7 Weeks And Counting

 Well now.  Seven weeks have come and gone since we moved back from Haiti.  Feels like yesterday and feels like a year ago.  The pace of life here has kind of taken me off guard and I feel like I can't get anything productive done.  Plus we've had sick kids pretty much since we stepped off the plane which doesn't help with the productivity levels.  Sick kids command the vast majority of my time.  Hence this blog post which shall seem forever long as it covers a goodly number of topics.  But if I try to break it down into several smaller ones I'm afraid it would never be done.

Haiti: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  We don't necessarily feel a need or desire to do it all over again but we will never regret it.  Ever.  It stretched us a little farther than we enjoyed, it changed our perspective on life, it brought some high highs and some low lows.  Lots of contradicting emotions.  It can be hard not to question what it was all for.  Like, why did God send us knowing that our time would be cut a lot shorter than we had planned on?  What was the purpose of all of it?  I don't know.  I mean, I know, but I don't.  

We tried to soak it up and appreciate it for what it was those last couple months.  There were days when we couldn't wait to be done.  Being alone and having all the pressure from the community to fix all their problems was wearing.  But we also knew the finality of it all and knew that we would miss some things when we were gone.  On Tuesday, January 18, we took one last look around our yard and house, shed a few tears, then booked it to the airport after getting a late start.  Only two kids puked and they managed to successfully puke onto easily washable places and almost completely miss their clothes.  Almost.  But close enough to not have to change!

My dad had come to Haiti to spend some time at the dairy  and met us at the airport then to help us travel.  We have travelled with extra adults and with just us.  International travel with four small children and a whole lot of suitcases?  It's nice to have someone along:)  It all went really smooth and the kids did great.  Summer, who is desperate for a pet, caught a slow and seemingly injured fly and put it into an empty raisin box.  She had every intention of bringing it all the way back to Indiana but was shot down and had to leave it in Haiti.  But she took good care of it while we were in the PAP airport.

We finally made it Wednesday night.

We were cold:)  It took us a little while to completely figure out the heating situation at the place we are staying, and for awhile the kids played in their winter coats!

However, just a few days later the kids braved the cold and played on the frozen pond.  They had such a blast!

We took a trip pretty much right away out to Illinois to visit my family.  We wanted to go quick before Summer started school.  We celebrated Christmas!

There was a volleyball game thrown in there too.

Summer had been talking about making a snowman for months.  She knew we would be moving back during the cold months and was convinced there would be snow on the ground.  There was a little.  And she made the best of it!

Then it was time to start trying to figure out life up here again.  That's still a work in progress.  House, job, van... and those are just the big things.  There's plenty of little things too.  It just takes time.  We're not there yet but it's coming.  We happened to test drive a van about 45 minutes away on Valentine's Day.  We made a little date out of it!

We had left a lot of our stuff for a nearby orphanage we had some connections with.  We got this picture one day and enjoyed seeing it all loaded up in true Haitian fashion!  We got a good chuckle out of that one.

I had hoped that Sawyer could go to preschool but this far into the year they're booked up.  So he does story hour once a week at the library and is loving it!

Probably about 4 months before we moved back I was talking to a friend and she invited me to go on a girls weekend getaway.  It. Was. Perfect.  Unfortunately the only group picture I got is not showing up on my google photos for some reason and so you get a picture of one of the puzzles that was put together that weekend.  I don't do a ton of puzzles, but this one was so fun!!  Half of us have some kind of teaching background and there was much oohing and aahing and maybe a little bit of drooling over this particular puzzle:)

The next weekend was our hotel weekend with Danny's family and the night ended with a LOT of people stuffed in one room talking, snacking, and watching Paw Patrol.

During this whole timeframe my sweet cousin, Michael went to be with Jesus.  He was stuck in a prison of a body for many years and we love picturing him made whole, running the streets of heaven.  I made a quick trip out to Illinois to see his family because we were going to miss the visitation and funeral.  I am so glad I made that trip.  We watched the funeral live and it was hard to see everyone walk in and to be the one that wasn't there.  I've spent quite a few years now living away from my family so it's not the first time I've missed something big like that, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Our reason for missing it was a trip we had planned.  We knew when we were in Haiti that we wanted/needed to try and do a little getaway without the kids once we got back to the states.  And we wanted to try and do it before Danny started work.  So off we went to Charleston!  It's somewhere I've wanted to go for awhile now and Danny wasn't completely sold on but he humored me:)  And I think he enjoyed it!

It was a great mix of touristy, historical things and outdoorsy nature stuff.  And the weather was beautiful!!

Boone Hall Plantation

Shem Creek

Child slave's fingerprints on bricks used to build For Sumter.  Pretty sobering. 

Jellyfish washed up on the beach.

The only tea farm in the world that's not in Asia or South America.

I do love me some sweet tea!

Angel Oak.  This tree is ginormous!

Botany Bay Wildlife Preserve

Managed to hit up Publix three times while we were there.  One time just for chocolate cake!

