What is Normal, Really?

Just a thought I've been thinking a lot about lately, what is normal?

A group that just recently visited MOH mentioned something about how tent cities and various things in Haiti seemed to become "normal" to them during their week long visit, and then commented on how absurd that was, that living in tents would be normal, that going to bed hungry would be normal, that drinking from an unclean water source would be normal. Right, it is absurd, to those of us from North America where Starbucks/Timmy's on every corner is the norm, where 3 bedroom homes with central air and heat is the norm, and worrying about gaining too much weight at Christmas is the norm.

I'm really not being judgmental at this point. When I was home I LOVED Starbucks, daily if I could manage to drive by one. This is just one thought that has stuck with me, because when I was in this debriefing with the team, I found myself agreeing with them, thinking "oh my gosh, this stuff has become normal to me! How awful that I have gotten used to the living conditions in this country." I felt guilty for not being able to fix every bit of hunger that crossed my path here, or for not bringing every sick child back to the mission until they were better. But with a bit more thought in the following days, I realized that this is very much the norm for the Majority World. Not that every developing nation has tent cities or all of the issues that are currently affecting Haiti, but I just feel like it's important for us as North Americans to realize that we are not the norm. Our way of life is not sustainable, and our standards of living are, I want to say, ridiculous. And I did.


I've had some understanding of this concept in the past, but I think it just slapped me in the face in a different way this week. Hopefully it helps you think about this as well.

An Update on the Cholera Outbreak

Hey everyone! Just wanted to write a little blurb on what is going on here in Haiti. As I'm sure most of you already know, there is a cholera outbreak here in Haiti that started this past Thursday in St. Marc. Mission of Hope is about an hour and a half drive south of St. Marc, but the last update I had was that there were 5 confirmed cases in Port-au-Prince as well, which is about 45 minutes to the south of us...basically, it's all around us now.

I'm mostly writing this blog to let you all know that I am doing well, and everything is good at this Mission at this point, but also to ask you to pray for us. Things can change really fast with these sorts of infections, especially with the current living conditions in many tent cities and overcrowding in villages. But God is bigger than it all, and as my friend Vena has said over and over again to me lately, He is "more than good." So, please pray for us here in Haiti. Please pray for protection for the Haitian people, for our staff, our visitors and everyone involved in trying to bring this outbreak under control. We had a prayer time yesterday and the thought I had was how merciful God has been to Haiti so far. So many are shocked that it has taken this long for an outbreak to occur, and really, it's only by His mercy that He has spared so many, and kept them from so much illness and disease. He really is good like He says He is.

Today in church one gentleman did a little public health announcement for the church, and it was so encouraging to see! I feel like a lot of Haitian people are nervous right now about what could happen, but it's good to see them follow instructions to wash their hands, and one of my friends even joked that we shouldn't shake hands anymore, but just fist-bump. I'm a fan. So ya, I'm doing well here, and things are not so out of control where we are right now, but we are prepared. On Saturday morning we took the Gateway team that is here with us to the inpatient ward and got everything set up in case patients started coming. We haven't had anyone come to us yet, but I have a feeling that when the clinic opens tomorrow morning, that could change!


But that's that for an update. Thanks for the prayers!

Oh, and here's a picture of my friend Vena - she's actually leaving tomorrow morning for the Dominican Republic to go to school there. She has a sponsor paying for her to go to college there, and is aspiring to be a pediatric doctor!

Back to Life in Haiti

So here I am, back in Haiti once again! I've been back for just over 2 weeks now, after my lovely break at home in September. It was sooooo good to be back in Canada, to see all my friends and family and just relax for a couple of weeks. It only felt odd to be home for about the first week, but I soon got over that! There were a couple of things that stuck out to me, some I expected, others not so much. 1) It was freezing cold for September...at least I thought so! 2) A car gives so much freedom - you have no idea! 3) Coffee is simply one of those wonderful gifts of God given to us. 4) My nephews are the cutest kids EVER! 5) Cold, fresh milk is WONDERFUL!

Another thing that stuck out to me during my time at home was how much I missed everything in Canada, despite its freezing cold weather. I never really fully appreciated the beauty of fall because it was always when school was starting, and that's all my obsessive mind could handle. But being home I just kept glancing at the trees to try to find a bright red one, purposely walking over dried leaves on the sidewalks and driving along the Niagara River to take in as much of its beauty as I could. Ahh...

