One Week Anniversary!

So today is our one week anniversary of our arrival in Haiti!  I can't believe how quickly time has flown by!  In my last post I gave you a little tour of the house, but now I want to share with you a little more of a taste of our life here so far!


On Tuesday night, we were invited to the home of our field director, Brett Bundy. We were served a wonderful meal and had a great time with him and his wife Angie and their beautiful children!

Here you see Ethan playing a game of Dutch Blitz with the Bundy kids and some of their Haitian friends...

and Haylie and Christina  (their youngest) playing a game of Memory... a favorite of mine as a kid!






Chapel service on Wednesday was great!  Led by Bill Edler, a visiting professor teaching Intro to the New Testament (and also staying with us!)...  it was a great message from 1 Timothy 3 on the qualifications of a church leader...

Our lunches each day are made by the amazing kitchen staff here at the seminary!  We really love Haitian food and have enjoyed trying new things... even Ethan!!!

A typical Haitian meal here is rice and beans, or a corn mush, with bean sauce or Creole sauce, sometimes plantains or beets,  and "meat" (we don't know... and we don't ask!)... 

whatever it is- it's GOOD!

Today we had a very productive day!  

Ethan has been our weed puller and has been doing a GREAT job!!!  He started out doing the job alone...

 But quickly found some other little girls who were excited to lend a helping hand!  Lily, Biga and Sophie were more than eager to join in the fun...

And other friends joined in too!  (And Ethan certainly didn't mind the extra hands helping out :)

Haylie has been fabulous around the house and while I went to meet with the student life team to plan worship for tomorrow, she finished the dishes, cleaned the floors, made tea, folded the rest of the laundry AND placed it on all of our beds for me!!!  Isn't she WONDERFUL!!!!!!!

Today I also got tables cleaned and the porch set up and ready for my first opportunity to serve food to the visiting professors this Saturday for breakfast.  (Stacey totally blessed me- like I mentioned before, but HAVE to mention again- with meals taken care of for us this entire week!!!)

It has been great to be able to not have to stress about cooking dinners this week and has really given us a time to breathe and settle in...  now I am ready to jump in and start doing what I LOVE :)

Aside from going with me to meet with the student life team for chapel tomorrow, Phil has been HARD at work doing what he is SO extremely gifted at doing... making things look beautiful!

With some great hired help, Phil planned out some much needed landscaping and they went to work...

and the building went from this...

to this... 

in just a few hours!!  

 Shade that will help keep rooms cooler and offer more privacy to this home and beauty to the campus!  

The highlight of my day though, would have to be, the lovely spider that decided to sneak into the house with one of the tables...  my first "large-bug kill" since we arrived...  and I am certain, will NOT be my last.  (Unfortunately this picture does not show how big this thing REALLY was!!!)

Tonight we are getting ready to head over to the Ayars house for a VERY special, one-week anniversary celebration!  Cokes and popcorn and a movie night is in store, and I am already late for the occasion!   But wanted to make sure that I shared our day with you before I go...  and one last picture...

While walking to the chapel today, I had to take this picture... this is from our very first mission trip to Haiti back in 2011, when we put in the cement walkway. Ethan, Haylie and Lily all placed their hands in the soft concrete before it dried.  

It took me back to that moment, to that trip, when God was calling us to come here and to serve the people of Haiti.  Emotions flood back when I think of His faithfulness to us through these last two years, of His provision to get us here, of His love for those who need the Gospel, and of His heart to expand His Kingdom through His people here in Haiti.   

Seeing those names etched into that walkway reminds me of Isaiah 49:16,

"See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands..."

THAT is how much He loves us... and He desires for us to share that love with the world!

2Haiti4Him