Hiking Haiti

hike: an extended long walk for training, pleasure or exercise across rural country or wilderness; to rise upward and out of place; to increase.

I know most everyone knows what "hike" means. But I found myself pondering this word and thinking about how much its definition explains our experience in and with Haiti. 

We still have a long way to travel on our extended long walk. We sometimes feel out of place. But I think we will always feel out of place until we are in our true home country...Heaven. Our prayer is that whether in training, pleasure, or exercise across this land and in this life that our thoughts will rise upward, that we may decrease so that the One who created us for this hike will increase.

 One of Eric's favorite quotes is "The most important thoughts you will ever think are your thoughts on God because they will determine everything else you will ever do."

We pray our children will learn this earlier than we did. 

Sunday we took at hike in the hills behind our house to get some exercise, breathe the fresh air, be together, think thoughts on God, refresh our perspective, pray and listen. 

It was a good hike.

We started walking down our street rounded the corner a few houses up and began our hike.

Heading up

We made a few new friends along the way.

Smiling, laughing, joyful Haitian children

never cease to amaze me. 

This little family lives in the last house towards the top.

We may not have much on the outside...

but we've got a lot of stuff on the inside!

Our neighbors that live on the right.

Girls returning from their church located somewhere in these hills. I asked them if I could take their picture because they look so pretty.

Sometimes people tell us they think it is amazing that we live here.
We think the Haitian people are pretty amazing!
And our God Who created this beautiful land is the most amazing of all...even though we have all messed it up so bad.
Our daughter had just voiced her thoughts on how hard it would be to walk in heels on these hills just before we came upon this little girl wearing heels while carying a toddler on her shoulders!
Perspective.

Rising upward we looked down upon the houses we had just passed.
Standing here feeling the cool sea breeze, we understand why they live al the way up here
(though we cannot imagine this climb while toting heavy water buckets on our heads each day).

We could see our house, our school and our hopeful future house down below!

Our mission field in St. Marc

"As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him...

And His righteousness to children's children"
Psalm 103:15-17

El Shaddai Learning Center

Here is little sneak peak at El Shaddai Learning Center, the school we moved here to work with in St. Marc. El Shaddai has been growing since its founding in 2001 by Pastor Gary and Dr. Carolyn Walker whom we came to help and work alongside. There are over 150 students from Pre-K through 12th grade and a growing waiting list as positive word about our school continues to spread around the community. Tuition is kept very low so that non-wealthy Haitian families can afford to send their children to an American English school--a growing interest/demand. 

El Shaddai provides employment to Haitain teachers that are adequately experienced and trained in English. Part of Eric's ministry is to work with the Haitian teachers each week in continuing education classes helping them to become better teachers. Many discipleship opportunities arise. 

There are a few American teachers presently at El Shaddai as well. Foreign (non-Haitian) teachers come for a semester or longer and volunteer with the school. If you or anyone you know may be interested in coming to work with us in the future, you are welcome! We also welcome visitors! 

Ready to go to class!

Teachers walking with students to the new building

This is the new building that was recently purchased for the K-6th grade students. The outside still needs paint but the inside has been newly renovated just in time for Jan-June semester.
The bus parked here takes many of the children home each day.

1st grade classroom
The other classrooms in the elementary building are similar.

Breaktime

Our resident street dog often follows the kids to school and enjoys attention during recess.

We do not yet have a playground, but kids make the most of their playtime!

Organizing a game on field day

School is a good place to make friends!

Pre-school building

Pre-K girls

Pre-K boys

Pre-K kids and hands on fun

This is the 7th-12th grade school building where Eric spends most of his days.
Sewing classes are held here each Friday and adult Bible school classes each Saturday.

Eric in his office...which is unusually empty at this moment.

These sweet ladies help prepare lunch for all the children each school day.

Lunch is served! 
Students are served a typical Haitian lunch of rice, beans, and sauce made of chicken and vegetables.

French class is in session!