The time was over too soon, but it was so good. And I know I'll be back for Christmas, so it wasn't so hard to leave with only 10 weeks between.

So back here in Haiti I've jumped right back into the swing of everything. It's been so good to be back, with teams slowing down at least for the time, school starting back up for all of the kids (we're busting at the seams with 2200 kids), and just hanging out with all of my friends here. The biggest part about living here at MOH that I have loved is the community we have. There are about 8 of us girls here right now all in our 20's, a new family (the Mazur's) that moved here in August, and then a couple of missing people to be added back to our numbers in the coming weeks. Just having a place to relax, throw random dance parties, and eat yummy "log" is so beautiful. I'm learning from my time here how much we as humans are made to live in community...how life giving and life checking it can be. Everyday here I feel challenged in some new way, whether it's to consider what my purpose is in life, or to really listen to what God is speaking to me, or to simply calm down and take a break if I'm becoming too ridiculous. Community is good. Not easy or painless, but good.

A couple of quick stories to share about some stuff since being back in Haiti. The little girl, Angelie, that is living at the Hope House since she was abandoned at the clinic back in May, is standing!!! She still needs a bit of help to balance, but she's fully weight bearing and growing so well!!! I love her more and more each time I'm with her. When I ask the kids in the Hope House if she's bad, they all say "Yes!". You can't hold her in church without her screaming at the top of her lungs at least 5 times, but she is so full of life and smiles! She's also starting to do all the normal "baby" things like clapping her hands, waving bye-bye, trying to talk but only talking jibberish. She's doing so well though!

Soon after I came back to Haiti as well, all the students I'm friends with and know were excited and telling us all that they had passed their government exams. It's fun to see how excited they are about moving up in school. Kedesh is in his last year of high school, Vena is going to be moving to the Dominican Republic at the end of the month to start college to become a paediatrician, and a bunch of the kids have new uniforms as they move up to the green and white for high school, and Richardson is starting at our school this year. It's going to be a good year!

I also got to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving here in Haiti (who woulda thunk?!). Samaritan's Purse has a campus just about 2 miles down the road, so a bunch of us Canadians and honorary Canadians for the day, jumped into Rachel's Haitian truck and went to join the party feasting on turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, followed by a refreshing swim in their pool. Here's to Chaiti!

So that's life summed up here, for now. The Christmas countdown might start soon...or is it still too early for that?!

Stealing Babies at Night in Haiti is Wonderful

Well, I've been putting off writing on my blog for forever now, mostly because I had no idea how to start, or what to say because so much has happened. But after a day like today, I can't not blog about it...so I'm jumping back in. Hopefully I'll be a little more consistent...but for those of you who know me well and are laughing at that, I don't blame you!

So, here is the story of today. It started out as a wonderful day off...mostly. I was cleaning my apartment which was an absolute disaster, my church team that came last week can attest to that. So anyway, the morning was good, I went down to the clinic to take lunch and while I was there Sarah (our medical team leader) mentioned that she was going on a transfer to take a patient to another hospital. I don't know what made me do it, but I turned a walkie-talkie radio on up at my house, just in case something happened while she was gone that they needed help with. Well, around 2ish (I think) one of the boys that hangs out up at the guesthouse all the time mentioned something about a baby down at the clinic that had been abandoned. Right away I remembered the day Angelie came to the clinic back in May when I had to deal with all of the drama around that one. Only that day I had Vanessa by my side saying yes or no to all the right people...today it was just me until Sarah came back. By then a local judge, some police and I have no idea who the other 3 guys were, came to the clinic to interview Dr. Alix about what had happened.

So here's where I tell you his story too! This little boy, Pierre, is about 2 yrs. old, and probably has muscular dystrophy. In North America this kid would probably not live a full life, and would be in a wheelchair with a lot of special care needed. Here in Haiti, social services like those back at home just don't exist. So, I think what happened was that the mom of this child found out that he probably had this disease, and could very well have felt completely overwhelmed at the idea of caring for this child. So, after Pierre had been seen, she tucked him under a bench in the triage room and left him there. I'm not sure how long it took someone to notice, and I don't know how long he laid there for...but someone found him, and then the chaos started.

