Moving Day

After meeting with Thorsten last week and the bier for breakfast thing (ha), we agree to move into our new place the following Monday. Come Monday, we are very excited to get this show on the road. Everyone that is home and capable (which is actually only two people) is running around packing up the massive amount of stuff that has accumulated in our house. I, on the other hand, sit on the floor next to Godzilla (my gargantuan suitcase) and put my belongings into him and a few other proximal items that I can hobble over to. All the while I am loathing this abscess, the chronic pain its causing me, and the very unhelpful sack of potatoes it has turned me into.

Finally, in the afternoon, the taptap arrives to take our first load of stuff. We know from the get go that this is going to take multiple loads and multiple days but, we’re moving, YAY! We pile our things and ourselves in and take off for our awesome new white house.

When we pull up, we happily greet Thorsten who opens the front gate for us. Megan at some point says to him, “Your life is never going to be the same.” Boy, ain’t that true. Two loud girls, a toddler that throws monumental tantrums, and a 7 year old girl that speaks no English moving in downstairs does tend to change the dynamic of a living environment a bit.

Once everything is unloaded, I look around and ask everyone what they want for dinner. I suggested earlier that we have gumbo (Zattarain’s of course) and that’s when I realize, we don’t have the hot plate. And then I look through the food that we managed to grab as we were running out of the door. What I find is Pringles, some nut mix cleverly named NUTrition, a bag of prunes, Cheezeits, Ritz cheese sandwiches, and a bunch of box dinners I grabbed that can only be cooked on a stovetop. I am highly annoyed at this discovery. I settle for some NUTrition and Pringles for dinner. A bit later I get up to go to the bathroom and discover that we have forgotten to bring toilet paper. Awkward. I remember that I have some paper towels left in Godzilla from when my shampoo spilled back in Florida and those suffice. But then when I’m done, I see that we haven’t brought any trashcans with us and there is nowhere for me to throw my used paper towel wipes… hm. Little piles of dirt and crumbs start accumulating on the floor and soon I’m just dying to sweep a bit. That’s when I discover that, oh, we left the broom at the other house as well.

I go back to the front porch to snack on a Cheezit or two and someone suggests that we grab a couple of Prestiges to celebrate moving today. I think that is a great idea and I make a mental agreement with myself that I will be totally fine and not annoyed or cranky by the fact that we neglected to bring some very key items along with us this first trip. Just give me a Prestige and I will be quiet and happy.

Now normally, I would just go to the corner store/shack myself and buy the beer. I even wanted to go to the old house earlier and grab the cook top and just make a good ol’ dinner for everyone. However, my legs don’t work so I sit out on the porch and wait. A million things are going on, as usual, and it seems the beer has been forgotten. So I keep sitting there. I know that if I ask again for the beer run to commence, I will be annoying and no one wanted to go back to the old house for the cook top before the sun set. I know there are more important things going on. Usually its totally ok because I can just do it myself, or get up and go amuse myself some other way. But now I can’t. So I keep sitting there. And I get to thinking; thinking about how ANNOYED I am that we didn’t even bring TOILET PAPER and I have to eat PRINGLES for dinner and my leg hurts and I’m sick of being a stinking CRIPPLE!! And so after about 45 minutes I stand up and announce that I don’t care, I’m going to the store myself! But DJ stops me and Megan notices me now that I’m standing and they sit the old crank back into her plastic deck chair and go to the store. A few minutes later they come back and I can see that what they are carrying looks much more like plastic Tampico bottles than Prestige bottles... The store is out.

My head threatens to spin off my body because I’m just not sure what I’m going to do with myself now!! I think at the back of my mind, over anything and everything else, I feel the most upset that I don’t even have my health anymore. The infection in my body has taken such a physical, mental, and even a steep emotional toll. I just want to help, that’s what I came here to do. But now I know that I'm more of a burden than anything else. But then, in the middle of my spiral, its almost like someone taps me on the shoulder and says, “Look around you.”

I look around and see this BEAUTIFUL house that we are SO lucky to have found because God told us to talk to some random guy that we ran past one day. We have electricity and internet. I have a shower to look forward to that I don’t have go outside and draw out of the well first. The toilets flush and water comes out of the sinks. I have a bed to sleep in and decent clothes to wear. Maybe I didn’t have awesome choices for dinner, but I ate; and by golly, we did remember to bring the drinking water! And then I was reminded that this is for ONE night only. The other things will come with the other loads.

I feel very humbled. And a little ashamed.
And then at peace knowing that I am loved and provided for by a God who gives us our daily bread. He knows what I need even before I ask him. He knows what I need better than I do myself. And he graciously gives, and gives, and gives.

The Haitian people don’t have very much; next to nothing really. It was hard for me to grasp how much they don’t have coming from my world of excess. But they are so incredibly happy, they are so incredibly rich in spirit. Especially the children we work with who are always playing and laughing. They melt my heart when they wrap their arms around my legs, smile up at me and shower me with hugs and laughter. And I’m always taken aback by how thankful everyone is. They’re so quick to thank us for teaching them, playing with them, or even taking time to sit and talk with them. The people I've met aren’t driven by their desire to get, get, get.

It magnifies for me just how unhappy I am with our materialistic culture in the US. It's sad to watch all of the things that are sacrificed in favor of money and a bunch of stuff that isn't going to last and can't go with you when you die. So many expend their time and energy to make more money in order to buy more things that they believe are going to make life better. You really have to ask, better in what sense? In many ways, life in the US is so much better than in Haiti. But then, in so many ways, it really isn't.

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul? (Mark 8:36)