The Potter is moving His kids.  The landlord of the orphanage’s current location sold his own house and announced this morning that he plans to move his family into the orphanage house.  Apparently, this wasn’t a complete surprise to anyone and the kids have plenty of time to relocate as he’s not asking them to be out until January.Turns out, they didn’t need a whole lot of time to find a new place.  The man who drives the orphans to school and back each day knew of a place to rent and led Jane to the owner.  After a bit…

You’ll have to forgive me, those of you who have been praying with us for a solution to our house problem, because the Lord has taken care of it in His time and I was so busy with the start of school and then so relieved to have a solution that I forgot to pass along the good news to you!It actually started the last few minutes before the opening bell of the first day of school – Labor Day Monday – when my mother-in-law, Trudy, Skyped with me to say that she had just come home from showing our house…

Within the first two weeks after our arrival in Haiti, a young man named Johnny started hanging out in the grassy area in front of our house with Caleb, offering to swap Creole lessons for English lessons.  Caleb gladly accepted the arrangement.A few days later, another young man was hanging around the yard – and then later around Cowman as we were busily making preparations in our classrooms for school to start.  He introduced himself as Ruysdael and, honest to goodness, one of the first things he said to me was “You are like a second father to me”!I have to…

“Jesus loves the little children.”  We got to sing these words with the orphans at The Potter’s House in both English and Creole this morning.  And it’s true, you know?This was the first time that Melissa and Hannah and Samuel and Sarah got to see the orphanage and meet the kids.  The occasion was a Saturday morning “Bible Club” that Miss Jane was starting today.   The passage of the morning was Mark 10:13-16:And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said…

… I’ve been on both ends of the language learning spectrum: from student to teacher.  Yesterday we went as a family straight out to Emmaus Seminary after school.  The kids were happy to play with the Heckman kids and the other children around the campus while Melissa and I met with Simeon, a recent graduate who is now working at the seminary.  It was our first time to meet Simeon, a tall, lanky young man who enthusiastically shared his knowledge of Creole with Melissa and me.  Thankfully, we are not entirely unfamiliar with Creole, as our Haitian friend in Indiana,…

Having transitioned from youth ministry eight years ago into full-time teaching, I grew to expect the hectic pace of the opening of a new school year to leave me feeling unprepared, a bit anxious, and completely overwhelmed.  BUT at least THOSE beginnings had the virtue of being somewhat predictable.  We’d stock up on fast and easy foods for lunches, set our alarms early, get all the kids up, dressed, fed and out the door to the van.  On the very first morning, I would always make sure we got a picture of our kids outside and ready to hit the road. Once at school, I could count on the bells…

After worship this morning we spent most of the afternoon today at Cowman, making final adjustments to the rooms and prepping for the arrival of students for the first day of school tomorrow.  I still need to do some planning for tomorrow, so I will make this post mostly pictures and a bit of commentary, so I can finish my work.  And if you’re the type to fuss at us about not taking a Sabbath (and you should be!), we would simply point out that we took our Sabbath a day early.  Yesterday was a wonderfully refreshing day at the pool of…

If I wait until my thoughts are completely coherent to write something here, this blog might remain blank for quite a while longer.  By evening time I have taken my second shower and I’m starting to cool off physically, but my brain has been cooked by 9:00 PM.  That’s when the main power goes out and the inverter kicks on with battery backup to a few outlets and overhead lights throughout the house.  When I sit down at the computer at that point, I get to witness the variety of Haitian insect life as dozens of unique bugs are drawn…

If I wait until my thoughts are completely coherent to write something here, this blog might remain blank for quite a while longer.  By evening time I have taken my second shower and I’m starting to cool off physically, but my brain has been cooked by 9:00 PM.  That’s when the main power goes out and the inverter kicks on with battery backup to a few outlets and overhead lights throughout the house.  When I sit down at the computer at that point, I get to witness the variety of Haitian insect life as dozens of unique bugs are drawn…

And one to go.One of my biggest fears in moving to Haiti was driving on the roads here.  It’s hard to put into words the craziness of Haitian driving.  There’s no line running down the center of the road – because lanes are only hypothetical anyway.  If you need to get around a stopped tap-tap, a herd of cows, or a massive pothole, feel free to swerve into oncoming traffic.  Just swerve back to your side before being hit by a speeding motorcycle weighed down with 5 or 6 people or dragging a load of 8 foot rebar.  One of the other…