El Shaddai is excited to offer specials in French language learning as well as Haitian history in addition to the accredited American curriculum we use that qualifies students to attend colleges in the U.S. upon graduation. It is very important for students to learn French because every official document in this country is written in French instead of Creole, the common language. The regular curriculum offers American and World History, but also leaves room for students to complete a course of study in the state/area where they live. We have a great Haitian history teacher and are excited to learn more about Haiti along with the kids! Eric has also been attending the French class whenever he gets a chance to step out of his office. He studies with our daughter Elita Marguerite for their exams. 

Students celebrate birthdays

Parent meeting

This picture shows about 1/3 of attendees and this meeting was scheduled at 10am. Parents in Haiti are extremely concerned about their children getting the best education possible.The school continues to grow and has already outgrown the new building. We pray that one day we will have a larger campus that will better accomodate more families in this community.

Eric teaching Haitian men at Saturday Bible School 

We are so thankful the Lord led us to El Shaddai and the people of St. Marc! Unless He has another plan, we hope to be here for a long time! So be prepared to hear a lot more about it!

Another T.I.H. Typical Day

"T.I.H." is the term used to explain pretty much all the hard to explain time and energy draining beyond frustrating experiences that most everyone experiences daily here in Haiti. Here is my all too typical day so far. And yes I am venting, but not expecting sympathy because after all This. Is. Haiti. 

I wake up at 2am. The batteries died an hour early leaving us without power. The small fan I shared with Esmée in our twin size bed was no longer keeping the mosquitoes at bay. I fumble around in the dark to find the mosquito repellent. Eric meets me in the kitchen with a flashlight. He is after the same thing. I innocently ask why he thinks we lost power early. I get the usual answer, "because we used up too much electricity too early!" I give the usual response which is, "we haven't used anything!" We dispute about what house members have issue with keeping our tiny refrigerator open longer than the 2 seconds it should take to grab desired food target and of course someone has turned on the cold switch on the water dispenser and heaven forbid everyone wanting to sleep with a fan. I think to myself, I really want a large freezer so I don't have to go to the grocery store so much and Eric really wants a washing machine because he thinks it will help with laundry soap waste/costs and appease his frustration with that. I wonder how exactly we would run such appliances if we are running out of power on a mini freezer/fridge and a water dispenser? This is 2am talking. 

I head to the bathroom to find the toilet has been used too many times. I glance longingly at the shower but dismiss that thought because a plunger, a pile of shoes, and 3 large buckets of laundry are occupying that space. I know that choosing the outhouse experience will surely dwindle all chances of me going back to sleep. I decide to try to sleep holding it. I try not to think about the fact that I am just pushing back the inevitable of waking up to the same situation which will be exasperated by 7 other people in the same predicament. I wonder if the toilet downstairs will actually get fixed today as promised. We have 4 friends coming today and I dread having to direct them to the outhouse on their mini vacation from Port au Prince. I tried to warn them. 

Um I guess my level of TMI tollerance has grown considerably.

I go check on the kids to see if the mosquitoes are attacking them as well. They are ok and I head back to bed. Roosters seem confused about waking hours, and dogs and pigs are fighting loudly in the street outside. I eventually doze off thankful that it isn't too unbearably hot but still longing for the fan. 

We wake up to the usual chaos of getting a large family off to work and school. Eric tells me not to use the kitchen sink because there is a water problem. I told him that I tried to tell him that last night after he had crashed on a pillow on the floor because we don't have a bed. Ethan is brushing his teeth and spitting into the kitchen sink while Evan is pouring cereal all over the counter. I reach to grab Evan a spoon and notice mouse droppings on the silverware. Great. Another mouse. The last one got trapped in a suitcase full of shoes in the girls room. Apparently the girls didn't need those shoes for a few days and mouse died. Worms found the mouse before I discovered that the smell was not stinky shoes. But that was last week. Back to this morning. 

