My version of normal

Yesterday our friend Barb borrowed the van to go pick her sister up at the airport. Chris told her that one of us would drive her, her sister and Al, another missionary friend of ours that went along for the ride, back to MacDonald where Barb lives. I decided to go just for the sake of getting out.

On the way home, as I was driving down the road on my own, in a vehicle that feels like a North American vehicle, AC on and singing to some of my favorite tunes I was struck with an overwhelming sense of normal. It was the first time in all my years here that something has felt so normal to me. It was such a strange feeling, and yet very comforting at the same time. I got home and had this smile feeling inside for the rest of the evening. 

My version of normal

VISION TRIPS '09

For the last two years we've been doing Vision Trips here at the mission. They're a step away from the traditional "missions trip" where the intention is usually that a group comes in, does a bunch of stuff to help out, and then leaves.

We're set up a bit differently here at Clean Water for Haiti. We have a staff of 13 local people that run our filter program. They are responsible for all aspects of building and installing the filters. They're good at what they do. Because we *just* do filters there aren't really things that visitors can do in one week that will help us make big advancements in this department. BUT, it is important that people get to see and experience what we do. 

Our Vision Trips are designed as more of an immersion experience. Our visitors come for one week and stay at the mission. They'll get to spend some time in the work yard getting to know our staff and learning how we build the filters and prepare everything for deliveries. I always love to watch how our staff get encouraged by having visitors from the outside that are really interested in what they're doing. Visitors will have several opportunities to go out in the local area and meet some of the people we know and do some interesting things. 

The cost for the trip is $500 US for the week, which includes all transportation in country, accommodation and food. Each visitor is responsible for their own airfare and we'll help you with knowing which flights to arrive on etc. Accommodation is on site at the mission in our newly completed dorms (with fans and everything!). I've heard rave reviews about the cook too ;o) 

Dates for 2009 trips are:

March 21-28, 2009

July 4-11, 2009

November 7-14, 2009

If you want more info, or want to register you can email me at office@cleanwaterforhaiti.org.

Hope to see some of you here in Haiti!

Olivia in the 9's

Olivia is well into her ninth month of life. I haven't done post about her in a while. Where or where is the time?

I think if I had to pick one word to describe her right now it would be INDEPENDENT. She is all about the independence. A month or so ago she was wanting me all the time, but now that she's fully crawling and pulling up and putting down, me holding her, or anyone for that matter, gets old fairly quickly. This kid is happy toodling around the house on her own exploring and seeing what she can get into. And boy, can she get into... Some examples you ask?

• We now have a universally understood rule (as in me, Chris, Matt and visitors must abide by it) that the toilet seat MUST be down. Lid too. Why? Because someone loves water and the toilet was discovered about a week and a half ago. Thankfully I had just flushed and it was as clean as it was ever going to get. 
• Speaking of the bathroom... Our bathroom door knob doesn't actually work, again (Dad, we're saving it for you). Dad fixed it last fall and it worked great, but the pins in it slipped again and now the door just pushes closed and pulls open, which is fine when you have adults that understand that a closed door means the bathroom is occupied. Olivia has discovered that she can push the door open when it's occupied. On more than one occasion I've heard Chris yelling, "Baby, NO! Baby, leave me alone! Leslie, HELP!!! The baby is harassing me!" all while Olivia is sitting on the other side pushing with all her might and crying because she can't understand why Daddy won't let her in. And me? Of course I'm sitting in the other room laughing so hard I'm crying. But shhh, don't tell. Tee hee. 
• She's figured out how to get the funnel off the water bottle as the water is running down from our filter. And then she plays in it. So much for not cross contaminating our water.
• Olivia learned how to go up the stairs to our bed room. Not just two or three - all 13 of them. By herself. We did not encourage this or provide any instruction. Now she starts up and goes all the way. Yes it freaks me out, but we watch her. The goal at the end is of course getting to crawl around in Mommy and Daddy's room which is SUPER fun. So many things to explore up there. When she wants down she peeks down from the loft and whines, which I'm thankful for because she has a less than orthodox way of going down stairs.
• Going down stairs, less than orthodox? How can that be? Trust me, I tried. Chris tried. When she would get to the step in the house (there's one in the middle that separates levels) she would whine and cry for help. We would teach her to turn around and go backwards. Well, I guess Miss Independent didn't like that because she's figured out how to go down forwards. She puts one hand down, then the other, then crawls forward enough to drop a foot, then the other and away she goes. It totally freaked me out at first, but now she has it down and it's just funny to watch. Sorry, no pictures. 
• Every single thing that's of value is now up high because she loves playing on end tables etc and chewing things. Nuf said. 
• The thing that makes us say, "Olivai, NO!" the most? Chewing on the mop. See, we don't have a storage room or closet in the house. Not one. So things like brooms and mops and any other item we have in the house is just stashed somewhere. The mop bucket always sits by the back door. For some reason it's fascinating. From the day she started crawling Olivia has been into it. Now she just crawls over and starts chewing on it. Bleh. Good thing kids have good immune systems. 
• Our dish cupboard, which is in the bottom of a wood buffet type piece of furniture, now has rubber bands around the handles  so the doors only open so far, then bounce back. More than once I found a litte person with the door open. The last time I found her with the door open, standing up in front of it with a plate in hand that was SO close to being dropped. Oiye!

Needless to say, Liv is keeping us on our toes. But, it's all good. She's got so much personality that most of the time it's entertaining. More than anything we're just amazed with how fast she's growing. When we brought her home she wasn't even on the standard growth chart. She was only 5 lb 4 oz. Now, she's around the 70th percentile. Yesterday I went through her drawers again (i just did this a month ago) and moved more stuff up that I honestly didn't think she would be wearing until Christmas. She eats like a horse, and is totally done with mushy food. She's all about the finger foods now. Bananas and avocados are her favorites and I'm not kidding when I say she can eat half a Haitian (about the size of a soft ball) avocado and a banana in one sitting. No wonder she's growing...

