One more post about Haiti

On Tuesday during our visit, Cardinal Sean O'Malley from Boston came to Milot.  We passed a group of school girls on the road on our way to watch his helicopter land.  What adorable girls!

A group of children assembled to sing for the Cardinal, and a young patient was chosen to present him with flowers.

He arrived in his Franciscan robes.

Mass was held outside of the patients' tents.  A choir led the procession in.  They sang in Creole, and it was beautiful.  I recognized the melody to some of the songs.  I wished James or my mom had been with me.  They both have a more musical ear that I have & they could have named the hymns.

One thing that amazed me was the ability of the women to balance items on top of their head while they walked.  I don't know if that coffee pot was full or empty, but I was impressed anyway.

We had a good trip, but I was glad to get home.  It is never easy to be away from James.  This was the first time I had traveled outside the country without him.  I realized just how much I depend on him daily.  His absence was felt from the start of the trip - from not having his help with my bags to not having him "to come home to" after the day's work was done.  When I'm having a rough day, knowing I'm going home to him is my motivation to get through it.  I called him every other day, which helped a lot.

Some of the other things I missed were milk, my pastor's sermons, and my dogs.  We didn't have any dairy products the either time we were in Haiti. . .no milk, no cheese, no yogurt.  There were lots of goats, so I'm not sure why there was no goat's milk or goat cheese available.  Maybe there was no facility where it could be processed?  A lot of our pastor's sermons are available online, and I usually listen to one of his older messages while I exercise.  I could have downloaded them on my iPhone, but I would've had to pay for it, and I tried to keep the phone bill to a minimum.  James sent me two emails during the week that were "from the dogs" along with a photo.  He brought them to the airport with him when he picked me up.  It was good to see them again.

Thanks again for your prayers.  There were times when they were felt.  One of those times was when we were about the leave the airport in Cap-Haitian.  Our plane to Fort Lauderdale was ready, and we were heading home.  We had to show our passports several times at the airport and get it stamped.  There was an immigration officer standing at the doorway that lead to the plane.  He had to him our passport one last time and then we could walk to the plane.  We all made through, only to be sent back inside by our pilot.  The airport had not finished the necessary paperwork.  So waited some more.  They called for us to board again.  We got our passports out again to show to the immigration officer.  When I stepped up to show him my passport.  He said "stop" and started yelling at his staff in Creole.  I had no idea what set him off and I was scared to leave.  Would he come after us?  One of the nurses that we worked with was standing outside and she told us to come on out.  So we did.  I don't know what that was all about, but we were glad to get in the air!