Memorial Stones

Last night I went to bed pondering answered prayers. Sometimes answered prayers seem monumental and other times they are tiny nudges reminding us that God truly cares about the little details of our daily lives. While thanking God for both the big and small petitions He has answered the past year, I prayed that we will never cease to remember all He has done for us. God has stretched us and grown our faith in ways I never could have imagined. Walking by faith and not by sight is a privilege of freedom. We are often asked if we actually like living in Haiti. We and our children always answer "yes". Then follows "why?" That is really hard to explain because our "yes" has come with experience. We experience a lot of ugly in Haiti but it comes alongside a beautiful freedom. We wish everyone could experience this freedom. But freedom always comes with a pricetag. Freedom comes either after experiencing significant loss or at the expense of someone paying the price of your freedom. There are many people and things that in my heart I have felt we have lost or have been forced to let go in the past year. We gave up many things we used to feel were important when we moved to Haiti. We sacrificed many freedoms in order to give freedom to our adopted girls. We sacrified jobs, money, friends, houses, cars, and almost everything that used to make daily life easier...not just when we moved to Haiti but as God stretched us continually after we got here. Many days I wake up and wonder how we got here. I don't want to forget. I want my children to remember how we got here. I want my children to tell these stories to their children someday. We never want to forget that Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom. There is nothing we will experience in this life that compares to His sacrifice for us.

Last night I thought about our family friends, the Martins, that were a source of encouragement and discipleship in our early married years (and their ministry has continued to do so). One evening after dinner at their home we noticed an interesting curio cabinet full of strange collectibles and asked them about it. They told us that this cabinet was a special memorial where they kept records of answered prayers. I remember them pulling out a miniture toy blue van. They told us about a time when they needed a larger vehicle in order to transport ministry materials and the Lord provided a blue van. Eric and I always wanted to do something like this with our family. 

This idea comes from the book of Joshua as the Lord made him leader of the people of Israel after the death of Moses. Joshua is about to lead the people out of the wilderness into the promised land and the Lord directs him to set up "memorial stones" as a sign for the generations to come so they will never forget God's faithfulness.

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. Those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. He said to the sons of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall inform your children, saying, 'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.' "For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God has done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever."

Joshua 4:19-24

Because we have moved 10 times in the past 12 years of our marriage a curio cabinet hasn't worked well for us. So, this blog serves as our memorial--our showcase of God's faithfulness. 

Last year we prayed over pursuing the adoption of another child and for a brief time we were matched with a baby boy we love.  We prayed and waited for many months to allow another family to come forth because we were not at all eager to go through yet another Haitian adoption process. When another family did not come forward we eventually turned in paperwork that would allow us to foster him while in the adoption process to give him a better chance and open up a bed for another child at the orphanage. We collected items for him and prepared to bring him into our home.

Then God answered our prayer much differently than we anticipated. Instead of the baby boy we had been praying for coming to live with us, a 15 year old boy showed up unexpectedly at our door. Then a 4 year old boy. Then we found out we would have to completely redo Esmée's adoption paperwork. We were told that with the particular complications in Esmée's paperwork there was no way to begin a new adoption at the same time. We also were told that there was now a family that could pursue the baby boy and at that time with all that had happened we had no idea how we would manage with a new baby in our home. We let him go.

I got to see him again a few months ago at the orphanage. It was bittersweet.

But all the while Eric and I really struggled with how we would be able to care for a baby (let alone afford another adoption) considering our meager income, living arrangements, upcoming travels, and the many needs of our 4 children. We knew that God had answered our prayers about the baby boy with a "no" for our good and in time He mended our hearts.
Ever so sweetly the Lord placed a baby in our home...not to parent, but to love.
Her gigantic smiles melt away the hard parts of our days.
Little Evangeline is an answer to prayer and brings us much joy! She makes missing all my little nieces a little more bearable, though she makes me think about them even more!

We will remember that unanswered prayers are for our good and that in time our joy will be full.