There, I hope the fan club has gotten it's fix. I'm sure you're only reading this thing because of her. ;o)

Well, we're done day one of training class #2. I think the sense of being overwhelmed is settling in for us. I haven't been sleeping well in the last week. Things like waking up yelling at someone or something because I'm having a really real dream. It takes a minute or two for me to realize it's just a dream. We're both starting to feel the fatigue and are feeling the burn of an entire month with ZERO days of not having extra people around. It's not a bad thing, having extra people around, it just wears on us when it's constant. We're having to be more firm and say no to a few things just because we know we need the down time. I think we get a whole 3 days next week before the next group arrives...

The class is going well. I don't have to teach this week because it's just a 2-3 day class for teaching installation and how to do the education that goes with the filters. That's Chris' part. I can't say that I'm sad that I don't get to say my two bits... ;o)

Today we had a woman come by from a community in the Artibonite valley. She is part of a community health organization and was sent to find out how they can get filters into her area. She has a filter in her home that we installed previously and she wants to see more out there. This is so incredibly encouraging for us because this community is already organizing itself and taking the initiative. We're going to do everything we can to support them in their efforts. It's so crazy to see the demand for filters going up to the point where people are spending two hours on a tap tap to come find us. When I asked Jean to come talk to her (he's our project manager) he said, "Tet chaje!" which basically means full head. See, the guys took 39 filters to the Artibonite yesterday to fill part of the orders we got from the load we took a week or so ago. They still need to go back later this week with another load. Jean got orders for 38 more filters yesterday. It's exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.

We got word that our container *might* be released this week. That would be nice. We've got so many exciting things on this one, again. A cement mixer that will actually be used for washing sand for installing the filters (yes, i know it's strange to use a cement mixer for sand, but it works really well), tools that we really need right now, like the parts for our concrete vibrators that cut filter production down by several hours. We have diffusion plates (they go in the filters) on there - 6000 of them - which is enough for our use and for us to supply other projects for a good part of a year. My treadmill, which I'm just itching to get at. Some storage cupboards for the house (yay!). So many things that we've kind of forgotten what there is. It'll be like Christmas in November.

Yesterday I felt like a bit of a tour guide. I even had my own tour guide van! A friend that has been trying to get some stuff going in Haiti for several years, but has met wall after wall of frustration, stopped by with her board of directors. They're on a fact finding mission to try and get more specific with what the ministry is doing so that they can be more effective. Through some emails earlier I was able to help them connect with some people, but yesterday I took them to actually do face to face meetings with two different organizations that we think would really benefit from the partnership. Lori is a dental assistant by trade, and would like to put her skills to work here in Haiti when she visits. Her board would like to work with local organizations to do things like start vaccination clinics, teach sexual education classes, and work with woman in the areas of prenatal care and the like. It was really cool to make introductions and then sit back and watch visions come together. I watched people light up and get excited and I love that. Chris and I are firm believers in doing something and doing it well and really focusing on that, rather than feeling like you have to do a bit of everything. When you can see focused efforts working, the impact over the long run is amazing. I was just really encouraged by being a part of what could be a really great thing.

I dropped off one group and picked up another and brought them back to our house to visit. A couple on the team that came over are considering adoption down the road so we talked about that and Haiti and just life in general. It was a nice way to end the afternoon. I would say day, but we still had students that were showing up...

Today my parents and brother booked their tickets for Christmas. I'm super excited about that. They are most definitely coming. 

We're going to Port next week to take Owen to the airport. I realized today that I haven't been more than 25 minutes down the road in a month and a half. Crazy how that time can go by. Chris HATES going to Port and tries to go as little as possible. I like going just because I need to get out every once in a while. I'm interested to see what our crabbiness level will be like in the new van. Not being covered in sweat all the time? No sweat for dirt to stick to? Hmmm. 

One of the errands that we need to do next week is grocery shopping. We've got a Vision Trip coming in on the 8th and I need to stock up. Because the grocery store is two hours away it always takes some planning. I mean, we can get some stuff locally, but even that is at least a 30 minute drive each way, and the choices are limited. I'm talking about more than just basic fruit and veggies, which we get from the local market. I've had to get myself very organized and now have a detailed meal plan. From there I can make a detailed grocery list. Just so you know what kind of a goon I am, I do my grocery list in Excel. Yes I do! And, I do it all the time, not just for groups. And, that list is organized by aisle. That came about when I realized that when I gave Chris a normal list half of the things didn't come home and he would just say, "Oh, they didn't have it." What? They didn't have coffee? Huh?!? Then I realized that he would just get annoyed with having to go find things so when his annoyed-with-shopping meter hit it's breaking point he would just head for the check out. Again, grocery store 2 HOURS AWAY. Meal plan. Need certain things for said meal plan. Can't run out for what is forgotten. Thus, the aisle plan. Now ALL of my groceries come home, unless they really don't have it. Or, I do the shopping. There, now you know another freaky weird goon thing about me.

~Leslie

I don't have a picture of this but apparently it's important

Or traumatizing. Yes, definitely traumatizing considering I was just told I HAD to blog about it. I take no responsibility for the acuracy of the following because it is not my story, and really I could probably write whatever I wanted to becuase Chris never reads the blog. Though, he is good at telling people to check it out. Oh the fun I could have with that...

Anyway.

So Wednesday while Jean was teaching the practical part of the class Chris decided to take advantage of the free time and fix the brakes on the VW. Remember, this is the truck that got smashed up about a week ago because the brakes failed, but Jean didn't really mention that as important when he called...

Now, where does one get new brake lines for a vehicle that is almost non-existent in this country? Why, you buy a big ORANGE VW bus from the guy down the road. The only other VW in the area. The VW that you've been trying to convince your wife is necessary for many months - just for parts. But that is a whole post on it's own right there.

