Back in Haiti...barely!

Okay, I have finished my posting. If you read it yesterday, you need to read it again. It has been edited and there's more to this story, of course. Enjoy and thank you for your interest. I will have more pictures very soon. My love to all!

Hello my dear family and friends! This is my first day out to the Internet since I arrived home on the 29Th of August. We have had heavy rains and serious flooding for the past week which made the roads impassable on some days. In addition to that, I had a relapse with whatever bug I was fighting while on my two week vacation.
The Internet has been on and off again all day and I had over 50 emails to read and some to respond to immediately. I will do my best to post as much as I can today and then just add to it the next time I get a chance to do so.
My two week visit was not what I had hoped for but it ended on a good note. Just getting out of Haiti was a challenge in itself. The roads are really, really bad. I just cannot stress this enough. Actionnel had his bus driver, Moyiz, and his cousin, Dimilsaint, drive me to Port Au Prince. We left at 8:30 on Tuesday morning (the 14th) because they wanted to make a day trip out of it and be back in Bayonnais by nightfall. What that meant was I had to wait five hours at the airport for my plane. Make that six, because it was delayed for another hour. I was surrounded by a lot of very sick people. I tried to keep to myself as much as possible but finally started up a conversation with a young man, Jean Baptiste Victor, who gave me a Haiti Worship music CD while we were standing in line to check in. He was very good company and a real sweetheart. A native of Haiti that grew up in the states. He returned to Haiti for six years and was now on his way to Chicago to make another album. The CD is very good, by the way.
In the meantime, I had placed my camera battery in the charger and plugged it into the wall behind the water cooler. I kept checking on it constantly but it was still showing red instead of green. Eventually, I forgot about it and ended up leaving it in the wall when they called us to board the plane. I also managed to lose my UT Longhorns windbreaker and from what I can recall, it never made it through the scanner. I was really upset about the loss of both. No pictures and freezing on the plane with all the sick people.
I arrived in Miami and could not locate the hotel that I had booked. It was not on the list where the phones are. Had to call Houston and finally got the right place. "Just minutes away from the airport" meant a literal forty-five minutes away. No free shuttles for this one. Had to pay the Super Shuttle $26.00 to get there and a taxi $50.00 to get back a few hours later. Had I not been alone, I would have slept on a bench at the airport.
Made it to Houston Wednesday morning (the 15th) without much incident except that the car I had "reserved" and had a confirmation for was not available. (That's why it is so important to make your reservations! Ha!) I ended up with a P.T. Cruiser of which I could barely see over the dashboard while driving. I am only 5'3" and the seats were not adjustable. Before leaving I was asked to inspect the car to make sure I would not be charged for any damage that already existed. None that I could see. Next was to adjust the mirrors and find the important things like the ignition, gears, lights, wipers, radio and A/C. All was fine. I then drove to the check out booth to hand in my sheet and discovered right then that I could not locate any switch, lever or handle, on or near the door, to roll down the window! The lady was steadily tapping on my window and motioning for me to roll it down. It was driving me crazy! Finally, I just opened the door and took care of the paper work. It was a while later when I finally found the four switches in the middle of the dashboard; above the radio. Very funny, Chrysler! That was the least of my worries. It was the actual driving that made me nervous. I had no idea that four months of barely moving would cause such stress to get on the Beltway and drive 70 without slowing down. People were still whizzing past me driving much faster. By the time I made it around to where I needed to be, I finally felt comfortable enough behind the wheel. (With the exception of sitting on the edge of the seat).
I arrived at the home of my friends, Kent and Selia Shell, and met for the first time, Kay Dano, who was there waiting for me. Kay and her brother, Kent, are the ones who have invested their time, energy, and money into this ministry and are my sponsors for Haiti. Modene Murphy Ministries was named after Selia's mother who was also an orphan. Selia is one of my dearest friends and she and I have known each other since both of our sons were in diapers. I am very grateful to them for this wonderful blessing.
