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.

Earthquakes, Birthdays, This, That, And The Other

 I feel like this blog post has been hanging over my head.  Wanting to do one, feeling like I should, yet not really knowing what to say.  Everything and nothing happening all at the same time.  Everything and nothing running through my head.  So this may or may not be totally coherent.  Probably a little scattered.  But I'm here!

Before we came back from furlough, there was a team down here, one of which was IT support.  He spent some time working in Rick's office and found this on the wall.  It apparently had been there for years but maybe took on a little different meaning than it had before.  I thought it was kind of neat!

I had mentioned in my last post about our chimney that had damage.  This was the picture we got before we came back.  The team and some of the hospital garage guys kindly removed it before we returned so it wouldn't finish falling while the kids were playing in the driveway.  It used to house a water heater or something but now it was a place to put our security lights.  You can see both of them there on the top of it.  I didn't realize how much I relied on those lights until they were gone.  It's soooo dark out now outside our house.  We do have a porch light that we never used before and we are using it now, so that helps some.  We also found a few small cracks in our walls but they're all just right on the surface.  I don't think our house will be collapsing any time soon.

It's good to be back.  We weren't sure how things would go or if we were making the right decision by not delaying our return.  Once we were back though, we were so glad we made that choice.  My parents travelled with us which was so helpful.  After going through security at one point my dad made a comment of how it's just a little more stressful with four little kids.  Yes, yes it is.  That's why we have you come along:)

It's a long two days of travel, but it's way better now that there is a regular flight from Port au Prince to Cayes.  Even so, the kids were bushed.  We have to go from the main airport in PAP to a smaller one to take the flight out to Cayes.  Once we got there and were trying to check in, the kids just sprawled on the floor, not caring about anything but being done travelling.  But overall they did great.  Thank you for your prayers!

Before we came back we knew there were still aftershocks going on and that they would probably continue on for awhile yet.  Thinking about that really didn't bother me until we got here and went to bed that first night.  I found myself a little more anxious about it than I expected.  I wasn't afraid of another huge earthquake, but we had been told that some of the aftershocks were big enough to make you think about getting up and out of the house.  We just didn't know what to expect and I was nervous about it happening at night.  If it was a big one, how would we even get the kids up and out?  Turns out, all was well.  We had one the next day and the kind of knew what to expect after that.  We still have them, but they're getting fewer and farther between.  There's been a few pretty strong ones including one that jolted us awake in the middle of the night.  Last Saturday morning there was a pretty big one but then nothing this week until right when I sat down to do this post there was a really small one.  We heard it more than we felt it.  It's a little bit eerie to hear the earth rumble like that.  The big ones especially give us just a little glimpse of how scary it must have been.  It helps me with my feelings of wishing we had been here:)

Just a few days after we got here, Summer's tooth finally fell out.  Finally.  It had been loose for over a month.  Since then her other one has come out too and I'm so happy about it.  She had shark teeth for so long with her permanent ones right behind the baby ones!

One night I went outside for something and the sky was gorgeous.  I don't usually get terribly worked up over sunsets but this one made me stop in my tracks.  I had to go up to the roof to try and get a picture.  As usual, it didn't last long.  I just realized tonight that I had taken that picture on my birthday.  I guess that was God's present to me!

We got started with school a week after getting here.  I wouldn't say it's ideal, because there's a lot of things we have to just make do with but I'm really enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.  It gives me something to do and Summer is an easy student.  I mean, we've had our moments that weren't super pretty but we're doing good.

One evening the kids and I were just restless so I took the big three to the lookout.  We were only there for about 20 minutes but it was good for all of us.

Then there's Tanner.  Sooooo stinkin cute and getting a little more ornery.

He's everywhere these days.

His favorite activity- I try to keep the lid shut and the bathroom door closed but there's three other munchkins and that doesn't always happen.  Tanner seems to find his way back at some point nearly every day.  And now he can open the lid so there's that.

Poor Tucker was sick for about a week.  With my limited medical expertise and my flashlight I used to try to look and his throat, I first diagnosed him with strep ("Mommy, my float hurts!") and then moved onto thrush.  He had mouth sores and a lovely thick white coating on his tongue.

Whatever it was, he was a sad and tired little boy.

He took good naps every day and was still ready for bed by 7:00 or 7:30.

