Traditions

Tis' the season to be busy... we race around getting gifts, making food, wrapping gifts, listening to Christmas music, and going to numerous family gatherings. "Will this season ever end??" we wonder as we gaze at new recipes we want to try and different things we want to do as a family. The sad answer is 'Yes!' This season does end and then we move on to the next busy season--it never ends. Christ is still laying in the manger, longing for us to worship His birth, to celebrate HIM, but we race right by. I am guilty of this!!! Every year I think I will be more focused on Him and the significance of the holiday, but each year I sadly fall short. These last couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot, (ok, maybe worrying a little) about what traditions I would like to do every year at Christmas with my little family. I remember getting the box of Christmas decorations out every year and the joy that came with setting the nativity set up. It never diminished with each year that came and went. What can we do every year that will be meaningful to the girls and something they will look forward to? Living where we do, you would never know it's Christmas--very few lights, no Christmas music(besides in our house!), no shopping, no snow, no nativities by the road. There are very few signs of the holidays here. As I was contemplating this yesterday, it hit me like a ton of bricks.... it's not the traditions that I should be looking forward to or that 'make' Christmas for me. It's CHRIST that makes Christmas! Now the question for me is, what can I do to help make the birth of Christ real in my girls' life? What will help make the Christmas story miraculous to them? How can we share with others this gift given to all of mankind?? "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger." Luke 2:7 "And he called his name Jesus" Matthew 1:25b

I've said it once, I'll say it again, I'm so thankful for winter! Mind you, I would never say that as long as I lived in Ohio, but here, the cooler weather is just what we wanted! Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to bear the heat any longer, winter arrived. With winter comes visitors!! My sister and her family came and spent two weeks with us in November and Ava learned how much fun cousins really are. I told Tonya it could be a vacation for her, I didn't have much to do. That, however, was not the truth. We were busy the whole time. Not all was work, we squeezed in several fun things, day trips, market, etc. Looking forward to some more visitors in January and February! Ava, Mia and I flew home with Jesse, Tonya and their family and spent a quick nine days in Ohio. Some loving friends blessed us beyond measure... we were able to spend sweet time with my parents and family. After being gone for eighteen months, it felt really good to go 'home' again. Of course, along with the happiness of seeing family and friends again, our hearts also ache with sadness that we had to tell Pat goodbye. Lord you know best, but we will miss him...  However, we rejoice knowing he is where he longed to be!!

Darv's, Jesse's and us sharing dinner after a trip to Basin Bleu

Ava and Kiana Siebel

Eating snow!

So bundled up... she could hardly move

Clint stays busier than ever.... the coffee nursery is still growing and looking pretty good. In addition to coffee in the nursery, there are also tomatoes, green peppers and numerous kinds of trees. Looking forward to lots and lots of fresh salsa soon! Several weeks ago, Clint started a soil conservation project in the mountains. The first couple of classes consisted of lessons on vetiver grass, the kind of grass used to retain the soil. The next several classes they took turns planting grass on each of the participants land. Now that is done and we wait for God to make it grow! While Jesse, Travis, and Dallas were here, they went in the mountains a few days and cleared a couple different established coffee fields. Clint hopes to use these fields as visual aids to other program participants. 

And now for photos of the Pink Palace! I said in my last post I would share pictures of our home and now I finally will. One thing Tonya helped me with while she was here was painting the kitchen and guest bathroom. We now have two gray rooms in an otherwise totally pink house. 

From the road

Kitchen--gray!!

Looking in kitchen from living room

Living room

Other end of living room---office:) 

Master bedroom--HUGE!

Girl's room

Laundry room and pantry--yes, I have an automatic washer! I am spoiled!

 There are still so many projects to complete it feels like it will take years before we are finished. We lack curtain rods, shower rods, clothes rod, bed frame and we don't have a lot of things on the walls yet. For a place that feels like home, it does feel a little bare! But little by little things are getting crossed off the list. Recently completed are some amazing pantry shelves--these mean a great deal to me since I still have no kitchen cupboards!

Thanks guys! Around the corner is the washer...

Recently installed on our roof are a couple of solar panels---terribly exciting! We have two small generators that charge our batteries; we have no street power. With the price of gas around five dollars a gallon, it shouldn't take too long to pay off the panels. 

Enjoy celebrating the birth of our KING this season!!!

                                                             ~~~Merry Christmas~~~

Ava 2 1/2 yrs~~~Mia 8 mo

Adventures....