Chris likes to get down and dirty when he works. This usually means lying right on the ground. He usually comes in covered in who knows what. His hair, well it just becomes like velcro and it's always fun to see what kinds of treasures are hidden in there. After he showers there are usually enough leaves and debris in the drain catch that you would think a tree threw up in there. The other day was no exception in this department. What was the exception was just what kind of treasures he found there. At one point he felt something crunchy get stuck in his hair. He thought it was a stick.

Nope.

It was a rat carcas.

What I love about training.

Another week of training DONE. This week went really well and our students were all great. I realized this week how much our training has changed. It's gotten so much better.

Normally we spend from 7 am - noon doing theory, with a break for breakfast and a break for brain rest in there. The first couple days are a lot of details about water contamination and treatment, introducing the filters and talking about household water treatment. One of the things that we added was a Project Planning and Implementation section because we were finding that our students could build filters, but they couldn't start and run the project. 

I get to teach the Project Planning section. I actually really like doing it because of how our students respond to it. The school system in Haiti is based on rote and memorization so people, if they've been able to go to school, don't know what it is to participate, to problem solve, to be creative in a class type setting. We do group work where each organization represented works at the beginning stages of planning their project - things like drawing a picture of what they want their work site to be, or planning a budget. I love doing the drawing exercises because it's like watching elementary kids being let loose with a paint box - you mean I get to DRAW??? I notice that at this point in the week our students sort of become alive. They joke around more. Their personalities come out more. It's so fun. I love that we get to teach them something valuable and that we've found creative ways to do that. 

This week I was so proud of our staff too. Seriously, we are so blessed. Over the last two years we've been trying to get them more involved in the trainings rather than it just being Chris and I. Jean teaches our practical sections in the afternoon with the help of our other workers. I love going out into the work yard and seeing them walking the students through the stages of building and installing the filters. It's fun because I see their confidence and pride coming out because they get to be the ones with the know how in those moments. We've also started having Julie teach our education section. It just made sense since she does that every day. She walks our students through using the teaching posters that we have and some of the basics that they need to teach filter recipients. I was really impressed with how Julie took charge of the class and that Jean helped her out by testing the students with hard to answer questions. It was so great to see them do this on their own without looking to us for direction. I love how they've grown more confident in their skills and I'm grateful that we can provide them with opportunities to do that. 

Yonese is in charge of feeding everyone. When I got here class menus were non-existent. Chris would just give the ladies money and send them to the market. Now Yonese and I do a meal plan and she buys accordingly. We've been working on quantities and not preparing more food than we can eat in a day. Before it was a fight to have the food prepared for a specific time so we could all stay on schedule. Schedules are something that most people don't understand here. Now I don't feel like I have to be sneaking out of class to check on the meals, but rather I just ask if things are ready and they always are. It's so great. 

We used to stress out about the classes because we had no idea what to expect. We work more on the front end of things now with the people that are sending us students to make sure that they understand the seriousness of starting a filter project and what's involved in getting one up and running. Many people thing training is the first step, but it actually falls somewhere in the middle of the process. The result of working with these people has been that the students we get now understand why they're being sent to us and they're investing more of themselves into the process rather than showing up not fully understanding, and in some cases, not even caring why they're there. It's really encouraging. 

We're seeing more and more successful projects getting started and it's really exciting for us. The filters are such a great technology for Haiti. They help people and are cost effective. They're simple and don't need any extra bits and pieces. People can understand how to use them easily. Nothing to break and no electricity. Running a local project means use of local materials and that feeds the local economy. It means employment for people and not relying on something that is brought in from the outside. 

We already have a wait list for training early in the new year. People are catching on to the idea and they're wanting to make it work as a solution for Haiti. I'm so excited that we get to be a part of that.

Hello EDH!

Last night there was much excitement because the EDH (Electricite d'Haiti) light went on (we have a special light outside the shop to let us know it's on). For the record, we haven't had country power in over 3 month and have been burning through $900 US of generator fuel every 5 weeks or so because we're welding molds like crazy.

It was a good night :o)

The simple things.

Yes, new look to the blog, again. I guess I was inspired by what came out of my camera today. Man, how much fun did I have???

At lunch Liv managed to smear avocado all over herself (and the walls) and a full dunk was the only way she was going to come clean. It was hot. She needed some fun. Owen found me a clean 5 gallon bucket and I filled it with water and set it in the outdoor shower then plunked her in it. She thought it was the best thing ever! I have no idea why we haven't discovered this sooner. She can stand up if she wants and I don't have to worry about the bucket tipping over on her. She can sit down and play. It was so fun to watch her have a ball. And of course I snapped away.

The sound that goes with this face is so funny - a full out squeal most of the time.

This is my very favorite and really the inspiration for the blog change. I have to say though, it looks way better when you see a bigger version. If you click on it you can do that.

What I love most about these is they so represent Liv now. Her personality just radiates out of these pictures. She's so busy all the time. Her personality is HUGE and we're having so much fun watching her discover the world. She has a mind of her own, her own way of doing things. I love how she so easily expresses her emotions and I hope she always has the freedom to do that.

These have all been edited because the light was really sucky. They aren't the best of the best, just a sampling. And, these are just a teaser... I have something up my sleeve so check back for more info about that.

The super speedy bullet update.