Eric reminds me NOT to use any heating elements because our inverter charge is very low and it will blow the breaker. It has been a few days since I have fixed my hair (need a heating element to do so)...I agree. What's one more day? I send the kids out the door. The full leg of a goat greets me at the bottom stair. This is the fifth dead animal offering from our resident street dog in the past two weeks. I just stared at it thinking how thankful I was that I was not facing a rat or a chicken this time. I go upstairs to get much needed coffee and take it to my room to get dressed. 

I walk into the kitchen to put up coffee cup and notice that the microwave is running. I rush to turn it off saying, "OH NO!" Genise looks up alarmed. She said she thought it was ok to use it because she heard the generator noise. I told her that Eric told me not to use heating elements this morning without turning off the inverter and switch to the school first. I feel bad for yelling. Genise didn't know. I head downstairs to flip the switch hoping no damage was done by the few seconds of microwave. My phone rings. It is Eric reminding me of his request and informing me that I am responsible for blowing power in two of the school buildings as well. He has to leave work and come home to deal with the problem.

Two guys come over to try and fix the toilet downstairs. I feed the dog, clean up dog poop, change Evangeline's diaper, then help her parents carry the food and drinks to the elementary building. We are helping them set up a little snack shop business at the school and today was their first day. I think it might be more work than I anticipated and we now have no cooler at home. At least I didn't have to pack snacks for my kids today. 

I start walking home with a fussy Evangeline when Eric calls me to say that if I need money from the bank and groceries from the store I had better go now because Carnival holiday is going to be blocking the streets after noon and I won't be able to go later. A man on a moto is following me home questioning me (while I am on the phone) about whether Evangeline is my baby and if he can have my number. He speaks good English and I wait outside my gate for him to tell me his sad story. His wife is American and lives in FL. They have five children together but he cannot be with them because he got deported for getting in trouble "because Haiti didn't teach me not to do those bad things before I went to America". "They" say he can return in 10 years. He is on year 2. He needs work to support his family. He tells me of the jobs that used to employ him in the states  but is willing to do much less meaningful work for any money here. Could he please clean my house? I thought about the state of my house and almost agreed. I asked him if he was a taxi driver and he said, "yes". I told him I needed to go to the bank and the store and that was a job I could give him today. He said he would wait and I told him I needed to get the baby to sleep and would call him when I was ready. 

I finally get Evangeline to sleep and look at the clock. I am supposed to teach my class in 5 minutes. I promised Evan I would be there. But if I don't break that promise we won't have anything to eat tonight besides moldy bread and peanut butter. We have company coming in a few hours. I call Genise and tell her I need to go to the store right away. I missed seeing the kids today.

I called my ride but when he didn't answer after 5 minutes I employed another guy who was eagerly waiting. I hopped on the back of his motorcycle with my empty backpack and HEB keep food cold bag in tow. We wind through a myriad of mud puddles, paved roads, trash piles, and sidestreets. I still don't know my way around very well and cannot focus enough to see because the dust is killing my eyes. We make it to the bank in 10 minutes. I ask my driver to wait while I use the ATM machine. I try twice but it isn't working today. Now I have no way to get cash to give to Genise to purchase rice, beans, and street vegetables for dinner. We head to the DeliMart to see what else I can scrounge up for dinner. 

The DeliMart is the nicest grocery store in St. Marc. There are 4 small isles. The first isle contains nothing but hair and body products on one side and laundry/cleaning products on the other side. The second isle contains nothing but cheaply made and sickeningly overpriced childrens toys, ugly kitchen utensils, party accessories and paper goods. The last isle contains nothing but alchoholic beverages. That leaves 2 isles in the middle of mostly generic brand groceries that I would never have bought in the U.S. that I will end up paying 3-5 times more for the privilege of buying at DeliMart in St. Marc, Haiti. 

I am excited to find two heads of hydroponically grown lettuce that don't appear to be rotten and decide to spoil the kids by buying them a different cereal than the Haitian brand cornflakes they are completely sick of. $6.25 for kids cereal! Score! My excitement dwindles by the time it takes the cashier 20 minutes to run my debit card by hand because I couldn't get cash at the ATM. I carry out a full HEB bag (wishing it had HEB groceries inside), a full backpack, and another plastic sack of groceries. Three moto taxis greet me outside the door and I nod at the guy that has been waiting an eternity for my shopping spree in two isles. I don't know why I tried to explain myself. He took it out on me by driving me through the largest trash pile I have ever seen on the way home.

