"Field Posts"

We are on day four of constant rain here in Haiti and it looks like it’s going to be here for a few days yet.  It’s only let up for minutes here and there over the last few days.  Sometimes it’s a constant trickle, other times it’s massive downpour. Rob and I had plans to go to a local beach hotel for the weekend with no kids, but we cancelled those plans.  We’d rather save the money and try again another weekend when we can enjoy the beach, pool, and outdoor restaurant.  I was super disappointed as we haven’t had any nights without the kids since before Braden was born and have had a total of one date this entire 2011.  We’ll try to plan for another time. Rain here has a whole different meaning than in the US.  I’ve been thinking about it, so I thought I’d list some of what I’ve noticed for you. Steady rain closes everything here, kind of like a snowstorm does in the US.  No school, not many businesses open, people lose work (and they don’t g...

A few weeks ago, we had a team here from Louisiana visiting their sister church in Picot.  Picot is only about a 45 minute drive, so our family was able to join them for the church service and have lunch with them afterwards.  We went last year with this team, but Rob and I had only been taking Creole lessons for a few weeks and we couldn’t communicate at all.  It was so fun for all of us to be able to talk and communicate with the people this time! Everyone loves talking to Braden, especially the ladies! Tessa makes friends everywhere she goes The kids found some broken playground equipment and had fun playing anyway Lots of smiles     Picot is at the base of a pretty big mountain range.  In order to drive over the mountain you have to take “the ramp.”  In years past, this was a very treacherous road and the only way to get to the northern side of the peninsula.  It is a series of switchbacks and ...

One of the really fun things about living in Haiti is that the kids play outside all the time.  We never did that to this extent in Florida as it was too hot and the kids were too young to go out alone.  The kids are a little older now and in many ways it’s safer here where we live.  It’s hotter here then Florida most of the year, but when your house is not air conditioned, outside is where you want to be. Drew is my creative child.  He finds all kinds of ways to make outside play fun. Our yard isn’t huge, but it’s got plenty of room to play.  It kind of just ends at a cliff.  Down below that cliff is the part of our yard  where we have our vegetable garden.  We only use about half of the garden space for planting, so Drew loves to play down there.  We call it “down the cliff” or simply “anba” which means under or below in Creole.  If I don’t see Drew right away, down the cliff is usually where I check first! For a long while he was ...

and I imagine it always will be.  Our neighbors, Johannes and Luise Schurer, have been serving in Haiti since the year I was born, and even they tell me they don’t have it figured out.  What is the best response to those who come to our doors every day, asking for help? This morning, a woman came to our house.  I was coming home from somewhere, and Rob was already talking to her.  She told Rob she had cholera and needed to go to the hospital.  It was obvious to us that she didn’t currently have cholera but she was obviously weak and sick (and later on I realized that she might have been telling us she was weak because she was treated for cholera in the past.)  We had never seen her before—she is not one of the “regulars” that comes asking for things.  We agreed to write her a note stating we’d pay for a consultation and medication at the clinic near where we live.  She asked us for a glass of water before she left and we obliged. She returned ...

Back to sharing with you about the retreat!  Sorry it’s taken too long.  It’s been a busy week here. After our big adventure the first day just getting our speakers to Haiti, we were glad for a day to rest a little and recuperate.  We spent Thursday getting ready and I kept them busy showing them around where we live and meeting some of the missionary ladies.  That night we took them to a Haitian restaurant for some Haitian food.  Unfortunately, Tessa threw up all over the table so it was an interesting night.  Tessa ended up having a 24 hour stomach bug.  It was hard to leave her the next day to go on the retreat, but she was in good hands with Rob. Vicki, Donna, and Terri ready to take a tour of the area we live.  Also, a picture of Amy, Rob and I with the ladies at the RMI Guest House right after staff devotions.   We woke up to a rainy day Friday.  We spent much of the weekend praying for the rain to stay away, and for th...

Last weekend, fellow co-worker Amy Long and I, had the privilege of hosting all the missionary ladies in our area of les Cayes for a retreat at the RMI Retreat Center in Zanglais.  This is a retreat that RMI  sponsors annually, but last year had to be cancelled because it was scheduled for the weekend after the earthquake.  So it had been over 2 years since the last one.  About 2 months before the retreat, a search for a speaker hadn’t come to fruition and fell in Amy and my hands.  We felt confident that, despite the short time frame to find a speaker, God had the speaker already picked out and we needed to be faithful in asking.  Through prayer, we decided to just ask one person at a time and wait for their response before turning to the next person on our short list.  What I wanted to do was send a mass email and see who responded, but we felt God prompting us to take it one person at a time!  The first two we asked quickly said no as they al...

In case you didn’t hear the news, we got a puppy in March!  Another missionary here was bringing back a puppy from the same litter for his kids and mentioned there was one more and that he’d be willing to bring them both.  We felt the cost was perfect (free, except we split the cost of the flight fees), the kids were at a good age and it was just the type of dog we wanted for our family.  We named her Jersey and call her Jersey Girl sometimes :)  Her mom is a full-bred Golden Retriever and dad is a black lab-mix.  Her brother lives just up the road and they love to play together.  She is golden in color and looks a lot like a lab, but as she’s getting older she has more of the longer snout of a Golden Retriever.  Her brother, Kabu, is black and looks just like a lab.  Here is a picture when we surprised the kids with her back in March.  She’s already changed so much since then!   Two weekends ago we took her to the beach for th...