• We're hosting a training class this week. Got all my class materials ready to go. LOVE having a working printer to do that with :o)
• LOVING the new van. This morning Chris asked if there was anywhere we could go drive, just for the sake of driving.
• We finally got our crib that friends were shipping in. It was disappointing. The truck had sat for over 9 months because of shipping issues, and the donated crib had already seen some good years. In the process of sitting it completely fell apart. It's hard to not be disappointed after anticipating something for so long. The good news is that we called some friends to ask them to ask around and they called back in 5 minutes to say that they had a crib for us that's in great shape! That was encouraging.
• Owen and Matt have been off on little adventures this weekend. It's fun to watch them scheming and planning. 
• Friday was a holiday here - Dessalines Day. Needless to say we always get excited about three day weekends. I'm glad it fell before the class because we had plenty of time to rest up and relax. While Matt and Owen have been off adventuring our little family has had some time on our own and it's been good for us. The other night I fell asleep on the couch watching 3:10 to Yuma and eventually went off to bed. I saw the important parts of the movie and haven't felt that relaxed in a while. It was bliss. 
• The downside to holidays is that our neighborhood gets much louder. Usually we're the only ones out here year round while most of the houses around us sit empty since they're owned by upper class families. When they come out generators go on all night and music plays all day. That part - not so restful. Also, last night I was woken out of a dead sleep several times by the wake being held in the lakou behind us. It didn't start until after 10 pm and the sound system was at full blast for several hours. Boo. Again, not so restful. 

Well, the last batch of students have just arrived so I need to sign off.

Oooohhhh, what could it be???

Ta da!!! I would like to officially introduce you to the Silver Bullet. She joined our lives yesterday after a eight long months (almost like being pregnant!). We ordered her in February and she was supposed to arrive in June, BUT this. is. Haiti. And nothing ever happens as fast as you want it to. It's a mission vehicle that was much needed with our growing staff (and family!) and to use for all of our visitors coming and going.

For those of you that are detail types, it's a 2008 Toyota Hiace. It has seat belts. It seats 15. It has AIR CONDITIONING. (do you know how great it feels to go somewhere and arrive not sweating, and not covered in dust and grime??!)

We are SUPER blessed. To celebrate Owen treated us out to dinner at Club Indigo. He thought it was fitting for us all to go somewhere together, now that we can all ride inside the same vehicle. Just because he could, Matt sat in the very back of the van. On the way home he rode up front. I think it was a wee bit bumpy back there...

Olivia loves going out for dinner...

Remember I told you that Olivia has this knack for making friends wherever she goes? A few weeks ago this couple was at Indigo and they fell in love with our Little Miss O. They work with the UN and are living at the resort. They're from Georgia - next to Russia, not in the US. 

This morning the boys were already finding ways to rig the van up for better performance. :o)

Needless to say... Yipee!

PS - For all you missionary types living in the country, we found out last night that Indigo has two prices - one for missionaries and locals, and one for everyone else. We saved $28 on the four of us last night. You just need to be able to present some type of identification that tells what organization you work with and your position. We had an ID card that I had made for Chris 2 years ago that was laminated. The expiry date said 2006, but the manager changed it to 2008 with a pen. Yeah, they're that good. Anyway, just thought I would pass the info along in case some of you are wanting a fun way to get out. 

Hmmmm....

Tomorrow is a big day here at Clean Water for Haiti. 

Oooohhhh, the suspense. 

Suspense or not, I'm not telling you what it is. You'll just have to stop in and see for yourself.

Sometimes I just want to cry.

There are days here where it feels like a bunch of stuff just falls on you all at once. Those are the days where I just want to cry. Just to get it out of my system. 

Yesterday started out normally. I sat down to get to work and ended up having an issue with the file I was wanting to open. I got frustrated and impatient. I had to get up to get something and as I did I bumped my cup of coffee. The cup of coffee that was sitting in just the wrong spot. The cup of coffee that splashed onto my laptop. 

UGH.

I mean, I've splashed small amounts of coffee onto my computer before. Nothing major though. This time a did a really good job of it though and managed to fry my keyboard. Yes, this is the computer that I have only owned for ONE MONTH. 

Have you ever thought of what you would do in a situation where you have a necessary piece of something electronic and don't have anywhere you can take it to get it fixed? 

And what do you do when you know it was all caused by you? You and your silly frustration and very poor planning (Ergh, why did I leave my coffee cup there????). 

Thankfully I have Matt. Matt somehow learned how to take computers apart and figure out how they work. In case you've ever wondered what your laptop looks like on the inside, this is it...

After getting the keyboard out and cleaning it up, it was determined that it's definitely fried. I was able to locate a replacement on Ebay last night and it'll arrive in 3.5 weeks with the next group of visitors. Now, if I could just fine a new touch pad... sigh. Chris just got back from a visit to Canaan, an orphanage run by some friends of ours, and he borrowed me a keyboard that I can plug into my lappy! Everything else on my computer works, so I was just going to mouse click away on mine and use the old mission laptop (talking ancient here) to do email and any heavy typing. I love my husband :0)

And, as if that wasn't enough frustration for all of us, (because believe me, when these things happen, they're a group effort around here) last night Jean had to go to St. Marc to get more lids and drive them back to Pierre Payen so they could get stained and be ready for deliveries today. Frustrating in the fact that we didn't realize we were out of lids... Anyway, Jean had to take the VW because the blue truck had a flat and the red truck was already loaded for today's deliveries. On the way to St. Marc the truck stopped. Chris told him how to fix it. What Jean didn't mention is that the brakes were bad. The next call Chris got was to tell him that the brakes had gone out completely and Jean had been in an accident. He and Thony hit a big truck as they were trying to avoid hitting a scooter. Jean had the right of way, but right of way means nothing here and the truck pulled out in front of him anyway. No one was badly hurt, thank God. Jean has a sore wrist and Thony bumped his head on the inside of the window hard enough to break it, but wasn't cut or anything. The front left corner of the VW and drivers door got smacked up pretty good, but the guys seem to think we can get it fixed pretty easily. 

Yep, one of those days where you just feel like crying.

Sunset

We' re very fortunate in that living on the beach, in the Caribbean, we get treated to beautiful sunsets quite regularly. Actually, we're coming into one of my favorite sunset seasons. Every evening we get what I call the "orange hour" where everything is cast in this orange glow. I love it. 

