It has been a very busy month;
I spent three days helping Lifewater Canada retrieve a broken drill pipe and bit from the bottom of a 115ft. well they were drilling. The drill pipe had broken off at a fitting at 85ft due to the difficult soil and rock conditions. We had to wait for a special retrieval tool to be sent in, weld it to a threaded drill pipe fitting. After an unsuccessful day of trying to attach the two [at 85 ft down], we had to fabricate a ring to guide the broken pipe onto the retrieval tool/pipe. The tool worked well but we found that the broken pipe was completely lodged in 30 ft of mud at the bottom and would not budge. With long distance advice from the experts, we were able to advance a plastic pipe down the well alongside the drill pipes and flush away the mud, finally releasing the broken parts. It gave me a real sympathy of how the drillers in the Gulf of Mexico must have felt!
Jane received information from her friend a local caseworker about connecting with the Government agency in Port-au-Prince to see what we need to do next to further Sammy’s adoption. This was on Saturday March 16, we made plans to drive to “Port” on Wed the 20th, meet on Thursday, return North on Friday. Karen Davis along with Savanna would be traveling with us to work on their paperwork also. Tuesday morning I made one last check of our car to see if Jane needed to pick up any last minute supplies prior to our departure. The radiator had been losing fluid and seemed to be at the upper radiator hose clamp. I started to tighten the clamp and the hose came off in my hand revealing the hidden broken plastic fitting on the radiator. This is not what we wanted to find, but was a blessing that it was not in the middle of the grueling trip along with two babies in the middle of nowhere. I made a quick call to my buddy Bob at Missionary Flights and he would send a new radiator on Thursday’s flight. We scrambled to prepare the Davis’s four door pick-up with two more new tires completing a full set of new rubber. Jane was in Cap-Haitian buying another Pac-n-play folding playpen for a bed and also a car seat for Savanna.
Wed. morning Jane and Karen had to return to “Cap” for some last minute paperwork and after loading and prayer we were on the road by 8:50AM. The back seat was filled with two car seats, diaper bags, toys & snacks, Jane also was able to find a small spot to sit. Karen & I in the front along with more “stuff”. All of the luggage, pac-n-plays, coolers & tools were under the bed cover. The trip went very well; the roads were in excellent shape due to ongoing repaving since the earth quake in 2010. The dusty desert stretches have been replaced with smooth asphalt, the areas of cactus where you could stop and relieve yourself are no longer needed due to numerous new “National” and “Total” gas station/mini-marts. Although we could make good time we still needed to make rest stops for the kids to stretch. Jane certainly had here hands full keeping the kids occupied for two seven hour days. All in all the kids were great considering. The meetings went well with a mixture of questions and answers and waiting for the next step. We are still praying that God will open the next door. We know that He has a plan for Sammy, we are just unsure if it is the same as what we envisioned yet.
While staying at the OMS Villa-Ormiso in Port we were able to see old friends, and meet the visiting construction team building houses there. I was able to take the kids for a swim in the pool but forgot to remove my 3 year old cell phone from my trunks pocket, needless to say it didn’t survive the swim. I am happy to say that phones here are pretty cheap and was able to transfer the SIM card to a new one, retaining my old number & contacts.
Easter morning was a true outdoor sunrise service. We were setting up benches and power cords in the dark for the 6:30 AM start followed by a wonderful pot-luck breakfast.
Bud
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