Greetings,

We only left Haiti just 2 weeks ago today.  Wow, and a world of things have happened since that time.  I thought I should start with that now, since it’s quite a lot.

We left on May 26^th.  We had an awesome, quick flight back.  Came direct from Cap Haitian to Fort Pierce.  Had supper with a missionary couple (Paul and Belle) who flew with us and a couple from Missionary Flights (MFI) (Dan and Heather), who not only met us, but loaned us the use of their van for our short stay in Florida.

The next day was the farewell luncheon for Harold Martin who is leaving MFI to head up another mission.  We knew Harold had a very hard time making the decision, but he knew he was following the Lord in it.  It was a great but sad time.  A lot of people will miss having Harold being there.  But no one would even think to argue with the Lord on the decision.  There were many who shared accolades and a couple who sort of “roasted” Harold.  We were simply blessed to be a part of it all.

Then we spent a couple of days with Bev, my sister (in-law).  It was so good to spend time with her too.  And then a day or so with Paul, Belle, Dan and Heather again.  The added blessing there was that Paul and Belle’s son and family were there, too.  Great time of fellowship with all of them.

The next day (Tuesday) came our flight to Wisconsin.  Of course the airline mixed up our seat reservations and had us in the far back of the plane (our reservation was row 16…our seats were next to last…34).  Thankfully both flights were not that long.  And we were at our daughter Christine’s that night. 

Wednesday we went out to the house some good friends are letting us stay in.  They also served us a great meal when we got there!!! 

Now on to our real challenge….and please don’t call me totally stupid or dumb…my concern was for Don and that is where my mind was.  But I HAVE learned through all of this, to be sure.

The next morning Don was having pains on and off and I was concerned.  Then got the call from IRS...(supposedly).  My first clue, IF I HAD BEEN THINKING, was the accent of the guy.  But I kept thinking of Don's pain.  Long story short, I was duped…and not thinking at all.  I sent them money.  NOW Don is in extreme pain and wanting to either to go to the doc NOW, or the ER.  I went to our daughter's work.  She wasn't there, she was at a meeting for her son Donny.  BUT her co-worker who is a real sweetheart...said give me that card (that we had paid with)...  She spent 2½ HOURS on the phone contacting people and finally DID get the card stopped. (In between all of this, took Don to the ER). Then they said we needed to go back to Walgreens (where we got the card) and get our money back.  Really long story short on this one, Walgreen couldn't refund it... had to go through the company.  BUT the manager of Walgreens contacted a lot of people and found out HOW to do that and who to talk to.  He took 45 minutes on the phone to get this info for me.  Before we had gone back to Walgreens we had gone to the police station.  Had a GREAT policeman come and talk to us.  Those guys had even used the police non-emergency number when they called me back...and the police were NOT happy about that.  But there is nothing they can do...no way to catch the guys.  But an incident report was filed.  So I copied all the papers I needed and sent them off to the gal the Walgreens guy had given us.  It can take 2 months to get the money back, but we will get it we were told. 

Now on to Don...got to the ER and they took him right in.  GREAT people there and so caring.  The doctor was a woman (Dr. Gillette).  She is a missionary doctor who wants to talk to us again!!  They were ready to take him into surgery right then.  But after giving him valium the hernia went down some.  So the surgeon came in.  He was the one who took out Don's gall-bladder 2 years ago.  Since Don was stabilized he said go to the doc appt. the next morning and then the hospital for the surgery.   So, Friday afternoon they operated.  Don has had almost NO pain from the surgery.  He said he's sore, but no real pain.  He took one pain pill at home to see if it would ease him enough to go to the bathroom.  That was his main problem.  At first just dribbles, but I think it's a lot better now.  He is still just worn out and tired.  He'd been up every 15 to 20 minutes for 2 days just to use the bathroom.  But doc said we should not go out the farm house we were going to stay in, he wanted him close in case something came up.  So, will be here at Christine's for a bit yet. 

 That took us to Saturday.  We spent that day taking care of Don, but also getting ready for our grandson Donny's graduation on Sunday.  For those of you who don’t know, he has Cerebral Palsy.  It took him 18 years in school to complete it. I didn't get to go, someone had to be here with Don.  But it was neat.  The principle had him use his walker to get his diploma.  Wheel chair up the ramp to the stage, then the walker across the stage and back in the wheel chair.  There were about 95 kids (I think), and he was in the middle of the line.  They were told at the start to hold applause and cheers until everyone had gone through.  When Donny was handed his diploma, they started clapping, then a whole lot of people stood up till he was off stage.  THE ONLY ONE they applauded for.  Christine was sobbing.  We knew Donny knew a whole lot of people and you cannot not love him, he is so happy.  But this was something else.  When he got home, I asked him what was that (pointing to his diploma).... he said, "A book with a whole lot of words in it."

Have now spent a few days simply …. relaxing and chilling out…and YES we think it’s cold here.  Today it may hit 70 degrees, but not sure.  This is cold for us.  But I think the rains have stopped and sunshine is here.  Prayerfully it will warm up. 

All I keep thinking about is how the Lord has been with us, not only in the people He has placed around us (which we REALLY praise Him for), but in all the situations we have faced.  When it’s hardest to praise Him is the time we really need to do it.  God has definitely kept His hands on us in and through everything.  And we praise Him for that.  But we also praise Him for the wonderful, thoughtful, caring people He surrounded us with, too.  And we do pray He will richly bless each and every one of those people way beyond measure. 

Thank you for being there for us in prayer and in support of all kinds.  We praise God for YOU, as well as all those whom He has put in our path already!!  We pray God’s blessings and peace on all of you, and pray you are in that place where you, too, can lean on Him in all things.