So, here is little 2 yr old Pierre, malnourished, dehydrated, and alone. We took turns holding him, as good nurses do, and then just waited for the judgment to be passed. The final judgment was to send Pierre to another hospital to be cared for until they could find an orphanage. Well, surprise, surprise, 3 hospitals refused him this afternoon. We sent two North American nurses with him in the back of the Haiti .5 (a land cruiser turned ambulance) on a wild goose chase basically, only they didn't understand the language...not so good! So, this little 2 yr. old ended up at the mayor's house in Cabaret where is was apparently going to stay until they could find a place for him. Well, we didn't think that was too good. This kid is malnourished, dehydrated and had a congested cough...what is the mayor going to do with that? Seriously...at least me and Sarah are nurses and we kind of have a clue (sorry, maybe I didn't have to be that harsh). So, anyway, Sarah called the right people, we hopped in the back of the Haiti .5 again, headed off to Cabaret in the dark and returned with our little 2 yr. old Pierre all before 10pm. So now he sleeps at Sarah and Diana's apartment, and we really have no idea what the next steps are. We're going to look into a couple of places we know of for kids that have handicaps, and we'll see what happens...and where Jesus leads. It's kind of exciting, but at the same time sobering, knowing that this kid literally has no-where and no-one right now. We're it, and I just want to do well with this and make sure he has a good home. Sure, that might mean we keep him...who knows!!!

So, that's the story of my day. A little drawn out I know, but I had to tell it in full! There's other stuff going on as well. I continue to work with the non-medical teams weekly as they come in to work at our base and to visit the local villages and orphanages as well. I'm loving my job, but definitely learning the need to take time for myself when possible. My church youth group and then some were here this past week, and it was a huge breath of fresh air for me!! I love you guys so much! I had so much fun, surfing in the canter truck, singing camp songs, being ridiculous. I miss it! I really don't act like I'm 25! Anyway, I'll also be heading home this coming week for a break. I'll be at church on the 12th, and home until the 29th...so if you want to meet up with me, please call me! I think I'll have my cell phone when I get back in Canada, and there's always Facebook! But I can't wait to be home! I'm longing to hold my new nephew (well, not so new, but new to me!), to play with Joely, to sleep, to drink milk...and a lot of it, to be cold, to swim, to ski, to see all my friends, to chill with family, did I mention to sleep?! Ya, it's gonna be good! Love you all! And thanks if you're actually still reading this since it's huge!

Long Overdue...I know!

Hey guys! So, it's kinda late here in Haiti, and I should be going to bed, but I just know that it has been WAY too long since I wrote...so I'm gonna do it. I may regret it tomorrow in the morning...but oh well. Life goes on.

So, a lot has happened in the last month. A lot. So much, that I don't really know what to say, but I guess I'll start by explaining my role change. When I first came to Haiti in February I was working as a nurse, and then my "role" when I started on staff was as the medical team leader...working in the clinic, keeping medical teams busy and (semi)organized. I was brought on staff here to do that role for the interim, which was until June. So now here we are, June has come and gone, and yet I am still here! I'm no longer in the medical team position, but as that job wrapped up for me, I was offered to stay on staff, but instead working with the guesthouse and non-medical teams that come through the mission. So now my role is more administrative I guess, prepping schedules for ministry teams, and basically doing most of the background work to help teams do their thing here in Haiti. It's kind of funny to find myself here in this role. I've been asking God a lot about why I'm here at this time, to do what I'm doing. It's been a little hard to "hang up" my nursing for a time. But, there's definitely good in it all. On one of my first days in my new role I went to the Haitian grocery store, totally not a big deal I know, but I think I had a stupid grin on my face the entire time. I just love being in the culture (most of the time). I love doing everyday life things here, mind you, they can be a whole lot more complicated (no chicken today, ground beef looks a little funny, we emptied out the entire bread section, don't know how to write out numbers in french to write a check...), but still so fun. On the way home from the store that day I was asking God how He was using this new job with all its experiences to shape me...and I think it's gonna be good. I got my medical time in, doing the nursing thing, feeling out working in a clinic/hospital setting in a foreign developing country, and now here I am, more just getting into the culture, interacting with Haitian people, learning to work and communicate better in this culture, but I'm also getting to see more of the organizational side of things. All the work that goes into making a place like this run - it's crazy! And I still probably don't even know half of it! I know Jesus has me here this year for a reason, and I'm just really feeling like I don't want to miss what it's about. I know it's all for a reason, and I just want to absorb what I need to learn, get all the lessons He's teaching me, see everything and feel everything I'm meant to in this place at this time. I guess I'm just expectant looking at this coming year. It's also starting to sink in though that a year is a long time...a year. Whoa.

