Making our list and checking it twice...

What do YOU want for Christmas? I simply want TIME with my family and faith families. No gifts to unwrap. Just card playing until the wee hours of the morning. Deep talks over coffee. Just laughter and sunshine and time TOGETHER. And it looks like we're gonna get it, too! We can hardly wait!

We were able to play a small part in bringing Christmas gifts to the children in Godet. Several of YOU shopped, bought, and shipped gifts to New York for David Young to bring in with the team last week. THANK YOU!! Brynna and Erin wrapped and labeled each gift with love last week. So, they are ready to be delivered at the appropriate time. You know! Around December 25th...! Pics will follow.

They made little cut out Christmas trees for their sponsors:

I wanted to give you a snapshot of the list that was not published. Erin took time to ask each child individually what they may want for Christmas. The list made me feel very selfish. Even for wanting time with my family... actually, especially for wanting time with my family. Since they are family to each other at the Center in Godet. Eighteen precious souls bunking together. One room of girls. One room of boys. All sharing life together. None having the comfort of their mother's unconditional love or the tough love from their father. But, all being given the gift of each other to walk through life thanks to Heart of God Haiti.

Here's the unpublished list:
Nadine wants black sneakers, a pink skirt and clear nail polish
Natasha wants a green skirt, yellow dress, sandals
Nerlande wants dress shoes, socks, memory game
Marie Elande wants juice, a bottle, bananas and a play phone
Samantha wants clear nail polish, a pink skirt and shirt
Reginald wants blue pants, a white and blue shirt and a card game
Samson wants a pencil, lotion, Uno, ruler and cake
Emmanuel wants a Bible and peanut butter

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." 

John 3:16 and following...

Night on the Mountain

It's Friday, Chris is in Nashville for the 10th Anniversary of "a door to hope - BGM". Brynna and I are up on this mountain feeling a little like spoiled little brats after taking a hot shower for the first time in a week and enjoying electric for the first time in a week - other than the 22 minutes from yesterday that just don't even count!

This morning on our way up the mountain we purchased water and propane gas for the Center. Here's a picture of the top half of the "new and improved" or rather "new and demolished" Crazy Corner (Brynna spotted an Auburn Under Armor shirt for sale):


We spent the day with the kids in Godet with Heart of God Haiti. We called them in class by class and spent some small group time with them. We let them chose what game they wanted to play together and we played and laughed and had fun. Class Four wanted to play Uno. Most of the other classes wanted to play some sort of "Memory" game. Erin has taught them English so it's easier to converse with them, but there's still a real language barrier when it comes to words or themes beyond the scope of what they've been taught. We tried our hardest to communicate to them that we wanted them to be able to share a special memory of their time with Erin (because she's leaving to go back to the states after serving 2 years with them). We wanted them to tell a story of a time that they laughed with Erin or she dried their tears when they were sad or she taught them something new and so on. The had a really hard time understanding the concept. Brynna chimed in yet we just couldn't get them to understand. It was eye opening for me to see that their brains can't possibly come up with answers to my questions like this when they don't know enough words or concepts in the English language to convey what they're feeling. So, we'll have to ask for help from Peterson next week. I'll keep you posted.

Loudina, one of the youngest lost her first tooth!

Baby Ann (pronounced more like "on")
She's the daughter of one of the ladies who
works at the Godet Center.

After we played with each class we watched a David and Goliath animation with Charlton Heston and they all watched intently. It's amazing to me how these children are so thankful for anything they are given because they don't have much to call their own. Every week when we hand them a bon-bon with peanut butter or any other little snack they each look me straight in the eye and say, "thank you." And I believe they truly mean it. If any of you have children's DVDs that you are cleaning away after Christmas - please keep us in mind. They have a rotation of DVDs, but I'd love to see their library expand. Currently they watch: Annie, Frozen, Smith Family Robinson, and Elf. We wondered if they'd like The Incredibles, Ice Age, Lion King, Marry Poppins, etc... They don't seem to "get" Veggie Tales as much as we'd like for them to. Here's a pic of them enjoying David and Goliath today:


This is my theme song for our 115 days in Haiti between August and December of 2014 from the king himself... David Crowder. Listen here.

