There really isn’t any week that is dull and boring here in Haiti, but this week has provided us with plenty of new experiences . . . last week we learned that for the first time since we have moved here, there is a rat in our house . . . yes, you read that correctly, there is a RAT in our house . . . in the kitchen!! We set a humane trap last Friday evening and within half an hour, the culprit was captured . . . unfortunately, it escaped before we were able to “take care of it”. We won’t go into that story . . . .
This afternoon we discovered that the RAT has returned . . . it’s not bad enough that we know he is back . . . when I got into our “care package” cupboard this afternoon, I discovered that he not only got into our Apple Newton cookies, but also our Oreos, Utz Potato Chips, Utz Cheese Balls, and chewed a hole in a Tupperware container!! Now, if you know anything about the Nunemakers, you know not to mess with their Oreos, Utz Potato Chips, or cheese balls of any kind!!! Therefore, the war is on . . . there are two traps set in the cupboards!!! You’ll just have to wait to see what happens next . . . if I have anything to do with it, this one WILL NOT get away!!! The boys did suddenly need to watch one of their favorite movies, Mouse Hunt, again, this afternoon, though.
Saturday, we had another interesting discovery. Actually, we noticed several weeks ago that someone tapped into our electrical lines, just over our wall, and were using our electric, so Lee disconnected the line and collected a decent length of the line. Over the next couple of weeks, we noticed that another wire was reconnected several times, so each time Lee disconnected it and took the length of line that he could collect by reaching over the wall. When he realized on Saturday that it was reconnected, again, he talked to one of our Haitian staff and they decided that it was time to climb over the wall and collect all the wire and follow it to the house where it was being used. So, Saturday afternoon, this was Lee’s project. He followed the scraps of wire until they connected to the barbed wire at the back wall; where he discovered that not only one home was using our electric, but multiple homes throughout the community behind us, were using our electric. So, Lee disconnected all the wire that he could get from the back wall to our electrical line and returned to our house with this mass of wires . . .
Now, although it is frustrating to know that we have been paying for electric for multiple homes in the community behind us, we are also quite amazed at the resourcefulness of the people who live there . . . the fact that these scraps of wire were strung together and worked to provide them with electric, is amazing to us.
The last little thing that we discovered were these, not so little, creatures . . .
I was at Ladies Missionary Tea this afternoon and our hostess was talking about these nasty caterpillars that they are having trouble with. It was fascinating to hear one woman walk by and talk about how beautiful they were and the next woman would talk about how disgusting they were. We all have such different perspectives, when we see God’s incredible creation. Well, as soon as I saw them, I knew that I had to bring at least one home for Isaac. If you don’t know Isaac well, you may not know how much he loves caterpillars and butterflies. He has always been known to be collecting caterpillars through the summer and fall months to put in his Butterfly Garden to feed and care for until they came out of the chrysalises. In fact, that Butterfly Garden was one of the very first things that he packed last year in preparation to move here. So, when I came back from Ladies Tea this afternoon with these four (the little one didn’t make it into the picture) in a tin can, it didn’t take long for him to pull out the Butterfly Garden and put them into their new home. With a little research, we learned that they are Plumeria caterpillars that will turn into Tetrio Sphinx Moths. These are not caterpillars that we want to handle or let go in our yard, but we will see what happens with them in our Butterfly Garden over the next couple of weeks.
So, that is the exciting news from Haiti this week. We will be sure to update you on any fun news on the rat issue or the caterpillars, if there is any news to share . . . One lesson that we have learned the hard way . . . when those special goodies come in a care package, enjoy them right away, rather than save them for a special occasion later . . . because if the rat gets into them . . . somehow they just are not as appealing anymore . . .
Goodbyes are never easy. If there is anything that we have learned in the eleven months that we have lived in Haiti, it is that goodbyes, or “see you laters” (as we prefer to say it) don’t get any easier, no matter how often you experience them. Today we said “see ya later” to great friends that we have spent eleven months getting to know. The Seel family finished up their five years of ministry in Haiti this morning as they packed up the last of their life here, in preparation for their move back to Germany. They were such a blessing to our family as we moved in and started to adjust to life here. This picture was taken this morning as the boys played one last video game together before their departure. Our boys have been dreading this day for quite awhile, in fact, last night one of them said that today was “going to be the worst day of my life” because they knew that their friends are moving. This year has brought a lot of difficult “see you laters”, but God is teaching us through each one. We are so thankful to God for placing the Seel family in our lives, even if that time was far too short for any of us. Our prayers go with you, Daniel, Alex, Jeremy, Caitlin, and Colin; we look forward to seeing what God has planned for your lives. We know that He has big things ahead for each of you.