.
 All of life is an adventure I suppose, but some of the adventures inside of life is what really makes life worth living! You know?? The memories made, bonds between family strengthened... and most of all, God being glorified--it makes me excited! It makes me want to get up and face yet another day!! God IS GLORIOUS!! Can't wait until that day, when we meet Him face to face. I was just thinking the other day about how little I actually think about living with Christ Jesus for eternity. If I would think about that every day, at various times throughout the day, would I live a different kind of life?? Would I be more aware that the little things that bother me are really nothing, that the people that need Jesus are many, and that the time is SHORT??!! Oh Lord, please help me to not be so caught up in the day to day that I miss opportunities right in front of my face!

Our current adventure....We finally moved into a house that we have a whole year contract on! Woo hoo!! I am permanently unpacking boxes for the first time in a year. Darv, Jo and family arrived home Thursday and we moved out that night. The initial three days at the new home were not altogether desirable, plumbing wasn’t working right and we only had generator power. Half of the lights in the house didn’t work either. Seems kind of silly to move into a new house in which the plumbing doesn’t work and half of the lights don’t either! But finally after Clint slaved for a few days, the plumbing is fixed and we are on invertor power! Now we are trying to work on all those other little projects that make a house a home. And if you didn’t know already, the house is PINK inside and out. Yep, that’s right—PINK!! Poor Clint, three girls and a pink house. It’s like a fairy tale!! J I’ll post more pictures later….

Notice how they painted right up to the pile of sand.. 

Love my little family!

Another adventure we had recently, was one of hiking to the most gorgeous beach we have ever been to! Nothing shouts Jesus' name like nature.... and believe me, this one shouted loud. You know Clint, always looking for a new place to go! He found a beach about a half hours drive away, the only catch being that you cannot drive to the beach. You drive till the road ends and then you walk the rest of the way. We set out one Sunday after church and asked along the way to make sure we were headed in the right direction. We reached the end of the road and asked about how far of a walk it was. The locals thought maybe thirty minutes or longer. Whew--they were not joking!! It took us 45 minutes each way. But the beauty was worth it… and the sandy kiddos! We were also thankful for helpful locals who carried Ava up and out for us, as well as our cooler... who can go to the beach without a cooler??!! 

Coconut Beach

See the rock waaayyy down at the bottom in the water? That's the beach!

The nursery is changing so much! I hadn’t been for a couple of months and got to go the other day. What fun… coffee is growing! July and August were a busy time at the nursery, filling sacks with dirt and transplanting the seedlings. Now it’s all done and we are waiting for God to bring the increase. We are so thankful for Boss Asin—he does a great job at keeping everything in line.

Nursery at a distance

Filling sacks with dirt

And more....

Clint and Boss Asin

Oh yes, I nearly forgot this adventure.... We butchered a pig in July! We bought a pig several months ago, raised it out, and now it's delicious sausage in our freezer! Of course we had no idea how to go about the butchering part, so Simeon and Melanie and Mahlon and Dorothy from Blue Ridge came out on Friday evening and helped us through the whole process. 

Yummm...

And a couple more photos to complete this loooonngg overdue update....! Blessings on your day!!

Headed home from Jo's house -- with a full load!

Sweet Baby Girl..

We still miss you Marykate!

Just Another Day

Friday... woohoo!! I love this day! It means that tomorrow I can do absolutely nothing and not feel guilty about it. But only if I can get all my work done today. Hopped out of bed at 6:00(ok, maybe rolled out, I don't usually have THAT much energy in the morning) and was certain at this early hour I could find some needed alone time with my Saviour and a hot cup of coffee. The idea of drinking a hot cup of coffee and having alone time to read and pray-uninterrupted-usually brings up memories of a time BEFORE little girls were a part of our life. But I thought today I was on top of it. Got my Bible, got the coffee going and was set... Just getting ready to go pour a cup and really settle in, when I hear little feet come pitter patting out to my seat on the chair. Wouldn't you know, my sweet little girl's eyes are wide and she's looking for Mama. 'Hungry, Mama," she says. Yep, those are usually the first words out of her mouth in the morning. You would think as urgent as she is to eat, that we send her to bed hungry. However, this is not the case; it's usually because she refused to eat very much for supper the night before!