This is our new inverter.
It allows us to have electricity in our home in Haiti.
We prayed for God to provide the money for this expense as He called us to move to a new town/new home with few provisions.

We will remember that God always provides for where He calls us to go.

These are our new batteries that go with the inverter.
We were able to purchase these things only because of friends who love and care about us who were obedient to God in giving.

We will remember that the Body of Christ is a blessing.

We knew before moving to St. Marc that our new home and school would not have a yard.
We prayed for a place that our children could play and enjoy God's creation.
We discovered that we could walk to the beach.
And these pieces of God's creation came home with us.

We will remember to enjoy and praise Him for creation.

We found some living treasures too!
A snail and hermit crab are new family pets.
They were carried home in these jars also found among the trash that lines the beach as it does everywhere in Haiti.

We will remember that God helps us find ways to get us through our days, that we are His treasures, that He carries us, fills our lives with joy and that He often does this through the smallest of things.

This picture was taken on our way to our first day of school at El Shaddai Learning Center.
Honestly, I believed and utterly felt I was at the end of my rope with homeschooling 4 children with a wide variety of needs in a 4th world country. I prayed that this school would be a good fit for our girls academic and social needs that I was struggling to meet at home. I prayed that our boys would adjust to being the only white students and that the school would be a good fit for them too.

Today was the last day of our first week of school and all 4 kids have come home each day to each report that they had a great day.
We do not have school on Fridays which allows for us to still do some supplemental schooling at home...learning the things we enjoy learning about together and not so much of the things that make for frustrating, draining days.

God is answering our prayers for our children...and for us to keep our sanity.

We will remember that God knows how much we can handle, and what is best for the children He has entrusted to us.

Here is Evan with new school friends.
All our kids have made new friends this week.
The past few months as I have prayed for my childrens friendships I have remembered a lonely time in my childhood when I had been homeschooled, transferred to 3 different schools in a year, and struggled to find a real friend at a new school. I was 13 years old at the time. I prayed specifically that when I got to my new school that God would provide just one special friend. Little did I know the friend He picked out for me was praying the same prayer. I will forever be thankful for God's gift of Stephanee in my life. I shared this story with my 13 year old in her loneliness. We have been praying together for her special friend. Today Elita Marguerite came home with a page she had written about how thankful she is for her family, her new school, her new special friend (whom is playing at our house now) and her new___ (another answer to prayer below).

We will always remember to thank God for the gift of friendship.

I found myself praying the strangest prayer in the past few months. I began praying for a pet dog for my children. This is strange because I have never wanted a dog before (not since childhood) and having one more messy, noisy, costly thing to take care of in our busy lives certainly wasn't at the top of my prayer list. But as I watched my boys (and even Elita who has been the least fond of animals or the idea of pets in the past) playing incessantly with my siblings little dogs and my parents cat the month we were in the states, I surprised myself by thinking and then praying that maybe we could get a little pet dog for them to enjoy.
But a sweet little dog isn't really practical because logically what we need is a cat (to catch the mice in our house) and a big guard dog (for security). But I am allergic to cats. And the thought of feeding and taking care of a big guard dog wasn't allowing that option to enter my prayers.
So I prayed for a little dog.

Last night God unexpectedly answered that prayer.

We will remember that God reminds us of how He looks after the animals and that He promises to look after us too.

It was dinner time. I had dozed off while reading a book. Eric had dozed off too. We were awakened by the announcement, "We found a puppy!" Our children like to joke a lot and I was pretty sure this was another joke.
Then I saw that it wasn't.
I have never been a big sucker for pets but I have a serious weak spot for rescuing helpless animals (and sometimes people).
One look at this pup told me she was in definite need of rescue.
If you had seen her yesterday you would never believe it is the same pup as in the pic above.
I wish I had taken a before shot.
But I was overly concerned with the fact that in addition to mice and mosquitos, our house would soon be overthrown by fleas as well.
I had two choices.
Throw puppy back in the trash puddle she came from while my children watch her be squashed by many a moto
OR
head up a serious intervention and pray her survival rate beats the street.

