My wife Jodie left for another girl.  Actually it's two girls, Jessica and Jacquie.  Since I got to move Jessica into her Indiana University dorm room in August and Jodie was already in Haiti because she has to begin her teaching assignment. Jodie got to go to IU for parent's week and today is back in the college classrooms experincing the greatness of Indiana University.   They 're even going to go to the IU football game on Saturday when the Hoosiers will be soundly killed by Iowa.  But it will be a first Big Ten game for Jodie and a first football game of any kind for Jessica.  She'll hate it just to be different than her old man.

I get to keep the home fires burning.  That's the way you say it isn't it?

And So It Goes!

John

A Note to Don 3 days post earthquake

Today has been crazy and I still don’t have all the pictures ready to go up. So, go to ND and do a great job. I’ll try to get them in order so you can get them up sometime this weekend. I may have a couple first hand experiences also.

I’m working on hopefully getting a trauma surgical team from Methodist in but I’m afraid Dr. P may step in and screw up that also.

We’re Seeing lots of dead around. When the Montana went down it took an entire family, one of which was one of Jodie’s student two years ago.

The pressure, although we think we are riding it out well, is slowly climbing. It just seems to be sneaking in and grabbing on tight. Please keep us in your prayers.

And so it Goes!

John

The Deluge

We didn’t know anything about a low pressure system until we woke up, checked the email, and found a few people who were concerned for our safety because a hurricane named Gustav was supposedly passing through Haiti. You couldn’t prove it by me but we did check the weather websites and did see that Gustav was heading to the southern coast of Haiti. So of course we got breakfast in preparation to go to school and out to our daily chores. That idea ended when we got a call from the school telling us that school would be canceled because we were to get 20” of rain. I know, you would say that there are no such days as rain days but you just don’t live in Haiti I guess.

As we sat finishing our breakfast it quickly became obvious why we didn’t go to school. The mountain in front of our house disappeared in a huge rain cloud and the rain began falling at a horrendous rate. That was five hours ago and it is yet to leave up.

Feel sorry for us? Don’t. We are still warm and dry. This gives us a chance to catch up on some things that needed done. Since we returned from our Home Assignment in the States just last Wednesday there is still a lot to unpack and clean up. I’ve done some of that but feel that this little article for the blog is more important. I stopped writing sometime last Spring since I just couldn’t get motivated to do it. I am now writing because I have a mother-in-law who continually wants to know “why do you have a blog and not write on it?” Well, this is for her. My life’s obligation for the week is almost finished. Thanks, Jacq, I needed to do this. Now back to the rain.

If you’re a praying person do ask for protection for the many Haitians who because of the rain are now or will later be struggling to keep the heads of themselves and their children above water. We are so blessed to have the mountain to our backs to protect us from the rain, wind, and flooding and also a dry cement block house to keep us dry. Most of the people here live in houses in low lying areas that are very vulnerable to flooding. Their tin roofs don’t protect them from the rain like ours do, and their floors are made of packed mud. Even the foundations are in danger of being swept away by the raging flood water.

And so it goes, Not always the way we like it to go!

John

Thanksgiving

We always celebrate our Thanksgiving on the Friday after the traditional Thursday Thanksgiving. We have a tradition of going to our friends the Vervloet's home after the clinic and school on Thursday evening just to have a chance to spend some quality time talking and in general solving all the world's problems during that evening. Then on Friday we, along with about 20 missionary and embassy friends, do the turkey thing. We stuff ourselves sort of like our parents used to stuff the turkey then we stop and wait till we have enough room to ingest the great deserts. Following that it's back to more general talking and even a great football game, that is if you're not an LSU fan. But of course that went to three overtimes, which delayed our traditional time of sharing.

For about ten years now as our celebration winds down in the evening we always gather in a circle and each share those things for which each of us individually give thanks. Surprisingly, we have never had one person who wouldn't be part of this tradition. Although the Kleenex box is usually depleted by the time we finish it has always been a time of renewal and often even healing. I thank God for giving us this time. Although many would say that what we do is give thanks to people instead of God, I would say that if you actually do this in honesty and openness just the opposite happens. We end up giving thanks to God for all these things and people that he has brought into our lives. No, this is not a time to worship people and appreciate God; it is a time to appreciate and verbalize our dependence, appreciation, and love to people in the context of worshiping God. I believe that maybe we should be doing more of this kind of thing instead of sitting (or standing) in lines together, singing words that others write, and reading about and listening to someone talk about things that we believe we are doing in the way God would have us do anyway. I tend to believe what I have described is what is today referred to as worship. I believe that definition needs to be broadened to include more the speaking of good words and doing of good things to and for those we are called to love: our families, friends, the Church, the world, and God.

