I’ve spent a good chunk of time this weekend on catching up with my grading because it’s the end of the first quarter already and report cards are due this week.  (The rest of the weekend was spent on procrastinating on catching up with my grading.)So this afternoon I came across this bit of writing from Samuel about his Uncle Spencer and I just have to share it somewhere, so why not here?  It was supposed to be a “Character Sketch” paragraph, but it basically describes how Samuel treats his uncle like a jungle gym:          Whenever I lounge beside my…

… turned into a reminder to me: we live in a beautiful place!  I have not been running on a regular basis here, but this morning was cool enough to tempt me into a short run.  I did a mile and a half and then grabbed my camera for a cool down walk around the same loop.As I walked with my camera it really did give me fresh eyes for what I too often take for granted.  Yes, we’re less than three months into our new life in Haiti and I am already taking mountains, tropical flowers and palm trees for granted!I…

… but I didn’t MISS Halloween, if you know what I mean.The only costumes I have seen this fall have been in photos on Facebook.Not a single spooky decoration in a single yard or business window. No black cats, skeletons, mummies, or vampires. (The scariest thing I’ve seen recently was a rather large cockroach in the school library this morning.) The only discussions over whether or not a Christian should “celebrate” Halloween that I witnessed were also on-line and I wasn’t involved.  I just eavesdropped out of curiosity.Because, this year, I didn’t HAVE to do anything about Halloween at all.  It was…

A few weeks back now, I told Melissa that I feared I wasn’t adjusting to the Haitian heat.If anything, I was “maladjusting”!  It started as a tired feeling in the early afternoon.  As days went by, the afternoon feeling was downgraded to “run down” and then to “nearly immobile”.  And then the feeling started to spread to other parts of the day.  I would wake up feeling tired, feel relatively clear-headed through the morning hours at school, then grow comatose after lunch.  From that point to the close of the day, I couldn’t trust my thinking to be sharp.  Will…

Yesterday morning Melissa and the kids and I had the privilege of being invited along to share in the moment when the kids from The Potter’s House got their first glimpse of their home-to-be.  Jane knew we’d want to be a part of it and, besides, she needed another driver and vehicle to help transport the adult workers and 19 orphans about three miles down the road.We were excited to bring along Ethan, whose parents work at the Emmaus Biblical Seminary.  Ethan had stayed the night at our house and he jumped right in with the orphans – then again, they didn’t…

Over a week into school and Ruysdael and Johnny told me this past Tuesday that they have no books.  What?? Ruysdael shyly added that a couple of his teachers order him out of the room each day for not having the proper book for class!  And the thing is, I had asked them a long time ago whether they needed books.  “Oh no, we have books.” But then again, I would have known what books were required by reading their school papers … in French.  The language and cultural barriers get a bit frustrating at times.Since time was wasting and Cowman was off today (Friday),…

… regarding the orphans’ new home.  When Jane returned to the potential landlord a week later with the down payment he had requested, he attempted to jack up the price of rent AND demanded two years’ rent in advance.  Even if that kind of money could be raised up front, you wouldn’t be too smart to place it in the hands of a man who has proven himself so fickle and untrustworthy.  So it’s back to square one in the search for a new orphanage location.  Please lift the Director and Jane in prayer as they seek leads for a new place to…

The days are full and I will need to do a catch-all post soon to get current, but I thought I’d take a few moments tonight to share some pictures from our trip to the market in Cap Haitien yesterday. (Melissa let me get a nap this afternoon and now, even though it’s 11:00 pm, I’m still pretty awake!)I haven’t said a thing here yet about a pretty significant person in our family’s life here: Ma Louis.  She cooks for us three nights a week – typically Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – and goes to market for us on Fridays…

Before we moved to Haiti, I suspected one of the toughest parts would be responding to all the requests for financial help.  I knew it would be difficult, first, to hear the stories and, second, to not be able  to respond to every one.  Giving is hard on our limited budget, but not giving is even harder.  Some days we literally cannot walk out our door without finding someone on our steps needing some sort of assistance.  Mothers and fathers have asked for help in paying tuition to put their children in school.  (There is no free public education.)  Others…

Samuel turned 10 on Friday – our family’s first birthday in Haiti.  Melissa and I have been notorious over the last few years for running late in planning for Samuel’s birthday. This year we went shopping online over a week and a half in advance … but the presents didn’t arrive.  Thank goodness Grandma Gross got her package in the mail early – it came on Tuesday’s flight.  So Samuel got a new lunch box at breakfast time … And a new Star Wars Lego set in the evening. The Bundy kids came by first thing in the morning and…