The Life and Times of the Mangine Many: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

Short video of Pinchinat.

This is Pinchinat.
This is where people are LIVING.
In tents with no floors in the rain and mud.
During the days when it's sunny, I would bet you it's EVERY bit of 130F in there. Maybe higher. There are no windows. It STINGS your eyes to enter it's so hot.

This is where people are LIVING.

Here's a link to it too... sorry it's so short...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1m7xlqHRyk

Sunday, May 30, 2010

The forecast. Rain's not stopping any time soon...

Updated: 1:00 AM EST on May 30, 2010
	Sunday Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 32 °C . Wind North 10 km/h . 50% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 11.44 mm). Heat Index: 40 °C .
	Sunday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. Low: 22 °C . Wind ESE 7 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 4.68 mm).
	Monday Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 33 °C . Wind Calm. 60% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 16.79 mm). Heat Index: 41 °C .
	Monday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Partly Cloudy. Low: 21 °C . Wind Calm. 40% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 5.30 mm).
	Tuesday Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 34 °C . Wind ESE 10 km/h . 50% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 11.99 mm). Heat Index: 42 °C .
	Tuesday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. Low: 21 °C . Wind SE 7 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 2.70 mm).
	Wednesday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 33 °C . Wind ESE 14 km/h . 40% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 4.51 mm). Heat Index: 39 °C .
	Wednesday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Overcast. Low: 20 °C . Wind ESE 14 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 1.66 mm).
	Thursday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 33 °C . Wind ESE 21 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 0.85 mm). Heat Index: 36 °C .
	Thursday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. Low: 20 °C . Wind ESE 10 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 0.47 mm).
	Friday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 35 °C . Wind ESE 18 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 0.59 mm). Heat Index: 36 °C .
	Friday Night Chance of Rain. Scattered Clouds. Low: 19 °C . Wind ESE 10 km/h . 20% chance of precipitation (trace amounts).
	Saturday Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. High: 35 °C . Wind ESE 14 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 0.65 mm). Heat Index: 39 °C .
	Saturday Night Chance of a Thunderstorm. Scattered Clouds. Low: 19 °C . Wind ESE 10 km/h . 30% chance of precipitation (water equivalent of 0.62 mm).

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Pinchinat-- using my voice.

I know some people are probably tired of me talking about the refugee camp (Pinchinat) I often visit. Well, if that is you-- you might want to stop reading my blog, because I am fixin' to take some bigger steps into working there.

The truth is, the situation is only getting worse. It's far worse. What we feared would happen with rainy season IS happening. It's a big mess and thousands of people are being forced to live in conditions that wouldn't be appropriate for ANIMALS. This is not okay.

I am not trying to stir the pot and get people all mad at me, but I am going to spend a lot of time in the next few weeks trying to use my voice to highlight what's REALLY going on in refugee camps in Haiti. What's being done and what's NOT being done. This is just a small camp-- maybe about 4,000-5,000 people remain there? But throughout Haiti it is estimated that there are still 1.3-1.7 MILLION people living in camps. This is not okay.

People are sick in these camps. People are dying. The conditions are WORSE than ever. The mud and rain are beyond description. They are only one set of latrines, (though they are working on another set.) And people there are beginning to really resent the international community who came in for a short time promising help, only to have left before the job is finished. Heck, most people left before the true consequences of the crisis were displayed.

People, the crisis is not over. It's not NEAR to being over. Haiti still needs your help. Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere BEFORE January 12.

It does NOT have the power to recover from this tragedy alone.

Haiti still needs you.

M' pap kite ou pou kont ou Ayiti...

Friday, May 28, 2010

Boys are gross.

If I have to listen to any more jokes/commentary/discussion about peeing/pooping/passing gas I might LITERALLY vomit.

Whose idea was it to have 5 boys?

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Oops -- Nick

Sorry, everyone for turning off the RSS feed for a week :(

I should be back now :)

- Nick

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Infestation

These flies are OUT OF CONTROL.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Duggar Envy

These past two weeks have been rough ones. We've been having a lot of really difficult behaviors we've been addressing with our kids. I am not going to get into specifics because it would just bore you and annoy me...

Last night, at the end of my rope with my disobedient pre-teenage boys for about the 105th time in the previous hour, I walked (stomped) up the stairs and blurted out to Nick, "Seriously? This is our life? Why are ALL our kids disobedient ALL the time?"

