The Bower Family Chronicle: Home.... Sweet Home

Home.... Where the heart is! I was pondering this the other day, as we have been home from Ohio for about three weeks now. As I thought about it I realized how blessed I am.... I have numerous "homes". Going to my parents' house is home, going to Clint's parents' is home, going to several friends' houses feels like home, and of course, coming to our house in Haiti felt like home too. How amazing is that? Some people have only one place that feels like home, others none. Lord, help this home to be a blessing to others who enter it!

The weekend after we got back, we went to the wedding of a man who works for the soil conservation program. Ah... Haitian weddings never fail to entertain! We were told by the groom that the wedding would commence at 9:30 a.m. They were having the ceremony at his home in the mountains about an hour and a half away if we took the 4-wheeler. Either we are becoming Haitian or we were just being lazy, but we didn't arrive until 10:15. Of course, nothing was happening yet. The church was full of murmuring people. We were barely set down in the back of the church when a man approached Clint and wondered if he could go pick up the pastor who would be helping with the ceremony. Ha, ha! I had a small chuckle. This is why we didn't try to arrive on time! Clint went back down to where the truck had parked and proceeded to haul up a couple pastors and the speakers. After they arrived back at the church, the pastor had to go change and the speaker system had to be set up. By this time the day was really warming up. Our girls were becoming pretty fidgety.... The wedding finally began around 11:30. What followed was a church crammed full of people, barely any standing room left. This meant we couldn't feel a STITCH of air movement at all. Whew. I fed the girls several packs of cookies, gave them lots of drinks of hot water and finally sent them outside looking for Clint. He had lost his place inside when he went to get the men. The groom also happens to be a pastor so this ceremony lasted very long, at least an hour and a half. We girls were happy when it was finally over! In Haiti, instead of forming a line to congratulate the newlyweds, or even for them to come around to receive congratulations, everyone floods to the front of the church to offer them best wishes. We followed the crush of people forward where we were happy to congratulate them. I thought it was hot at the back of the church but it was worse in the front. The poor bride looked like she was nearly in a daze, with sweat beaded on her face. We left right after that because we were afraid it was going to rain and didn't want to get caught in it. Usually they serve a nice meal of rice and beans, chicken, and several special foods.

The newlyweds a couple weeks after the wedding

Our time spent in Ohio went fast, too fast really. We loved every minute of reconnecting with church family and friends. We are blessed beyond anything we deserve. It was a busy time and we tried to make the most of every minute! It was an encouraging, refreshing trip. Now it feels good to be back home in Haiti as well. August and September are our hottest months so we have fans going full blast trying to keep cool! Poor Mia has a bad heat rash that just won't go away... she can't get cool enough for enough days in a row for that to happen. I'll have to say, we felt like we had to come back to Haiti to 'thaw' out--Ohio was strangely cool while we were there. It WAS nice to have a few weeks free from sweating.

Last weekend we got to help 'Grandpa' Harold celebrate his 80th birthday here in Ti Goave. A couple of the ladies planned a big birthday bash for him. He thought only a few people would be there. It's not every day that you get to celebrate an 80th birthday here. Harold is 'grandpa' to many of us, and has lived here for several years. We also got to spend last week with Ryan, Kyra and family. It was wonderful to have special friends here for a few days!