Diana is coming back tomorrow thus tonight was the season finale of “3 men plus Mindylove”. It closed a 10 day miniseries event that began when Diana left to the states for her brother’s wedding. This left Jay, Zack and I to be the caretaker(s) of Mindylove- the 4 year old Haitian orphan girl we live with. The series was full of drama, tears and a whole lotta laughs. I loved working with my supporting cast and I kinda hope we get signed on for a second season or even a spin off series "Mindylove in America"…
Picture
Menos, the orphanage house dad and gardener, gives me massages on Sunday nights. First, he prays over me and from there- anything is possible. He makes a homemade massage lotion which consists of lemons and limes, hand sanitizer, some sort of ground up leafy substance, coconut milk and a Haitian secret ingredient- kerosene (yes, that was not a typo… he uses gas).  On my back, he uses the old skool open handed karate chop method. On my legs, I’ve asked him to use a rolling pen for a slow deep tissue massage. For his services, I pay him 100 goudes (about $2.50)… Tonight Zack was playing the guitar during my massage and Menos started singing this song in Creole about Jesus being the best doctor who can heal any sickness… the whole experience was soothing for my soul…

 

Rash

11/15/2009

1 Comment

 
This weekend has been kinda interesting, Jay and I have been emailing a doctor in Jacksonville about skin problems we are having… Here are some snippets of that email conversation…

Jay - “I have a not-so-insignificant crotch rash… I have applied some diaper rash cream which seems to help, but not eliminate the issue. And, Jeremy has developed a similar rash in the similar region that is attacking him with a vengeance. And he claims I gave him the rash because he said he has never gotten one before. I say he got it because he is now living in Haiti for the first time, but either way, our crotches would appreciate some advice. 

Jeremy- “Who should i send my crotch rash photos too? anyone specific or everyone included?” (joke) 

Doctor- “Jeremy, Again no crotch pictures from haiti are necessary, I guess that may open up a different internet funding stream for the ministry but probably not in line with the mission statement.  Definitely adds a different take to your blog! (more than you know doc) Good luck...Get your hands out your pants!!   Dont want to know how Jay gave this to Jeremy! What is happening down there?- (me and jay shared underwear) If you have developed a candida infection (will see isolated red dots seeming to show the infection is spreading or marching out, called satellite lesions) not just the simple diaper rash (generalized redness irritation, no "satellite lesions" ), then you would benefit from antifungal creams like used in vaginal yeast infections, miconazole, nystatin, etc… need to keep area clean and dry as much as possible and hope nothing falls off. :) just kidding, you hope.” 

Jay- “Jeremy is excited about taking Vagisil or something like it. I may have actually not given him the disease, because he has the "satellite lesions" and I have nothing of the sort, just the typical standard crotch rash for me… And Diana, please make sure yall pack Jeremy's vagina cream to bring down for him. It is difficult to find that stuff here (so Jer tells me, from his previous searches for such cream)" (real funny jay...) 

Diana- “i never thought i'd be buying vaginal cream for jeremy, but i'm very happy to do so!" (just hilarious D...) 

Jeremy- Doc(tor),

As a long time advocate for rash treatments, I have always supported all cremes and ointments. With this being said, I must admit I have never had a rash. That preludes the fact that I don't know much rashes or treatments. Which brings me full circle to my question:    
 
Will antifungal vaginal yeast infection creme help non-vaginal, estrogen-less very manly satellite rash?”   

Doctor- “In your case, highly likely… Miconazole or antifungal should work. Not vagisil that doesn't have antifungal med just anti-itching. Pharmacist should be able to help if not sure. Likewise, I never thought I would be emailing Diana concerning Jeremy's vaginal cream, but that is what makes my job interesting
 
So I had 3 classes today and 3 completely different experiences:

~I’d like to interrupt to say I teach High School… okay, that’s it… continue Jeremy~

In the first class there are 12 boys and 2 girls. The boys in this class are OBSESSED with soccer. They don’t want to do anything but play soccer. Other the other hand, the principle wants me to teach a well rounded class full of stretching, exercise and many sports. So what’s a teacher to do? Simple, I dangle soccer in front of the students like a carrot in front of a horse.  They do anything I say with the hope of playing soccer in return. And even towards the end of class, when I let them play soccer, I can blow a whistle and everyone will immediately begin doing pushups because they are terrified I might take the ball away…

The second class is the worst class… ever. There is a student who speaks English fairly well for a Haitian (his trademark phrase: “Do you like it…. or do you luuuuuuuve it”) He also thinks he’s extremely cool and American (he has never been outside Cabaret). This class had 5 boys and 4 girls. These boys think it’s hilarious to make fun of me and do nothing I say. Today that cumulated with the English speaking boy saying to me, “Shut the F@*% Up!” So I said “okay” and got the principle and tried to explain to him what happen. My explanation kinda got lost in translation with the principle as he came down and told the boys not to say that (the word for “must” in Creole sounds identical to the eff word in English, so he thought the student said “must” in Creole and I took offense at the word, not the context). Good did come out of the situation though because the principle stayed for the whole period and watched our class. In Haiti, teachers can hit students and students get physical punishment for misbehaving. So they are basically scared straight and with the principle present, I know the boys would do everything I said. So I told the girls they could leave and for one whole hour I ran, lunged and wall sat the boys into submission. When we first started running and were conveniently far enough away from the principle to hear, the boys (excited by escaping discipline from the principle) continued to crack jokes to which I simply replied, “Okay, tout Comic yo pral kouri” meaning “Okay, all comedians will run.” And like Forest, I just ran and ran and ran.  During the course of the class I heard cries of “Sispan kouri, w’ap touye nou” (Stop, you are killing us) and “M’ pa comic” (I am not a comedian). By the end of the class, I pulled aside a select few of the sweat drenched students to talk to them about respect. And it went surprisingly really well.