I turn my attention to her while my eyes linger longingly on my unopened Bible. Just wait until naptime, then it'll be quiet for a little bit again. On to the pressing matters at hand, namely breakfast for Ava, and while I'm at it, for Clint too.  He is headed somewhere today, town I think, so I work on getting him and Ava satisfied and him out the door before starting my next mission of the day--laundry. Just to interrupt myself a little bit and explain.... Jo has a wringer washer and an automatic washer here at the house... to use either or both, I have to turn on the generator. The street current will not run them. So usually I try to hurry my laundry along so I can shut the generator off again, thus saving a few ounces of liquid gold. Keep this in mind.... I turn on the generator and head to the wringer washer. Knock, knock--I look up to see the fruit lady at my gate wanting to see if I'll purchase today. She comes irregularly with fruit for sale, usually juice fruit or bananas. Of course I want to buy some, I'll be right out! After the purchase is complete, I head back to the waiting laundry. Knock, knock--this time it's the young guy that sells fresh, yummy bread. And yes I wish to buy from him as well. Finish with him and back to the task at hand. Suddenly the generator sputters and dies. Out of gas, really?? Inside to get the keys and back out to fill it up--we're good to go again! But then, 'Mama, potty!!...' (we're in the middle of potty training so this classifies as an emergency) Oh run, honey, run!! But wait, it's too late.... sigh. Returning to laundry again and starting to make identifiable progress, now it's time to change the water in the washer. After the water finishes draining, I open the valve on the hose to fill it up again. Nothing happens. Shut the water off, and try again. Still nothing. You have got to be kidding!! The tank must be empty and now I need to pump water(which means I have to quit washing again). I can't believe it. I walk away and then decide to try once more. Praise the Lord, it was just a kink in the hose!  Filled up and good to go once more. Close to being finished and Mia decides she is tired and doesn't mind exercising her lungs to let me know it. She has to cry awhile until I get to her... My neighbor walks by and says.. 'You let your baby cry too much, don't let her cry so much!' Being tactful is not Haitians strong point. Thankfully I held my tongue and didn't say anything, because at this point, I was about to throw in the towel on doing laundry! Somehow the laundry got done, and by 11 am to boot. Yes, just another day....

Two of my favorite people!

Little Sweetie

We have settled into Darv and Jo's house here in Ti Goave and it feels quite nice. Nice to be located in the town we hope to stay in for a couple of years. It's a nice town, paved streets, nice market, decent street current, etc. Other great news.... we found a house to rent!! And signed a contract for one year! The idea of living in the same house for one year just knocks my socks off!! At least it would if I had any on. I cannot wait to unpack all my boxes and just be..... The search for housing was interesting and really fun. Contrary to what you would think, rent is expensive here. It seems that if you want a house with electric and water, there is nothing middle-of-the-road. You either live in a small, small shackish house or a nice big one. Being the rich Americans we are-we chose the later. So the house we intend to rent is currently lacking tile, paint and bathrooms. Hoping it can all be done before Darv's come home in August!

Several lunch guests--who brought lunch for themselves and us!

As for Ag news.... sad to say, the onions and potatoes that we had such high hopes for... let us down. The onions lacked nitrogen and shriveled up leaving nothing at all to harvest. The potatoes did better-we got a few gunny sackfuls. Clint says they had a blight. The nursery is a brighter, happier subject. Things are still happening there! Clint makes a trip out every other day or so to check with the boss and do various odd jobs. The only down thing is that he is having trouble finding seed. He wanted 100 pounds of seeds to plant and has only found 30 pounds to date. He thought he had it all lined up but his biggest lead fell through. Trying to trust God as this is His project with His timetable.

Our friend Massouck, just graduated from primary school with honors! We are so excited for him. He is a bright student and placed first in his class. He is currently spending a couple of weeks with us here in Ti Goave. I love the chance to have him around. He's been helping Clint a lot and me as well. He washes my dishes and loves to hold Mia--can't beat that!

Massouck and Mia

It's hard to believe Saturday marks one year since we moved back to Haiti! It has went so fast! Really missing family and friends... and ice cream! :) Happy 4th of July to everyone---celebrate freedom in Christ Jesus our Lord!

And They Became One

Marriage... it's a funny thing!! How can standing in front of people and saying 'I do' make you joined to someone for the rest of your life?? Then you get to start living with this wonderful person you thought you knew.... only wait, why are they acting like that??!! :) Hee hee... But what would I do without my wonderful man?? Life is certainly MUCH more fun with him around. In fact, I try to be around him as much as I can. I know that every other person would eventually get on my nerves...