I originally thought pup was an ugly brownish gray color with lots of little black spots.  That's how dirty she was and how many clusters of fleas were biting the life out of her little body. I have never seen that many fleas on a dog. There literally had to be at least a thousand. I have never had to de-flea a dog and there are no stores around with dog supplies. So I grabbed the only option I had to work with -- medicated anti-dandruff shampoo (which thankfully the fleas detested)--scrubbed and stuck that pup under high pressure water to unstick the fleas, got soaked and flea bitten myself, and about an hour later wondered if the exhausted but flea ridden "ti chen" (little dog) was going to make it.
We wrapped her in a towel and gave her some warm milk.
The kids begged to keep her.
I warned the children that she might not make it.
Ethan said bravely, "well then at least she will have the best rest of her life with us tonight".
I told them we could pray for her cause God cares about puppies too. Then I told them that if she makes it that maybe we can keep her cause I've been praying for a pet dog. The kids all said, "We've been praying for a pet dog too!"
But daddy hasn't.
So we shall see.

We debated about a name for the new puppy. "Cutie", "Spotty", "Buddy", and "Buggie" were top choices. I asked the kids to tell me about how they found the dog and how it was that the pup appeared inside our house when they are not supposed to go outside it. Genise vouched for them. She must want a puppy too. Apparently Evan was playing on the upstairs porch and spotted the poor little pup lying in a puddle in the middle of the street below. He called Ethan and the girls to come quick and see. Then before all of their eyes they saw vehicles quickly approaching. One, then two missed. The next moment Ethan was in the street scooping up pup.
At first we thought about looking for potential owners.
But we knew no one else cared about this puppy.
He is just a little street dog.

So we named our pup "Dalencourt" (D.C. for short)...because we plucked him off of this street in front of our new home. I've been thinking as I look at this sign from our porch each day that Dalencourt seems a mighty majestic name for this neighborhood. Perhaps God has bigger plans for the neighborhood too.

We will remember that God tells us to serve the least of these and that His provision of a puppy is a way for our children to learn to practice this more.

We will remember that God is growing our children in love and faith too.

We will remember that there are lives all around us in need of hope, in need of rescue. We never know when the last day of our life will be, so let's remember to give our best each day.

We praise the Lord for salvation. We thank Him for opportunities to share about true freedom through a relationship with Jesus Christ. We thank God that today Eric got to share the good news with a student and that student believed in the truth of the gospel. 

As I read these verses in Joshua again I noticed that Israel's memorial stones were set up "on the tenth of the first month". Today is the tenth day of our first month. But everyday is a good day to remember God's faithfulness. 

What are your memorial stones?

Kwizin and Counting

Here is the lot of us heading out for St. Marc.
Eric and Evan rode up front.
I should have sooner than I did.
This was the first time I have ever felt very car sick in Haiti.
I didn't know if I was going to make it.
But we did!
I thought more than once, "If I never have to do this again it will be too soon"!
Then we got to the house.
And I thought..."Surely I will have to do this again."

Never again will I let my husband pick out a house!
He sort of didn't mention that THERE IS NO KITCHEN!
I asked him why he neglected to tell me about this and he said, "I didn't see a kitchen".
That would have been good to know...to clue me in...to prepare me...
for THIS! I knew we needed to purchase a few large appliances. No surprise there. BUT...
There is no way that he didn't see the kitchen because this is the first thing you see when you walk up the stairs! I voiced this disbelief to which he said, "I didn't know THIS was the kitchen!" That would have been the point when I would in my limited Creole have asked the simple question, "Kote kwizin nan"? or "Where the kitchen?"
The only indication that this is a kitchen is the non functioning sink.

Now there. I am done venting and will get on with the real reason I wanted to write this post.

Counting our blessings.