We arrive at my gate. I hand him 25 gourde (about 50 cents) for taking me. This is the standard rate plus an extra 5 gourde for making him wait. He just stared at me expecting more because I am white and just bought 3 bags of groceries so I obviously have money. A teenage boy sees me hand my driver the 25 gourde and comes over to stick his hand in my face and shout "MONEY". I ignore him at first and step inside the gate with my groceries. 5 more boys flock to my gate. I start toward the door when I hear "Hey you...Money!" yelled at me again. I turn around to see 6 faces peering at me through the gate eyeing my groceries. I set them down and go outside to face the boys. I explained to them in Creole that my name is not "money", and that just because I am white does not mean I have money; that just because he saw me give my driver money does not mean I have more money and that if I did he certainly should not be entitled to it. He then mocked me by saying that he knows I work at the school and the school gives us money. I told him the exact opposite is true. The school pays the Haitian teachers but the foreign teachers do not get any money for working. I told him that we have to ask for money too but that I would never ask for people to give me money like he did. I asked him how he would like it if I went to his house and stuck my hand in his face and shouted "MONEY" at him. He looked confused so I asked another boy if he would like someone to do that to him. He looked down and said, "no". Futhermore I explained that the Haitian verb meaning "to give" may not be rude in Creole but when it is translated to English this comes off as very rude to say "You give me" time and again as if a person MUST give it. I explained to the boys that foreigners would not be inclined to give them anything if they shouted "hey you...money...give me" and explained a better way to ask and increase their chances of getting. Their ears perked up and asked me how they could ask nicely so they would be able to get more handouts from white people. They all practiced asking me nicely for something to drink and something to eat if I happened to have something to give. I explained that I did not have something to give them today other than water. They all nodded toward my groceries. I told them that I have 5 children living in my house and 2 more children coming to visit tonight and that these groceries were for them. Then they specifically asked me for the box of Pops cereal they could see through the bag. I told them, "sorry, not today." They were still staring at me through the gate when I went inside and up the stairs. Anger stirred inside me. I was angry at their utter verbal rudeness and trying to take advantage of me because of my color. I was angry because this is what they have been taught by the mentality of most everyone else in Haiti. I was angry because I just want to be able to enjoy getting out of the house for an hour (even if I have to take a moto) and hate being accosted at every turn. I was angry because these groceries will feed my family for no more than 2 days and then I will have to go through this charade all over again. I was angry because I wish I could do more to actually help those 6 boys who honestly don't know any better. I wondered if they were really hungry or just trying to get whatever they could out of me. I put away the groceries, picked up Evangeline who was crying while her father was napping and her mother still working at the school. Typical.  I sat down and choked back tears. 

This. Is. Haiti. 

All this happened before noon. I think I will have another cup of coffee to survive the rest of this day. Little things like family and friends that send me Starbucks Via packs and who I know are praying for us really help us get through these typical T.I.H. days. I really don't know how we would survive without you. Thanks is not enough.

P.S. I just learned that the downstairs toilet is fixed. :)

Haiti Hospitality House

We have been reading about the life of George Muller with our family the past month. Tonight we read about how George Muller prayed for yet more money to be raised for another house to meet the needs of those in his care. God had already provided so much more than he could ever imagine and yet here he was asking for more. But he had seen God provide over and over and over again and George knew God could do it again. We believe that too and pray that we will continue to learn to have that kind of faith. 

