Beach Day

Fun with new friends!

We’ve been waiting to take a beach day for a while now. We all needed to get away for some family fun. Club Indigo added a floating ocean trampoline this summer that we have been dying to try.

When we arrived, we were told “the guy who sets it up isn’t at work yet, he’ll put it up around 12. We all anxiously awaited 12 noon. Shortly after noon, we were told that they only set it up on Sat & Sun! Then, they said ok, we’ll put it out, however, after another half hour, still no trampoline. Finally, the trampoline came out to be blown up and things began progressing at break necking speed, NOT.
Eventually we all got to swim out and try this floating ocean trampoline. Things were going very well until Colton decided to challenge Jeff to a “King of the trampoline Match”. As boys will be boys, the rough housing began…and ended inevitably with someone getting hurt. After falling on top of each other, Jeff came out bleeding and needing medical attention.

Thankfully, some friends with us had a nurse, Melissa, with them and she took a look. Stitches were in his future. Melissa happily offered to do this at their maternity center when we headed back home.

Jeff was possibly the first man to use the birthing bed!

Computer class

One of Drew's vision for the Good Samaritan Boys is to give them opportunity to learn computer skills beginning with the basics of keyboarding to eventually much more advanced classes. He did an awesome job of getting the word out and looking ahead when he returned to the states in August. He came back to Haiti with 6 donated laptops to get the computer lab up and running. Great job Drew and thank you to those of you who gave for this computer ministry! Jeff, Drew, Colton, Barry, and Jacques built cubicles for the boys to work from this week so they are ready to begin on Saturday!
I found out this week that 7 of the Good Samaritan girls now are assigned homework and research online...Ummm...they haven't really used computers before, haven't used the internet before, don't have internet at the homes...
So, the computers are not only being used for the boys' computer lab, they are also now being used for the girls here at the guest house to learn basic computer and internet skills. I will be working with them 2x/week. One day to teach keyboarding and basic skills and one day to do homework assignments. I'm very excited about this endeavor!
Today was our first crash/unexpected course with no translator and the added pressure of...um...oh yeah, my homework is due tomorrow!
We fumbled our way through with as much Kreyol as I could bust out and Resinette and Manoucheka's few sentences of English. It would have been funny to have been a fly on the wall! We made it, all homework assignments are done!
It just shows how much I take for granted. These skills are things my own children have been learning since toddlerhood.
Looking forward to this new adventure!

One Year Reflections:

Wow, one year!!! What a year it has been. There have been struggles, frustrations, days of uncertainty, joy, blessings, victories, defeats, moments of insight, moments of stupidity, and moments of clarity. All in all, it has been a whirlwind of a year. For those who think following Christ and His will for your life is boring or unadventurous, I would beg to differ. When I think about a year of consistently trying to “take up our own cross” to sometimes what seems as daunting and unimaginable circumstances, God has been nothing but faithful every step of the way.

It has also been great to see the challenges and growth that is evident in the lives of others serving in and along side AWAKENHAITI as well. God has blessed this ministry with people of ability, desire, and vision for change. People who are not satisfied with just reaching for the norm. People who want to make a long lasting change. People who hear “you can’t do that in Haiti” and respond with, “you want to bet”. People who think outside the box to achieve God-sized goals. People who will fight to enroll our kids in a soccer program that is filled with the Haitian elites, because our boys deserve to run on that field too. People who want what is best for the people of Haiti, and are not satisfied by administering Band-Aids to make themselves feel good. People who are willing to give their time and resources for the benefit of others. People who know that brokenness comes in all shapes and sizes and does not have boarders. People who seek out that brokenness and want to walk with it even when it gets messy. People who are reading what it means to follow Christ and are responding.

God never promised that this walk would be easy. But why would we think that doing something like taking up our cross would be? All I know is that I would rather fight with that cross on my back and have hope for the future beyond this life than to be free of the burden for others and not have that hope.

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support and for helping to make this year for us like no other!!!

Bondye Beni ou,

Jeff

One year later!