Because the only way to get over the shock of your husband not telling you that there is no kitchen (which was only the biggest among many other shocks I was semi prepared for) is to start counting.

So here it goes.

I am thankful for my new pink kitchen.
I can honestly be thankful because today we swiped a faucet off another sink and a nice guy named Chewy scooted himself under that wanna be sink and got busy.
Unfortunately there was no water to be found.

I am thankful for my husband even though he neglected to tell me about pink kitchen or that the rest of the house is same color pink too. Though Eric is one of the least handy men I know he somehow (maybe with a little help which I didn't notice cause I was trying to do something with this kitchen) managed to figure out how to get city water running to our rooftop, fill up empty cistern,  borrow a battery and pump city water (because water truck refused to deliver the day after a holiday) from the roof down to said sink, and also the shower.

I am thankful to have running water today.

I am also thankful for...
(in no particular order)
the nice people that helped us the past two days
a long mirror on the back of my bedroom door
floors that are not too terribly shabby (for Haiti and all)
not smelling any terrible smells on our street
not seeing any rats yet
not seeing but a couple tiny roaches yet
not having ant problems yet
not having scorching hot weather yet
only having 10 mosquito bites yet
taking a cold shower tonight
finding a little grocery store today
finding a nice lady to do hair extensions tomorrow
a stove top appearing today for us to borrow
a generator already being at the house so we can have a little electricity
my family being together in this big pink house
 food to eat
clean water to drink
baby Evangeline smiling at me all day
having Genise here to help me
2 air mattresses without holes
my kids not having terrible attitudes all of the time
friends who offered to let us borrow beds for a few weeks
coffee this morning

That even though the house is strange and we will probably feel strange in it for awhile...
it is growing on us...
and we are finding many ways to count our blessings

One blessing about not having a kitchen is that it is a good excuse to eat out here!
I am thankful for this table that was left over from the old school that met here.
I asked if I could use it and cover it and then we would just need to purchase chairs.
I am thankful for this porch because there is a nice breeze and...

We are thankful for this beautiful view!
It reminds us of Who created all of this, why we are here and what really matters.
It reminds us that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head but he has graciously given us this house to make our home.

It is a big house and I am already dreaming up what we will do with the extra downstairs rooms...or in other words...who else can this house be a blessing to.

I am thankful for this other porch where I can send my kids to play.
I am thankful that my girls made a new friend today.
A friend for my girls.
One of my biggest prayers and God answered it on the first day.
Who cares about a kitchen?
Fidona speaks English, lives only a few blocks away, and attends El Shaddai Learning Center!
Both her father and her mother work at the school.
We were told that because she attends an English school and her parents work there, the other neighborhood children don't like to include her in play. She came over today to try her luck with us.
My girls asked if she could come back and play again tomorrow.

Tomorrow Eric is catching a ride back to Port au Prince to try and purchase an inverter/batteries (to give us better electricity), possibly find a refrigerator, and pick up some groceries.
I will be attempting to organize my pink kitchen and enjoying my porch.

Thankful for all the prayers lifted up on our behalf and the support that has blessed us so much!

Saying Goodbye to 2012

Tomorrow, January 1st, we will load up ourselves and our stuff and move to our new home in St. Marc, Haiti. We are really ready and excited to get there! But we are already missing the people and places we will leave 3+ hours behind. Today we have said more goodbyes and are enjoying our last day in the cool mountain air in Fermathe, Haiti with our family. We ask for prayer for continued financial provisions as we settle into our new home (which is yet to be furnished and as the kids keep whining "will be very hot"), and for the new adjustments that await. We especially ask for prayer for our children as this will be a big transition for them. They have been somewhat spoiled as the Lord has blessed us with playgrounds and plenty of play space everywhere we have lived in Haiti. Our new home will not have a yard nor does the school where our children will be attending starting January 7th. Our boys will now be experiencing full immersion as they will be the only blan (white/foreigner) at their new school. We are thankful for our time at Quisqueya Christian School and at the Baptist Mission which has given us a wonderful transition our first year and 1/2 in Haiti and has helped prepare our family for this next adventure. Pray for Eric as he leads our family and for his new leadership role as principal at El Shaddai Learning Center. We have a lot of work and sweat waiting for us in the days to come! But today as we say goodbye to 2012 we are resting in his faithfulness, dwelling on his promises, remembering our many blessings, and looking forward to bearing good news in 2013!

