SURPRISE !!! that is an understatement. For several weeks we had been talking about our former neighbor John coming for a visit to Haiti. He has been wanting to help with well drilling. David told me that John had decided to come Sat. March 24th. We left a suitcase full of items for "John" to bring to Haiti for us. Saturday when it was time to go pick up "John" at the airport.....we found the plane had an oil problem and the arrival time was 4 hours later than expected. As David and Glen left for the airport they decided to take the 15 passenger van. I did ask why when my car was much easier to navigate in the traffic and after all....they were only picking up "John". David said there was a noise in the van and Glen wanted him to drive it to see if he could figure out what the problem was. Sounded logical to me.... The plane finally arrived at 8:10pm so it was after 9:30 before they arrived back on the compound. It was raining so I didn't hear the vehicle drive up. David knocked on the door and as I opened it there was Becky Ivy, Casey Dean, the Howard family....Eugene, Tonya and Meredith ( our associate pastor and family) PLUS all our American staff with cameras in hand. SHOCKED!!!! again an understatement. All these had come to help me celebrate a milestone in my life ( my 70th ) birthday.
Every one but me had known about this for weeks. They all worked hard to keep the secret. I really needed a haircut so I told David I needed to go to PAP and get one. He asked me to wait a week so he could go. Well...that week passed and I was getting a little frustrated. I told David I would take another friend plus one of our Haitian staff. He finally said, "wait until Tuesday and I will go with you....I want to get a haircut too" More frustration. What most of you don't know is that Tonya is my hairdresser in the US and she was coming to give me a haircut. When the group arrived David said "well, I'm glad this is over. I've never lied to my wife in 52 years and the last couple of weeks I have had to lie to her. This isn't fun."
So much went on behind the scenes. Linda Erickson did all the grocery shopping for the team. Sheryl planned a wonderful birthday dinner with Cecile and the other ladies. Sheryl said the dinner kept growing. We had to have the first course then open presents and head back for the main course and desserts. Thanks to all who sent gifts and cards. WOW!!! It is a birthday I will never forget.
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