Some days I just need to get out of the office, and get off site. Today was one of those days. I was feeling twitchy and couldn’t concentrate. On my schedule for today is writing some blog posts, stuff that is creative. When there are people in and out of the office I feel like my concentration gets broken and I just can’t get it out. So I packed up my computer and told Chris I was going down to the local hotel to drink coffee and write, and then pick the kids up from school when it was time.

If you’ve been watching the weather for the Caribbean you’ll know that there’s a hurricane named Gaston in the Atlantic right now, but there’s also this thing they’re calling a “wave” moving into the northern Caribbean.

People often ask us what it’s like here when hurricane like weather goes by, mostly out of worry. When I first moved here we were in a very active hurricane season that saw the Atlantic go through the entire alphabet, and then forecasters had to start all over again naming storms. As a newbie in Haiti it was so crazy to me. For the most part we wouldn’t get more than some wind and rain, but I thought that it was normal to get a hurricane every few days or so. Over the years I’ve seen really active seasons, and others like the past few years, that haven’t hardly seen a storm.

If you look at a map of Haiti it kind of looks like a lobster claw with a small island in the middle of the pinchers. We’re located almost right in the crook of that claw, and because of the island of La Gonave, we’re quite protected from major weather.

As I’m sitting here at the hotel I’m watching the staff haul in beach chairs and clear things away from the water because the waves are crashing up and splashing everything. The water is about five different shades of blue and looks like an artist swiped colors across my line of vision. There are white caps and the wind is blowing. Looking to the south there is a wall of dark cloud moving in and I’m wondering how long it’ll be until the rain starts in full force.

 

 

Rain or shine, one problem Haiti does not have, is a lack of beauty. The sun can be brutal and fierce, but it can also bring out colors in a way I’ve never seen before. Storms can rip through and cause so much damage, but they can also water the earth and remind me of an all powerful God. The wind can billow and blow, but it also brings refreshing cool when a person feels like they just can’t do another minute in the heat.

I love it when we get storms here because I’m reminded that not matter how much we might want to control every aspect of life around us, nature will never be controlled. No matter how much power man might want to have on this earth, there are some things that he can not rule. It makes me feel small and like I’ve been put in my place when I think about those things. I’m thankful that I get to live in a place where I’m daily reminded of these things.

~Leslie