The next day, Thursday, I went to my doctor's appointment, with more sick people, got my two Hepatitis shots and had a check-up. The next day is when I became ill. It stayed that way for the rest of my time there. Fever, chills, sweating, sleeping, barely eating, coughing, and more chills. I missed out on seeing friends and family, I missed an Astros ballgame, I missed a few dinners and most disappointing of all was missing two Sunday services with my other mother and the second one would have included my son. I even went back to the doctor who thought I was over the worst of it. He said my blood work was fine and the chest and lungs sounded good. Not according to me.
I was not thrilled about having to go to the airport the Saturday before leaving to pick up my son but got over it pretty fast. He had grown so much and put on some bulk while working with the Oakland Raiders that I did not even recognize him. In fact, I passed him up and kept on looking until he called me on the cell. On the other hand, I had lost about 15 pounds myself and my hair was longer, so he did not recognize me either. We were both surprised. It was fantastic to see him again.
The next day was Sunday and I was still feeling pretty puny. Dylan and his father went to retrieve his truck and run some errands while I rested. I had two people suggest that my problem may be a sinus infection due to allergies. I thought, What could it hurt?, and took some Benadryl. I was amazed at how much better I felt. So much so, that I was able to travel to Austin the next day and help my son and his father move Dylan's things into his third floor apartment. I stayed in the kitchen and set up house while he and his father, Jimmie, his roommate, Doug, and their friend, Nick, unloaded both trucks. Then Dylan and his Dad had to go get all the things he had in storage. By the time they got back, the kitchen was complete and I somehow had the energy to go up and down three flights of stairs a number of times to get the rest of the stuff. Jimmie had the hardest time of all because his back was already hurting before we started. But, he was a real trooper up until the last box was carried in. The complex was still under construction so we had to deal with a lot of workmen as well. Nice place. I think he will do fine there. Our visit was much too short!!!
Made it back to Houston late evening and still had to pack everything. Left for Miami the next day after meeting with Kent, running errands and returning the car. Had a surprise visit from my friend, David, about an hour before I had to board. He works near the airport. We sat in the coffee shop, catching up on each other's news, and the time flew by. It was a great ending to my vacation.
Got to Miami and then to the hotel.(This one was only 1 mile away-Ha!) They cheerfully placed me in a double suite with a King-Sized bed and two bathrooms for the same price as what I had reserved. How nice of them. Yeah, right! It wasn't until I settled into bed around 11:00 that I heard, and also felt, the entire room vibrate with the booming sound of a bass coming from a jukebox. They had put me right above their nightclub! I was much too exhausted to deal with it so I pretended I liked the song and went to sleep. Somewhere around 1:45 a.m. the fire alarms sounded off in the entire building. I jumped up and checked the door. Did not see anything. Heard someone else open a door and waited. Nothing. Meanwhile, alarms are still blaring and lights are flashing. I finally opened the door and looked out. Nothing. The door to my right flew open and a half asleep young woman came running out and slammed into the wall just in front of her. She turned towards me, half-dazed, and said, "What's going on?" I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, trying to suppress a burst of laughter. Right then, the alarms stopped. The young woman returned to her room. I waited two more minutes and listened. Nothing. Went back in, cracked up laughing, and then crawled back into bed. Five-thirty came too soon.
Back to the Miami airport, hauling the luggage across the universe. That airport is huge and not really convenient. After breakfast I made my way over to the boarding gate where I saw a different time and flight number listed. I went to inquire. The young woman behind the counter gave me a very annoyed look and said in her lovely Latin accent, "I already say it on the speeker. Ju weren't lissenin'. The plane weel be late. Please, seet down over dare, and wait." All the while she was waving her arm back and forth across the desk as if she were showing a display on the Price is Right. I think people are so amusing.