The third class is prolly my favorite class. 4 guys and 4 girls. We get along great because I think they’re funny and they think I’m funny- it’s a winning combination. They come up with clever and crafty ways to be sick or injured so they don’t have to do anything (gotta respect the creativity). So today I taught them karate, making it up along the way.

 
 
1) Austin leaves and things begin to crumble. Some of the orphans have sicknesses that do not have normal common cold symptoms so we are a little worried about that. Especially since none of us knows exactly how to treat or medicate people and doctors are extremely limited, we are trying to diagnose symptoms and email them to our doctor friends. On top of that Diana has something wrong with her foot (plantar fasciitis or something), Zack is feeling pretty lousy, and I blacked out on Monday walking down the hallway and another time my hands randomly went numb (hopefully not record breath hold side effects). So please be praying for health recoveries all around…

2) I started learning the guitar 3 days ago. I have always wanted to create music but hated the prospect of sucking at it a long time before being good. After having Kyle reignite that desire a few days back and being isolated in Haiti where no can hear how terrible I am, lessons have officially begun. My fingers hurt yet this has not deterred me from beginning work on my first track from my EP entitled “Live from Cabaret”…

3) I have noticed a reoccurring trend in my life recently. Every time I align and perfect all my doings and priorities and get settled into this nice lil’ comfortable Jeremy nest- it gets knocked over. Depending on how long I have been building my nest, sometimes it gets tipped over with a little shove and other times it just utterly wiped out by a cyclone riding a tidal wave (imagine that for a second...). And I never get a heads up either, just out of nowhere, SMASH, my comfy nest empire collapses.

That’s a lot of metaphors but what does that actually mean. I just can’t seem to get comfortable in life and I am beginning to realize that God wouldn’t have it any other way. The phrase “it’s always something…” is beginning to take on a whole new meaning. I LOVE to just shut down my heart, set my life on cruise control, and just roll not thinking about anything. It is my biggest vice and it is the most selfish thing about me. 

  • I don’t really wanna take time to care about people, that’s too hard and time consuming. 
  • I would never want to truly open my heart and feel something because that would involve hurt, pain, anguish and sorrow. 
  • I can’t imagine fully seeking and following God because then I have no control AND trust me, I like having control. 
Still, God sees my attempts to build a shelter of love and concern for myself only and no matter how big and strong they are- He crushes them, always. 

That’s why I know God loves me. 

He continues to crush my isolation efforts, my manipulating emotion efforts, and numbing efforts. I am soooo thankful for the interruptions I cannot handle: the hard relationships, the toughdecisions, and the dramatic and drastic experiences of life. It takes me out of my hypnotic comfort zone and reveals my distorted view of myself and this world. I literally have to cling to Jesus because everything else, mainly me, has failed. 

So, here I am with another interruption in my life looking me straight in the face. At first, I just wanted to shut down and ignore it. Yet God is once again coming to my rescue and knocking down my comfort. It hurts but in seeing God’s intentions, I will embrace the uncomfortable and rejoice in the fact the God of all things is relentlessly pursuing me.

 
It's Friday morning, Allen, the 11 year old son of Charles, bangs on my door at 5:45 A.M. "You gotta wake up, I need your help," he says. I jump out of bed in the daze of sleep soaked adrenaline, I find myself pacing to his house with him. I enter the door finally coming to my senses saying, "Okay, what's going on?!" He responds "I need you to make me some mouse ears for my school project today."   

Needless to say I started the day off in a great mood and really energized. Then we left in the morning to complete a round of chores in Port-Au-Prince (hardware shop, Charles's house site, go to the bank and get groceries). After getting nails, we left for Charles house. Once there, I was walking around when I noticed rocks flying past my feet. Confused, I look over and see Austin Holmes. It took my body about 1.5 to 2 seconds to transfer the image right before my eyes to my brain and allow the neurons to process that one of my best friends is standing right before me IN HAITI. This was followed by a small heart attack. Which was followed by overwhelming joy and a major release of endorphins.   

So Austin Holmes gave Jay and I a surprise visit. It was beyond great and therefore have no need to try and explain the rest of his 3 days visit.   

Actually I would like explain one aspect of his visit. While here, we discovered new breathing techniques for holding our breath for as long as possible. Prior to last night, I can't recall ever holding my breath for longer than 2 mins. As of last night, I have eyewitnesses in Jay Cherry and Austin Holmes, my new record for how long I can hold my breath is 4 minutes and 50 seconds. It's ridiculous, my fingers and toes were complete numb, Jay said my face was turning blue, but it was an amazing experience between me and my heart that we will not soon forget...    

Gotta go to church now and pass out bread (see post below) we made yesterday for the entire congregation (about 200 peoples)...

 
Why eat everyone else's bread?
Picture
YUCK ALERT!

When you can eat our bread!!!
Picture


We got your 
Z bread


We got your
J D bread


and for a limited time only- We got your 
J bread

In the lastest Breadonomics study, 2 out of 2 tasters agree- 
Our Bread is
Breadiculously Awesome! 
Haitian Approved
See for yourself- 
                      Before                                                         After
Taking orders NOW!!!
Don't forget to ask about our holiday specials!
Picture