The other night I got my camera out because the sky literally looked like it was on fire. I've been playing with my camera more and more and am starting to really have some fun. I have to say thanks for the link to The Pioneer Woman. She has some amazing photos, and her tutorials really are written in layman's terms and easy to understand. She breaks stuff down nicely and repeats the important things for you. After reading through her stuff things just started to click (yes, pun intended). 

So, here's a sampling for you. I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I ended up getting a Canon XTi and I love it.

Thanksgiving with the Canucks

Not exactly sweaters and jeans...

Olivia's first turkey dinner. It was a hit.

Saturday we headed over to Ben and Heather's to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with other Canadian missionaries. Canadian Thanksgiving has nothing to do with pilgrims, just being thankful.

We had a great potluck dinner with a turkey and all the trimmings. We got to know some new people, played some Bocce, and finished the day off with a trip down to Kaliko for a swim.

One of my favorite moments of the day was looking up from the ocean where I was swimming and seeing Olivia just trucking across the sand all on her own. Chris was watching her from the beach, but it looked so funny to see this little baby just crawling along, turning back to look at Daddy every so often, and then just going on her merry way. She was about 50-60 feet away from Chris when I got out to see her (there was no one else on the beach). She only had her pants on, and had sand up to her elbows, all over her belly and a nice little sand goatee. Wish I'd been able to get a picture of that. I think she just really wanted to go for a swim, because that's exactly what happened right after I picked her up, and she was as happy as a clam in mud.

baby proofing, photos and the need to click

A while back someone asked if we were going to baby proof. It was on the blog so my response to the question wasn't seen. I'll be honest, I laughed. Sorry, not meaning to offend. I was just looking around the house and thinking of what all that would involve, at least to "baby proof" like we baby proof in North America, and it was funny. 

See, most houses in Haiti are concrete. Ours is no exception. And our floors are more concrete with hard tiles on them (though I've never seen a soft tile come to think of it). That combo right there has meant more bumped and banged noggins than any parent would like to admit to. But, I just did. I'll even admit that Olivia has fallen several times and after getting the initial freak out out of the way, she was fine. I think I was more freaked out than she was, envisioning all these learning and brain issues to follow. I'm amazed at how resilient babies are. I think God definitely knew a few things when he designed them. 

Anyway, so we haven't done a huge amount of baby proofing. No covers on the electrical sockets (at least not yet) and no stair guards. Chris and I are trying to teach Olivia the word "no" and it's definitely registering. It's also definitely apparent that she already knows what it means to have selective hearing. My favorite is when she just looks at me after I tell her no, and she slowly lets her hand creep back to whatever she's not supposed to be touching, waiting to see my reaction. Yeah, LOVE that. All you parents out there are probably laughing at me right now. 

This morning she's been crawling around and leaving her usual tornado wake. You can literally tell where she's been by the trail that's on the floor. A little while ago I heard her in the dish cupboard. We have a buffet style cupboard that holds all our dishes. One side has a key lock. That's where I keep all the wine glasses etc. It's now locked after I found her rooting around in there last week. This morning I looked over to see her, cupboard door fully open, standing up and found her holding onto a plate. I caught her just in time and nothing got broken. I also got out a big rubber band and wrapped it around the door handles. Someone wasn't too happy with me when the door would only open a few inches and then close again on her...

Olivia's big accomplishment for this morning, aside from trying to set the table, was that she figured out how to get down from something. We have a little Haitian chair. We use it for random things. Most recently it's been the sitting chair in the kitchen so I don't have to worry about someone trying to climb up on my legs while I'm trying to cook. She figured out how to climb up onto the chair on her own this week. I was pretty shocked about that because none of us had shown her how. She just did it. Today, after much whining, I showed her how to get down. Then she climbed back up, and without help, got herself down again. That should prove to be good fun over the next week...

Thanks to those of you that have passed on photo links. I really appreciate it. I had some time this morning to look at some of the stuff and already feel much smarter and am itching to get playing more with my camera. I found a good one the other day all on my own that even has little practice lessons you can do. Check out SLR Photography Guide if you're looking for info like I am.

Sometimes I just love the way my keyboard clicks. Is that weird? When I was looking at new computers I was NOT wanting to get an IBM. Chris has a Thinkpad and I do not like the way the keyboard feels. I know, it might sound petty, but when you spend a considerable part of your day on a computer I think it needs to feel right. It turned out the IBM now makes a consumer line of lappys call IdeaPad. That's what I ended up getting but would recommend holding off for a while because they've got some drive partition issues that they're working out and you almost need a computer degree of some sort to figure it out. Anyway, I wasn't sure what to expect but just told myself I'd adjust because the rest of the lappy was so darn great. I LOVE the new lappy. Period. It seems silly, but sometimes I just get the urge to type because I like the way the keys sound and feel as I do. And then I feel like I have nothing to type, so I don't, but I sit there thinking about how nice it would be if I did have something to write about at that particular moment. You know how when you watch movies and you watch people clicking away on their computers and wish that your keyboard sounded like that? Yeah, that's what mine sounds like. And that special little click that a mouse makes on tv...yep, I just want to click, click, click. I know. I'm weird.

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. Usually we just have a small dinner of roast chicken at home and invite our other Canadian friend, Barb, over. This year though we've made all sorts of new Canadian friends and today a big group of us are getting together to celebrate with a big Turkey dinner. There are some things that just still seem weird to me, like celebrating holidays like Thanksgiving while wearing shorts and going swimming, rather than wearing sweaters and staying inside. We usually celebrate American Thanksgiving with our missionary group on the day with a big potluck as well. That's the advantage to being married to a dual citizen - I get to celebrate both. This year Chris' Mom and sister will be here which will be fun :0)

Well, I should run and make the whipping cream for the pumpkin pies I'm supplying for dinner today. Mmmmm..... 

Have a great weekend!

~Leslie

Do we practice what we preach?

