Sword

At what moment do you know it’s enough? On a journey like this, where you barrel along and there are never ending tasks to do, and improvements to make, how do you know? When the last drop of paint is used and it finishes the final wall, it’s a pretty good indication that your close. 38 gallons of paint on the walls! No sprayer, just good old fashioned rollers and brushes. Hour by hour, sweltering heat and all, we made it. One cabinet wrecked in the move, fixed. One closet for dresses, a linen closet for the bathroom, cleaning and organizing throughout, upholstery repair on a chair, love seat, and couch. Kitchen sink installed and working, shelving throughout the house to the tune of 34 to be exact. Pictures hung, Birthday celebration, 70 hotdogs later, and 8 bikes made for a very happy kid zone at the orphanage. The day started out blistering hot, the night was too, but the morning brought drenching humidity. However, you talk about home make over, this was it. It was a wrenching evening as the good-byes brought dreaded sorrowing emotions. One of the blessings was that we spent hours every day with the kids. There was an endless flow of activity, it’s not the place to come if you covet clean and quiet atmosphere’s. The difficulty the first couple of days is the psychological impact of the culture and weather, and at the end, its the challenge of the good-byes that sting and probe you to the depths of your being. There were lots of tears, as harsh reality drew it’s sword and severed our physical connection. There will be a few more in the morning, and then we will be on our way home. We finished well, I’m glad to report. And there are a lot of great things happening. At our children’s service yesterday in Desdunes, we had a totally different response to the David and Goliath story. It was because the kids had never heard the story before. It was one of those moments where you are seized with gratitude that such an opportunity came your way. 250 delightful children showed and the drama went off perfectly. For tonight, the rain has brought a temporary stall in the heat, so I am going to stitch this closed and try to get some rest. Tomorrow will be a day of travel, and I will be loading pics up to the blog as we hit the data stream in Miami. Thank you again for the words of encouragement, it helped us tonight in a dreaded place. Good night to all, and final blessings from St. Marc.