith this week. First, I got to be my own patient and visit my first Haitian pharmacy! As many of you know, I have a few random food allergies of things that are pretty easy to avoid. But, it seems that I'm allergic to something new, for I woke up Friday morning covered in hives from hades. Many were larger than my hand! I was absolutely miserable. Thankfully, the pharmacy had exactly the medicine that I needed! I don't itch anymore, but I'm still on the meds and now have a mystery on my hands to discover the source of those hives. Also, an unexpected blessing--I learned that mosquitoes don't like to bite me when I have hives! I guess they're afraid to catch what I've got!! I was so thankful to have a respite from mosquito bites! But I had a sweet time in prayer with my Heavenly Father on Friday as I cried out for Him to remove those hives, and He gently reminded me that He's bigger and more powerful than hives and that He has been preparing me for this work in Haiti for a long time. 


First, it was neat to think that God had prepared me for that unfortunate occurrence. I'm a PA; I knew which meds would work and make me feel better. I was so thankful that God had lead me all those years and giant textbooks ago to learn medicine. Without that, I think I'd still be a big ball of itchy misery.


Second, my Heavenly Papa is teaching me that being a kid isn't so bad! He wants me to have childlike faith in the midst of these new situations and language learning. And like a child, I am back in school again; this time in preparation for my future Kingdom work here in Haiti.


Third, I've been learning to bloom where I'm planted. I'm praying for opportunities to be used while I'm here and learning to communicate. It's been neat to get to babysit for Carl and Maya so that they could go on their first date since Zahra was born, and one afternoon I made iced lattes for all of us (my espresso machine that I brought is the closest that we'll get to Starbucks this year!!). I'm thankful for these neat little moments to serve while I get ready for more hands-on service.


Well, I would love to write more, like to tell you about the awesome church that we went to this morning (at 7am), but it's 8:53pm, and you know what that means! Bedtime!!


~diane


P.S.~ I hope that your day is full of wonderful things-- like naptime and milk and cookies!