Tuesday, one week since the earthquake

We put our son, Ricky, on a plane to the US a little before 5pm, almost exactly a week after the earthquakes.

There's a lot to praise God for.

The first part of the morning we spent packing our truck with supplies for Bolosse, the seminary campus where we used to live. Richard and some helpers made 3 guerneys and we had a bunch of stuff that could help the people over there like tarps, bandaids, clothes, shoes...all kinds of stuff. First we went over to school to talk to people in the organization which was planning to send doctors over there. There were some doctors who were willing to go without security personnel. Richard had two of our neighbors dressed in all black with dark sunglasses on standing up in the back of our truck bed to at least look like we had security. :)

BUT, we were also coming to the conclusion that Ricky should go back to the US for two reasons. First the school will not be reopening for quite a while and when it does, it may be very different. We only have about 50 students left in country out of about 250. Second, it is difficult to have enough money, water, food, etc. right now while there is virtually nothing open. So...

We were going to drive to the Dominican Republic Wed. or Thurs. to put Ricky on a plane there, because we heard the airport here was basically closed except for medical personnel, supplies and evacuations. But a friend in Missionary Aviation Fellowship sent me a message telling me to call him if we wanted to get out of the country. After considering the options we decided to go that way. So, we had to pick Ricky up from his best friend's house, take him home and get him packed, send a few emails, book a flight from FL to PA, etc. Then we took him to the airport.

By this time the doctors found a driver and went on ahead to Bolosse. Or so we thought, unfortunately they got lost, but finally they did make it there.

Driving up to the MFI/MAF section of the airport we saw David Schmid from Bolosse. He ws in the mission pick-up truck, so we transferred all the stuff from our truck to his so he could take it to Bolosse since we didn't think we'd make it today.

We had to wait a while, but Ricky got on a flight. When he arrived in Fort Pierce, a friend of a friend was there to pick him up, but he had to go through customs and by then, Ricky was released to Family Services of Florida. They drove him to Fort Lauderdale airport. When I heard that I wsa a bit upset because his flight is not until tomorrow. But then, another friend went to Fort Lauderdale airport and was able to get him and take him home to her house until tomorrow. Thank you, Lord.

Richard has volunteered to drive a surgical nurse to Diquini early in the morning, so we need to get some sleep. Good night :)