gross, but thankful

Oh my lands.  It is h-o-t.  The only thing hotter than sleeping in Haiti in August is sleeping in Haiti in August with NO fans.

The hot sticky night clings as close as the mosquitos, holding you awake, making our hot, sweaty days long and tired.

I am so in love with our stinky, sweaty, dripping, lovely people.

I love Phil and his heart to fix and tend and help with a beautiful spirit.  I love Emily and how quick she is to laugh, how eager she is to help, how perseverant she is to love and believe the BEST of everyone.  I love that Ethan rides his bike with Lily and plays Legos with her, how Haylie is as ready to help as her mother and quick to share her precious friendship with this old lady.

I love how Junior pops over twelve times a day, half the time forgetting why he came, always with the Spirit of Jesus about him.  I love how Leme is too shy to come for dinner until forced, every single night, and even then, dresses up and sweats through his dress clothes as he tries to maneuver American food.

I love how Granny values peace and contentment, how much joy she brings to buying groceries and planning for teams.  I love how Abel is the loudest thing in our village, yet he always jumps to help with tireless energy and finds things we could NEVER find in town.  I love how Maxi is never too good and never too bad, and how much he and Junel laugh together as they work, how they always both always call me sister.

I love how Micheline continues to kill our tarantulas and braid our babies and does it all with such grace and patience that I can’t help but feel that Jesus is mopping the days she does.  I love how the girls make Gertha laugh, how she crawls on the floors with them and lets them splash her with the sprinkler and always makes my busy head feel like everything is more than fine.

I love how Mona thinks Matt is her job to beef up, how Lily thinks it’s her job to teach Sofie everything about everything, love how Sofie thinks it’s her job to jump on the cat every time she sees her and how the cat thinks it’s her job to kill every insect and rodent in the house.  LOVE.

You would think a fried inverter and sleepless hot nights and power issues, money issues, internet issues, EVERYTHING issues (see "urgent needs" above) and a team coming tomorrow would make everyone snappy.

Instead, it's just making everyone sweaty as we work together.  

And I'm so thankful.  Gross.  But thankful.