And he had the most awful breath through it all which was really pleasant when he was crying just inches from my face.  Poor guy.  But he's better now!

Livin' the good life.

Seriously.  What a cutie/stinker!

He turned one on the 19th.  He's the fourth kid so he doesn't get his own blog post.  We had a small team here that week so we actually got to have a little bit of a party!  We're thankful for random people who come to our kids's birthday parties and help us eat all the cake:)

He didn't get terribly messy, but he did like his cake!

Our kids enjoyed having a few extra people around, too!

Tucker had his birthday too, just four days after Tanner on the 23rd.  The team was still here but they didn't come back.  They just got leftover cake that I took to the guesthouse.  I decided this is the last year I can get away with picking whatever dessert I want for Tucker's birthday.  I had chosen a caramel pumpkin coffee cake which was amazing, but Tucker didn't agree.  The day before he told me he wanted frosting for his birthday and I said "sorry!".  Maybe next year.

The kids always think they want to sleep on the trampoline so we finally said they could try.  Danny was the nice parent who agreed.  We knew they would never fall asleep unless they were really tired.  So we let them stay up late watching a movie before they headed out.  They went out around 10:00.  By 10:45 they were back in the house in their own beds.  Just as we suspected might happen.  But now they got it out of their system!

And there you have it a semi coherent blog post.  I think.  Key word being semi.

We are the lone rangers on campus this weekend.  Lydianne went to Cayes and there are no visitors right now.  Danny is overseeing the power for the weekend which is not something he's especially comfortable with.  If you're looking for a reason to pray for us, you can pray that the generators do their job and the lights stay on!

Psalm 18:28  "For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness."

Heartaches And Updates

 I have been contemplating a post for awhile now, but where to even begin?  Even as I sit here ready to start typing, I hardly know what to say.  The last week and a half has brought so many things that just hurt.  The earthquake in Haiti, Afghanistan, and the tragic death of a sweet little girl in our home church family.  For us personally, the earthquake has the most effect.  We have some pretty mixed emotions about being here vs there.  At first I really really struggled with not being there.  I wanted to be able to experience everything together with our team rather than watching and trying to process from a distance.  I wanted the people in our Haitian community to feel our support and not think we abandoned them in a time of trouble.  I just wanted to be there.  With some time to process and have some much needed conversations, I am peaceful in knowing that God had us here and that is the best thing for our family.

We also grieve with our church family.  While we are not close to the family who lost their little girl, when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts.  Last night we had a previously planned get together with some friends.  We took some time to break into groups and pray for all the heavy things we are feeling right now.  It was a special and encouraging time together.

With all that happening, life and plans and furlough are still going on.  So while it hardly feels right to do a big fun post, for memories sake and just for the sake of updating, I still would like to!

After we left the lakes we headed straight to Illinois for 2 1/2 weeks.  (Side note: while we were driving, Danny got on his phone while we were driving through a residential area.  His phone picked up some WiFi and one of the networks he saw was called "hideyokidshideyowifi".  We got a good kick out of that one!)  Anyway, our time there started off with a bang:)  The first night I went to watch "Oklahoma" with a few of my peeps.  Angie and I had a good ole time laughing and reminiscing together because we had done that musical when we were in high school.  Well, she was in it, I was a lowly stage crew.  But still there for every rehearsal nonetheless and knew the play very well.

The next night we caught up with the Herrmann's who were in the area for a birthday party.  It was so good to see them and I love how our kids just pick up where they left off!

Then things slowed down for a little while and we had some time to relax and be with my family.  Many a tractor ride was taken, mostly by Tucker.  He could spend hours and hours in the tractor with grandpa.

They loaded turkeys while we were there which I believe is the first time my kids have seen that whole process.

Lots of swimming time!

Busting out the ole' lincoln logs.

After a night of overly hyper kids, we tried to wind down a little bit by singing a couple songs.  It kind of worked.

Summer and Sawyer had swim lessons with Libby!  That is one area where we just can't seem to get going in.  It's a mixture of fear and lack of opportunity.  But they loved going in each day and made great strides in just being comfortable with the water.  Summer especially has been working hard to improve and practice what she learned.  She is fearless in so many other things as far as outside kid activities.  I told her she is really good at a lot of other things that are scary so I know she can learn to swim good even though it's kind of scary for her:)

A huge highlight of furlough was a little getaway to Galena we took with just the two of us.  Galena is in the northwest corner of IL and while most of the state is flat, Galena is hilly and rolling and really pretty.  Even though I do think there is beauty in miles and miles of flat cornfields:)  Also we were so thankful we went before the earthquake.  It would have felt tainted otherwise.

