the come and go

It. Is. Friday.  That means we made it...Easter break, weekend, made it.  

24 hours on the iv, blood tests, and two different medications, and Lily is chatting away, coloring, eating Pez (yeah, that's pretty much it :) and complaining of stomach pain a lot less.  We're hoping tomorrow is going to be a full, improved, good day.  THANK YOU for all your prayers.  Matt is doing better and Sofie's about 100%.  

The highlight of the day besides a hilarious sweet moment with Lily at the hospital was having Rick and Carol for dinner.  

One of the incredibly difficult parts of living in Haiti is all the come and go.  We left so many, and so many come, and so many leave us.  No matter where we go, we're leaving somebody, and no matter where others go, they're leaving us.  None of it has ever been personal, and most of it has been heartbreaking.  The leaving thing is hard.  

And though it has nothing to do with us, Rick and Carol came back to leave.  And we have been good friends, and love them.  And I'm incredibly depressed about it.

Rick, Carol, Cindy and Bud

Rick draws the perfect pirate ships for Lily.  Carol has been such a good girl friend to me.  They ALWAYS do those thoughtful little things you never expect...bring the mail when they're coming, bring us DVD's they think the girls might like, call us with ideas of how to do the finances at EBS better, hike to the highest mountain churches with us, take us snorkeling, help with the girls in church, talk, listen, call us brother and sister, text me while I'm at the hospital with Lily, asking if I want company...

Anyway, it was wonderful to have some time with them, to catch up, to pray together, and to hear about God at work in their lives.  To remember why we loved them, and still do...even as I sadly watch our "same boat" turn into very different boats.  Like, a boat in Canada.  

That sounds cold.  

Every time someone leaves--and as you can imagine, many a good friend has these last 6 years and we have left many good friends--I wonder to myself if it really IS better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.  Wouldn't it be easier to just make lots of acquaintances, but keep our time and our kids and our true selves to ourselves, and then find all the goodbye's, here and Stateside, so much easier?

Probably.  Probably easier.  And it'd probably be easier for you not to read this silly blog and not shed tears over the stories of Haiti and not come to love our little family and worry about us when our ti-mouns as sick, probably easier not to be stretched and insulted by my frequently insulting writing.  

Probably would've been easier for God to plop us on earth and let us care for ourselves, not bothering to count the hairs on our heads or shed our tears or be present in our days.

Probably would be easier to say good-bye to Rick and Carol.  

But then I couldn't say it.  Go in peace, friends, and thank you for loving our family and for letting us love YOU.

It is worth it.

And still depressing.