Thursday, November 25, 2010 was Thanksgiving Day across the USA. We woke to an absolutely gorgeous day in Haiti and thought, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Also came to mind several hymns about Thanksgiving; a Gaither tune, We Are So Blessed; Give Thanks With a Grateful HEART; and I Will Sing With Thanksgiving
In My Heart, a choral arrangement that our choir director at home, Joan Wilson, loves for the choir to sing on Thanksgiving Sunday.
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| Julie Briggs and Hannah Perry |
Thanksgiving supper was at the Vaudreuil compound with Kate, Hannah and Julie hosting. We could say, "And Julie and Hannah poured tea from a silver teapot," but Julie and Hannah were busy assisting with cholera patients in a tent outside the compound's Bethesda Medical Clinic. When there were too many patients, a guest house on the compound, the Welcome Inn, was opened for several patients, mostly children, who had to stay over night or longer. Julie and Hannah came in after we had started to talk turkey and left shortly after we finished as they were taking shifts throughout the night to change dehydration drip bags and deal with other emergencies.
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| Turkey, Ham and Trimmings |
We all devoured turkey, dressing, gravy and side dishes. We hardly had room for dessert, but (Our tummies hurt just looking at the desserts - pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie, pecan tarts and several varieties of cookies.) somehow we managed.
It seemed such a contradiction between the Haitians and ourselves. While we were having a Thanksgiving dinner that would rival anything found at home not five hundred feet away there were a dozen children fighting for their lives against the cholera bacteria. It makes you begin to rethink what is truly important in our lives and how thankful we should be for things like good health and good friends.
We are always thankful to MFI for the shopping service (groceries including turkeys, vehicle and deisel parts, and everything else under the sun) they purchase in the USA for missionaries in Haiti and then bring it all in with them when they come with mail and other cargo.
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| Sunrise |
I, Dorothy, have been thinking about some of the other things in Haiti for which to be thankful; a beautiful house; fresh fruit; lovely sunrises and sunsets; the morning star; the mountains; the lush tropical foliage; a husband whom I love and who loves me, the thought that soon we will be going home for Christmas to see our children and grandchildren; and Skype, to name a few.
I am also thankful for dead tarantuas, but I just can't bring myself to be thankful for ants and mosquitoes. I know they serve a purpose on this earth and I know that God made all creatures great and small but.....I'm sure an entomologist will be able to enlighten me.
The most important thing that the McCluskey's are grateful for is for who God is and what he's done for us.
