I have really let my updates pile up since the first of the year, so here are some quick ups and downs from January.  Actually, I sat down to record the “ups and downs” and found that the “downs” were mostly inconsequential things in light of so many “ups”, praise the Lord!UP: The first Saturday in January brought my first opportunity to witness a Haitian wedding.  My friend Joab, after ten years of engagement, finally married his best girl. UP: Electric work is getting done around campus.  Many visiting teams have put a lot of effort into burying our electric…

The goal of the party, from my vantage point, was to get a group of kids out of their day to day routine and into a place where they could run, play and celebrate for a few hours.Daniel’s neighborhood is a tough place to grow up.  Streets are narrow and houses are shoulder to shoulder. The public water pump gushes water unfit to drink.  Education is rare.  Gutters are swollen with garbage. Shoes are not a given. Some folks live in shacks built on a foundation of landfill. The color scheme of the neighborhood is predominantly “cinder block” and “dust”.It’s…

Saturday: A long watch at the airport.  But worth the wait. We’ve got it all planned out! Sunday: Worship at Grace en Sion and then lunch and a swim at the Mont Jolie. Rose and her family joined us and she helped out by translating for Aunt Alecia and Melissa. The water’s a *little* cold here in late December.  But that didn’t keep our kids or their cousins out of the pool. Back home, Sarah was intent on showing Uncle Russ how she can climb the rope swing and touch the tree branch.  Impressive! We’ve been trying to keep everyone…

Tuesday, December 23A Care Package Tsunami!After a couple of weeks of no deliveries from MFI, they finally had space on a flight for OMS boxes and mail just in time for Christmas!  It was honestly a bit overwhelming.  In a good way.First up, a box from the Bradburns in Indiana.  These dear friends have blessed us several times with boxes at holiday times – and they seem to have a sixth sense about what will put a smile on our faces. For example, this time the box included a gingerbread mini village. – One of our past (cheapskate) Christmas traditions…

Once Melissa was back home with us, we went full-throttle into “special Christmas activity” mode, at Cowman and elsewhere. Samuel showing off a Christmas cookie – with a Sarah photobomb – in preparation for a Christmas party with my adult English students.  The main feature of Cowman’s Christmas party was a series of soccer matches: Parents vs. Staff, then winner against the Students. Coach David worked hard to ready the field. Here’s Cowman’s staff team.  The match should have been called Male Staff vs. Fathers.  I was a bit anxious because folks take soccer VERY SERIOUSLY here. And me, I…

The past couple of weeks have been full – and, as always, when life gets hectic/interesting around here, this blog gets rather quiet!  But I definitely wanted to do some updating before Christmas Day arrives (especially since two days later we’ll be enjoying a one week visit from my younger brother, Russ, and his family – and I’ll have all kinds of new stories to share, no doubt).  It’s been a full month since I wrote a “Part One” of an open letter to my young friend, Seven, about Daniel and his neighborhood ministry. And I was already backed up at…

Your mom sent me a message on Facebook the other day, packed full of your questions regarding my friend Daniel and the kids in his neighborhood he seeks to minister to on a regular basis.  I can tell that your mom (who is an old friend of mine) is proud to have an 11 year old daughter who is so concerned for kids she has never met in a country she has never visited. (Yet!) You’ve asked about Daniel and the needs of the kids and how you can help but before I TRY to answer your specific questions, I feel…

Buddy the Dog’s time has expired.  Don’t worry – he’s not dead. (By the grace of God and the strength of my willpower and the fact there was never a blunt object available when I needed one.)   I am joking, of course.  I am not the type to harm a dumb animal. When I think of how incredibly cute Buddy was as a puppy, I kind of miss him. (The puppy.  I miss the cute puppy.) And when I think of how excited Sarah was to receive Buddy for her birthday last January, it makes my heart ache to have…

This past week was like none other we have experienced so far in our time here in Haiti.  I wrote last time about the rains that had threatened three vulnerable families along the river bank on Monday – and I will update that story as soon as I have any new information to share.  (The only new development I had heard was that there was some strife at the rental because a number of extra people showed up to share the floor space as the rains continued to fall!)All through Monday night the rain fell in torrents.  God’s timing couldn’t…