Honestly my prayers lately have come from a place of weariness and desperation more than faith, but I know God understands that too. We moved several times in Haiti (um. exhausting.) in the past four months while waiting to move to St. Marc in January. We are still living out of suitcases. None of us really want to unpack because we do not want to have to repack--again. We are living in the house that was previously the elementary school building before the new school building opened in January. It needs a lot of work and we have found that this house isn't working very well for us and the Haitian family that moved here with us. We thought there were three bathrooms. There are three. One is an outhouse, one does not work, and the other is the one that the 8 of us are sharing and also where all of our laundry is washed daily. This doesn't work out well too much of the time. Today the girls came and reported (in a humiliated tone) that Evan had resorted to Haitian style peeing on the street outside. 

However, we are truly thankful for this house and to experience what it is like to use an outhouse! Landing here has provided an opportunity to get to know our community and live as inexpensively as possible while scoping out other options before the rent needs to be renewed for the year come April. We do not desire to renew the rent. My frustration with utter disorganization, tons of dust, millions of mosquitoes and the many dogs that are very drawn to this house led me to almost immediately start searching for an alternative. Nothing seemed right. I sensed God saying, "think about where you are, who you are, what I have called you to do, and what is best considering all these".   Because our desire is not only to work but also to live among the people we work with, "best" would be to stay close to where we are now near the school. We do not yet have personal transportation and I wondered, "maybe the hardship of not having a vehicle is part of God's direction in keeping us close to the school"? Eric and our children walk to and from school. We cannot imagine having to get up an hour earlier and take motorcycle taxis to school. I help with phonics at the elementary building and it is best that I can come and go from home as I am needed at the school. We have also been helping Genise (who lives with us) set up a new little (for her profit and the school's benefit) business selling drinks/snacks at the school. She needs to be close to the house to care for the needs of her four month old baby that I take care of whenever we need her to run errands and when she is scheduled to work the snack shop at school. All these factors played around in my mind and I decided not to look at any more houses that were not within a few blocks of where we currently are living. This narrowed options dramatically but I knew it was right. If there was not another house nearby that would be a better fit for us then perhaps we are just supposed to stay where we are and make the most of it. But I didn't think so. 

Since we have lived in Haiti we have hosted many guests in our home and have used our home for many things such as helping adoptive parents, fostering children, hosting friends from the U.S., Canada, and Australia that needed a place to stay or came to work with us for a season, Bible study, English classes, meetings, etc. One day I reprimanded one of my children for interrupting a conversation I was having with one of our houseguests. My child responded politely but then said, "but there is always someone here" and I realized this was true. 

We love to open our home for hospitality and the opportunity to use our home in one or more of the following ways is ever before us. We recently spent time with a visiting team that served in Haiti for two weeks. We noticed that the Walker family (founders of El Shaddai school) hosting the team were under extra stress during this time and we wished we could have helped alleviate part of the burden of hosting so many people.

-Opening our home to house teams/families visiting Haiti.

We have been asked to consider taking in a few extra kids for different reasons at different times from a nearby orphanage. We would like to be able to have a place available as needs continue to arise. We have also potentially offered our home as a "transition home" for children in the adoption process who are close to being ready to journey to their new families. El Shaddai has agreed to take Pre-K and Kindergarden children that do not require an English prerequisite if we did this. The goal would be to get the children in a smaller non-orphanage setting, immerse them in English, love on them, introduce American foods, etc. while in the comfort of their own culture. We believe that when a child does not have so many adjustments to overcome at once that they will be able to bond to their adoptive family faster which helps decrease the chances of attachment disorders. We would hire a live in nanny to help with the children's care as well. We have just the person in mind and this would create a needed job for her.

-Opening our home as a transition home for children in the adoption process.

And yet another option would be to open our home for housing teachers that would like to come and serve with El Shaddai Learning Center for a semester, year, or longer. Foreign teachers have to raise 100% financial support and so few are able to come. The Walkers currently house three American teachers and we would like to be able to help meet this need in the future as well.

--Opening our home for housing teachers to serve at El Shaddai.

I spent two weeks walking through the neighborhood and asking about houses labeled for rent. I was also shown several houses that suddenly became available upon my asking. I quickly became discouraged because every house was either too small, too strangely shaped, needed too much work, too expensive, etc. I finally called on the last house on my list of options. I have now looked at it three times and it is a definite possibility for "best"!

