Bullet Points

WOW... It's been a LONG time since my last blog post, which can only mean one thing... It's been RIDICULOUSLY busy here!  Nick and I have had several 12-14 hour work days recently.  Our boys have been a bit neglected, but we are hoping this will come to an end soon!  Heres to hoping!

I have so much I want to share but just have not had any time.  I will do a few bullets for now and hopefully explain more later.

-Nick went to the States for a week.  Spent 3 full days building a database for COTP and then drive our new vehicle from Minnesota to Florida in 2.5 days.

-A ladder feel from of from the roof of our apartment and crashed down on the roof of the play room, creating a giant hole in the roof... pics to come!

-Amy and Jenn, two of our long term staff members left Haiti.  Three new long term staff members have moved down.

-I have been playing nurse for the past month.  This means I am responsible for drawing up and administering all of the meds to the kids.  We have also had 3 kids admitted to the hospital during this time, 2 seizures, and lots of other medical stuff going on.  Tomorrow I will take one of our kids for an ECHO to ensure that the murmur we hear is just do to malnutrition and not a heart defect.

-We just admitted a little boy who is in need of cleft pallet surgery.  Please pray he gains weight and can get his surgery soon.

-We have had 3 of our children united with adoptive families.  Several children have been matched with adoptive families!  Many adoptive parents have come down for paper work.

-We are currently up to 56 kids, or is it 57?  Wow it's been a long day!

-From May 1st until September 12th, COTP had 117 short term volunteers who spent at least one night with us!  In these few months, we had more volunteers than we have ever had in a whole year combined!

-COTP received a grant to promote 4 of our current employees into leadership positions.  We will now have a Haitian Nurse, Social Worker, a person to teach an education component for our Mamba and Formula programs, and someone to be our Database Expert!  I am so excited to start these four positions as I have been advocating for them since shortly after moving here!  These four will take a lot of the strain off of our international staff and empower them to make more decisions regarding the operations of COTP!  Now we are in the process of writing up contracts and job responsibilities for these positions.  It will be several months of training, but it will be worth it in the end!

-We have a nurse coming down next week for 3 months!  I'm excited to train her and not be the sole person making medical decisions for the kids!

-I've been on several home visits recently!  Please continue praying for Fritzlin, Edly, and Ederly as their parents learn how to care for the needs of young children!

-While on a home visit for one of our new kids, I found my new favorite place in the world.  Some day I will live on the outskirts of Port Margot, AKA, middle of no where Haiti.  I already have my land picked out!

-Nick was able to get our internet upgraded.  We now have high speed internet!!  I know, amazing right!

-We have made Many trips to Port au Prince recently for kids' adoption appointments!

-Nick went to the DR one afternoon to buy a part for the adoption moto and got back to the border 4 minutes after it closed.  The guard said Nick could cross illegally by walking on the outside of the bridge (this happens often), but he wouldn't let him take his bike across.  Nick tried to convince the guard to let him pay a ton of people to carry it across the river, but he wouldn't.  Nick spent the night in a hotel called "Massacre Hotel!"  NO Joke!

-COTP has a new website coming!  It took us several months to complete it, but we are excited that it is all done and should be going live soon!  I'll keep you updated on that!

-Nick and I now have several friends in Cap (it almost kind of feels weird saying that) and now attend a bible study every week!  It's great to get out and have this fellowship.  Most weeks this is the only time I leave the compound (except for this week with many hospital visits and home visits, I have hardly been here)!  This is such a huge blessing for us and we couldn't be happier to have these friendships and fellowships!

-We are planning a pretty big Halloween party and are very excited for it!  We even requested some supplies be brought in by volunteers coming and from the pilot that brings us our mail!

-I tried carving pumpkins with my boys tonight.  Wedly took a while but eventually played with the mush.  Eventz just stood back and looked disgusted the entire time!  If I tried to get him to touch it he'd fuss and back up!  I've never seen him scared of anything.  I have now found his weakness, pumpkin guts!  The boys are learning to say "trick or treat," not that they'll actually use it!

-Nick has worms AND ringworm.  I recently had scabies!  Oh the joys of living here!

-Nick and his crew ripped up our old baby house floor and mixed/laid 12.5 yards of concrete by hand.  Next month they will be painting epoxy on the floor.  This doesn't hold bacteria hardly at all and should help improve the over all health of our babies!

-The kitten we had for Eventz was killed by our dog the SAME night I wrote a blog post about it.  We were at a bible study the other night and Eventz saw a cat and started calling it Zo.  It broke Nick and I's hearts.

-Our rabbits still have not reproduced after over 4 months.  Either they are faulty rabbits or they are all the same sex.  I thought for sure we'd have about 30 by now!  We are up to 6 goats now!

-Eventz and Wedly absolutely LOVE music and dance like little goons every time they hear it!

I'm sure there is WAY more that I'm not adding, but that gives you an idea of what we have been up to the past few weeks!  Life is hectic, crazy, stressful, and frustrating, but Nick and I both agree we wouldn't trade it for the anything!!

If we got paid over time here (or just got paid) we'd be rich!  This place offers a great retirement package though, it's out of this world!!