Elisabeth, Elita Marguerite, Ethan, and Evan arrived home to Eric and Esmée in Haiti on Christmas Eve. We told the kids who had just returned not to expect a big Christmas because they already had 15 Christmases in the states! But somehow all these presents appeared the next morning as kids slept in late (except Esmée who was actually expecting some presents)! Ethan woke up and said, "I thought you said we were just having a little Christmas! That doesn't look little to me!" This made his very tired parents very happy to hear such thankfulness!
Thankful hearts = happy hearts!

Thankful for these 4 wonderful blessings!
We had a wonderful Christmas!
Thank you to all our friends and family that sent gifts back from the states!

And a huge thank you to Trey and Chelsea Salter who graciously shared their lovely home with us this past month while they were stateside and we were waiting to be able to move into our rental house.  This was a very special Christmas wish and an answered prayer for provision. Little did they know that Elisabeth had prayed all year that we would be able to spend this Christmas in the mountains. Travels and transitions added to this prayer that our family would be able to spend Christmas together. We are in awe of how God chose to answer the desires of our hearts!

We will miss this beautiful place and the treasured friends we have made on this mountain! 

We will miss playing here, climbing and swinging from the trees, running through green grass, and breathing fresh cool moutain air.

We will miss playhouses and the many hours we spent playing with friends here. 

Most used saying of the year...and probably the past 6 years...

"Where in the world is Evan???"

We will miss this loquat tree and the yummy fruit we devoured from it. 

We will miss this view and having a great place to ride bikes.
Here is Esmée with her new bike which she received as a consolation prize since she did not get to go to the states with her siblings. She hopes our new neighborhood has a place to ride too!

We were blessed to share Christmas dinner with dear friends!
Imensky is a big brother to our boys. We are so proud of Imensky and know God has big plans for his life. Imensky's parents were both killed in the January 2010 earthquake and we first met him at the orphanage where our girls used to live. Imensky unexpectedly came to us last summer and through a series of difficult events we helped him find a new home after living with our family for 6 weeks. He has worked very hard and has been accepted to a good English school starting in January that will help prepare him for a bright future. We are thankful to the family that has cared for and loved Imensky with us and are so blessed to watch him grow spiritually, emotionally, socially and academically to be all God desires for him to be! It was very special for us to spend time at Christmas together! 

We got to share our American Christmas dinner with these sweet ones as well!
Please pray for continued progress for their adoptions!

You won't find leftovers here! 

We will miss Anderson and Figaro, two special guys that Eric spent time discipling this past year. 

Baby Evangeline...one of our biggest blessings of 2012!
Evangeline was born the last weekend of September we were moving out of our house. The good news of her birth was a reminder that even during our hardest times that life is a precious gift!

Evangeline and her mother Genise lived with us in October and November after they were robbed at gunpoint in their home. Genise's husband Enoch entrusted them to us while he was looking for a safer place for his family to live. It was so special to have them with us during Evangeline's first months of life.  Please pray for protection and continued provision for this sweet family we love dearly! 

We helped choose the name Evangeline which means "bearer of good news". We pray that her generation will grow up and bear the good news that we celebrate at Christmas and share throughout the year!

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:17-21

Jesus says shortly after, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent". Luke 4:43

Thank you Father for sending your Son Jesus to give us the good news of the gospel, to show us how to live it out, and to give us the hope of glory! Thank you for the opportunity to leave our comfort zone, friends and family once again to journey to a new town and share the good news...because that is why we are sent! Haiti is such a vivid picture of the creation you intended and how sin has ruined it. As bad news swirls all around us, help us not to forget that this is a time of the Lord's favor and grace! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

May we be bearers of good news in 2013!