This is the backside of the house that occupies the same street where we currently live. It is located right across the street from the elementary school building where our children attend. There is no yard but there is a some space for playing around the house. The stairs lead up to the rooftop which holds the water cistern (and a beautiful view). These easy access stairs are so delightful compared to the steep ladder at our current house. The water cistern on this roof is a 500 gallon which would also be a blessing to have instead of the two 150 gallon tanks we have to fill now in order to have clean water. We are thinking that if this house is meant to house many the fact that there is already a large water tank in place is really super! But the #1 thing I was looking for in a house is windows with screens and glass that can be closed to keep out smells, mosquitoes, and dust. I know it won't entirely keep these things out but it will help dramatically. 
This house has such windows! 

This is the front side of the house that better shows its size.
The top half includes 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, a space that could be used as an office, schoolroom or playroom, 3 balconies and an enclosed porch.
The bottom half includes 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen area, dining room, and living room.
All this = a lot of space that can be put to good use for God's glory!

The view of our seaside community from the rooftop is also a plus!
We think it would be a great spot to sit, read, listen, worship, and dwell on God's faithfulness!

If you think so too, please share this and the fundraiser we have set up through PayPal. You can find the fundraiser site on the top right hand side of this blog. The need is to raise $10,000 in the next month to rent this house (for an entire year) if this is the Lord's will. This should help us with some of the cost of acquiring electricity as well.

Our family would live on the smaller bottom half of the house which would give us and our children much needed privacy and the feeling of home even when houseguests abound. We never want to neglect our marriage and children in the name of "hospitality" and really need a place where we can be a family, rest, and be renewed so that we can serve each other and our community well. The top half would be used for things such as visitors/missionaries to Haiti, fostering children, and/or housing teachers. We think this is the best place to land when considering where we are, who we are, and what God has called us to do here in St. Marc, Haiti! We are excited about the possibilities! 

Once again...

If you would like to contribute and/or share this fundraiser please visit the February fundraiser -Haiti Hospitality House FundRazr button located at the top right of this blog and click on it for more details and/or to donate through PayPal. 

 "The greatness of the sum required affords me a kind of secret joy; for the greater the difficulty to be overcome, the more will it be seen to the glory of God how much can be done by prayer and faith."

 -George Muller

For I was thirsty...

Good morning! 

I went to go get some water this morning and there was not any! That began about a half hour process for some clean drinking water. I went out to switch the inverter to generator. An older guy on the street asked if he could get some clean water because his stomach was hurting. I told him it would take me about 15 to 20 minutes to get some drinking water for him. He said, "Ok" and smiled. I went to start our borrowed generator, turned on the borrowed pump, washed out some borrowed buckets, cleaned them, put unhealthy water into the buckets and then poured the water through a borrowed filter. I caught some with a cup and took it out to the older man. This experience gave me a whole different view of giving a cup of water in the name of Jesus (Mt 10:42; 25:42-45). Blessed to have the ability to have clean drinking water and share it no matter how long it takes. Jesus said, "...but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life (Jn 4:14). Thank you for sharing with us so we can share what we have to help meet the temporal needs of others and watch God use that to open a door to see Him meet their eternal needs. 

-Eric

A walk around our block

A walk around our block is always a walk to remember. Sometimes I just want to forget that we live here. Sometimes I just want to do something about it...faster than it can be done. Other times I just want to walk and watch, learn and listen but most of all love however we can along the way. This was one of those walks. 

