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

 



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..