In NO Particular Order

We've been keeping busy enough during our time here!  Here's just a random smattering of life.  In a very random order because that's just how they got uploaded!

We spent the night at a hotel with the kids for a Christmas present.  They had fun, we had fun, I sure hope we do it again:)

All our babies be growing up!

We were at my parents when the newest batch of turkeys came.  It was Tucker's first time in the turkey house so I wasn't sure how he would do.  But he loved it and had not an ounce of fear!  The turkeys were the ones who needed to fear.  I have a video where all of a sudden it cuts out because I had to quick put down the phone and rescue the bird from a baby who was holding it by the head and shaking it back and forth!

One morning during the time Danny was back in Haiti, Sawyer came to my room extra early and crawled in with me.  And then I had some really sweet snuggle time with my sleeping boy:)

He is quite mobile these days and loves to just go exploring on his own.  And then he gets stuck.

Summer has always loved the turkeys!

Three weeks was plenty long for us to be apart.  I was more than willing to stay up and pick him up from a late night flight:)  And yes, I got all teary eyed when he finally walked into the baggage claim area.

I took Summer to a Jr. High basketball game when my niece was playing.  We both had a great time.  Me watching the game and talking to other people in the bleachers, and Summer playing with her cousins!

He said "No mommy, I did not sleep in gwandpa's twactor."

Three years ago there was a concert in Indy that I really wanted to go to but it was on Thanksgiving weekend when we would be travelling and we also would have a one month old baby (Sawyer) so we decided not to go.  And I was sad.  This year, the concert came back around and we went!  Their voices were older than what we hear on the radio, but the Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant Christmas was like being with an old friend.  Familiar songs I've heard most of my life that just kind of feel like home.  And I could hardly stay in my seat when they finished with an awesome rendition of "Emmanuel"!  Throw in some great conversation during our driving and supper times and it was a night very well spent!

Again with the exploring.  We can hardly get enough of this kid.  He's just so fun to have around!

So that's life lately.  And to answer the question that everyone has, we do have some plans!  Currently we are in Indiana and will be until Dec. 22.  Then we will be back in Illinois over Christmas before coming back here for a little bit.  If everything goes as planned we will hopefully all go back to Haiti the first week of January!  It will be nice to get resettled there and find our normal again.  Whatever normal is.  But speaking for myself I will say it was bittersweet packing almost everything up from my parents this past weekend.  After that being my home base for almost two months, I was really enjoying feeling a part of my old hometown and church again.  Just being around everyone and not feeling like it was a rushed hi and bye over a weekend was great.  I know it can't stay like that forever, and I don't even want it to.  We need to be where God has us and not on a disorienting vacation type thing.  But it has been an unexpected blessing to have this time!

Happy Belated Birthday Sawyer!

Our Sawyer Jacob turned three on October 28!  I did post a little something on Facebook but I wanted to put it on here too for my sake.  Well, and for his sake because he is definitely the middle child who gets lost in the shuffle sometimes!

He is just a hoot to be around!

Happy go lucky and always doing something to make us laugh:)

With a smile that takes up half his face!

For months he said that he wanted a cake with a train and a airplane and a boat and a car and a church and a frog and a bed.  We didn't get AAAALLLLLLLLLL of that accomplished buy my very talented cousin did a great job with a transportation cake!

And he wanted it to be a blue cake.  Not just blue frosting, mind you, but a blue cake!

Again, always wanting to do silly pictures:)

We love our buddy and are so thankful he is a part of our family!

Happy Birthday Sawyer!

In This Time Of Limbo

Things have been pretty quiet on here lately- sorry!  I know a lot of people have been asking what's going on these days.  I was without a computer for awhile but now I have one again and am finally getting around to an update!

On the Haiti side of things there have been no real changes.  It seems like things aren't really getting better or worse, just holding steady.  So that leaves us in this state of in between and unknown and wondering how long we will be here.  When we flew out on October 11, we left three people behind to stay working at the hospital.  Three weeks later it was time to swap out, and Danny went back along with two others this past Thursday.  If nothing changes and we are still here, he plans to hopefully come back around Thanksgiving for another swap out.  While he is gone, I am staying at my parents with the kids.  As nice as it was to have our own space when we were first here, it's also nice to have a little extra help with Danny being gone.  I have SO MUCH RESPECT for single parents!!