Nick said, "I think that's the name of the game Gwennie."

And I said, "No, I don't think everyone's family is like this."

And he said, "Name one big family that doesn't have kids like ours."

And saying the first name that came to mind I said, "The Duggars."

And he said, "They also had the privilege of having all of their kids since birth."

I thought that was a good point. Which is not to say that having biological kids only makes all the problems go away. But man, we're talking YEARS and YEARS and YEARS (more than a decade in at least three of our kids) of time we've missed. We're talking years of living with a HUGE relational deficit. I will level with you-- most of our kids are SEVERELY relationally stunted.

Pray for us as we try to love these children God has given us-- children who need to be loved, but don't know they need to be loved. Children who purposely act out to test this love. Children who physically cannot look us in the eyes. Children who don't understand physical boundaries because their own boundaries were violated at early, early ages. Children who steal from us. Children who curse at us and mock us. And bite us. And hit us. And laugh at us. Children who have tantrums that are hours long, who tell us daily that they are running away, that they CAN'T live here anymore. Children (two of them) who HAVE tried to run away.

But they can't help it. They cannot help it.

These are children who have been:

abused,
abandoned,
raped,
orphaned,
enslaved...

Sometimes the reality of what we're attempting to do here seems SO enormous that I can't imagine we could POSSIBLY succeed.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Product Review: Pert Plus FRESH

Oh. my. word. I have found the next great thing for people living in Haiti and its name is, "Pert Plus Fresh Cooling 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner." Holy goodness. This product is amazing.

Do you remember my love affair with Gold Bond powder? It's like that. Like rubbing a Peppermint Pattie (sans the chocolate) all over you. But for your head and hair. It is VERY cooling.

Here's the best way to use it-- in conjunction with the end of a hot day and a cold shower. Apply, lather, rinse. (Repeat if desired, of course.) Finish your shower. Dry off. Apply Gold Bond powder to every possible inch of your skin and lay in your pj's in front of a fan. It's downright COLD. Well it's not. But the menthol rush you get makes you shiver so you think you're cold.

This is going on a list of my favorite things along with Venus razors, The Ped Egg, Gold Bond, and Nick Mangine.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Link to a great post.

http://hollyfurtick.typepad.com/the_preachers_wife/2010/05/keep-your-eyes-on-your-own-paper.html

This really spoke to me today... thought I'd share.

What the heck?

What the heck is the deal with all the posts today?

Well, since you asked... I've been wanting to update our blog for a long time, adding buttons for FAQ's, support info, info about our kids, Nick's twitter feed, etc.

I thought by doing it as individual blog posts, I can catch up "new" readers on the story. If you're an "old" reader, today probably won't be very interesting. Sorry.

How to support our family

As a family, we're responsible for raising a monthly budgeted need of about $6,000. We are always seeking new families, churches, individuals and corporations to partner with us to help us meet this need.

Please consider supporting us. We need one-time donations and ongoing support. Because Joy in Hope is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, all donations are tax-deductible and you will receive a receipt in the mail each January for tax purposes.

There are two easy ways to donate:

Donate online at-http://www.joyinhope.org/donate/

Click on "Mangine Family" as reason for donation.

Donate via snail mail-

Checks can be mailed to:

Joy in Hope
2731 NC Hwy 55 #251
Cary, NC 27519
(Be sure to write "Mangine Family" in the memo.)

Thanks y'all!

And oh-- if you're interested in a more detailed copy of our budget, email Nick at nick@joyinhope.org and he can send it to you.

Timoun nou. (Our kids.)

Here's a little info on our kids!

The children of Joy in Hope are not available for adoption. We think adoption is a fantastic thing (obviously) but it is not the focus of our work here. Instead, we want to give orphaned, abandoned, and enslaved children the opportunity to grow up in their own culture in a strong family. It is our desire that this opportunity will translate into well-educated, healthy and adjusted community members when they are ready to enter society. We believe that strategy can ultimately lead to Jacmel becoming greatly strengthened in just a few generations, which will lead to ripples throughout Haiti out into the world.

We generally accept children between the ages of 5-12. And then they stay with us for the long haul! We've made a long term commitment to these kids.

Here's who we have already. I've included three words that come to mind when I think of them...

Fritzie: servant-hearted, kind, athletetic