Happiness

Happy... that's the feeling in our house these days...!! Blessed beyond measure, cup full and running over... God is amazing! I'm pretty sure I cannot accurately communicate what is in my heart the last couple days but it's full enough that when I lay down to go to sleep, sleep won't come. I can't quit thinking about how blessed I am. And it makes me so happy... and so content. We have a sweet new daughter to call our own, we are all healthy, we are HAPPY, we are thankful! The pain of childbirth, the challenging process of change, the sleep-less nights are not a price to pay for the JOY that we feel! It's watching Clint be a papa to TWO girls, being able to take care of my family(or have them take care of me!), watching Big Sister explore her role, and watching Sweet Wee One nap all day that makes my heart burst with so much emotion and makes me glad to be alive. And to know that my Heavenly Father DELIGHTS to give me these gifts... it's more than I can take in! All glory to You, Lord....



Day 2

Loving Little Sister

Clint and I were talking the other day about how we thought Ava was so cute when she was born. Then we looked back at pictures and realized she actually wasn't as cute as we remembered, all wrinkly and swollen, with a funny complexion. Armed with this knowledge, I though surely I wouldn't think new baby would be that cute. But, what can I say, I'm smitten. I think she is the most beautiful baby around!! AND I think she gets cuter by the day!

 

Clint has several things going on right now, all of which have been on hold for a couple weeks while we waited for Mia to arrive. He is in the process of starting a coffee nursery from the scratch. Finding a location has taken a few days and he still needs to finalize details, but once that is finished, he can start getting supplies around to begin a nursery. The idea is to have coffee seedlings ready to plant next year at this time. He is also working on transplanting onion sets from Soliette to the mountains where we are working currently. That is proving to take a lot of time and coordination. The onion sets are ready to transplant now. In fact, several people are being stolen from. Massouck is who we are buying our sets from, and he is sleeping in his field at night to prevent that from happening to his! The plan is to pull them on Monday and transplant them to their new home on Tuesday. If the crop is good, this is a very good way for the locals to make money, as onion sets are expensive because of the time and work that go into them.

 

In our free time, we found a day to go to the beach a couple weeks ago. This time Ava actually conquered her fear of the water and ran in! Woo hoo!! The place we went to is a little island that you boat out to; it has a beautiful little beach with few people.

 

 

 





Looking back at the mainland

 

 

Oh, and before I forget... we did something I never thought we'd do..... butchered chickens!!! We have had six layers since we moved in July and they did a great job providing us with eggs. Until we moved to Leogane. The chickens then discovered that they loved the taste of eggs themselves and we ceased finding eggs in the pen. Clint tried building roost boxes and clipping their beaks, but neither helped. So before we moved in to Blue Ridge, we butchered chickens! Never mind that neither of us knew how. Clint looked on YouTube, and we enlisted Karole Weaver and Carol Myers to help. And it got done. They looked like such nice, meaty chickens until their feathers came off.... It was not a job that either of us enjoyed, but it was better than paying for them to eat their own eggs.

 

 

YUCK

 

Thank you, thank you to all who prayed with us for the safe arrival of Mia! I know that is why things went so well. You can also join us in praying that her passport and paperwork get completed in time for us to fly to Laban's wedding in six weeks! We don't expect trouble, but you never know. Praise HIM, Praise HIM, He alone is worthy!