All of these thoughts are stemming from just watching Laban and Bethany tie the love knot. Oh what fun it was to attend a wedding again! Watching them be so in love.... new love is a fun, beautiful thing to watch! Of course it makes my heart sing when it's family and when they are so happy together. Praise the Lord for His provision in their lives! We pray they have an exceptional marriage that is a witness to those around them. It was also fun to see family again.... and friends that we haven't seen for a long, long time. Ava really enjoyed her time with her cousins and grandparents. I think I heard her ask for Grandma more than me over that trip. In fact, on the way home she was still thinking we might be going to see Grandma at some point again. The whole trip went so fast, much faster than I anticipated. We had something to do constantly and are still trying to catch up on sleep:) It was also much colder than I thought it was going to be.... We stepped out of the airport to 55 degrees and thought we might not survive the week! But alas we did....

Bridal Party awaiting the Bride(I didn't even get a picture of the beautiful Bride, I was too busy taking care of two girlies! Terrible huh??)

My eyes were on him.... :)

Traveling with two littles is definitely more interesting than traveling with Clint and I only! Whew.... It is doable but is not necessarily enjoyable:) Especially when your flight gets delayed for four hours.

Grandpa with his granddaughters

~Cousins~

7 weeks and lovin' it!

--Ava getting some playground time in--

So now all the fun is over and we are back home... back to daily life. We got home on Wednesday, packed on Thursday and we will move Saturday! We are moving to Ti Goave to Darv and Jo Siebel's while they are on furlough for a couple of months. So we are about to find a new normal once again. When they come home, we will hopefully have a house lined up to rent close by. After that, we hope to be settled for a long while. 'But they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Help Needed

Hello--

For those of you who don't know, we work with another family, Darvin and Jo Seibel. They are in charge of the SALT program and live in Ti Goave. They have lived in Haiti a total of nine years; they have worked with the SALT program for about 3 years. SALT is a micro-savings and micro-loans program.The AG program that we are working with is ran under the SALT program. Darv and his family plan to go to the States on furlough for two-three months, leaving the end of May. He thought he had someone lined up to take care of his program but that person fell through. Clint and I considered taking care of everything but have quickly realized it will be a huge responsibility on top of what we already have to do. We are looking for someone to come down for the time Darv's are gone to help him with his program. It doesn't not require special skills or the ability to speak Creole. We will be living in their house while they are gone and there is an upstairs available for someone to come. If this sounds like something you are interested in or know of someone who is interested in it, please contact us via email or phone! Clint's number is 011-509-4777-4573.

Blessings on your day!

Clint and Brenda

Life as a Family of Four

What a life it is!! A family of four is a great number to be! Now that Mia is here, it makes me realize just how quickly life DOES fly by. Cliche or not, it feels like Ava was just the baby(maybe because she was:)). And now she is quite big, saying more things every day. I want to hold on to these moments, even the frustrating ones. I know that too soon, I'll be looking from the other side wondering where these days went. Some days I think I might pull out my hair but I seriously wouldn't trade it for the world! The opportunity to see a child learn and grow is priceless.... Ava still loves Mia, although she still hasn't learned how to be gentle. Poor Mia gets squished daily! Sister love is sweet if not a little breathless.

The pace of life here has increased... Clint has several things going on. I'm so excited to share the following pictures--they give such a good view of where Clint has been working lately. I mentioned on my last post about the onions he was purchasing and transplanting to the mountains. They did get them planted and Clint says they are looking great! He planted them on some of Don and Karole Weaver's land; the two of them went along to help plant. Karole was kind enough to capture the day for me!




Planting Onions

Proof that Clint does work! (for those of you who doubted!)



Don and Karole Weaver





Isn't this an amazing view?!

This is also where the potatoes are planted. We're hoping that in a few months, we won't have to buy potatoes and onions for a long, long time! Clint was up to fertilize and spray yesterday and said everything is looking good so far.

Things are also moving along with the coffee nursery. A location is pinned down, along with a boss, and progress is being made! It's so exciting to actually see things happening!

 

Coffee Nursery in beginning stages

 

 





 

 

A benefit of having a baby in-country is that Dad and Mom came to see her(and us too I think!). Our time with them went fast but was great! It was very fun for Ava to 'learn' who Grandpa and Grandma were!! I don't think she'll forget them now. We'll look forward to seeing them again soon in Washington!

 

Now Marykate Bowman is here to help us for a few weeks and we are thankful already for her help! And for two last pictures.....

Mia Gabrielle



 

 



 

 Don't forget we love to hear from you! Blessings on your day today--"This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be GLAD in it!" Ps 118:24