The Latest News

“The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” -N.L. Zinzendorf

Our home is Haiti and God is opening the door for the gospel to be proclaimed from the city to the villages.  I want to tell you about a lady named Medina.  I went to meet with the people that we are going to work with in Saint-Marc and then traveled to the far northern part of Haiti near Cap Haitian.  We have another ministry that Elisabeth helped start in Port au Prince and this area (about 8 hours away) and I went to go see it and try to be an encouragement to the women.  While staying at an orphanage I met the sweetest little lady named Medina, who is a nanny at the orphanage.  One night the director, Medina and I were talking.  Medina believed that if she keeps the Sabbath along with other laws then she is going to heaven.   This was Saturday night and she was not keeping the Sabbath.  I asked her, “What do you think God is saying about you going to heaven today?”  She said sheepishly, “I will not go.”  I went on to show her passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about why the Sabbath was instituted, where Paul says one day is not more important than another and shares the reason for the law.  Her eyes began to be opened to the truth of the gospel.  I showed her a couple more verses that talked about a gift that is not earned by what she could do, or I could do, but only because of what Jesus has already done, is doing and will do. Medina, my then merely religious sixty-five year old friend, became my new sister in Christ as she understood and believed the gospel for the first time.  The next night I came in late and Medina and the director were sharing the gospel with another member of their staff.  Thank you Lord for the opportunity to disciple someone and not even know it.  Sometimes things are caught more than taught.  It is a blessing to be in this country.  However, as many of you know it is a country that is head deep in slavery.  Sadly the religious community is not exempt from this horror. Many have been taught and are teaching a salvation by works.  This is nothing less than the worst kind of slavery in a seemingly hopeless country where corruption and degradation of human life prevail.  Thank you for your partnership to allow us to be here sharing the free gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is definitely times like these that make the tough times of wondering how my family is going to eat, or how we are going to get to the market worth it. 

We hoped after our first year here we were going to be able to come home and raise much needed support.  That trip has still not happened.  Some of you have supported us and you have given at a time where we were desperate from our perspective.  I wish at those times you could experience the joy and worship of what it is to go to the market and know that your family is going to eat.  I remember many times, at least for me, it was a burden to go to the grocery store in the US…I didn’t want to drive there and wait in line.  It is now a blessing to travel inconveniently with a group of strangers packed into the back of a truck sitting on benches and most of us smelling less than desirable to get to our destination. Then to have the privilege and the ability to purchase groceries because we do not take them for granted now.  Thank you for your partnership that is now truly worship and thanksgiving to God for your generosity that enables to be able to shop for groceries and serve in Haiti.

We are finishing plans to move to Saint-Marc before the new school semester begins in January.  I will be the principal of a Christian school there called El Shaddai. It has a little over 150 students and I will work with the national teachers and help train them. I will also be a small group leader for some of the high school guys.  The school requires that all foreign staff raise 100% of their funds to minister at the school.  Saint-Marc is located approximately 60 miles north of Port au Prince.  There are almost 300,000 people who live there.  80,000 of which are school aged children. Only about half of them have access to attend school.   We are looking forward to this opportunity to equip and love on the staff to glorify God in all they do. 

We will continue our ministry with pastors as God continues to open doors to train them.  We will continue to preach in different churches.  We will also continue our ministry to women.  As I mentioned earlier Elisabeth helped start a ministry for women called KOFAEL.  You will want to check out how you can be involved and help out with this ministry.  It is in two parts of the country now and you can read more about it by going to www.empoweringwomeninhaiti.blogspot.com.

Will you continue or begin to partner with us here in Haiti for the glory of God?  Any amount is helpful.  Please see the enclosed form.  You can send your support by check or you can donate online.  Thank you for your obedience to the Lord and helping us make Haiti our home. 