Anyway, so that's kinda where I'm at now. I think this is my third week into this job, and the summer is going to be CRAZY! I think we have like 5 teams coming in this week, bring it on! I guess another fun part about my job is that I get to see other people fall in love with a country that I've fallen in love with. And it's so good! This past week we had kind of an adventurous group come, and I loved every bit of it! We went tromping through mud during a thunderstorm in Source Matelas to see a friend's garden, then we got to drink coconut milk and eat fresh coconut from the tree...there's nothing like it. I almost lost my sandal in a foot of mud, and almost died laughing at the same time. It's just so fun! My job rocks! Then, on Thursday we went up into the mountains to visit a pastor at a church, but before we stopped there we went to find this waterfall that some people had told me about, and it was incredible! I didn't have my camera with me...but next time I go, I'll get pics. It was crazy! We got to stand under the waterfall, climb down the rocks, climb through tree roots, sorry I could go on...but I won't. It was just fantastic! At the same place though there was some funky voodoo ceremony going on, but I was just loving the beauty of creation. So ya, I guess you could say that I'm doing ok with my transition into the new role.

One more thing that has happened this week that I'll share quickly. I mentioned earlier that it was kind of hard to "hang up" my nursing while I've taken on this position, but I don't think that will really be the case. This past Thursday night we had an accident happen just 1 mile down the road. I was on my way home from the mountains with the teams, and I got a phone call asking me where I was and that I we (there were some medical students and a nurse with me on our trip) were needed at the clinic right away when we got back. As we pulled up in our big cattle truck, the trucks with injured people started coming in behind us. I think we had about 14 patients that we treated at our clinic. With the first guy I saw, the first thing I said was, "where is Grant" (Grant is the paramedic that lived here at the mission last year and was here for the earthquake. He is a fantastic paramedic, a great friend, and I miss him...and missed him even more in that moment!). This patient had both feet pretty much off, which I had to hold to transfer him onto a back board, and his right arm was broken in two places. Not nice. I don't know how much I should be saying, but basically, it was a messy night. But somehow again, I did my job as a nurse. I'm always amazed that I'm my mother's daughter, and yet I do what I do. Jesus is with me every time, I know it. The team, once again, did amazing! I'm always amazed by what we accomplish here with the staff we have...an anesthesiologist acting as our ER doc, a cardiologist, an OR nurse, 6 med students, an EMT, 2 fairly new nurses, a prosthetist, a physiotherapist...it's just crazy! But we did it and made it through the night and managed to get all the patients transferred to other facilities. We did find out though that the one man (the one I mentioned earlier that I saw first with the feet off) had passed away.

And here is my frustration in Haiti. We are now 5 months post earthquake and everyone is starting to pull out of Haiti. Partners in Health and IMC used to be at the General Hospital. They have both pulled out and now it is back to the Haitian hospital it was before the earthquake. Also, the University of Miami hospital has moved from it's field hospital where it could hold a couple hundred patients to a small building with a max of 40 patients, so they had no room for more. It was just crazy though. Problems that we hadn't experienced with the other two accidents just popped up. Dr. Cheryl and Sarah did absolutely amazing at finding hospitals to accept the patients, but it was ridiculous. And this is why I want to be a nurse in these places. They need and deserve the same quality of care as us in North America...but its so far from that. If I can help in anyway, I'm here! Whether its in the little wounds that need to be cleaned, or the massive traumas that seem to occur daily here, I want to help. And I think that's why I'm here. It's pretty simple really.

So that's the update. I'm still finding my place here, still figuring out why I'm here, what I'm doing, and the reasons behind it all. It's a good journey though.

How You Can Help!

Hey Everyone!

While I've been working here at Mission of Hope I've made some friends that are also working here in Haiti that have a small non-profit organization called Lespwa Worldwide. Just last week they found out about this competition that CHASE bank is putting on...so a bunch of us here in Haiti are trying to help them win!

