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!





 



Travelin'

Well, I'm new at this blogging stuff so please bear with me while I work out the kinks. To be honest, I'm not a patient person when it comes to computer things, like setting up a blog. This is precisely why I haven't set one up before, because I didn't want to take the time to figure it out and get it to look how I wanted it to! But I finally gave in and it is done. One more thing to cross of my list cause yep, I'm also a list person. If I have a big list of things to do in the day, nothing makes me happier than seeing it all crossed off. It makes me really feel like I accomplished something that day, even if the entries were just little tiny jobs. I decided if that is what it takes to make me feel like I'm really getting things done, then hey, it's a simple, mind-settling way to do it!

I haven't done an update for awhile and for that, I apologize... not that most of you probably missed that email in your box, but just in case! I'll recap what has been happening quickly, lest you fall asleep. To be honest again, I feel strange sometimes sharing what we do on a daily basis. It's not like our life is so much more interesting than anyone elses. It's just that we live a much different place.... I guess that makes the difference huh?? We moved from Blue Ridge (sniff) on January 12. It was sad to leave friends but once we got here, it was ok! Blue Ridge has a location about an hour and a half south in the town of Leogone where we now live. The facilities here used to be used as a Girl's home for teaching them trades but has been closed down for about a year. Now only one other American couple lives here while they are building their house up in the mountains. It's a great place to live and we are blessed to have good neighbors once again. Philip and Bethany helped us move and are we ever so thankful for them! The house hadn't been used for a long time and was filthy. We didn't start unloading until we had cleaned for about 5 hours. That got most of the dirt and then I finished another day. We were there a week, then left for a week and a half while we had a team here. We moved around within that week and a half, from Darv and Jo Seibel's, to Blue Ridge, to Philip and Bethany's. Was so nice to come back home! And since then, we have been gone about as much as we've been home. It seems that for every day we're home, we're gone a day to match! Believe it or not, I'm not complaining.... I have complained about it in the past but looking back, it's always been fun and it sure makes the time go quickly. We have been up to Soliette a couple of times to take up supplies and check on the progress of the goat shed/Massouck's room. For those of you aware or who gave to the cause, the building is getting closer to being done. We were up a week ago and the Haitian boss we hired only had four rows of blocks left to lay. After that, it will be up to Clint to put in the floor and put on the roof. I'm getting so excited for Massouck to have a sure place to sleep every night! Can't wait to get it finished. Thanks for helping us get this done!


Our home in Leogane

Inside

Ava with Claudy, one of her playmates in Leogane

We have also traveled south to do research on coffee. There is more coffee production in the south than any where else in Haiti. At this point, the program is leaning towards raising coffee as a means of helping employ youth up in the mountains and give farmers there a realiable means of support. At one time, Haiti was the largest exporter of coffee in the world. As you can guess, that is no longer true for various reasons. BUT, it does show that there is plenty of potential in this direction. That is the cause for all this research on coffee and its production. You can pray for Clint in this area, as I know he feels like he has a LOT to learn and really just wants to be able to help the people. It just all takes time. I might add, our trip to the south was so fun!! It's absolutely beautiful there, green-blue water and clean, sandy beaches with hundreds of palm trees. Looks like any other Carribean island on the coast! It was a new view of Haiti for us. After our trip south, we were home for about a week. Then we got to go to the north coast for a couple of days! This too was to an area we hadn't yet been! Our view of Haiti is expanding:) Curt and Janie Wagoner were here and sponsor a child in the north. They really wanted to meet him and his family and asked if we could take them up. It was a sweet trip. Was so fun to meet the young boy and watch their joy in sharing just a few hours of his life with him. Everything went off without a hitch which isn't entirely normal for here! It really felt like a blessed trip.

Now, here we are to settle into "normal" life with NO trips planned in the near future, except for the one to have this bebe dear. So many times I say 'when life returns to normal' or ' I'll do that when life becomes normal again.' But isn't every day just 'normal?' Yes, we might have a few things happen that aren't typical from day to day, but if I wait for NOTHING to be happening before I do things, that isn't 'normal' either!



Being silly before bedtime

Ava is growing like a weed.... literally. She grows up, but not out. She says new words every day, even some that I didn't know she knew what were! It's so much fun to watch a child learn. And it reminds me just how much she picks up from me and my attitude every day. They really are sponges! If nothing else, raising a child keeps me constantly on my knees asking for guidance to raise her to love the Lord. I know we sure can't do it on our own. Still have around five weeks until bebe #2 joins us. It's an opportunity for me to trust the Lord because yes, the thought of a home birth in Haiti does not set my soul at ease. However, I do KNOW God knows exactly how it's all going to work out and I KNOW he will provide everything at just the right time. Isn't that life.... little opportunities for our trust in the Lord to grow..