Carriage tour

LOTS of walking around town to see the sights.  This is a terrible picture of Rainbow Row:)

Pineapple Fountain

Between my girls weekend, hotel, trip to Roanoke, and Florida coming up over spring break, it felt a little overwhelming to go.  But it was definitely worth it!

One day this past week was going terribly for me.  And my love showed up with flowers and made me swoon a little.

Spontaneous Tuesday evening trip to Jungle George's.  Everybody loved it.

Finished with supper at Steak-n-Shake.  Also enjoyed by everyone.

We had fun reminiscing about the last time we did Steak-n-Shake and Jungle George's with the kids.  Little did we know that this one was mere hours from making his very swift, grand debut!

So.  If you've made it to the end, congratulations.  We are really hoping and praying for the whole house and job situation to get worked out.  I think we are closer to the job than the house.  We did check van off our list which is nice.  I don't feel too anxious about the house.  Yet.  Check back in another month or so and it might be a different story!

And this concludes the story of our life back in the states thus far.  The End.

Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Almost Time To Wrap Up

 Happy New Year!  This was the first year that I can remember actually considering going to bed before midnight.  But I just couldn't.  It felt too wrong!  Maybe when I'm another year older?

My brain is really scattered right now.  Not a great time to sit down and try to do a blog.  But Danny just left to go back to work after lunch and the kids followed him out the door so I'll have a few minutes of peace anyway:)

I took this picture when a Facebook friend was taking a poll on the pronunciation of the word "poinsettia".  Next year I'll have to buy one if I want one in my house rather than just look in my backyard!

We have reached the climbing stage.  And he is just pleased as punch about it.

Early December brought Rick A. and Rick W. in for a visit.  Not sure who initiated but that Sunday afternoon Sawyer attempted to teach Rick W how to play chess.  It was a cute thought, but it's really hard to learn how to play a game like chess from a 5 year old who barely understands it and who talks in really choppy sentences because he's not focusing on what he's saying.  So then they moved onto tic tac toe.

He said he was NOT tired.  And then it was nearly impossible to wake him up.

Every year at Christmas time I like to make chex mix.  I didn't think about sending all the stuff I would normally use on container back in August though.  There came a week when I was really missing it and wishing I had it.  So I made the degaje (just make do) version of chex mix.  I had a box of wheat chex.  So that's what I used.  Good thing those are my favorite part of the mix anyway!

Herrmann's got together with some others from their church and sent down a fun Christmas package where the kids could open a small gift each day.  One of them was a "build a snowman" kit and  it was Summer's favorite!

One of the hospital employees in the department Danny manages has bees and brought us some honeycomb.  It was sooooooo yummy!

Again.  Pleased as punch.

Sugar cookie cutouts were another thing that I realized I was really missing.  I don't necessarily make them every year, but I love to eat them every year!  So one day on a whim I made some and there were no regrets about that decision!

We decided to send all the kids' Christmas presents to the states this year to open once we move back.  But they were pretty sad to not be able to open anything on Christmas day and I had a couple things I found in closets that I wrapped up.  Then went on a scavenger hunt to find their gifts and had a great time with it.  Tucker's present was a jar of marchino  cherries that have been in the pantry for a couple months.  I just wish I had a video to show you how excited he was about his cherries!  It's the little things I guess.

We really had a nice Christmas.  We actually had one visitor that had come to work on some IT stuff at the hospital and he spent a little time with us that day.  But otherwise it was just us.  It was simple and sweet and I loved it.

By New Year's Eve our visitor had left and we had another just us gathering.  Summer and Sawyer were sure they were going to stay up until midnight.  We started a movie with them around 8:00 and when all was said and done at 10:00 they were glazed over.  They wouldn't admit defeat of course but sleep came pretty quickly once they laid down:)

Now we are staring down the packing process.  I am not one to really work ahead but maybe this week I'll pack a box or two.  Our departure date is January 18 which will be here before we know it.  We are ready.  I tend to get pretty excited actually until I really think about the finality of it.  It's not like we'll just be able to take a weekend trip to Haiti for a visit.  And in the past when people have left Bonne Fin, they could come back and be with whatever missionaries happened to be here.  But that's not the case anymore.  It feels strange to leave and not have anyone else coming.  But the main leadership roles at the hospital have been filled, Harvest Call will still be involved, and we know it's in God's hands.

So yeah, there's a whole lot of mixed feelings about everything and still quite a bit of unknowns to figure out in the coming months.  But we are at peace with it all and will just keep walking forward one step at a time!

Life In November

 Well November sure went quick.  Anyone else?  Every time I blog I think how I'm not going to wait a whole month to do it again but here we are.  Again.  Anyway...

We've had this map on our wall since we moved here.  It was put up by the Nussbaum's when they lived in this house.  We've always had a pin in both of our families homes but decided to put a pin on for everyone that we've been here in Bonne Fin with for a significant amount of time.  Some of the pins are hard to see but there are 11 of them in 8 different states spanning the country from west coast to east coast.  Pretty cool!

