… my money was on Samuel, falling out of a tree, during the first week we were in Haiti.  I was right on two of those three points.Around 3:30 yesterday afternoon, I was walking towards the house and Caleb was at the door, motioning for me to hurry.  “Sarah’s been hurt!”I found our six-year-old crying and moaning in Melissa’s arms.  The story was pieced together from several eye witnesses: Sarah and a couple of the Bundy kids were climbing a tree.  Sarah was swinging from a branch when it snapped.  She fell flat on her back and had the wind knocked out of…

We have been in Haiti a full week tomorrow and this is the first time I have updated my blog. I have THOUGHT about updating every day but have been lacking in either energy or internet connection each time it crossed my mind.Now there’s so much to write about, that I don’t even know where to start: Our Last Goodbyes, Our Time in Florida, Our Flight In, and now Getting Settled.  Each of those blog posts needs to be written if for no other reason than to give expression to dozens of big THANK YOUs.  The internet, however, seems to…

I downloaded pictures from my phone last night – pictures from the last week or so – and it made me tired just looking at them! And, once again, it’s hard to narrow my focus for posting here because so much has transpired in our lives these past few days.But it seems to me that the word “overwhelmed” sums things up nicely!  We tend to think of that word in negative terms – and we have been overwhelmed at times in a negative sense.  Packing boxes for ANY move is stressful, but this move is beyond anything we’ve ever experienced. …

Two weeks from tonight, we’ll be settling down for our first night as new residents in Vaudreuil, Haiti!  (Let’s not forget the “God willing” part, of course.)It’s been a crazy couple of days since our commissioning at One Mission Society headquarters last Friday.  I didn’t get any pictures of the actual service, but here’s a group shot of our fellow missionaries (and now dear friends) from our three weeks in Greenwood, Indiana: We were blessed to have my mother, Kris (one of Melissa’s former co-workers) and Kate and Storly (just back from a summer spent in Haiti) in attendance for our…

Tomorrow we finish our three weeks of what OMS calls Cross Training.  We have been living in an apartment on the campus of the OMS headquarters in Greenwood, Indiana and spending each weekday in class with over twenty other folks heading to various mission fields.  Our class represented not just America, but Northern Ireland and New Zealand and our fields stretch from Haiti to Spain to India and beyond.  Our teachers have covered everything from spiritual gifts to cultural sensitivity, mental health to holiness, and on-the-field security issues to conflict management.  Our kids have been in classes too, and enjoyed several field trips, along…

Last time I wrote about watching our kids experience grief in this move to Haiti our family is preparing for. That has been – and will be – tough.  But I’ve been caught off guard by my own grief as well. A few days ago I had to finish up a chore at our old house in preparation for it being rented again … or sold … or whatever God’s plan is.  A section of the outside garage wall had become water damaged and was simply crumbling away.  I had to rip away all the old wood and replace it with new…

One afternoon early last week during our cross cultural training we took the time to discuss transitioning from home to the mission field.  The seminar leader had a useful diagram to help us envision this emotionally charged period: a bridge from the known to the unknown.  The water below the bridge was labeled “CHAOS”!  Spot on!  The kids’ programming sometimes mirrors the adults’ and so we weren’t surprised last Thursday night when, an hour after the kids had been put to bed, Melissa and I found Samuel … happy-go-lucky, monkey-boy Sammy … quietly crying on the couch upon our return…

A week ago, as Melissa and I drove to Greenwood, Indiana to begin Cross Training, we had a little conversation about what was to come:     “Why in the world would OMS require three weeks of training before we head to the field?”     “I know.  Surely they could boil all the relevant info down to two weeks.  We have so much to do at home to prepare to leave.  I bet they could cover the important stuff in a WEEK if they tried.”     “Didn’t they talk about doing this online in the future?  THAT would be a good idea.”     “At least we are…

Time marches on – we’re now in Greenwood for three weeks of cross cultural training at OMS headquarters – so our trip to Pennsylvania is already starting to seem like a distant memory.  But it is such a PLEASANT memory that I can’t move one without at least posting a few pictures from the conclusion of that trip and giving a shout out to my cousin Jennifer and her family for hosting us at their home south of Pittsburgh for a couple of nights.Jennifer was an outstanding tour guide and host – at a less-than-convenient time in their summer schedule.  She…