"Up on the mountain where Your love captured me. Where finally I'm free, this I know. Up on the mountain, where You taught my soul to sing, 'Amazing grace, the sweetest thing, this I know.' Then the storm's rushing in and here I am again, this I know. Take me up to where I was, when I never wanted more than You. Lift me up to feel Your touch. It wouldn't be that much for You. This I know."

We know that some of you are our biggest cheerleaders, prayer warriors and we truly, truly appreciate you and all you've done for us. We couldn't be here without you. I tell you we believe with all our hearts your prayers and cheers have kept us safe in this foreign country and satisfied in walking with Him. Yet some of you don't understand why we have come to this mountain and may never realize the purpose. I wish we could sit down and talk and truly get to the heart of it. It's not glamorous nor is it much sacrifice in light of eternity. It's simply obedience. Thanks for loving us.

Catchup

Living in Haiti has made me come to appreciate some of the things in the US that I have taken for granted. It's Tuesday evening at 8:38 PM and we've not had electric since Saturday night. Sometimes, I get frustrated depending on how much our devices are charged. Why should the fact that we have or don't have charge affect me?! Because it makes me feel so helpless! If we don't have charge, we can't communicate with the world. But, then, again... why is it so important to communicate with the world? That is not my number one responsibility in life! I have 83% battery on my iPad as I begin to type this blog. So, I should no have any problem finishing it.

Today, we had Kreyole lessons with Erin and sent Chris back to the states (all before lunch) for "A Night on the Porch" with a door to hope - BGM. If you're free Friday evening - stop by the Nashville office and enjoy some s'mores, shopping in a "Haiti market", live music, local food, bid on online auction, sweet fellowship, a mock Haitian classroom and a whole lot more! It's FREE!

Aftter lunch at the BHM we journeyed down to the Dearing's home where we were charging our most vital devices. (We had planned to plug them up in the BHM cafeteria, but all the plugs were taken by others who are going without electric, too.) As we were coming up the hill from their home the thunder rumbled loudly and the skies began to cry... hard... and fast. So, we took shelter for a bit near the clinic. Between the three of us, we only had one rain poncho available. So, I put my Kavu bag around the front of me and carried Brynna's backpack on my back under the poncho... and once again I looked like a pregnant hunchback grey-haired white woman walking the streets of Haiti. We made it back up the hill to the gift shop and Erin asked for a plastic bag to cover her most important bag. Then we took off swiftly racing through the rain towards home. Erin hopped in to a tap-tap to head back up the mountain to Kenscoff where she's staying and Brynna and I arrived at our gate and pounded, and pounded and pounded for Gerard to let us in. The guys across the street who had taken shelter were laughing at us or actually WITH us. One of them brought over a bigger rock to hit against the gate to try to get Gerard's attention. It took at least 15 minutes before we saw him. By that point, we looked like drowned rats. And did we ever smell like some!  

We came in and cleaned our feet and legs off with a little bleach water since we had just walked through rivers of unmentionable liquids... and mud... and such, dried off and attempted to cook some hot cocoa. We have dried milk, cocoa powder and sugar. It was tasty. Fortunately, we can't remember what it tastes like at our favorite coffee shop. It's been too long. So, we counted it a blessing.

To be honest, it's not been an easy past month for me. Not only have we been grieving the untimely death of Nabeel El-farrah from this mountain so far away from Louisville, but I'm having a hard time with the reality of what season it is, what happens in the US and the fact that I'm not in the US. I'm very sorry that I've not been able to keep up with the blog as much as I would have liked to these last 30 days. So many of you have been in contact with us via e-mail or FB inbox and that has helped. We've also had a lot of transitions going on that we'll tell you all about in another post.

I'm so very thankful that my very best friend from high school, Sarah Cooper---'s mom - Frances spotted us on social media and offered to send us a care package. I told her I'd LOVE to have some of her amazing snickerdoodles. So, she put on FB the other day a pick of the package before she sent it and I canNOT wait for Chris to bring it back this weekend!!! Here's a pic of what has helped lift my spirits the last couple weeks just anticipating it:

Back on Monday...
Have I told you about Merilus? (Mer-E-Leece) He's our private moto guy. Here in Haiti you can just jump on any old moto and pay the driver to take you somewhere, but it's highly likely that you'll get what you pay for... a blindly dangerous ride. So, Erin has introduced us to Merilus who drives slower and more cautiously than most. He's my hero. He takes me and brings me back from roads that tap-taps don't travel on. Chris, Brynna and Erin make fun of me sometimes because I hold on for dear life... to whatever I can... which sometimes is Brynna or Chris' knees or Merilus' sides.