I was just left a comment about one of the pictures of Olivia - the one of her "helping" Daddy at the water cooler, and it was a good question so I thought I would quickly post in response to it. 

Q: just curious looking at these water pics...what filtration system do you guys use? Is the water bottle just a container or do you drink kuligen at home?

The water bottle that you see is in fact a Culligan bottle, but an old one. We believe in practicing what we teach, which means that the only water that we drink and use for cooking in our home is from the same filters that we produce in our ministry. If we aren't willing to use it why should we expect others to? 

In the picture you can see Olivia playing in a basin of water in front of our filter. It's one of the granddaddys in the filter world weighing in at over 300lbs before the sand and gravel were put in it. Chris has helped or been responsible for two redesigns since that model that have reduced the filter size. I'm pretty proud of him for that, especially considering that the first redesign is the commonly accepted Biosand filter design worldwide. The most recent design was just done early this year and Matt is just finalizing the technical drawings so that they can be sent around the filter community and hopefully adopted because they reduce the needed materials for production and installation. 

Our particular filter is 7 years old. We use it every single day. That's the only drinking water that we and any mission guest ever drink. We don't make special water runs for those that are visiting. Never. And, we never get sick from our water. We have a well on site that we know is contaminated simply because it's shallow and we see what falls into it. We have only ever added a few drops of bleach to filtered water for about 3 days when Olivia first came home. Since then we haven't worried about it and she has only ever had a 24 hour stomach flu that was just going around the area. 

Next to the filter in the picture is one of our Culligan bottles on a bottle tipper. We teach that catching containers need to have a small opening at the top to help stop cross contamination. It's easy for little hands and things to get into buckets if they aren't watched. Olivia has already developed a fascination with the water bottle and the funnel that usually sits in the top of it. The tipper usually sits right under the filter spout - what the water in the above picture is dripping out of. The water goes right into the bottle. If we need water for cooking, we just tip the tipper and fill up the pot or bowl. 

Our drinking water gets put on the water cooler that you saw in the Whirling Dervish post. We used to put jugs of water in the fridge, but found that it was more power efficient to run a water cooler on a timer from 8 am to 8 pm than it was to continually be opening the fridge for water and cooling what was just put in. Chris is all about power conservation and I'm thankful, especially when it means I can run a fan on high all night long. 

If you would like more info on the Biosand filter and what we do at the mission I would encourage you to visit the mission website at www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org. If you click on the picture of the filter on the home page it'll take you to a page that shows a cross cut of the filter so you can see how it's put together and understand more of how it works.

Any more questions? Please send them my way. We love to share what we're doing with people and show them that there are some very simple, effective technologies out there that can make a world of difference in the life of a family.

~Leslie

This and that.

Wow, it's weird being the only chick in the hen house. A hen house full of engineering types none the less. Owen and Matt are currently sitting at the table trying to figure out how to get the most pieces of a mold on one sheet of steel so they can go crazy and cut tons of pieces. Then Manes can go crazy and weld them all together and we can get caught up on mold orders. Right now we have orders for 12 I think. It takes Manes about 8-9 days to cut and weld one mold, so the assembly line idea is a big deal right now. Having people waiting for molds and filter stuff is a good problem for us to have. It means that things are happening and people are building filters and projects are working, which means we're doing our job right. That's a good feeling.

Owen arrived just fine on Tuesday, only after some minor engine trouble and a plane switch in Miami. He's settling in well and seems to be enjoying things here. I always wonder what kind of a first impression people have of us. I know I shouldn't, but it's hard not to think about these things when the initial meeting often happens at the airport where we end up having to yell at people to not touch our bags etc. Then we have to drive in Port, and sometimes our visitors have to sit in the back of the truck. Thankfully I think Owen thinks we're okay. You can check out his blog if you want to see a not so flattering picture of me making these yesterday...

Yes, I was oh-so-domestic and made a loaf of bread (thanks to the bread machine) and a couple batches of bagels. Yes, bagels. They were actually pretty easy, believe it or not. I used this recipe. They turned out pretty good for the first attempt and we enjoyed some with breakfast this morning. 

Now, for those of you camera types, particularly those of you that use a dSLR (digital SLR - aka the nice fancy cameras like the one I got) I need some help. I have a good book that has been helpful with learning about some photography stuff, but my head just starts to spin when it comes to learning about aperture and f-stops. Seriously, sometimes it feels like reading Greek. Do you know of any good online resources where I could check some of this stuff out. I haven't done a Google search yet, just haven't had the time. Just wondering if you have any recommendations. 

In other news this morning... the last block went up on the new apartment. The. very. last. block. That's such a weird feeling. The bosses will be getting things cleaned up and cleared up so we can start moving on to the next phase - doing all the form work for the roof. That'll take a few weeks at best. It just feels so strange to be at that point though. We knew this project was going to take a long time, and in some ways it has, but the walls for the apartment went up fast and it's making me excited about seeing the building move towards being done. Here are some pictures taken this morning...

The future kitchen dead ahead. It looks beautiful to me :0) Maybe it's that it's about 3 times the size of the current kitchen...

And turn yourself about... where you find the living room. Actually the living room starts at the wall and goes beyond to the window shaped holes beyond Michel (in the red shirt).

Standing on the master bedroom deck looking into the master bedroom and hallway and second bedroom beyond that. 

The bathroom.

The deck from the top of the steps. Yes, we have a tree growing up through the deck. A mango tree to be exact. There'll be a railing on this side of the tree to section it off from the master bedroom deck.

The whirling dervish

Trapped.

Multi-tasking.

Water is sooooo much fun.

The aftermath.

Olivia likes to lend a hand, especially when water is involved.

Now that Olivia is crawling, and pulling up, and putting down, and, and... There is no grass growing under her feet. None at all. She is one busy little bee. 