We set out. The street dog that won't leave our house because we loved it a little tags along too. The biggest pig I've ever seen stands in our path. A mommy goat and her two babies shuffle along beside us. We attempt to cross a patch of road covered by trash and sewer water almost stepping on a mother hen and her chicks pecking along in front of us. A baby cries loudly in the house across the way. I try not to think about why she might be crying. We hear a mother down the street tell her child to go ask the white people for some food. The child obeys and tells us he is hungry. We tell the child to go tell his mother. He looks at us confused. Then we tell him to tell the mother to come talk to us herself. The mother hears us speaking Creole and realizes we heard her before. A few kids who have been watching us curiously for the past few weeks point at us calling us the "blan hatian". I first take this as a complement that the word "hatian" followed the usual "blan" but then wonder if the kids have labeled us real "white haitians"--as in the lighter skinned Haitians that are not foreigners like us-- or if we were being labeled as bourgeoisie. Wait. Nevermind. The bourgeoisie families we know would not be living in this neighborhood, sending their kids to school with these locals, and certainly not spend their Saturday taking a walk around this block. The thought passes as I stop to look into the eyes of a skeleton of a dog. I pet it out of mercy. I hear a man yell at me in English, "Hey! That my dog!" I yell back, "Really? Then you better feed him!" He replies, "I have no food to give him. Can you help me find a job?" I just stare at him. "Well then can you feed my dog for me?" I told him we are already feeding two just like this one. He shrugged and went back to his card game. Later he followed me back to the school to ask for a job. Eric and I asked what kind of work he wants to do. He said he would do just about anything such as pass the broom, mop, clean up trash...whatever kind of work was available he would take. We asked him what kind of work he wanted to do. Same answer. We asked again, "But if it was possible for you to do any kind of work, what would you choose to do?" Same sad answer. It has been too long since this man believed or hoped he could do anything but go along surviving. Most of this generation in Haiti believes just like this. Those who have been able to get a little beyond this believe it is ok to take whatever from whomever to get a little more. No one is better for it. The one who takes and makes a business out of the less fortunate has done nothing but make this country a worse place for his children to grow up while trying to make a better life for them. But we believe in the next generation. That is why we are here working with this school and these kids in this neighborhood. They need someone to believe it could be different for them. 

The kids in our neighborhood make their own toys. This handmade kite is made from a plastic sack, sticks, and old cassete tape for string. I asked them to show me their kite which they did proudly.

Evan doesn't hesitate in making quick friends with the kite makers. They spend the next hour playing with stick swords and racing each other down the street. Jetson (pictured on the far right) follows us home. I notice he is in bad need of shoes. He is in between my boys sizes so I go search for some and find a little toy car as well. Jetson stays over for a bit to play with leggos and puppies. Yes. I said "puppies" as in the plural. We adopted one pup and another has now adopted us. He won't leave and we can't make him because he is small enough to squeeze through the bars on our gate. Our house seems to be the place everyone wants to be (except me who often takes these walks around the block to look at other houses for rent).

We stop to inquire about a house for rent while Evan and his friends race. We watch a freshly bathed naked toddler run up and down the street making vroom vroom vroom noises until he falls down in the ashy dirt. A young mother stops to talk to us as she notices us watching the little boy. She too has a toddler, a little girl. She asks us if we would like to have her little girl. We try to encourage her to be a good mother. She says she doesn't know how to do that since she is only 17. We talk to her some more about her life. She says we can have the little boy too if we like. 

This lovely house is a few houses down from us. It appears to be the nicest house on the block. The kids say they really want to rent this house. It's not for rent and I don't want to know how unaffordable it would be if it was available. Passing by this house makes me sad. It is yet another reminder that we live in a country of great and confusing contradictions. I stood staring at this beautiful house while standing next to the broken young girl who was trying to give away her child because she feels she is too young and too poor to care for her. 

Another contradiction is the fact that a large lot of trash is the view from this nicest house on the block. Building a big house doesn't keep the pigs or kids in rags from living right next to your riches. I'll bet this lot is where Jetson and friends found bits and pieces to make their kite. 

It is hard not to dwell on the trash all around us. But we have to keep focused on the treasures all around us too. We have to remember that beauty can rise up out of brokenness just like that house. We will keep looking beyond the layers of filth and find resourcefulness. We will keep looking up and smile with hope for the next generation. 

When you take a walk around your block, will you please pray for ours? We would love to hear how we can pray for you too!

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?