We snapped a quick picture one day of all of our whole crew and will give them to our workers as part of their Christmas gift.  You'd never know by looking that two of them have the biggest, widest smiles that they frequently share with us!  Such a Haitian culture thing to not smile for pictures.

Summer found a lizard.  It was dead.  She had a string.  She tied the string to the lizard.  She carried it around for an entire afternoon.  Whatever.

All buckled up with nowhere to go.  I think the biggest culture shock for the boys when we move back will be having to wear shirts and shoes!

It's rare that kids from the community come in the yard to play but these boys are really polite and happened to catch me on a good day:)

He said to me "I'm Moses!"  It's a wet wipe.

We decked our halls!  Our tree stand consists of a popsicle box and some large books but it gets the job done.

We got a care package that included a little gingerbread village and the kids had a grand ole time decorating their houses.  We also have a fun box from the Herrmann's that has a little gift for each day of December.  They got their church ladies involved and it is so fun for us!  Needless to say, with all these care packages, much sugar has been consumed as of late!

Because I realized this guy is rather underrepresented in this post...

We also had the chance to go to the big missionary Thanksgiving in Cayes this year.  Last year we were still out of country after having Tanner and the year before we were out because of evacuation.  So we were really excited to be able to go once before we move back.  However, I didn't take any pictures.  And we were left the party right as they were rounding everyone up to take the big group picture because we like to avoid driving in the dark down here.  So there is no proof that we were there.  But we were and we really enjoyed it!

Tomorrow we're planning to have another Thanksgiving feast with the box of food we got from Agape.  Rick is in country right now as well as another Harvest Call Haiti guy.  So we'll cook up our turkey and have us a party!

Psalm 118:1

"O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good:  Because his mercy endureth forever."

October Going Ons

 The October going ons consist of the usual and the mundane.  Time is such a weird thing, isn't it?  When I think about the time we have left here it can either seem like we have so much time left or it can seem like it's so close to being done I just want it to slow down.  It really depends on my mood at any given hour and can change multiple times a day.  If I'm being totally honest, it usually leans a little more to the "seems really far away" side of things.  But I really do try to not wish it away.  As lonely as our days can be, we won't ever regret this time here.

We got a couple packages in the mail which was a huge boost.  We hadn't got much in awhile and it was really fun to get something again.  Grandma sent down bath crayons for Tucker's birthday and the kids spent about 30 minutes decorating the shower.  One out of two packages was completely used up:)

One day I looked outside at the shadows and noticed that it just looked like fall.  It made me so happy and I had a strong urge to snack on popcorn and apples.  It's a great fall snack and reminds me of my days at the elevator.  Good times!!

Sawyer has been asking to play games lately during his rest time.  One day he had the chess and checkers set and I walked in to him playing against Summer's doll who apparently forgot to get dressed that day!

Tanner loves to go outside.  He's able to just crawl around the areas close to the house.  However I do check on him periodically if only to get whatever rocks/dirt/dogfood etc. he has in his mouth at the time. 

He's okay just being quiet sometimes.

This one, not so much.

Lydianne stopped by to say goodbye before she moved to Cayes.  She'll be back and forth a little bit still and we love the times she's back!

One day I realized that Summer should have a 1st grade school picture.  For an iphone picture taken by a technologically challenged person on a whim, I'll take it.

Sawyer turned 5!  He was soooooo excited.

I do like to do cakes for my kids but with such limited resources down here it's hard to get really excited. We just make do.  Sawyer helped with sprinkles and put on all the little decorations by himself and he was happy.  The one thing we forgot was that he wanted Doritos on his piece of cake.  So strange.  But it never happened and he didn't seem to mind too much.

This chair is starting to unravel and Tucker uses that part of the chair for his microphone.  We have a water bottle or something that lost a rubber ring and he put that on like an earring.  Rockstar in the making.  By the way the chair was made by a Haitian with old plastic pop bottles.  I was hesitant to buy it when he came knocking at our gate but it turned out to be a great purchase!

I went outside to see these three sprawled on the concrete eating their snack while discussing who knows what.  And yes, Sawyer does eat!  I'm not sure there's ever been a time in my life when you could count my ribs!

We were glad to have Rick back for a coupe weeks along with Tom, a board member.  Saturday we have someone who is supposed to come in for a week to work on electrical stuff.  It's nice to see some other faces around!

Please continue to pray for Haiti and all it's people.  Gangs, kidnappings, economic and political woes make it hard for them to feel anything but hopeless.  Our workers just found out today that we plan to leave in January.  It was right before lunch that it came out and we had a very quiet and somber meal together.  We had told them once about the general plan for the hospital but they didn't know for sure our timeline.  They are sad and scared and don't have much confidence that the hospital can succeed without missionaries on the ground.  It's hard to know what to say that doesn't sound like an empty cliché to them.  Our cook's husband works in security at the hospital so for now they will still have some income, but the rest of them will not. It's just hard.

Psalm 34:18- The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.