Well it's election day for Haiti. In church this morning we heard about the one commonality between American Presidents is the often mentioned 'God Bless America' and if the leaders of Haiti would invoke God's blessings, perhaps the state of the country would be far better. More on that later.

So, after leaving the hotel at 4:30, yes 4:30 am, all 12 of us (and our luggage) boarded a hotel shuttle to Miami airport. We checked in quite easily enough and even had time for breakfast. Our flight to Haiti was uneventful, and I was given my last Diet Coke of the week. Considering I drank it this morning, withdrawals are sure to come. ;)

When we de-planed in Port-Au-Prince, we rounded up our suitcases and totes and found our driver. We road through the city and part way up the mountain (a 60 mile trip that took 7 hours). After many bumpy hours and several Near Death Experiences, we reached the pick-up point where Sheila and Joan had driven to pick us up. Heather Christianson, another missionary had driven with them to help pick us up.

The ride with Sheila and Joan was not near as harrowing as the first leg of the trip, so we can probably safely say that all our new grey hairs came from the initial driver. JK (For anyone over 19, this means Just Kidding).

We reached the guest house with all lives and limbs (and luggage) intact and toured the hospital. I think Dr. Rudy would have started rounds right then, but instead took Dr. Dixon immediately to the ER to see a 3 year old (Tim) with an incarcerated hernia. Dr. Dixon manually reduced the hernia while I provided the anesthesia (held him down). Tim was adoreable and no longer seemed to be hurting after the manipulation, but still eyed Dr. Dixon with suspicion. o_O (stink eye)

After the tour we enjoyed a fabulous dinner of rice and beans, chicken, cole slaw, tomatoes, plantaines (smashed and fried banans) with some pound cake and brownies for dessert. Yum!

On to rounds where we saw approximately 5,000 patients (20) and changed 1/2 million dressings (15), okay, Arthur changed the dressings. There are many cool pictures of the patients that I will have to post on here sometime. The rounds lasted until 2 am, Ha Ha.

We finished the evening with some singing and guitar playing (Jeremy Dixon). The fellowship was sweet. We are really enjoying ourselves so far. We will see what Monday brings (probably a less verbose post by Arthur). :)