It's all about the little things.

With so many things going on and so much to say, I guess I will mention a few of the little things I've noticed. I will let you see the significance. To me, each of these things is equally important, although they are small. 

• A family fervently prayed over their child and the leaps and bounds he is making in improvement
• The way I find that not many people I make eye contact with will smile with me. I feel that this is mostly because they know great loss here. GREAT LOSS. They have most likely lost multiple family members, quite tragically, by the time they are my age. 
• The lady that cleans the rooms, Rosie, smiles every time I see her. Every time. 
• That Rosie goes to each unit in the morning, before beginning her work, to see the patients and sing and pray over them. 
• Ricardo, the oxygen tech, has made it his mission to teach me a new word/phrase of Creole every day. 
• An orphan that every volunteer fell in love with is now in a safe place with people who love him. It may only be an orphanage, but the staff made sure he went to a place that would take care of him. 
• I am normally always the cold one at home, but somehow I manage to be hot at night when I am working. It is even funnier when I work with Julien. She is always cold and I always hot, but we just laugh about it and do our best to adjust the A/C as to not make the other miserable. 
• On Saturday, I wanted to purchase a Haitian cell phone, to better communicate with some friends here running an orphanage. The security guard changed into a t-shirt and out of his uniform shirt, went into the street with the money I had given him, and purchased the phone for me. He didn't have to.
• Although I missed connecting with the friends from the orphanage, they brought me chocolate chip cookies! SO sweet! It is amazing what you will cherish. I think there were 6 in the bowl and there are still 4 of them left. I will eat them sparingly. 
• I love the storms here. They are majestic and strong. The lightning puts on a show almost every night. With the city power being off almost completely by 7 PM, it makes viewing such things even more riveting. 

I'm sure if I sat here and thought for another couple of hours, I could write a hundred things. These are just a small piece of what graces every day that I spend here. I hope I have given you an adequate picture of some of the things I experience. I will leave you with a verse that I feel is appropriate for these experiences. 

Colossians 1:16,17 - For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

When it rains in Haiti,

Forgive the rambling that I know will ensue, because I haven't written in a while. Things have been so busy and there have been so many things I didn't want to miss out on. 

I will start with what is fresh in my mind. The past two days it has monsoon-type rained here. It only rains for about an hour or two, but everything floods. I had thought before that it was so beautiful when it rained here, and it is. I didn't realize the amount of flooding that can occur outside of the walls of the hospital. It is hard to look at. Watching people try and drive/walk home in 2 feet of water on the road is tough to watch. Knowing that that water is overflowing from the sewer... makes me shutter. It is gorgeous to sit under the awning/lanai outside of our rooms and watch the rain. When it rains, the smells change, if but for a brief time. The air almost smells crisp (or maybe I have been brainwashed by the pollution). Either way, this positive fairy tries to find the good in the situation. That's a God-given gift. 

I have experienced death in Haiti this trip. And when I say that, I mean a lot. More than I would in a month's time at home in the states. More loved ones have passed than I can imagine, actually. It felt like every time I turned around, someone was talking about losing a patient. Thankfully, for the pediatric deaths my Aussie buddy Tom was here. It helped having some consistency and someone to ensure you that we did everything we could have done for the patient. It also helps to know whose hands the little children are in now. Along with this death comes grieving. Like anyone else, Haitians grieve in many different ways. Some people are stoic and want nothing to do with that loved one and some are wailing over them and have difficulty standing. I met a mother that was somewhere in the middle. She knew me because I was there when her baby came in and working the night her baby entered into Heaven, although I was not his nurse. She found me afterward and, although I don't speak Creole, I know what her expression and body language meant. I held onto her for about 5 minutes, even though I needed to get back to work. She, at first, didn't know what to do. She lightly touched my arms, but after about 15 seconds, she put her head on my chest and cried. She was at the hospital alone. Can you imagine? Completely alone. It was good to have that opportunity, even if it meant that she only felt comfort for those 5 minutes. 

One thing I am proud of on this trip is I am learning Creole!! Ricardo, one of the oxygen technicians, is determined to teach me at least one word/phrase every time he sees me. He is also open to questions, which helps. I learned how to say "thunder" and "lightning" last night, but could not type it in here to save my life unless I used my app and cheated. So, one thing I did learn from Ricardo that impressed the Haitian staff is "m'ap vini". This means, along with some other things, "I'm coming back." So, stay tuned for more Creole lesson with Jessica. 

Last, but certainly not least, I HAVE A JOB IN MN WHEN I COME HOME! Well, I won't be starting until January, but I will be working as a travel nurse! I'm excited to get to spend time with my family and may need some sort of random job in Maine, because I am weird and don't know how to not work. I have wanted to travel for a long time and now I'm in the club. Haha, I will experience negative temps like I never have before, but it seems like a great opportunity! I mean, I came to Haiti to sweat to death and live in pollution. Why can't I go and find a way to enjoy a TON of snow? I'm up for the challenge. 

I will leave you with my favorite verse. I knew that I loved it for a reason, but it's power has been made real to me here. 

"O, Sovereign Lord, You have made the Heavens and the Earth with your might power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you!" Jeremiah 32:17

Continue to pray for us here in Haiti. I would very much like to be able to visit the orphanage soon. I want to see children that are well and can enjoy the goodies that some sweet girls in Connecticut gave me to give to them!! I hope to keep you better updated since we will be having more pediatric staff in October!

M'ap vini!