I’ve been trying to start and restart this post and nothing has felt right. It’s because what I really want to do is give you an update post, but my brain keeps telling me that I should write something really interesting and amazing. At the root of it is me wanting to talk about thankfulness, so that’s what I’m going to do!
I’ve been just looking around and feeling truly thankful for so many things.
First thankful thing?
I’m writing to you on a new computer!
You guys, I’m so excited about this. Seriously, I want to put a dozen exclamation marks after that sentence, but I’ll spare you :)
About a week and a half ago, after just sitting in the frustration of not having a computer that would work well or do half of the stuff I needed it to, we were sharing our woes with new friends here. After talking about the issues he agreed that it was most likely an adaptor issue, which we know is something we can’t fix here in country by ourselves. Through the course of our conversation he encouraged us to consider switching over to Mac because they have a reputation for stability. Now, I know there are camps on both sides of the pasture folks. For the record, he was solidly a PC user until he started a company and they decided to go with Mac. So he can speak from both sides, and was just sharing his personal experience.
That night I decided to do some reading. Truth was, I had never really looked into what the technical differences were between Mac’s and PC’s. I just knew Macs were pretty :) It was interesting. The next day I stopped by to see some friends on my way to Port au Prince and remembered that they had been dedicated PC users, but were now all on Mac’s. They said the same thing – stability. Hmmm.
I did more reading. Chris and I talked. We made some decisions. For us and our expertise level with computers, which is really not a ton, and the environment we live in, we felt like it might be time to throw in the PC towel and switch over. I started seriously looking at options and making plans to get a new Mac into the country with a visiting group that’s coming in soon.
I was very literally ready to hit “Buy Now” but was waiting on a shipping address from some friends of ours. This was Tuesday, I think. Chris was in the shower before bed and I was taking the few minutes before my turn in the bathroom to scroll through Facebook. Then I saw it!
I’m part of an expats and missionary Facebook group where people can ask questions, share info and even sell things. There before me was a posting for a Macbook Pro! The specs were amazing – way more than what we could have justified paying for. It was a 15″ screen, which I would have loved, but that also added a chunk of change that we couldn’t justify. I got in touch with the guy selling it and asked a ton of questions. He was only selling it because he’s starting a new job as a pilot where he’s going to be traveling a lot more and wanted to go with a Macbook Air because it’s lighter for travel. He had upgraded everything he could when he bought it, and it had recently been fully serviced by Apple, including them changing out the outer shell, keyboard and trackpad. Best part? Half the price of what I was going to pay for a new, lesser tricked out version! I picked it up Saturday and am now happily getting everything set up :) I’m feeling SO thankful about this!
The work at the new property is moving along! I’ll share another update soon, but until then you’ll have to take my word for it. Every week things look so different. Even just between a few days. I went out last Wednesday and then again on Friday and there was a ton that had been done in that time. I’m excited to share pictures with you soon! I feel thankful that things are moving, even if they might feel crazy!
I feel thankful for the last week. We had a visit from one of our Canadian board members and it was really a blessing. I think when you’re responsible for something like what we do there’s always that fear that people are going to tell you what you’re doing wrong. When you have people visit for the first time, there’s a fear that they’ll be stressing out because Haiti is so different, and that they won’t really be able to understand the challenges of living and working here. That last bit can lead to a lot of criticism.
This past week was the opposite of all that. As we shared life for a week we were encouraged by the conversations and love shown to us, the encouragement and the desire to truly help where possible. I’m excited about the opportunities that were here for the week and what that will translate to at a board level. It was just good. I’m so thankful for the week.
I’m thankful for community, too. I remember when I first moved to Haiti and desperately missed everyone back home. I still miss everyone, but it’s different. It’s more the missing of life together, but recognizing that it’s been a decade and that we’ve all moved on. I miss being present with friends and family. That said, I’m thankful for the community of people that God’s given us in the past 10 years. We’re so thankful for the relationships with our staff and are in this really sweet spot right now. We’re thankful for the opportunity to build relationships with people in Kan Marie as we anticipate our move at the end of the year. We’re thankful for the missionary and expat community around us. As I sat on the floor of a porch on Thursday night during my weekly ladies Bible study I was just so grateful for the body of women I get to be friends with here. So many different stories and personalities, ages and stages, and I get to call them friends. Such a thing to be thankful for!
I’m also very thankful that it’s March. February was a crazy month for us here. We always seem to get one month of the year where there are a billion things going on, and for some reason it always lands right about now. On the way home from the airport on Saturday I almost fell asleep in the van and I just realized that my body was telling me it was time to rest. Everything that came to us in February was great, it was just a lot to manage. I’m looking forward to be being able to fall into some sort of routine with the filter project, managing construction and just doing life, because we haven’t really been able to do that yet this year.
So many things on my gratitude list this week :)
~Leslie
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