It started off with a doozy of a thunderstorm.  Like the grip the steering wheel and lean forward like a little old lady and drive about 35 mph on the interstate type of storm.  We pushed through for a little while but when the strong need for a bathroom break arose we pulled off and just waited out the storm for awhile at the gas station.

We packed a lot into our two days!  There were a few nice restaurants and shopping at a bunch of cute little places downtown.

And there was an alpine slide and chair lift/zipline thing.

A late night game of scrabble at our BnB.  I had no shortage of vowels and Danny dominated for most of the game.  But I had a pretty good comeback and the score ended up being fairly close!

For breakfast we tried going to a yummy looking restaurant but with a wait time longer than we were hoping for, ended up going somewhere else.  Trip advisor told us it's where the locals go, which made half of us excited.  We showed up to the place and realized we were having breakfast in a bar.  But the food was good and it wasn't busy so I guess it was successful!

With of couple of nature preserves in the area we spent the rest of the morning doing some hiking.

Our biggest thing was a hot air balloon ride!  It was a bucket list thing for both of us and we decided to just go for it.

I was pretty nervous right at first but once we got going I relaxed and enjoyed the view!

We landed once and the person living across the road was NOT happy with us.  By the way he was yelling we all half expected him to pull a gun.  So the pilot of the balloon took off again and we got an extra mile or so in that we otherwise wouldn't have:)  We landed in a waterway both times.  He kept talking about how there's usually a lot of hayfields for him to chose from but this year there was just corn and beans.  He said he's from Iowa and he knows better than to land in one of those fields!

I'm not super adventurous and I don't think I've ever signed a waiver before that had the words "including death" in it!

Our last couple days in IL, we took a little trip to Brookfield Zoo with my family.  We spent the night in a hotel that was being renovated.  Between renovations and some virus that people keep talking about, the hotel breakfast was sub par.  So we hit up the Krispy Kreme by the hotel.

We went to Brookfield because my dad saw advertised that they had a dinosaur exhibit.  Our kids, especially Sawyer, have been really into dinosaurs.  I don't really know why- I have never been into them and I don't remember talking about them with the kids but they love them!

Sawyer's very favorite is the pterodactyl!

Tucker's primary mode of transportation for the day was grandpa's shoulders.

And then we had a flat when we got out to the van:(  Dad and my brother got us fixed right up and we were on our way.  We would have been pretty lost without them!  And it's not my favorite thing in the world to drive home from Chicago on a doughnut when I can only go 55-60 mph.  But we made it.

At our supper stop Summer pulled out a handful of treasures from her pocket.  That girl...

And I got to meet baby Roy!!  It was truly a blessing for me to be in IL when Katrina had her baby!

It was a time well spent.

On the road again back to Indiana with a lunch stop at Steak-n-Shake.

More cousin time and swimming time.

Catching up on doctor appointments.

And we got to see Carrie!!  So good to catch up and laugh together and talk about everything and watch her love on our kids again!

And that pretty much wraps up our furlough.  We have a few things going on yet this week but that's it.  We are supposed to be going back to Haiti on Saturday but we are not sure yet if we will be.  There are a few logistic things we need to figure out still.  We have a meeting planned for Thursday morning where we will make our final decision.  It's not ideal to be making that decision so last minute but it's just our reality.

From everything we've heard, our house is fine to live in but that will be getting double checked this week.  We have a chimney type thing on our roof that crumbled but it did not affect the rest of the house.  Our freezer door came open during the earthquake and since there was nobody there to shut it, all of our food went bad.  We have minimal pantry items because I had cleaned out pretty good before we left.  Whether or not we can easily travel to town and get groceries is a definite factor in our decision.  Also, is it still chaotic and how is the community interacting with the missionaries by now?  Would we just add to the chaos by taking four little kids or would it be just fine for us to go and resume life?  So many things to think about!

I might do a more specific earthquake/Haiti update but for now I wanted to get this on here.  If you made it through the whole post, congratulations!

One thing before I quit here, the verse that keeps coming to me these days is John 16:33.

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world."