Please send in the card so we can get a good handle on who wants updates and who desires to pray for us.  We send out prayer notes to our praying friends via email and you can sign up on our blog for updates to automatically be emailed to you as well. Please write down your email on the enclosed card and send it to RCE-International who handles our tax deductible donations and helps us communicate with those who are praying with us and for us. Thank you for whatever the Lord lays on your heart to do to help us serve in Haiti.  Please let us hear from you and share what God is doing in your life and how we can pray with and for you. 

Here are a few of our specific needs for our rental house and living expenses

Inverter  $1000-$1500 (more for solar powered)

Batteries (8 for $155 each)

Refrigerator

Beds (two sets of bunk beds and two double or queen size) beds/mattresses

Vehicle $10,000 – $25,000 (used & reliable for at least 6 people, 4x4 and diesel)

Motorcycle (to make a quick run for needs)

$2500/month Minimum for basic needs (rent, local bills, food)

Until the whole world hears,

The Ream Family

ericream@hotmail.com 

www.reamteaminternational.blogspot.com 
(Haiti family ministry blog)

www.chosenandmuchloved.blogspot.com 
(Haiti adoption update blog)

www.empoweringwomeninhaiti.blogspot.com 
(KOFAEL women ministry in Haiti)

http://www.touchhaitiministries.org/El-Shaddai-Learning-Center (School we work with in Haiti)

“…We make it our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord.” -2 Corinthians 5:9

Look up at the birds and down at the manger

I arrived stateside with our Elita Marguerite to join the boys in Illinois on November 20th. Since that day we have driven through six states finally landing in Texas. We have so enjoyed seeing dear friends and family all along the way and are longing to visit and hug more dear ones this week. We are so thankful for how Elita is adjusting to her first time to the states and know that this is a great mercy with all this travel. I have an appointment to check on her proof of citizenship paperwork tomorrow and Lord willing will have more information so that we can book our flights back to Haiti next week. We are really missing Eric and Esmée and they are missing us. I am really missing Haiti too. It has been a great trip but there are things that are really hard. I will talk about one or two of those things now. I'm hoping that our dear friends and family we are trying to make an effort to see (because we have really missed you too) will know how they can pray for us and support us because we really need it right now. 

Today we were returning from yet another road trip and stopped off at a gas station. We have discovered these GIANT gas stations called Bucee's that have planted themselves in our giant state in the past year and 1/2 we have been in Haiti. So today I was standing in this giant store just standing and waiting for gas to be pumped and for kids to figure out that this was not in fact a playground when a little overpriced wall hanging caught my eye. It held a verse that I have held on to so often in the past year and 1/2 when I have had to remind myself to look up at the sky and remember that God sees.

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" 

-Matthew 6:26

And I held back many tears. That verse always gets me. 

I keep hearing people talk about our economy and how rotten things are and how bad things are gonna get and how few jobs and little money there is in America. And I'm standing in the brand new Bucee's thinking "SERIOUSLY???" for like the 500th time in the past 20 days. I've said "looks pretty good to me" once or twice when I hear a comment about how poor or poorly run America is and my response is met with "Oh well you are just comparing America to Haiti!" Maybe I am. Or maybe I'm comparing it to just about anywhere else in the world that doesn't have 20 teenagers in red Bucee Beaver shirts greeting me at the sliding glass doors of the over stocked gas station upon my arrival. Maybe it gets to me the most when I hear the sleepy voice of my teenage daughter lying next to me  say, "You know that restaurant we went to that we could eat as much as we want...you know the one that waste a lot of food? I wish we could pick one of those up and fly it to Haiti and let all the street kids come in. Then there wouldn't be anything left to throw out at the end of the night. I really don't like that they waste so much here."