We're trying something new with the napping today. She's been getting a bottle to go down, but can't fall asleep on her own that we know of. We did so well with this before we moved her upstairs in May, and we just never really recovered from three months of room sharing. So, this week we're going to be doing a bit of a routine change to see how it goes. Olivia has no problem protesting when she doesn't agree with something... should be fun :0)

Hope the 'fan club' enjoys the pics. 

The List

Sometimes I just need a list. 

On Sunday morning over coffee I sat down and made "the list". I was feeling like stuff was slipping away from me and that my head was all jumbled. It had been going on for a while. Things like I would be in the kitchen cooking dinner and think "I need to clean up and organize that shelf" or would wake up in the night and be thinking about the stuff I needed to do for work. 

I've always been a fan of lists. I like the freedom that comes from getting stuff down on paper and out of my head. I also like the satisfaction of crossing things off. It makes me feel productive. Lists also give me a sense of organization and control when things around me are busy and feeling less than in control. 

On "the list" I put three columns - WORK, HOME & PERSONAL. There are some rules for "the list" (yes, my list has rules). 1. The idea of the list is to get stuff out of my head, so I can write down anything that pops in there. 2. List items can be things that need to be done today, tomorrow, next week or at no particular time. It's just a place to write things down. 3. The list is ongoing so things are continually added and crossed off without needing to start a new piece of paper. I thought this was environmentally friendly of me and would also make me feel super productive when I could look at it and see all the things I had done. I've got it in an abandoned notebook so I can just turn the page and keep going. 

So what did I put on the list? Things like:

• Clean up desk
• Do class registrations
• Laundry all done and put away
• Clean up nightstand
• Take Olivia for vaccinations
• Move pictures on computer to CD's
• Finish quilt
• Learn how to use my new camera 
• Study French
• Finish reading Quicksilver
• Finish reading Black Baby, White Hands
• Start reading Paradise Lost

That's just a sample for you. There, now you have a small window into my little life. Already I'm happy with the progress and the brain space. I feel less stressed and more organized. My mom is probably laughing at me wondering why it took me so long to do this because I've been organized since birth. If you don't believe me ask my mom to see the picture of me lining up my baby bottles on the floor. I was probably about 10 months old. 

If you're feeling overwhelmed with life on any level I strongly recommend making a list and just putting whatever you want  on it. It's your list and there are no right an wrongs. I think breathing space is important and a little organization can go a long way. In the last couple days I've felt way more productive, not because I'm really pushing myself, but because I have a place to come to that helps me remember what I want to be doing with my time, so I'm more efficient rather than wander around thinking, "Now what was I going to do?" Also, having a little one in the house, there are certain things that are just easier for me to do when she's napping. Having all of the stuff I want to accomplish written down lets me pick and choose my tasks based on what's going on at that particular moment. 

All that said, it's time to go to work and get my newsletter done!

Peekaboo Morning

I shared in one of my recent posts that Olivia seems to really be identifying with black people. I'm very aware of it, not because I'm looking for it, but because it strikes me every time she does it. I mean, she's only 8.5 months old and I just wasn't anticipating it at this stage. It makes me happy that she can connect that there's something about these other people that is like her, that they look like her. 

To give you an example of what I mean, I was reading a blog the other day. As the blog was opening a picture of a black, I think it was Haitian, baby popped up. Olivia was sitting on my lap at the time and as soon as she saw the picture she squealed and lunged toward the computer screen. 

I should add that we have a mirror that leans against the wall in part of our house. It's sitting on the floor and in a perfect place to crawl up to. Since Olivia was able to start moving around on her own she's had fun crawling up to the mirror and making friends with the other baby. She even gives it kisses. I think it's helped her recognize a difference between how Chris and I look, and how she looks. We try to hold her up in the mirrors around the house with us, and we encourage our Haitian staff to hold her and interact with her, something they all love to do.

So yes, I'm very aware that she's aware. Tonight though, she blew me away. After dinner I had her on my lap and decided to try and read a book that I got for her while I was away. 

I love Rachel Isadora's illustrations, and I wanted to try and get Olivia some books with black kids in them so she would have a connecting point. As we were reading Peekaboo Morning she got excited about the pictures. The very last page has a picture of the baby in the book looking right back at us. When I turned to that page Olivia dove in and gave the other baby a kiss. I was so surprised at her reaction that I decided to go through the book again, but this time at each page asked her, "Olivia, where's the baby?" A couple of the pictures are at weird angles, but the ones where the baby was clearly there, she would either kiss it or put her hand on it without any prompting other than me asking her where the baby was. Did I mention that she's only 8.5 months old???? 

I feel like we're just constantly surprised at what she takes in and processes and how it comes back out. I mean, I knew that babies go through developmental leaps and bounds, but when you actually get to watch it play out it's really amazing. The other day she figured out how to clap her hands, as in the motor skills to put hands together and apart and together and apart. Yesterday Chris got all excited and said, "Olivia can speak English now!" He had said, "Olivia, clap your hands," without showing her what he was meaning, and she just did it. Now you can tell her to clap and she just starts. It's so fun! I feel so blessed that we get to watch a little life become a person. It's so freakin' amazing. 

In non-Olivia news... on Thursday we got the call that our new mission van is in! As in cleared customs and just waiting to be paid for and taken home. We're very excited about that. 

We're going into a very busy season. On Tuesday Owen arrives. Owen is a potential volunteer that is coming for a few weeks to check out the mission and for us to check him out so we can all see if it's a good fit. While he's here we'll be hosting a class (19-24th) and it's a full one with 10 students. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be trying to get all the regular work done, getting the end of year newsletter ready (yes, already) and prepping all the class materials. We got our new printer so that should be relatively easy.

The week after the class Owen and Matt will be taking one of our trucks and two molds on a trip to Milot, right around Cap Haitian, where the chapter of Engineers Without Borders that Owen started is going to be starting their filter project. A group of EWBers are flying in that week and Matt and Owen will meet them up there. It's a great chance for Matt to see something new (something I haven't even seen actually) and for him to be a resource to EWB as they get their project going. We're excited about how the details worked out. 

