NEWS FLASH: ANN ACKROYD CAME TO HAITI!

I am so excited. One of my dearest friends, Ann Ackroyd, came to Haiti to do medical work. She will be traveling up to Gonaives tomorrow to do medical clinics in this devastated area. Please pray for her safety as she goes. I only wish I could go with her. We had a great time of visiting together on Saturday. I just realized that we did not get any pictures together, but I did get some that show that we were at the same place at the same time :) It was such a blessing to see her and to spend time talking with her. It was great. She even got to see my room and to visit the school. It was my first visit like that. I really enjoyed it and it lifted my spirits...and yes, they do need to be lifted occasionally. :)

Oh wait! I totally forgot that I have pictures of Ann and I doing laundry. I taught her how to wash too. She did a couple pairs of underwear before her fingers started to hurt as well! :) I am making much progress. I can now wash ALL my underwear by myself. I am moving on to shirts this weekend. Its a lot of work, but I really enjoy the time with the teenage girls in the orphanage. It really becomes a fun JUST GIRLS time :)

Otherwise everything is going well. Thank you Cliff and Megan from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful package you sent me! It was a SUPER blessing!!!! It definitely was a great thing to get.

Another news flash is that I am going to be singing on a CD. Its kind of strange how it happens, but this guy I work with writes his own songs and asked me to sing with a bunch of other people. Its kind of hard because they do everything by ear here and not by reading music and I am pretty much only good at reading music, but as you know...GOD ALWAYS takes us out of where we feel comfortable.

Well it is REALLY REALLY late for me...only 10:30, but I normally got to bed at 9 or 9:30, but electricity just came on at 10 so we decided to come up here.

Goodnight everyone. God bless you and thank you for all the wonderful support that you give me all the time.

Love always, Maggie

Sunday morning!

They gave us electricity(EDH) this morning. Its great! I am just sitting here typing away before I need to go to church. Its a typical warm sunny day here in Haiti and I actually am having some quiet moments to myself. Its very nice. This is going to have to be brief due to needing to get ready for church, but I just wanted to try to send those pictures.

This picture is of the hospital where my friend Julie had her baby and where I am currently seeking to either get a job or get involved with volunteer work. Its definitely the most beautiful hospital I've seen in Haiti. It only has 25 beds, but it is amazing. I really need to start learning my french again. Even if I don't start working there until later it does stand as a pretty good opportunity for me.

This is my friend Julie before her c-section and her wonderful brother Balmir. Ton ton Balmir(that means uncle). It was quite the exciting family affair. We all took her to the hospital and got her settled in and then we all prayed for her and then we left for the night. She stayed Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday night. Both she and the baby are doing wonderful. I'm going to paste some baby pictures below. And here's the birthday girl! She is so beautiful and so sweet. We love having her around. She is a great baby.

Baby has arrived!!!

One of my dearest friends here in Haiti had her baby this weekend. Her name is Julie and she and her husband run the orphanage that you see in all the pictures I send. The baby was born by c-section on Monday morning at 9:30. Mom and baby are fine. I spent the night in the hospital with them on Monday night. It was a "girls" night :) We had a lot of fun. Needless to say I am pretty tired. The cool thing is that I may be able to volunteer at that hospital. Its a really nice hospital. Its nicer than many American hospitals. If I do get married and live here in Haiti I would not be afraid to have my babies there. They are a new hospital and very clean and very professional. It was a great experience.

The baby's name is Ann-Julie Terreza Ali Joseph. She is so beautiful! I love her so much.
I apologize that I am having difficulty loading pictures today. You might have to wait to see them later.
I am doing really well. My kids just finished a bunch of major tests this week. They are tired and I am too, but its been a good couple of weeks. We are all working really hard right now.
Love you all and I'd better go. We're about to lose electricity.
Love Maggie

THANK YOU!!!!