October 14, 2010, we arrived at the airport in D.C. with as much as we could stuff into 10 large check bags, 5 small suitcases, and 5 back packs. We had sold our home. Jeff left his job. We had no vehicles. Our kids gave up much of their belongings, left their bikes, their pool. We left our friends and family and all that was familiar. Knowing we were asking so much of them to follow and trust, we promised they would not have to give up their beloved dog, Tundra.
Sounds simple enough, right? Clearly, we knew this wasn’t a move across town or even a move to another state. We really couldn’t predict what the decision we were making would feel like when we stepped onto a plane in D.C. and onto Haiti soil.
Unfortunately, when we approached the check in at American Airlines, the attendant informed us that even though we had all the necessary paperwork for Tundra, she would not be able to travel with us due to the temperatures forecasted being higher than they allowed. WHAT???? This could not even be happening. The five of us sobbed our way through a good bye and made our way to our gate. All I could think and process was “it wasn’t enough that we gave up everything else, now we had to leave the one thing we promised our children they would not have to. It wasn’t enough to get rid of all the STUFF, leave our comfortable lives in Carlisle, and leave our friends and family?” Mature, I know.
The first two days were filled with intermittent, crying and sleeping spells. Not the kids, but Jeff and I. We were angry. Angry that we couldn’t keep our promise to our kids. We were scared. It’s one thing to be in this country serving for a week or even three weeks at a time, but being there knowing we weren’t boarding a plane back to comfort anytime soon with our children scared us to death.
Slowly, God brought us to a better place of being able to function.
Our kids on the other hand, handled things so well. They all immediately embraced the 22 girls living below us. Our girls couldn’t wait until the girls got home from school so they could go downstairs to play.
When we made an initial visit to a family we knew and cared for (with one little girl and another due soon), living in a tent, their eyes were opened and their compassion increased. When we made our first trip to Canaan just a few weeks after arriving here, their eyes were opened and their compassion increased. Our pastor in Haiti continually says that missions is seeing first. They saw. They questioned. They grew. Now they all want to give. Jeff and I were amazed and proud at how God prepared them and the way they just jumped in with both feet!
Over the course of the following months, we as a family have experienced a variety trials. So much of our lifestyle changed. Public school to home school. Grocery shopping at any one of 5 fully stocked stores within a 5 mile radius to…well Belmart(which may or may not have what I have on my list to make any one particular meal). Friends and people we knew almost everywhere we went, to 2 Haitian families we knew and trusted. Driving in an organized fashion with strict laws for our own good, to um…Haiti driving (which I’ve kind of learned to like in a weird kind of way. It’s always a challenge and it requires prayer every time we get in the car). There’s so much more…if you want more, come to our fundraiser on November 20th to see “you know you’re in Haiti when…”
Beyond those little insignificant trials, there have been bigger ones. Spritual trials. We have felt Satan at work in a new way. We had not seen Satan so visibly working before we moved here. We see the struggle in some living in dire circumstances. Satan so clearly plays on that. We see Satan trying to stop the work we are doing. He hates it.
So many people come here and comment that they are able to really experience God in a new way here. He’s so very real almost like you can touch him. Part of that I am certain is that people aren’t distracted by so much busyness here. Truly we have experienced God in a new way here. This country requires people to be self-sufficient in so many ways, which in turn, teaches Christians to trust God more. We have experienced God’s spirit here so heavy at times. Times of healing, praising, changing not only Haitians’ lives, but our own. We have felt God’s presence even on our own property in an unexplainable way giving strength when needed.
We have been filled with amazement in all that God has done in and through this ministry in a year. We’ve had the privilege to see all of the vision unfold as God provided and lead. We’ve seen lives changed in tangible ways in the building, in providing food, in relief from pain and suffering for life here on earth. But we’ve also experienced God changing hearts, changing focus in people, changing priorities, therefore changes for eternity!
So, yes, there have been many struggles over this past year, but truly the blessings have been far more, far greater. The growth in the ministry, the growth in the kids at Good Samaritan Homes, the growth in the community in Canaan, the growth in team members serving here, the growth in the relationships we are building here, the growth in our children, the growth in us. It’s all worth it. It’s all for Him! Our family is blessed to be used by God here. We’re blessed to have this opportunity. We are forever changed!
Here we are one year later...ready for more challenges, more change, and more blessings!
~Thank you to our families for supporting and encouraging us!
~Thank you to our AWAKENHAITI leadership team for working so hard to get this ministry up and running and for supporting us!
~Thank you to all of you who pray for the ministry, for the people we serve here and for our family!
~Thank you to all of you who support us financially!
WE COULDN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!

What to do on a rainy afternoon in Haiti???

I know in Pennsylvania, it can rain all day for days at a time, but we've gotten used to this weather here rather quickly. It's not too often it rains during the day in Haiti. Normally it rains for a while in the evening, so today when it began to rain just after lunch time we had to do things a little differently around here...

So what DO you do on a rainy afternoon in Haiti?

Take a shower outside under the waterfall coming off the roof!

Play silly games with your best friend!

Dress for a Pennyslvania fall day!

Take the Australians up on their offer to make dinner so you can get some ministry work done only to be distracted by all the unusual events of the day!

Transform your hallway into a laundry-mat!

Play a game of Ninja!

Watch a movie!

***Not pictured; haircuts for Jeff and Drew & skit acted out by Deb, Kylie, and Brooke!

church/school freshly painted!

Thank You!

Thank you to those of you who sent cards for us and our children to celebrate our first year in Haiti! We had a fun celebration last night with the Good Samaritan kids, some haitian, American, and Australian friends!

Team October

we welcomed Team October on Saturday. This team is made up mostly of people who sponsor kids at our affiliate orphanage, Freedom Grace Orphanage in Jacmel. They spent some fun time yesterday at our other affiliate orphanage in Freedom House Bethesda Orphanage in Port-au-Prince. This morning they packed up and headed up over the mountain to Jacmel to spend the majority of their week there. They will be doing work on the existing girls home, work on the new boys home, and do some general physical exams on the children there. Surely they will love these little children, have lots of fun, and do a great job ministering as they work. What we are praying for is that God will do His work in each one of them. God tends to be more visible here when team members put aside all of their distractions, whatever they may be.
We have already seen him changing hearts through the church service yesterday and know that it will continue!
They arrived safely this morning to find the new boys home (which the team is using as a guest house and the boys will be moving in after the team leaves), has no running water hooked up yet. This is going to make for more work for the team for using bathrooms and showering from a bucket. I will be anxious to hear their stories as they will experience a taste of Haiti that they might not here at our guest house! Should be some good ones!
Please be in prayer for this team as God does his work in them and as they travel back to Port-au-Prince on Thursday.