Feelin' Sentimental

I am currently working on a journal project.  I am taking all my xanga entries from my year in Haiti and pasting them into word so I can eventually print them out into some kind of book.  I am feeling so sentimental.  It has been 2 and half years since my feet hit American soil and I haven't left.  I am craving a Haitian experience. 

As I looked over all that Ysmaille and I went through during our first year of marriage I again marvel at God's faithfulness.  As I go through tough times now I have a great reminder of what God has brought me through!  I am so glad I had access to internet so I could post all my experiences on Xanga. 

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Ysmaille has been complaining that his heart has been beating hard over the past couple of weeks.  He finally went to the doctor today.  I got a phone call from him around 1:00 and he said, "Ummmm...  I am going to the hospital by ambulance.  They think I am getting air in my heart."  He sounded really calm, so I was able to stay relatively calm.  I told him I would meet him in the emergency room.  I beat him there and had to wait 15 minutes or so before he came.  My mom met me there for support.  I had no idea what to expect.  When he arrived they assigned him to a room and then let me in.  He was hooked up to a heart monitor.  The doctor finally came in.  They did another EKG, a heart x-ray, and blood tests.  It all took about 3 hours.  The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him.  He said sometimes irregular heart beats come for unknown reasons, so they sent him on his way. What a relief!  What another testament to God's faithfulness.

I need your vote!

All summer long I've been looking for a little metal table and chair set to put on my deck.  I went to several yard sales, but was never successful.  A month ago I was on the IKEA website and saw a cute little table and chair that had my name all over it.  I convinced Mom and Monica to go to Baltimore with me and pick one up.  Yesterday I went into JoAnn Fabrics.  As I was checking their 70% off clearance I noticed a cute metal table and chair.  It was orginally $100, on clearnace for 29.99.  I had to have it.  So now I have two tables and four chair on my deck.  Which one do you like best?

This is the set I purchased at IKEA.

This is the set I purchased at JoAnn Fabrics.

Which one do you like best?

A Subway Experience Gone Bad

Our friend, Raymond, is visiting the States from Haiti.  He has been staying with his mother-in-law in Queens for the past several weeks, but took a train down here to spend the weekend with us.  We took him to D.C. for the day.  In an effort to save some money we decided to eat those great $5 footlongs at Subway.  When we walked into the restaurant there was one lone guy eating in the corner and then two other guys ordering at the counter. 

1.  Only three people in a Subway at lunchtime in the middle of the city?  That should have been our first clue that things were not going to turn out as we had expected.  Instead we forged on.  I looked around.  The place looked a little run down, but clean so we walked up to the counter to order. 

2.  We had to wait quite awhile.  Wait a minute, Melanie, I thought you said there was only three people in the restaurant?  Yes, I did, but I forget to mention that only ONE person was working, so he had to make the sandwiches in their entirety and then run the cash register. 

3.  When it was finally our turn I was ready to say that I wanted my typical Honey Oat bread, but he cut me off by saying he had only white, not even wheat!  Fine.  I could eat white flour.  At this point I just wanted to eat.  He made my sandwich with relative ease (even thought he didn't ask me what kind of cheese I wanted). 

4.  Then he toasted our subs for us.  When he brought them out of the toaster and finished putting the sandwhich togehter, the bread fell apart.  There is nothing worse than eating a sub when the two peices are no longer connected.  It just makes the entire process more complicated. 

5.  I went over to the soda machine and got a 21 oz. cherry coke.  I took one sip of it and immediately wanted to spit it out.  It tasted like bleach!  When I tried to explain it to the ONE guy who was working he suddenly lost his English skills and couldn't understand me.  I settled for a bottle of water after that. 

6.  Overall the sandwich was pretty good, but I only ate about half of my bread.  We came to find out that the reason that the bread fell apart in the first place was because it was not fresh.  It was a dry, crumbly mess! Ysmaille swears in an effort to save money he made bread at his house and brought it in, that is why he only had white.

Needless to say, I'm not going to be hungry for Subway anymore.  Poor Raymond.  He probably wonders why we support these shoddy establishments!

 I often feel sorry for Ysmaille, because I cannot cook Haitian food. I have tried on more than one occasion to make rice and beans Haitian style.  Usually it is too mushy, or too crunchy, or sometimes just plain burnt.  The other day Ysmaille came home and announced that he wanted me to make legume.   Ysmaille is not a big vegetable eater so I jumped at the chance!  Yesterday around 1:00 I started chopping the vegetables:  Zucchini, onion, cabbage, egg plant, carrots, and mirliton (chayote in English).  You boil those vegetables until they are mushy and then you drain all the water out and pound them in a pilon (mortar and pestel-  spelling?).  Then you take seasonings (fresh thyme, salt, pepper, green onions, and garlic) and make a paste out of that.  You add the vegetables to it and fry it with meat.  We also made rice and beans.  It was much more successful when Ysmaille and I worked together on this project, instead of me trying to do it solo.  By the time we actually ate it was 8:00.  Granted we did errands and took a little nap in between 1:00 and 8:00, but cooking Haitian food is very time consuming.  Here are some pictures of our adventure in the kitchen.    

Frying the meat in seasonings and tomato paste           

Working hard...  

I love to see a man in the kitchen

Mmmm.... Rice and beans.

The finished product.  I know it looks gross, but it is so, so yummy

Ysmaille was happy with the finished product

Did you ever have one of those days where you just knew God was smiling on you?

Today I drove over 10 miles on an empty tank of gas.  Just as my car was beginning to shudder and shut down I drove into my spot at the gas station.  I have never had to do this before, and don't plan to do it again, because it is a horrible feeling!  It was pouring down rain and I was beginning to panic, but isn't God good? 

Then when I pulled into Hamilton Heights this morning I found a parking space very near the door, which very rarely happens.  Again I was especially delighted because it was such a rainy day!

Thanks, God, for taking care of your daughter today.  I noticed it and am very grateful!