THank you So much for the comments that you have all been leaving! It has been such a major blessing for me.
I do have a mailing address. It is as follows. Please though if you send a package please put 1$ per pound in the package. I have to pay for customs.
Maggie Horton
c/o Agape Flights PAP# 20874
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, FL 34285
The following are things that I could definitely use if people were interested in sending them. I am almost out of hydrocortisone cream and antibiotic ointment. If someone could send me a couple of tubes that would be awesome.
Ca: yes if you wanted to the kitties could definitely send me a blanket. I would like that. I have been cold with all these storms.
If someone wanted to send me some basic snack items that would be fine too. Also I really need a can opener and for some reason I can't find anything.
I went to a new church today to visit! IT WAS SO PERFECT FOR ME!!!!!!! It is small, but comfortable. The music is good and the preaching is really good. Its a Haitian church and the pastor was trained by people who graduated from BJU. Its pretty cool. I'm so excited. There is so much to do there because they have a lot of needs as a small church. It may give me opportunity too to serve in a nursing capacity too. I may be able to hold women's health classes there.
I'm excited
God bless. I need to go sleep. I'm exhausted and I have school tomorrow.

I FORGET TO TELL YOU ABOUT WASHING MY CLOTHES!!!!

I can't believe I haven't told you about this. I have a new project. I go over to the orphanage every week and I am learning how to properly wash my clothes by hand. Many of you may think that is an easy thing, but I can tell you it is not. The first day I did it my hands were open bleeding sores that stung like you can't imagine and that was only after washing 6 pairs of underwear(kilot) and one shirt(mayo). This week however(my hands have healed) I did it again and I managed to wash 9 pairs of underwear and one bra. So I am definitely making progress. My hands are a little sore now, but nothing like last week. Basically here in Haiti your hands are the actual washboard. Not very comfortable! :) The young girls you see in this picture could not believe that I had never washed my clothes by hand. They thought it was so funny. They would laugh and giggle at me and ooh and ahh at my bleeding hands. I think they all admire my perseverance. I haven't given up even though every other white person is telling me that I'm ridiculous for trying and that I should just hire a maid if I ever needed to do it. I am determined that I will get it and that I will become comfortable with it.

Gotta go! Please pray for Ike that is going to hit us tomorrow morning. I will keep you posted.

Love maggie

GONAIVES FLOODING

These pictures are not my own pictures, but I took them off of an email that someone sent me. They are just so powerful I had to share them.

The following are some horrible pictures of things that are happening to the north of us. They do not really touch us here other than that they touch our hearts. Our hearts bleed for those people. As a nurse I just want to do something, but right now I can't. I don't have the opportunity. Its almost impossible right now to get a vehicle up there. There is so much water. We have had a lot of water recently, but nothing compared to them. Please pray that God would keep the other hurricanes away from Haiti. Please pray for the children that are left without parents, the families without homes. OVER 2000 PEOPLE DIED! If that does not touch your heart then maybe these pictures will. Please pray for the people of Haiti!

Please pray that God would give me something nursing to do. Right now I am just aching to get some nursing stuff done. I love teaching, but nursing is in my blood and I can't get away from it.

Please excuse the fact that I have not written for awhile. I have not had internet. Tonight though we have really great internet so I'll probably be on for awhile.

NEW EXPERIENCES

I've had some great new experiences! I will have to tell more later once I get the pictures downloaded, but I can officially wash laundry with my hands...it may sound easy to you, but let me just tell you that I have scabbed over wounds on my hands from how hard it was. I was bleeding because of only 6 pairs of underwear and one shirt. I'll send pictures soon.
We made it through the storm fine, but I got sick as a result of the temperature changes. I've had a head cold all week, but I am starting to feel better.

Important news for all of you: The first week I was here I broke off my relationship with Elionel for the last time. I know its what God wants and he has proven that he has much more beautiful things in mind. Please pray for Elionel that God would heal his heart and draw him close in to his arms.
Thanks guys and I'll write more soon
Love Maggie