Birthdays In Haiti And Other Stuff

Well I survived celebrated my first birthday in Haiti!  I was feeling a mix of excitement and dread.  Excitement because I reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy like my birthday.  Although I'm starting to not be a fan of the number that goes along with it.  But dread because I reeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy like my birthday and I knew it would be different this year.  On Monday, the day before, I had a pretty rough day.  Like, maybe the worst one since we got here.  I was a little nervous that it would carry over into Tuesday so that night I prayed that God would help me to not have too high of expectations.  I know- such huge problems, right?  But even though it was different than normal, all was well.

For starters, Danny was an all star and even in the craziness of getting ready to move (and boy was it crazy), he still managed to get me some presents and bring them down, all wrapped and ready to go!  (All we had was Christmas paper so that's what I got.  Actually that's still all we have and there's a lot of it so we will just use it for all occasions while we're here until it's gone!)  Anyway, him doing that really meant a lot.  Like, a LOT.  Now, the presents themselves almost need a blogpost of their own because two were fails, one being an epic fail.  But we had a good laugh over it!

Summer and Saywer made me cards and Tucker was just cute.  They were pretty excited to give me the cards!

For supper, the Aberles watched our kids while we had a little date!  We got "takeout" from the gate and took a gator ride a little ways up the mountain to a scenic lookout.  It's a great view and it's quiet, away from generators and fans and lots of motorcycles.  But we pulled up there and a couple guys were there chopping down trees.  So we went a little further up the mountain and found another scenic spot and made it work.

We enjoyed some peace and quiet, had the company of a cow who was grazing the the shrubbery nearby, and were able to just sit and talk while we ate.  Maybe next year we'll go a little further to an actual restaurant or the beach or something.  But for this year, we took what our language and driving skills allowed.  So it ended up being a good day and I am back to being seven years older than Danny instead of just six.

In other non birthday news, here's just a little snippet of our everyday.

I found Sawyer in this box one day, which is actually our makeshift hamper until the next sea container comes.  I asked him what he was doing and he was using the flap in front of him as an ipad.  He had discovered Danny's hiding spot not too long before that and after too much screen time, the ipad found a different hiding spot.  So he had to make do with the box.  Desperate times, I guess!

The kids love to play in the shower for some reason.  They don't love to take showers, but playing in it is okay:)  In this particular picture, Summer had put a couch cushion there so Tucker would have an easier time crawling in.  Thoughtful, but not a great plan for the cushion!

This is Falens, our language tutor.  You could say it's a love/hate kind of thing.  Love because I do want to learn Creole because it's really hard to not be able to communicate with people.  But it's been a tough and very very slow process.  I can see progress but it's not easy!  I don't know if I expected it to be easier or what but I get frustrated pretty easily.  

Even so, we are glad to be here and are getting a little more acclimated.  Most days anyway.  Some days leave us feeling completely drained from trying to live in such a different place than what we're used to.  We have hired our house help!  They will be starting next week and we are both excited and nervous.  Story of our lives these days.  Hopefully soon I will be able to introduce them to you on here!  For now, it's supper time.  Leftovers tonight, but I need to go warm them up so you all have a great night!

So. Much. New.

 Hey all!  Things are going well for us- fairly smooth- but there is so many new things to learn and our minds are feeling a little overloaded!

First I wanted to make sure and get a picture up from when Danny's parents were here.  They were such a good help!

No bath tub in Haiti, so the sink it is!  We've stuck him in the shower a couple times with the other two but he's not a fan and it's a lot easier to get him clean in the sink:)  He loves to splash!

We tried out "lunch at the gate" for the first time.  I'm not sure if it's considered a restaurant or a food stand or what, but it was good!  A couple of ladies serve chicken and rice and the Haitian version of a hot pocket right outside the hospital gate.  Just know that if you should happen to come visit us there's a good chance you will experience lunch at the gate:)

I caught the tiniest little gecko in our kitchen.  I mean, I don't love having them in the house but I would say I've already learned to tolerate them because I know they eat bugs and they're not to interested in me.  However, I especially wasn't a fan of having one crawl all over the dishes I had just washed.  So I decided he should be caught and released.  Although this morning I saw another tiny little gecko run under the stove so I'm thinking it might have been the same lil guy.  As long as he stays off the counters!