After they return and Owen leaves we have about 4 days and then welcome our Vision Trippers from the 8-15th. Vision Trips are a fun and encouraging time for us because we get to know people that are genuinely interested in what we're doing. 

5 days after the Vision Trip is done we get a family visit from Chris' Mum and one of his sisters! We're very excited about this. Mum has been her a few times, but it'll be Chris' sisters first visit. The day after they arrive two of Matt's friends also come in. They'll be spending part of their time at one of the local hotels and the rest here at the mission. About a week after all of them leave another of Matt's friends is planning on coming in. If you've lost track we're in December now. He'll be here until the middle of December, and a few days after he leaves it'll be my parents and brother that we pick up at the airport for the holidays! I'm so stoked that my family is coming here for Christmas since we won't be able to go there. I think we're all looking forward to it now that we've had more time to let it sink in. It'll be a very different Christmas for all of us, that's for sure. We're all about the snow and fireplace and all things Christmassy. Palm trees and sweating on Christmas morning will be a very new experience for all of us.

So yeah, we have a very busy few months coming our way, but I'm actually not stressed out about it like I was a month ago. Not sure why. Maybe hosting people is getting easier. Maybe I just care less? 

There are some squeals and giggles coming from the next room. Someone just got out of the bath and there was MUCH splashing, and a few escape attempts before Daddy could get near enough to actually wash her. Did I mention that same said certain someone ate TWO corners off of my new photography book this afternoon? TWO! It looks like a rat got at it. 

Thoughts in my head

It's kind of crazy that this week is almost over! But, I'm so totally happy about it. It was hard to drag myself out of bed this morning. Chris and I have both been groggier lately. I think it's that the days are getting just a bit shorter, and we notice it in the morning when it just starts getting light about 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. 

Yesterday I "moved in" to my new daytimer. Yes, I already have my 2009 planner. It's kind of silly in some respects, but I find I need to do it early because we start talking about things several months in advance. I like the fresh feeling of moving things into a new one. Just a little change, and something to anticipate. Yes, I'm a dork. 

This afternoon I'm going with some lady friends to go into St. Marc and do some shopping. Mostly for fabric for Elsie's curtains. She just moved into a new apartment at the mission she's working at and wants to pretty it up a bit, and I know where to get the goods. I need to do a bit of shopping too while I'm there ;) I'm looking forward to an afternoon out with girls. It seems like it takes so much more effort to get together with people here for various reasons - everyone is busy, the roads are bad, it's hot... The funny thing is, this morning when I was getting dressed I found myself thinking about what I would wear to town. Not because I want to be pretty, but rather because I know how dusty and grimy I feel when I get back and I want to wear clothes that I don't want to wear for the rest of the week so my favorites are available. Isn't that silly? But, it's a reality of how I think here. 

We have another visitor arriving next week. He's a potential volunteer that's coming in for several weeks so we can all see if it's a good fit. Our fall pretty much consists of visitor after visitor with a couple training classes thrown in there until the end of the year. Literally. A bunch of the people coming in are either friends or family though so we're pretty excited about how the fall is looking, even though we know we'll probably be tired at some point. 

We still haven't got our container contents. There was a problem with the paperwork several months ago and our container got delayed. It was supposedly arriving on Sept. 4th, but who knows with all the weather that we've had in the last month. I'm kind of getting impatient because my treadmill is on there and I really, really want to start getting some exercise. It seems so crazy, but it's hard to explain how frustrating this one factor is. It seems like one would be able to go out and go for a walk, but most of the ground here is really uneven so you spend most of the time walking at a slower pace trying not to twist an ankle. And it's not restful like it might be back home. Again, hard to describe until you experience it. I spend a lot of time inside because of Olivia, so I'm looking forward to being able to strap her in the jolly jumper upstairs while I go for a walk in the mornings when it's still cool enough to do that. I'm looking forward to feeling a bit better physically and mentally. I just wish it could happen sooner...

Speaking of heat. Often the months just sort of roll on here and the only noticeable difference is the heat and humidity. I was thinking the other day that it didn't feel as warm or as humid as it did before I left and found myself feeling surprised about that. Then I realized it was the end of September and this is normal for the end of September. The END of September?!?! What? When did that creep up on me? I mean, I knew it was coming, but it just seems like such a big milestone in the year. I feel like there's lead up and anticipation to the summer months here because you know the rain is coming after months of dust. And then it does, but so does the humidity and you find yourself whining a lot about something you wanted. But, when the rains start getting fewer, it happens very gradually and you can miss it. You just start realizing that it's been a few days or a week since the last one, and that you can walk through the house without breaking a sweat. Oh sure, the air still feels heavy on some days, like it does today, and you tell yourself that you need rain just to break that, but you know it might be like that for a couple of days. And then it stops. The rain is done and you find yourself in November. And then December. And another year is done. Just like that. 

Tomorrow will mark the 3 year anniversary of the day I got on a plane to move to Haiti. It's amazing to me to see how much has happened in my life since then. I went from being single to married to being a parent. What a ride. As crazy as life can be here I see how "normal" it is for us now, if there is such a thing. There are things we accept as being part of the life we live and others that are still hard to stomach sometimes. Does it get easier as the years go by? Yes. And no. Some things do and others don't. I watch Chris and see how he's adapted over the last 6+ years and sometimes it amazes me. I remember when I first moved and how often I would cry about things. I usually had a good meltdown every few weeks just to get it out of my system. I knew the first year would be the hardest - the whole starting from scratch thing. Chris warned me about that and told me that if I could get through that first year, things would get better, and they have. This is our home now and we like it. Yes, there are downsides, but for the most part life is good and we feel like we're accomplishing something and making a difference in people's lives. What more could you ask for?

Our internet is slow this morning so I have no pictures for you, sorry.

~Leslie