Basically the competition is to get the most votes for their organization through facebook. The first place organization will receive $250,000, and other organizations up to 200th place will receive $20,000. My friends in this organization have a passion to see Haiti changed, and will be using the money for long-term projects aimed at creating sustainable, long-term solutions for a restored, Haitian-led nation. We know we have a chance at winning this competition, and here's what you can do to help!!!

Click on the link below, and follow the instructions to vote for Lespwa Worldwide.

http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/205019981-lespwa-worldwide-inc

Thank you so much for partnering with my friends to bring change to Haiti! I can't wait to see the results!!!

Lindsay Joy

Here's to Chaiti!

So, I realize that my apologizing probably gets pretty annoying, and excuses are dumb, but I gotta say it! I'm sorry I take so long to post on here! But, now I'm at it, and its probably gonna be long because its been so long, but oh well! Here we go:)

So in my last blog I kinda, sorta made a mistake that as a medical professional, I should not have made. I said something about having no action in the clinic and being bored...and that's what you're not supposed to do. I'm not superstitious or anything, but you just learn not to do these things...because the next night...it happened. There was an accident with a large tap-tap (the local Haitian version of a taxi/city bus). Its been so long now that I actually forget the actual numbers, but there were probably around 20-25 people involved, ranging from minor to more traumatic injuries. We ended up having to stabilize the patients we were concerned about and then ship them off to hospitals in Port-au-Prince. With our limited resources here we weren't able to properly diagnose everyone due to having no x-ray machine large enough to visualize pelvises and hips, but there ended up being 7 pelvic fractures, and some other broken bones. It wasn't too too bad looking though because only one guy needed stitches, and the rest were more closed injuries...nothing too bloody to look at. By the end of the day we had been working about 4 hours to get them all discharged or sent out to other hospitals, and I was exhausted. I just couldn't imagine doing that for 36 hours straight like they had to the night of the earthquake here. And we had lots of medical people on board to help out...I just can't wrap my head around what it must have been like here that night.

Well, after that one crazy night I figured we were good for a couple weeks of peace again...and I was wrong:) So the Sunday right after the wednesday accident we received a new team 3 strong (1 ER doc, 1 PA and 1 PT) and I did my little orientation thing with them on sunday afternoon and we were heading back up the hill, and that's when it happened. So, I forget who it was, but someone came running up to us saying there had been an accident in Titayen, and that there were 29 people coming to the clinic NOW, and we needed to get everyone there. So I sent the team down to the clinic with the keys to open it all up, and I ran around the guesthouse trying to gather the team since I had forgotten my radios and cell phone (oops!). So, by the time we got down to the clinic the tap-taps hadn't arrived yet, but we got stuff ready. When the tap-taps started coming I was shocked right away - they were blanc like me. The story is that there was a mission team from the states (I think Missouri) visiting and they had been in the mountains for the morning. On their way home in a rented canter truck (a big truck where you sit in the back on benches) the brakes didn't work while they were going downhill. The driver apparently did the right thing in running the truck into the side of the mountain rather than letting it go, but they were hurt! This accident was definitely more of a shock with more open wounds, younger kids covered with blood, staring blankly ahead, some freaking out asking where their friends were. It was bad. We had a lot of non-medical people there to help out, thank goodness. We unloaded them all into the breeze-way outside to triage them, and right away started working on getting them shipped into Port-au-Prince (PAP). It was actually amazing how this one worked because local missions and other teams in PAP heard about it and came to help us out, so we had teams of Haitian and North American docs, nurses, paramedics, trucks show up to help us out. It was amazing. We had a mission down the road ask what supplies we needed, and they ran back and brought more IV fluids and tubing back for us to use. It was amazing! In the end 4 people ended up being med-evacuated that night and the rest of the team left on their scheduled flight home the next morning, and one Haitian man lost a leg. Everyone survived, but it was pretty scary. I was so thankful to have such a great team there, and one that had been through this before and was ready for it. I definitely felt out of my element in the situation, but at the end of the day I knew we had done the best we could in that situation, and had literally saved lives. Oh ya, that's why I'm a nurse!!! So ya, that was one wild and crazy four days...but we made it through!

So that was story number 1. There's more! So, story number 2...I finally got to go to the Good Samaritan orphanage. I'll explain a little bit. This orphanage is pretty rough. I remember my aunt saying something about this place, and it was that if animals in Canada were kept in the condition the kids are at this place, she would have to report it. Its that bad. So, after the hurricanes hit in 2008 the orphanage moved from their home that was pretty much wiped out to a dance club in the local city, Cabaret. Now, after the earthquake, for some unknown reason, they've moved back to the old place, which still isn't fixed up, so most of the kids are sleeping out in tents.