One Sunday each month we have a small church service together with the missionaries from Les Cayes and the surrounding area followed by an early supper.  This past Sunday the service was held here in Bonne Fin.  At one point I realized I hadn't seen the kids in awhile and wanted to make sure they were still around and hadn't wandered off.  I found them both playing with Selah's (a girl from BF) doll house with no other kids around.  They have plenty of bickering between them, but they really play pretty good together.  And they've had this lingering game of "house" or "family" or something they've been playing where I have been the designated grandma.  For two days Sawyer called me grandma.  I'm not sure how I feel about that!

Yesterday we started our official language training.  We will have lessons for one hour every afternoon for who knows how long.  It seems like such a big mountain in front of us, especially since my mind keeps trying to speak Spanish.  

Tonight we both had our first driving lesson.  The vehicles we use down here are beasts.  They are built specifically for places with rough terrain and of course they are manual transmission.  Thanks to my roomie way back in the day, (Hi Bex!!) I had already had some basic training in driving a stick shift.  I think that helped a lot because even though it was a long time ago, I wasn't super nervous.  Granted, I pretty much drove in a circle on flat ground around the hospital tonight...  My next time I will practice stopping and starting on hills.  Which is pretty important since we live on a mountain.  It will probably humble me significantly:)

SO, there's a lot of new things to take in.  It is overwhelming and tiring trying to learn so much.  Sometimes kind of fun.  Danny has even more than me as he has started going to the hospital in the mornings to learn some of  the ropes there.  We do appreciate your prayers!

And So It Begins

Sunday, August 11 2019.  'o dark thirty:

We showed up at the airport with one carry-on, one personal item, and one checked bag for everyone who had a seat.  Plus one more checked bag, plus two car seats.  (One car seat was already down here waiting for us.)  Not too bad compared to some who make a big move and don't have the luxury of sea containers!

Summer was my seat mate from Ft. Wayne to Atlanta.  She did great!  She got over her awe filled wonder about airplanes and flying and promptly fell asleep.  And so did I.

Sawyer's (loud and hyper) awe filled wonder continued on through Atlanta and didn't stop until we were in baggage claim in Port-au-Prince.  It was then that he finally decided to fall asleep.

I just got such a kick out of him!  He pulled Danny's carry on suitcase behind him for most of the Atlanta airport.  And he did pretty good with it too!

He and Tucker loved watching all the activity going on outside during our layover.  And I didn't even get any pictures of Tucker on the plane!  He was in the seat ahead of us with Danny's parents.  He did great for as little sleep as he had.  He survived on a couple short naps and then crashed finally on the van ride from PAP to Bonne Finn.

We made it to Port, through a fairly stressful baggage claim, customs and immigration, and finally to the van.  We had about a 4 1/2 hour drive then where we learned that Summer gets carsick on winding, bumpy roads:(  Of course I had packed some children's dramamine.  In the sea container.  So it was already at our house in Haiti and not with me!  The drivers we had took us to the bottom of the mountain we live on where we met up with some people from the hospital who took us the rest of the way.  While we were waiting for that trade off, the kids decided they were DONE.  I mean, I felt the same way but I didn't plop down on the ground at least:)

And that's where my pictures end.  I have more on my phone that haven't made it to my computer yet.

Danny's parents stayed with us through Thursday and then left early Friday morning.  We were so glad to have them here while we got unpacked and tried to settle in.  Especially for the travelling.  It would have been a complete nightmare without them!

Our first week was mostly spent just unpacking and organizing.  And trying to start learning how to live here.  Everything takes longer, plain and simple.  For example, I went grocery shopping for the first time.  We left at 7:15 in the morning and got home around 12:30 in the afternoon.  It won't always take that long though.  Once it's more familiar and I can drive and do it myself it should cut down to a three or four hour trip instead of 5!  We've also enjoyed starting to get to know the other missionaries here a little better.  We had met most of them, but not all.  Summer has really enjoyed playing with some of the other girls that are here.  They are all a little bit older than her but have been great about letting her play.  Sawyer has been okay- he needs his routine and the last few weeks have been anything but that.  He seems to be doing better though now that he isn't being shuffled around everywhere and is able to sleep in the same place for more than a few nights at a time.  Tucker has been his normal, easy going self for the most part.  He slept a whole bunch the first few days.  Probably a combination of being tired and hot.

In the next week we will hopefully begin language training, though I'm really not for sure on that.  Danny will be going to the hospital to start learning a few things down there, and we will be looking to hire our house help.  All of those things are kind of scary and daunting in their own ways so any prayers are appreciated!

