I have started my day with some awesome plantain porridge and a delightful cup of lemongrass tea, no Dr. Pepper, but it was amazingly delicious. Yesterdays lunch wa quite unique, it was an empanada of sorts filled with the dried and salted fish we had given out during the food distribution (a blog forthcoming, it is such a difficult experience I'm trying to work out my words properly.) And Pere Bruno even stopped and got me a coconut soda, a unique taste, kind of a creamy soda with a splash of a rum taste to it. (Not that I would know what rum tastes like...)

As I was going to sleep last night I thought it might be time to write a few lighter comments here. It's good for my image to make you think that I'm all rough and tough and barely surviving the Haitian wilderness, but in fact that is not the entire truth.

The people here are so good and so kind and the children are absolutely adorable. There's Lulu, Pere Bruno's grand nephew and by far and wide the most loved child in Terrier Rouge, possibly all of Haiti. He has the biggest pout whenever you tell him "no" that you just melt and hand him all your candy all at once. The children all love to walk straight up to your face and say something in creole and run away laughing. They probably just told me that my face looked like an ape, it doesn't matter, I laugh right along with them. At the well site, I picked up and carried a little boy, and as my sleeves were pulled up he kept picking and picking at the freckles on the shoulders thinking they were bugs.

Pere Bruno tells us stories of various things, one was a story of a French man that built a house in the middle of the barren land here in Haiti, miles from anything else. He filled it with nice things and lived there for a bit and then went home to France. This is when Pere Bruno started laughing, because that man left and noone watched his big house. When he returned a few weeks later, that man was surprised at his house, even the toilets were gone. Pere Bruno just shook his head and said: "Silly Man."

The sounds of laughter and Chewbacca sounds from the crew outside my door kept me awake well into the night, this year I can't even blame the roosters, just the Prestige beer and bunch of really fun guys that came together on a mission trip.

We've got Matt and Renard, twins, which really throws off Haitians and they are a trip and a half. They are college students at Lord Fairfax and this is their first time in Haiti. They've been producing a movie while we're here and each time they turn that camera on a new insight comes out and I'm blown away by the creative spirit of these two phenomenal men.

Then there's quiet and beautiful Aisha. She too is a college student at Lord Fairfax and she has a gentle spirit and quiet soul. This is her first trip out of the country and even her first trip on the airplane and she has done most excelently.

Tony and Kevin, father and son. Tony was here last year with his older son Michael and now Kevin has joined us and what a difference that has made. He has a great sense of humor and falls right into the crowd playing soccer or shooting the breeze.

Stan also was here last year and he is our renegade cowboy. He leads the way packing food and pushing the truck through mud...and his facebook campaigns raise much needed funds for wells and the other neessities of Haiti.

Glen is a business man and I can't wait to see his pictures, his favorite line this week has been "Money Shot" either when the truck was being shoved out of the mud or the children come rushing like a flash mob to get at the "blancos.'

Jim has an amazing heart. His truly kind face looks out at the world here in Terrier Rouge with questions and awe and I can just see how God is working in him to make a difference. He understands mission and the need to be here with the people more than most and I am truly glad he is here.

And lastly there is John, what a phenomenal man. He is the keeper of the video camera, working closely with Matt and Renard and is a wonderful mentor to the youth. His tagline this week has been: "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else" wether it is in the pouring down rain in the back o the truck, pushing it out of the slush of mud or battling the mosquitoes at dusk, John is truly present here and now.

So... a fantastic group and they will leave tomorrow. I'll be left here all alone to take on the armies of cockroaches, they are so big that they wear saddles and chant military tunes as they make their way across the room. The Prestige beer business might go into a recession and I'm pretty sure they've made their way through at least two bottles of hot sauce for their food. Of course I can't imagine what the Haitians are thinking as the sounds of laughter, Chewbacca noises and the singing of loud obnoxious American songs are coming from the compuond late at night... but alas all things must come to an end.

So tomorrow we will take them to the border and we'll buy some supplies and then Sunday we'll head back to the border to pick up the next group. Don't get me wrong, I dearly miss my kids and husband.. and even that pesky little dog at home, but as John would say "I wouldn't want to be anyplace else" and I can't wait for the Warrenton Presbyterian group to come on in and change the world....