In the meantime, here's a little snapshot of our lives the last few weeks!  One of the first things we did upon our arrival to Indiana was set Tucker up with a push toy.  When he started crawling at 8 months (earlier than the other two did) we thought for sure he would be walking by now.  But his little push toy is still sitting on the sea container, stuck in the customs yard in Port-au-Prince.  That's pretty much how Summer and Sawyer learned how to walk.  So we gave it to him first thing and away he went!  He loves walking with it but still doesn't have much interest in letting go.  At all.  So we'll keep trying I guess and enjoy watching him grin from ear to ear when he has the toy:)

We got back just in time for Grandma Carmon's annual fall party, full of games, excited children, and sugar overload.

We did the state park thing,

and we did the pumpkin patch thing too.

Once we got to Illinois, Danny and I did a different state park thing.  It was just chilly enough to need a few layers, but not so cold that we didn't enjoy it.

It was a beautiful day and so good to have some alone time!

Nobody argued when I suggested we go to Chic-fil-a for Sawyer's birthday.  I think Chic-fil-a is pretty much never a bad idea:)

The original plan for Danny's trip back was to just fly out of Peoria.  But then we had the idea of spending Wednesday in Chicago together and having him fly out of Midway.  It was cold and wet and windy and called for another round of layering up.  But we had a great day!

We did some downtown walking around, caught a show, and ate supper at The Safehouse.  The restaurant was fun, but it would be a lot more fun if we were like, say, 8 or 10 year old boys:)  So if you find yourself in Chicago with kids around that age, we would recommend it!

I got up and told Danny goodbye at 3:30 in the morning and went right back to sleep.  Once I woke up for the day, I spent a leisurely morning boycotting Halloween.  I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie from the comfort of my hotel bed and then listened to Christmas music the whole way home!  I mean, it WAS snowing so I thought it to be appropriate:)  I got home to two little kiddos who really really wanted to play in the snow.  We had no mittens or gloves and Sawyer had no boots, so it only lasted about three minutes.  But it was grandma to the rescue and if we are here for the next snow, we are prepared!

So that's that.  Living in limbo is not really an easy thing, and we all really miss Danny.  But honestly, I am enjoying being here for now.  I'm sure as time goes on I will start to reach my limit and feel like I desperately need/want answers.  But I'm not there yet.  We trust that God is faithful and will have us be wherever it is he wants us to be whenever it is he wants us there.

Pictureless Update

Just wanted to get on here quick to do a little update of where we're at and what our plans are.  Sorry if you came for the pictures- I am currently without a laptop and Danny doesn't have pictures on his:)

So this will just be short and sweet I guess:)

Since we got back, we've been in Indiana with Danny's family.  There are a few people in the area that have housing for missionaries on furlough and such.  We were able to get one of those, and even though it's for a short time, it has been so nice to have our own place to go to.  It would be fine to stay with family if we need to, and I think that's what will probably be happening when we go to IL.  But to have our own space and privacy and such is pretty refreshing.

Wednesday we are planning to head out to IL.  We will all be there for awhile and then there's a good chance the following week Danny will be going back to Haiti without the rest of us.  That's where our plans end.  Beyond that we still really have no idea how long it will be before we would join him, or if he would come back again and spend some more time up here.

So many questions and no good answers to go with them!  The not knowing is the hard part.  Otherwise we have enjoyed our unexpected time with family and friends.  And I have personally been thrilled to have my favorite fall season!

So until next time....

Expect The Unexpected

Well, I've started this post a couple different times now and I'm just not sure what all even to say.  After two months of living in Haiti, we are going home for an unknown amount of time.  The political unrest is still going strong as people are not giving up their fight to see the changes they want to see.  While we still feel safe and things are peaceful where we live, we do feel the effects of the protesting going on down the mountain.  Supplies for the hospital are limited and are very difficult to buy.  The roads have been blocked enough so that it is much harder to get to town for groceries.  There have been a couple people from the hospital who have been able to go and do minimal shopping, but nothing like the weekly trips we had when we first arrived.  We are far from starving, but the people around us are not.  Some days it seems there is a constant stream of people knocking at our gate asking for a bite to eat or trying to sell us something so they can buy food.

We had a conference call on Saturday with Harvest Call and they encouraged us to consider leaving.  It's not necessarily what we wanted to do for several reasons.  For one thing, the memories of that long day of travel are still fresh in our minds and we know it's tiring and not easy!  But more than that, we don't want the people around us to think we are quitting on them when things get tough.  It doesn't seem fair that we can leave but they can't.  Plus we feel like we are starting to make some progress as far as language and getting to know people.  Mind you, we still have a very long way to go on that.  So leaving to us makes us feel like we will have to start completely over when we get back.