I will try to post more regularly than I have been.  It will help us feel more connected when we're living so far apart and in a very different world.  Plus if I post more often, you won't forget about us, right? :)  So until next time...

All Of The Lasts

Phew!  We made it:)  We arrived to our home in Haiti around 8:00 on Sunday night.  I do want to share about our week so far but first I want to post about all the events that went down in the last weeks before we moved.  There was A LOT.  It was good, but it was busy and tiring and emotional and draining and... but definitely good.  It took me nearly a half hour to get all my pictures loaded and when they finally did get onto the blog they were in the wrong order.  So rather than take another half hour to fix it, I'm hoping you'll just bear with me.

The last Sunday we were in church before our actual move day was our sending service.  My immediate family had planned on coming, but also some of my extended family came out too for a nice little surprise!  It was really special for me to have them come.  We had the lead ministers from our sending church, my home church, my brother and Danny's brother all take part in the service.  We really appreciate all of them and I am looking forward to listening to the service again when I don't have Summer and Sawyer sitting at my feet demanding attention!

We had supper at our house (along with a DQ cake for my mom's birthday) and went to hang out at one of our favorite parks.  I got a little flak for wanting to take everyone to the park but once they saw it they agreed it was pretty cool:)  Danny was also in a wedding on Sunday so he wasn't able to be with us on Saturday night.  Now.... hold that thought....

A couple weeks BEFORE the sending service weekend, we headed up to the lakes.  Danny's parents go for two full weeks and since he was done with work, we were able to spend a little more time than usual up there.

Tucker Joseph enjoyed himself:)

Sawyer turned into a huge weenie and didn't want to go on anything that went in the water.  Plus, he doesn't like loud noises and spent his ride on the jet ski plugging his ears.

He rather preferred sitting in a five gallon bucket full of water!

Best frenemies.  There is a LOT of personality in this picture:)

Tucker would spend half an hour at a time just splashing in the baby pool.  He loved it!

Built in besties:)

More built in besties!

A double date mini golfing with Aaron and Cass.  There was a slight miscommunication on what to do with the golf clubs.  But a good time was had by all!

Oooohhhhh this kid.  Though he gives me the most gray hairs, I could just smooshle him!

Summer had been talking about "fingernail paint" for a very very long time.  Much to her delight, her older cousins had some at the lakes and Darci painted her nails for the first time in her life.  She was so excited!

Coolest zoo ever.  If you're looking for something unique to do in Shipshewana, here's an idea!

Where else can you feed and pet the zebras?

I mean, seriously.

Watching this deepening friendship and knowing it's about to change drastically made it a little harder to think about moving!

Okay.  That thought you were supposed to be holding from before the lakes pictures?  Time to go back to that.  So our sending service was during morning church because the wedding Danny was in had already been scheduled for the afternoon service.  Ideally we would not have done them both on the same day but that's about the only option we had.  My family all left at lunch time, taking our kids with them.  I went to the wedding and reception, then I drove to Illinois to spend a few more days there.  It was the most peaceful drive going out that I've had in a long time!

I would have loved to see AAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the people out there one last time but that was obviously impossible.  But I did pack in just about as many as I could!  Along with two lunches from Caleri's, of course!

Breakfast with these two, complete with about three hours of uninterrupted conversation around the patio table.

Pedis, Mexican, Target, and Uncle Bob's ice cream with this crew.

Catching up with a long lost friend over some delicious pizza that she lovingly prepared for me, followed by a walk, followed by more catching up while kicking up our feet in her cute little house:)

Cramming in a whole lotta cousin time!

A quick shot with my bro "in front of the brown doors".  That's ALWAYS the place mom would tell us to stand when we were taking pictures for something.  So it was only appropriate for us to get a picture there again:)

I went back home on Wednesday right after lunch.  Thursday and Friday were spent getting the last of our stuff cleared out of the house before our closing on Friday afternoon.  Thursday night when I shut out the lights before bed I had to just stand there and have a little cry while I soaked up some memories.

Friday after we had it all cleaned out, we brought the kids over one last time to see the empty house and to say goodbye to it.  Sawyer fell asleep on the way- I guess he wanted one last nap in his room!

Saturday night we actually had potluck!  We wanted to be able to say goodbye to people so we just went for supper and then left.  We went back to Danny's parent's for some good family time before saying our goodbye's to them.