Yesterday I went up to Godet to take care of a few things with Erin. On the way home it began to pour the rain! We were on a moto with Merilus. We dropped Erin off in Kenscoff and then he brought me back to our apartment. The rain was falling so hard we couldn't see in front of us very well, but what I could see terrified me - it was rivers of water flowing down the streets on every turn. You remember we live on a mountain, right? It was quite scary, but just about 3 turns before our apartment, he realized we had a flat front tire. But, he kept on going and dropped me off at the gate. I only know enough Kreyole to call him and ask him to come pick me up and tell him where to drive me to... I felt so horrible that I couldn't communicate with him about how to help him get it fixed or that it was okay to stop the moto and I could walk the rest of the way. I just hope he didn't damage his moto driving around those curves with a flat tire. I'll let you know Friday when he comes to pick us up.

Earlier on Monday, we were invited guests along with Erin to the Dearing family home for lunch. They grilled steaks!!! We had baked potatoes, sliced cucumbers and green bean casserole! Oh, my, oh, my was it yummy!! On the way home we encountered our road that was completely blocked. I have yet to tell you that they have come in with bulldozers and torn out brick buildings and loaded them up in dump trucks and dumped them over the mountain! This is a picture that Chris snapped on Sunday. Today, they've torn out even more shops. There's constantly crowds of people lined up watching. There's lots of people who are coming in and grabbing anything that they could use or sell - like rebar. There's been a great police presence to ensure that the crowd doesn't get out of control. Each time we've had to walk through it coming or going the crowd seems just enthralled in watching the transformation. Have only witnessed one angry exchange and it was with the tap-tap drivers and the police. They apparently were being told to line up on down the road because they had torn out all the shops where they normally line up. Now, we'll have even farther to walk to catch a tap-tap down to PV. But, that's ok. I just feel so uncertain about how this will affect our little community. It's taken out businesses that we've spent our time and money in. Where will these people go now to make a living? Rumor has it that they are going to make a round-a-bout to help control the traffic and improve the safety of the place. (I put up a video on FB once of the "crazy corner".) Rumor also tells us that the government paid the owners of these buildings some amount of compensation a while back, but they didn't exactly know that "today was the day" and that it would all be torn away. I'm just praying that tomorrow we don't see them tearing out Simon's shop by the BHM. That would be one sad day. But, we're told that that's private property and they won't be tearing that out. Time will tell.

Well, back to my story - on Monday on the way home from the Dearing's the road was completely blocked by dump trucks and we had to climb up the hill just to the left of this picture. You want to talk about a funny site? So dangerous! But, it was the only way home. Sadly, we were following all the children who had just come out of school and were making their way up the hill. They were all dressed in their blue checked shirts and there we were just "blending right in". I was not able to climb up the muddy hill without Chris pulling me up. Just don't even imagine that. It was not pretty. Nor were our feet and legs as we trudged through the mud and water and made our way back down that road where the people are lined up and then past the dump trucks on the other side to make it safely back to our apartment.

Tomorrow, Brynna and I along with Erin will board a tap-tap and head down to PV to pick up some powdered milk for the kids at Godet along with some other items from the Giant grocery store. If you think about it, pray for safety. That's my biggest fear here in Haiti... our safety. Not necessarily for safety as far as kidnapping or something violent, but just simply transportation, brakes, steering wheels, drivers, craziness and etc... We're constantly flying up and down these mountain roads and it's a miracle that we've been safe this entire time. Thank you God!

It's now 10:18 and my eyes are ready to rest. Thank you for all your prayers and support. We will do our best to give you more pictures of Haiti and the life we are now living. We are starting to look forward to coming "home" in December. And we are blessed to be able to spend time with our family, our faith families in Nashville (White House) and Louisville over the break. We look forward to touching base and hugging all your necks! We've still got 40 days in Haiti. Please continue to pray. Na we pita! (See you later!)