However, there are 37 people down here with Harvest Call.  IF it would get to the point where we really felt like we needed to leave, it would be nearly impossible to get us all out at a moment's notice.  Harvest Call is not making us feel forced to leave.  Ultimately the decision was left up to each family.  But we wanted to respect their leadership and concerns too, as they feel a big responsibility for us.  24 of the 37 people are here at the hospital and we collectively decided that we should go, leaving a bare bones missionary staff.  So if all goes as planned, all but three people will be leaving from here.  One family was already planning to leave on furlough this weekend and one single is already out on furlough.  Rather than trying to drive to Port-au-Prince, we will be taking two small planes from Cayes, which really takes one of the hardest parts out of the travel.  Although there is always the possibility we would be blocked from getting to Cayes, we are hopeful that won't be the case.  If the protests and riots continue on long enough, the two men going out on Friday (one of them being Danny) will come back in by themselves and let the others who are staying take a turn going out.  They will need a break after holding down the fort by themselves!

We are all at peace with this decision.  We all bought one way tickets, not knowing how long we will be gone.  But we all want to come back.  I do have to say though, once we made this decision, I got pretty excited to be able to have my precious fall season!  And to see people too of course:)  Our family's plans are to fly into Ft. Wayne and spend the first bit with Danny's family and then head out to be with mine some.  Our van never sold, so that's all taken care of, and we have family and friends who will be providing out kids with winter clothes and car seats.  There are so many unknowns, and it's not a non-stressful situation.  But we trust God and know he is faithful.  However long or however short this time may be, he will provide.  Both for us and the Haitian people.

And on a completely different note, just for the sake of a picture or two, here's what I see sometimes when I wash dishes.  Pretty cute!

And this is what I found one day when I walked into the kids's room.  She was just sitting in the box quiet as a mouse.  Flaps down with just her head sticking out.  It cracked me up!

Lord willing, we will see many of you soon!

Life Beyond Birthdays

Seeing as how the last three posts have been related to birthdays, it's time for more of a life update!  Stay tuned though- Sawyer's birthday is coming up in a month:)

My parents were here for a visit the second week of September.  Dad is the mission manager for the Haiti Dairy Program and likes being involved with S.E.E.D., so he tries to come down several times a year.  Mom was okay tagging along with him:)  Mom spent the week with us while dad tended to his duties, but he did come up to the hospital to spend one day and night with us.  It was good to have them here and the kids loved it!  The first thing they asked grandma was "what surprises did you bring us?"  Oh boy...

We had ordered some pork and beef that we planned to grind and our order was filled while they were here!  Some guy who is selling a pig or cow whacks it apart with his machete, and somehow by the time we got it it was skinned and kind of cleaned off and put into a five gallon bucket.  Then it's our job to wash it good and chop it into small chunks that will fit into the grinder.  So me and mom cleaned and chopped pork while the men took care of the kids.  We are glad to have the meat but the smell was something to get used to!  Not sure I ever actually did get used to it:)  However, now we have 50ish pounds of ground meat in our freezer and we won't be needing to do that again for awhile!  Actually, sometimes people butcher a cow right outside the main hospital gate and we could get some there too if we wanted.  I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but it has happened since we've been here.  Once, Danny was outside by our gate and saw a man walk past carrying the cow's head after the butchering was done!

We are moving right along with language lessons.  And by moving right along, I mean we have them almost every day, NOT that we are speaking really well!  In the picture is Falens, our tutor.  He comes to our house most afternoons while the kids are napping.  I'm sure I'm probably his worst student ever!  I understand more than I can speak.  It takes me forever to piece together a very broken sentence.  Say something as slow as you can.  Now say it a little bit slower.  That's about how fast I talk in Creole.  And I find myself saying Spanish words interspersed in there too.  The poor people that have to communicate with me!  Danny's doing good with it.  I've had more driving practice and am probably a little more comfortable with it, so we decided we make a good team.  I can get us around and he can speak for us!

After a lengthy conversation about the endless supply of oatmeal creme pies we have in "the red door", we had a version of a Chopped competition.  Dessert only.  One of the required ingredients?  Oatmeal creme pies, of course!

We are getting into a groove with our house ladies.  We have a really long ways to go as far as our communication, but we are usually able to figure each other out.  So far, the food has been great and my house has never been cleaner!  They seem to really like all our kids, but they LOOOOOOOOOOVE Tucker!  He gets doted on all day long!  They can't stand to hear him fuss and if he does he gets picked up and played with right away:)  Pretty much every time they cross paths with him he gets picked up for a little bit or ticked a little bit or something.  But I would rather have that than feeling like they didn't like the kids.