Finally got to Haiti an hour later as promised and still had a long way to go. Hot, hot, hot, everywhere I went. The A/C was not functioning while we waited to get through immigration and it was pretty rough. Lots of sweaty people and no air. One little boy nearly passed out until I convinced his mother to take off his long sleeved jacket. Made it through all the rest just fine and got outside to find Moyiz, the driver and Vital, Actionnel's little brother. Made it to the truck, which is a challenge in itself, because the men who "try to help" just to make a buck, literally take your cart or luggage away from you and then want you to pay them for "helping" when you get it back. It's a joke, but not to them.
We had three other people riding with us back to Bayonnais. Four in the back, me on the passenger side, and Moyiz driving. Our trip was the usual rough four hour ride without any real concerns. As we got closer, we could see that a serious storm was brewing over the mountains. We were racing against time to get there before the skies opened up. It was very dark and eerie looking. We finally turned off the main road to head to Bayonnais. What I am about to tell you is the reason why I added the word "barely" to my title. This road is supposed to be a shortcut rather than driving into Gonaives and turning from there. I hope to never again be on this road.
A little less than halfway to our destination we came to the part of the road that always makes me nervous. It is a very steep uphill climb that makes a sharp turn to the right. There is a cliff to the left and rocky mountain on the curve to the right. At first sight we could see that the previous rains had done some extensive damage to the road. Moyiz came to a stop to get prepared and assess his situation. There was about three feet of earth on the left of the road near the edge. Just inside of that was a very deep crevice that ran the length of the curve where the water had washed away the soil. Next to that, was a patch of earth about two to three feet wide. Next to that, was another very deep crevice and near the curve, nothing but loose rock that was piled too high to drive on. The locals had made attempts to fix the road by adding lots of small boulders along the way but they were very slick with jagged edges. So, here we went, trying to get up this incline. There was a lot of banging and bumping and wheels spinning and truck shifting as we inched our way up the first few feet. Moyiz decided that it was best to take the outer edge and try to ride the middle patch. It was going fine until the truck started sliding downward into the left crevice but he continued to press on. We got a little further and starting tilting even more. He tried moving the wheels back and forth to get some traction, still moving forward, and then Wham! The center patch collapsed and we sunk down in a huge hole. The engine died and everything was silent. I said, "God, no, please don't let us be stuck here. Help us, please!" Moyiz took a deep breath and then started the engine again. He turned the wheels sharply to the right and tried to go forward. Didn't move. He tried reverse. Nope. He turned the wheels sharply to the left and tried reverse. It started moving. The back wheels caught and we were slowly coming out of the hole. It immediately occurred to me that our rear end was headed towards the cliff. Just as the truck leveled off enough, Moyiz hit the brakes. I took a quick look in the side view mirror and could not see the road behind us. Just open air. My heart started to pound. So much so that I think it caused the truck to start slipping backwards. I leaned forward as far as I could and said, "Oh, Jesus" over and over again. In one quick motion, before slipping any further, Moyiz shifted into first and floored it while turning the wheels to the right. Rocks started flying and the wheels were spinning out. We were now moving ahead only we were riding practically sideways, leaning to the left, on the rocky side of the road. We were being tossed around like rag dolls, hanging on to whatever we could. A lot of bumps, jerks and bounces and a tremendous volume of noise. We made it past the curve, which seemed like hours, and finally leveled off around the bend. Moyiz brought the truck to a stop and we all started breathing again. I praised God out loud and I thanked Moyiz for keeping us safe by patting him several times on the shoulder. I felt like crying tears of relief. Moyiz took out his handkerchief and wiped his face, (I think he had a tear or two), his brow, his arms, and his hands. He was soaking wet. I will always be grateful for him.
Finally made it home another hour later and saw my beautiful kids. They were so excited and looked so different. Most looked like they had lost weight and did not look very healthy but they were smiling and laughing just the same. We had just enough time to get the bags out of the car and into the house before the rains came pouring down. I was so happy to be home. Safe and at home. I thank God for hearing our prayers. Amen!