Now that my tirade is ended here is what I give God thanks for, especially today:

1. The job he has called me to do and the country he has called me to serve, Haiti. Not a lot of people get to do exactly what they want to do in life. I do. In that context I especially give thanks for the the little 6 month old babies who when I speak to them smile back at me knowing that they are loved.

2. I thank God for my wife Jodie who puts up with all my weirdness and loves me in spite of it.

3. My daughter Jacquie who is far too much like her father. One of these days that may haunt her with lost jobs, fewer friends, less money, and at times a tough life. But what she does give that makes her so special is truth and honesty. We never have to question where we stand with her. She tells us she loves us in no uncertain terms whenever we communicate and is never afraid to disagree with us when she knows she is right (and sometimes when she doesn't).

4. I thank God for Kevin Bonewitz who I really don't know well but upon Jacquie's recommendation (she married him) he must be a great guy and someone who is will be a large part of our family.

5. My daughter Jessica who is just one of the neatest kids around. She is now in process of a major life change in that she is starting to take her education seriously and finally all those things that she knew she couldn't do, she now can. She is unswerving in her beliefs and life style. Last year she started practicing a vegetarian diet and since then is yet to eat something that could smile back at her. She has been practicing the discipline of fasting one or more days a week. Although I bug her about not losing too much weight she just tells me to go away and goes about living her life certainly much better than I ever lived mine.

6. Our fellowship at CSI. For a little over a year we have been worshiping with a group of missionaries and an occasional government worker. It isn't all that I've ever dreamed of in the worship sense but it really fills a void in my life with something good.

7. My friends. As you can probably tell if you don't know me personally I'm not all that easy to live with. As a friend introduced me last week, “this is John. You don't have to worry when you talk with him. He'll tell you where you stand.” I trust it's not quite that bad but I do realize that occasionally my overemphasis on honesty does make it hard for those acquaintances to take me on as one of those people they would most like to hang around. So those of you who are left, I do love you and thank you for being a big part of my life.

8. I thank God for Steve Hersey, truly the finest high school teacher I have ever met and who could have taught in most any university in the States. Two years ago he stepped down from his teaching position at at Quisqueya Christian School and took over as the director. This was necessary because of some prior “stuff” in the leadership of the school that I won't go into. But Steve is doing such a great job and is helping to mold possibly the finest PK-12 school in this country.

9. I thank God for all our supporters that sacrifice to keep us here and let us do the things that we believe God is calling us to do. (Refer to #1) We have a number of churches and individuals who make it possible for us to live here and do what God calls us to do. We thank God for sending those supporters our way.

10. Lastly, You. Thanks for reading the blog. I hope it hasn't wasted your time and hope you don't leave here an enemy because you disagree with what you read. Remember, most all my friends disagree with me. They just love me in spite of it.

Part of the group at dinner

And So It Goes!

John

This is Jessica (John's daughter) and right now I'm at the St. Vincent Orthopedic Hospital Center Thing. (Which isn't acctually the real name, but it's close.)
My daddy, who is lying in a bed in this very room, requests that I update for him. Well, not really a request, but more of a demand. So here goes.
On May 30, John had an arthroscopy, in other words, he had both his knees cleaned out. They were planning to do this thing where they drill holes in the knee, and the cartilage is supposed to grow back. It had a pretty high success rate. But when they saw his knees, they said the cartilage was pretty much gone.
So today, June 18, my dad had a double knee replacement. At 9:20 in the morning. (I hung out at the hospital all day, checking out the cafes and cafeteria, and reading. And let me tell you, this building is COLD!) But dad got out of surgery fine, except for some pain in his right leg, but that is from the positioning of a pillow. He had a lovely meal of applesauce with cinnamon and green jello, which I got the honor of feeding to him. They gave him hot chicken noodle soup, and hot mashed potatoes, but he didn't want to eat those. Weird what those surgeries can do to you.
He also took a few steps forward and a few steps back, just a couple of hours ago. With a walker of course.
He'll be in the hospital a few more days, and then be going to rehab probably.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the picture is of my dad and his rhino stuffed animal I got him. It's really soft.
But all is well.
Keep him in your prayers.
Jessica.