Our yard guys started too this week.  Most people only get one yard guy but we have a large yard with lots of trees and plants.  It's pretty, but requires a lot of upkeep!  After being here this long with nobody working for us yet, it was getting a little out of control!  So we are glad to have them:)  For now we have our people come just two days a week.  That might change to three days but for now we just need to get used to having them.  It's not as easy or fun as one might think to have people doing your work for you when you're used to doing it all yourself and when you struggle to communicate with them.  But we have no complaints about them as individuals and we do like the fact that we can give someone work.  When we did interviews for the yard guys, one question Danny asked one of ours was what he was interested in doing in the future, or something along those lines.  His response was "all work is good work".  It's a different mindset than Americans who are always on the lookout for just the right job!

Please pray for Haiti.  I feel so unqualified to talk or write about the condition of the country because we are still so new here.  But I can say what others who have been here much longer have told us.  There is a fuel shortage which has caused widespread protesting, roadblocks, and violence.  I haven't been to town in awhile but I hear the roads are pretty clear as far as vehicles and motorcycles go.  Crazy is an understatement for what traffic normally is.  We have a little traffic here at the hospital with people using coming and leaving via moto taxi, but it has quieted down significantly in the last few weeks because people can't get gas.  So people (not just taxi drivers) are not generating as much income (if any), which means less money for food.  Food that has drastically inflated in price in the last year or so.  People are feeling more desperate and hopeless.  Quite honestly, because we lack the language skill, I don't hear first hand their stories, so it's hard for me to comprehend all of the desperation.  But I know it's there, and it feels heavy to me.  Back home, we know that we live in abundance, but so do many other people.  Here, it is glaringly obvious.  Plus, we have a way out if we want.  They don't.  It's easy to feel guilty, but at the same time, even if we freely handed out money, we could not fix the problems.  Falens (our language tutor) was spot on when he said every society has their problems.  It is a heart issue that can't be fixed without the Lord.  

This is a part of an email from a fellow Harvest Call missionary who has been here for quite a long time:

This is a difficult time in this Country of Haiti.  The “mood” of the country is different than what I’ve experience during my tenure here.  There is a tension unlike after the earthquake of 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  A verse that comes to my mind when I think of Haiti is 2 Chronicles 7.14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  May the Grace God change the hearts of those in Haiti who need change and strengthen the hearts of His faithful followers.

Tucker Joseph Is 1!

Today we celebrate our sweet, happy, content, snuggly baby!   Tucker has been such a joy to have around.  Truly.

I've had all the feels today looking at some of his early pictures, especially those first few post partum days in the hospital.

He has been the only one of my babies who really seemed to enjoy being swaddled and did better if he was wrapped up.  At bedtime I would wrap him up in an actual swaddle/sleep sack thing, but in the evenings we would wrap him up in this fuzzy green frog blanket and he loved it so much.  He had a couple months of evening fussies where I would just pace the floor and shush very loudly while bouncing him up and down all wrapped up in that blanket.  Then he would settle into his swing for an evening nap all cozy and cute:)

He has been my easiest baby overall.  We could take him anywhere!  Including the Selah Christmas concert where he slept for most of the concert EXCEPT for the glass shattering high note on "O Holy Night".  He did not appreciate that.

Most of his baby hair fell out except for his mullet and that awful rooster tail!  I knew it didn't look good but it was so hard for me to cut because it was his sweet, soft, fuzzy newborn hair!  And he liked to play with it and twirl his hand through it while he laid on the floor.  It was his little built in toy!

Tucker started seeing the world early on in his life.  He traveled to Haiti for the first time when he was four months old.  And made a friend while walking down the road:)

He got to go to Florida with the rest of us in March.  

He sometimes likes to practice his yoga moves.

As he's gotten older it's been fun to see him try and tag along with Summer and Sawyer.  They just love him!

He enjoyed his first time at the lakes this year!  He could sit and splash in water for a very long time:)

Then when he was just over ten months old he traveled to Haiti again- this time for quite the extended stay!

We just love him to pieces!

We'll keep him around as long as we can, no question about it!

Tucker Joseph, you're the one,

You make my life lots of fun!

Tucker Joseph we're awfully fond of you!

(sung frequently to the tune of Rubber Ducky)