Also, Friday night (told you these were all out of order!) we had a little get together with our advocate team.  We very much so appreciate the friendship of this group!  They sent us off with some prayer time and a little bit of singing.

Then on Sunday we got up a little before 4:00 in the morning and we were on our way!  Next up- our travels and first week!  Basically it can be summed up with one sentence that Summer said the other night around 3 in the morning.  "Mom, I'm COVERED in SWEAT!!"

Love you all:)

The Time Flies On...

Well much has transpired since the last time I posted.  People have been asking me if there will be a way to keep up with us when we're in Haiti.  I tell them this blog so hopefully I will get a little more consistent with the posting once we're there!  We've been filling our time these days with friends and family while trying to keep some sense of normalcy for our kids.  They've been great through this whole process but I think they definitely feel the changes happening.  They've had a lot more babysitters than usual, they hear all the talk that goes on about our move, and they're starting to see our stuff get packed up.  When they're low on sleep that for sure doesn't help matters.  It's easy to get frustrated but then I have to remember that I've had a lot more years than they have to learn how to manage my emotions during stressful and transitional times!  But really, they've been great.  I've been trying to tell them lately that I'm so glad God gave them to me and I'm hoping my actions match my words.

Our friends had a going away party for us in early June.  It was plenty early before our move but it was before a lot of people were gone on vacations.  We had an amazing evening!

We were supposed go to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum with my family in June, but, hello late planting season!  We were pretty bummed to not go but we did go to Illinois at least instead to at least be with the family.  It was Danny's birthday that weekend and we were able to get a birthday date in while grandma watched the kids!

Then his real present came later that week.  It was his 30th so I kinda wanted to go big.  He had a helicopter ride from our friend Shane who landed at Danny's parents where his surprise party was waiting on him.  He was truly surprised and had no idea.  I was so excited that it stayed a secret and we had a great party celebrating my favorite person!

Early morning piano time.  Or it might not have been early morning.  It might have been just a lazy pajama morning and was actually almost lunchtime:)

Danny and the kids climbed the fire tower one day while we were at the state park campground.  I started up while holding Tucker but realized I needed to hold onto both railings in order to succeed and went back down.  I was a nervous wreck the whole time they were climbing because there's just so many possible places to fall!  I spent my time trying not to picture my children flopping over a railing or falling through the stairs to the ground.  But they made it safe and seemed to enjoy it!

Also at the campground- we set up the pack n play outside for Tucker to have somewhere to hang out.  Sawyer climbed in and was smashing his face into the side.  It looked so funny!  He is such a little rascal but he brings a lot of laughter to our lives:)

Summer had her very first dentist appointment!  She was all excited about it for some reason and she did great!  I was feeling a little proud about how brave she was.  Cause I sure wasn't expecting it!

Summer and Sawyer's passports came.  The girl who took the pictures laughed and said they kind of look like poor little orphan children.  I kind of agree!

One day the kids got into my closet and raided our goodwill bag:)

House showings threw a wrench into many a naptime.  We survived but sometimes just barely.  Tucker was apparently very tuckered after one of them:)  He's a little under represented in this post but he's still just as chill happy baby as ever!  Oh, and he found the doorstop which has brought him much joy in the last few days!

We took another trip to IL which included a swimming party:)

The day after we got home from IL I had to take these two to get typhoid vaccines.  After showing up in the wrong spot first we made it, they cried, and we got treats afterward.

This past weekend we had a garage sale.  There was a little bit of time where Danny had to run to the bank so I had all the kids while trying to manage the sale.  I sent them inside to play for awhile and within about two minutes, Summer was back outside telling me that Sawyer had squirted her all over with syrup.  He did.  And he squirted the carpet.  And the kitchen floor.  ARGH!!!!!  I was pretty thankful to see Danny come home right about then!

So that's some of what we've been up to.  Today the other family going to Haiti is moving down.  I have said all along that when they move it means our move is really close.  And now they're moving.  This week and part of next we will be at the lakes.  We will come home and have a few days to finish packing up our house.  August 4th we will have our sending service during the morning church service.  Danny is an usher in a wedding that afternoon.  Me and the kids will travel west that day for one last IL trip and come back home Wednesday.  Danny will be working on the final wrap up stuff while I'm gone and after I get home we will close on our house.  Then August 11 we move!

Things are moving quickly and it's hard to believe it's here.  But we are feeling ready and peaceful at this point.  And we are very thankful for continued prayers and support!