I know despite America's wealth and waste that there are people here (just like in Haiti) that are adversely affected by selfish government leaders, economy, natural disasters, health and family issues, and simply that most of the time life just doesn't go the way we want it to.I know there are people suffering everywhere. I do not believe that most people can comprehend the kind of suffering we have encountered in Haiti nor how hard it is for me to wrap my brain around these contrast. I would not go so far as to say we are suffering. God has always provided for us in one way or another. Usually He does not provide within the timing nor circumstances that we want Him to but we have learned to just look up at the birds during these times. We have had a constant stream of "these times" the past year and 1/2. There have been times when we literally do not know how we will feed our family. God has always provided. We trust in faith that He will continue to do so one way or another.

Last night I watched the Nativity movie with the kids. I was reminded once again of the humble circumstances our Savior was born into on this Earth He came to save. He lived a humble, sacrificial life and died a horrible death to show me how much I am worth to Him. We only pray we will be worthy of our calling and become more like Him when times are tough. We know according to Scripture that times have to get tough in order for our dear Savior to come back for us. Therefore we welcome these times as we long for His appearing. No matter what country we are in, no matter how rich or poor, we are constantly reminded that we are not yet home. 

We long for our home in glory but until then we are trying to make it here too. We consider it nothing short of a miracle that we have made it through the past year and 1/2 on the very little financial support that we are thankful has come in. Sometimes a dear friend or sometimes a stranger has sent us the money we needed at the very last minute. We don't know where we would be without those who have been faithful and obedient in giving, caring, asking, and praying. Thank you. You know who you are.

My daughter keeps saying, "Mom, you have SO many friends!" everywhere we go. I know we have SO many friends from sea to shining sea. I know that we have many many true friends. But sometimes I don't know if our friends know how bad we are struggling. So we are ready to be very honest with you. We are struggling. We are struggling bad (financially speaking). Please support us. $5 would actually really help. 

We will post more details about our ministry in Haiti and how you can support us very soon. Would you begin to pray about supporting us financially on a one time or regular basis? If anyone has questions about the past year and 1/2 in Haiti, our future there, or anything else that pertains to our crazy lives please don't hesitate to ask. We would love for you to ask even if we have a hard time explaining and our lives don't make sense! You don't know how encouraging it is to hear you ask anyways! Asking lets us know you care! I know we are often hard to follow and sometimes we don't communicate as well as we'd like. So please just ask! Please pray for some encouragement for Eric as he bears the heaviest weight in providing for our family. We are thankful for the Lord's timing in this trip because the provision of 4 members of our family staying with family in the states has once again been God's sovereign plan in feeding all of us the past month. Thank you family and friends that have housed and fed us well (and spoiled our kids rotten with early Christmas presents that I now have to figure out how I'm going to get to Haiti)! You will never know how much this has meant to us during this time. 

Our tendency when we are broke is to try to fix it. We quietly panic, strategize our storing, reaping and gathering plan, pray and panic some more. But all too often we can't fix ourselves or our circumstances. This isn't a bad thing even we are badly struggling. This is when we are reminded to look up at the birds and down at the manger. This is why we needed a Savior and why He gave us the Body of Christ.

Marvelous Grace

"But even before I was born God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace."

Galatians 1:15

It is with great joy that our family welcomed our daughter Elita (Chosen) Marguerite to the U.S.A. on November 20th, 2012! This is one of many transitions in the past two months that God's grace has carried us through. This is also one of many reasons we have not done better with updates! Eric and Esmée are in Haiti while Elisabeth is traveling stateside with Elita Marguerite, Ethan, and Evan. We hope that we can see many of our dear friends and family during our travels and pray that we will be reunited with our family and friends in Haiti before Christmas. We are waiting for E.M.'s confirmation of citizenship to arrive in the mail along with her U.S. passport that we were able to have expedited the day after our arrival. Please pray for these documents to come in swiftly and for safe travels in the U.S. and back to Haiti. Praise the Lord for his marvelous grace in the completion of Marguerite's adoption!

Leaving Homeland Security Immigration in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. as a U.S. citizen!