not dead



No, I'm not.  In case you were wondering.

on the road to Fonds Parisien last week

My mother sent a concerned note about my lack of blog posts.  Yes, I was sick. No, I am fine now. Yes, very very busy weeks, visitors, travel for the bishop's installation and for several patronal festivals, deaths and a baptism, and power mostly at night when I have been too tired to write after Compline.  

Whew.

Life is full; life is good. 

And my time here - this stretch - is growing shorter by the minute.  I'll be home at least for a while this summer. After that? TBD. 



on the road again...

Meanwhile, there's a lot to be done, and much of that arrives unannounced.  No sense making plans without the knowledge that something else is just as likely to happen.  That's just the way it works.  It's sort of like travel time.  I'm such an American - I keep asking how long it will take to get someplace.  The real response, in essence, is "we'll arrive when we get there."  I am growing in the ability to go with the flow and to let go of my need to know what's going on.

It will be. 

arbres flamboyants (flaming trees) are flowering this month - beautiful to look at while you're sitting in an afternoon traffic jam on Avenue John Brown

This weekend I think not knowing was probably helpful.  I didn't put it together until it was nearly time to leave Saturday that I was going to be hearing the first confessions of many of the children to be confirmed Sunday.  Hadn't ever heard a confession - much less in French or Creole.  Jumping right in was most likely the best way to do it.  I ended up enjoying praying with and for them. I'm not sure that asking them what they wanted to say to God exactly counts as standard procedure, but it worked to begin the conversation - and we got to pray in thanksgiving and petition as well that way. 

And you should be proud of me.  In the middle of a conversation with one child, a HUGE spider ran out from under the bench right next to me and off towards the altar at high speed and I didn't even yelp.  It might have been a tarantula; I'm not sure.  Since I was trying to listen intently and since it was running away from me rather than towards me, I didn't dare move my head to look.  The legs were certainly at similar angles rather than nearly flat to the ground.   By the time that conversation and prayer time was over, it was long gone.  Trust me, I glanced around between children after that. 


Confirmation - Cathedrale Sainte Trinite
Port-au-Prince

I'm planning plenty of things for this week.  And I'll go with the flow of life, which, as they say, is what happens when you're making other plans.  I am not, however, planning for any large spiders, tarantulas or otherwise, even if they are running in the opposite direction.  

Plenty of adventure without them.