Mandie Called

Mandie called!!! We huddled around the phone to catch every word!! The earthquake this morning was in her words BAD, but not AS bad. The work crew was in the thatched roof area and Mike just stayed laying but a few of them came running out and Trish's Dad could feel for the girls and understand why they freak out! We soon got disconnected (like after 5min.), but she called back some minutes later and then we talked for long, but she couldn't hear ME very well, till towards the end it got better. She said to keep trying...she tried OFTEN today now got thro after trying for about 10 min. She said we should try calling oftener, we might be able to get thro better than they can. She asked if we're still coming and expressed her passionate desire for us to...IF our flight isn't canceled and this country is still safe.(Our 3 oldest and I have tickets for Feb 10 that we've had since Christmas).

They looked around in Leogane, maybe today...and she described it as "not near all the houses are down...contrary to reports they'd heard, but stuff is crushed! All the schoools in Leogane are flat! They're actually seeing aid coming in to Leogane! "we see airplanes and helicopters all the time 20 times a day and more than that!"

They land on the road.

They're hearing that there may be riots starting, and if that would happen they would possibly be sent home for a couple months. Their wall is part way down and so people could just come on in. She said it's probably down to her height.

Future tentative plans...I think she said Tim and Jo are coming back for a couple weeks and Dwayne's will go home to have their baby. The girls would take turns coming home for a while to catch their breath. Mandie herself would possibly come home the end of March, staying till the end of April.

They're starting w/ transporting the girls to their homes, leaving tomorrow, staying overnite and coming back Friday. Cristen Mullet, who was under CAM for 3 yrs and knows the language will be their driver. Ang, Mandie, Trish and her father will be accompanying 8or9 girls to their homes in Pisali, about 2? hrs away. They'll leave around 9 in the morning(Thursday), so you can pray for their safety!This is the general area that Dudu is from. At first the girls were quite ecstatic to be going home, but now today they were grouchy and hangy! A couple girls will come back after a couple weeks because of their home situation. Sat. more girls will leave and I think Mon. a 10 hr trip. She said they'll hang out w/ the girls tonight. It's very comfortable weather wise to be sleeping outside...she sleeps well, partly cuz she's so tired by the time she gets there!The mosquitoes are bad but they now have tarps to sleep under and helps keep the dampness away.

Heidi's in charge of cooking, while the rest of the girl's focus is on getting the girls ready to go home.

I think it gets a little thick around there...no personal space, and people around all the time!But she has all good to say about the work crew that's there...A really great group of guys!!! They say the house is repairable..there's a couple really big cracks on the inside and out. They say it's OK to be in there. They are now using the shower in there. They were thankful to have some welders in the crew..they fixed the lil truck so they could take it tomorrow. They're working like crazy!!..fixing the lil 'girl's bathroom figuring how many blocks it's gonna take to fix the wall, two of the guys went out too PAP for water-related errands.

They talked about getting a SAT phone. The men get frustrated because they can't get through to their wives! It tickles the girls because they know with board members there there will be results!!

Mandie said: "right after I lifted my head this morning, I hear: mandie are you planning to give lollipops today?"
by: Mary Ann