Anyway, the whole 4 months that I've been here I have been waiting, trying, hoping to get to this place. Me and Diana (one of my friends here, from Wainfleet...you might know her!!!), have been talking about going for a while, but it just never worked out...until a couple of weeks ago! So, one team went for a river walk and I got to tag along. On the walk we happened to stop by the orphanage, and it was rough. Me and Diana kind of scoped out the situation, looked for kids that were sick, malnourished, not doing so good. Then, we set our minds to it, and made a plan to go on Wednesday that week. We booked a driver, took a doctor that was here visiting, picked up our friends Wicky and Sadrac, took 3 loaves of bread and a big tub of peanut butter, stopped in Cabaret to buy 6 watermelons, made a ton of pb sandwiches and went to the Good Samaritan orphanage. It was so good! We fed them all sandwiches and huge chunks of watermelon - and they loved it! The doctor found a bunch of kids that were pretty sick, we washed some open wounds and covered them, and decided we had to come back the next day to treat people properly. So we did, I went back AGAIN! This time the kids went nuts when we came! I LOVED IT! This time it was me, the doctor (Jana) and the PA (Isaac) that went. We took a walker for an older lady that had told us she couldn't walk because she fell over all the time - her response was PRICELESS!!! We got kisses all over and I have never seen an old lady so excited in my life! It was great! I think Isaac got pictures! So there was that, and that made the kids go more hysterical. I loved that day! Then we went to the tents and found the girls that were not so well. We also found a little girl with a broken toe, so we had her come to the clinic to get a splint put on. We did so much that day...and I loved being in my element and remembering why I do what I do, why I am where I am, and what makes my heart beat. It is so good to feel alive! And that was one of those times. So, not only did I get to go 3 times that week, I went again on the Saturday to check up on the wound care that we did, and its so cool how the kids respond. This is another story...new paragraph.

So, there's some kids that I have to torture once in a while. There's a couple kids at the Good Samaritan that I had to squeeze some pus out of wounds, and scrub with peroxide, but they loved me and hugged me after it was done. Weird right? Then at the Hope House there are two kids that I have been taking care of for just a week now. The first one, Widler, is a 6 year old boy with sores all over his feet that had gotten too far, so now I have to scrub them and peel the dead skin off of them (lovely, I know). The first time I did it in the clinic I couldn't touch his feet without him moving my hands away and he was crying so hard! I thought for sure that the next time he saw me in the orphanage that he was going to tell all the kids how mean I was and be all snotty with me. Then there's Klara. Klara already has attitude enough for 3 Haitian girls. Well, she burnt her arm on a pot of something off the stove. So, now I get to scrub her wound as well, which is super painful even after lidocaine jelly and morphine. So, here I had two kids that I thought were going to hate me forever and I was going to have to somehow deal with it and explain to the other kids why I had to be mean. So...I reluctantly went to movie night last week...but I was shocked! The first kids to come up to me were none other than Widler and Klara! They hugged me, and asked me to pick them up...it was so weird! It kind of hit me though how much they just love being cared for...even when it hurts. They know that I love them and am trying to help them. I was so relieved that they reacted to me that way. So, today in the clinic we've managed to turn it into a game...Klara takes her morphine and starts to get silly, then we wash Widler's feet, then it's Klara's turn. Today she even scrubbed her own wound. I think we're seeing improvement!

So I think that's it...at least for now. I'm interested to find out how many words this one was! Oh, and one more thing! I have new friends, and its been a wonderful month! The summer has started and we now have interns starting to come in. Its so much fun! Me and Leeann have a new roommate, Brianna. She's a neat freak, or is just clean and organized, where me and Leeann are not so much. I love her though! She's been in Asia for a bit so she brings the Asian Invasion peace sign out a lot! Then there's Ashley. She's great. She has a split personality, or should I say characters? So far we've had many adventures together, including pretend skateboarding, pretend BMXing, ice-capades (I have no idea how to spell that one!), chatting on roof tops...its been great! So ya, that's my update for now! Talk at y'all later!!!! Thanks for reading it all if you've made it this far!