The Year Is Coming To A Close...

It's crazy how quickly November flew by for us in Haiti. I absolutely love the end of the school year here at Emmaus! We have a talent show, soccer tournaments, relay races, and a big Christmas party together with our students and staff....

As you probably remember me saying in my other blog (if you read it of course),
I love this seminary. I love our staff. And I love our students.

 I'm rejoicing because God has blessed me with such a great family. Not just Mom, Dad, Rosa and Ethan, but our fellow missionaries, and everyone who is here at the seminary.

 I recently went on a one day missions trip with Rosa and the students to an orphanage for handicapped children.
It was a humbling, heart-wrenching, but truly amazing experience. I'm not gonna go into specifics with you, but if you want to know more about our experience there, visit Stacey's blog:
http://mshaiti.blogspot.com/2015/12/dirty-is-why-we-are-here.html
Here's a few pictures anyway (they might be on her blog as well)

Now back to the end of the year at the seminary....

To start off the soccer tournaments we had our staff vs. student match! Usually, since our staff are all older than our students, they lose pretty much every year. But this year, we had Rosa join the team (which everyone wasn't too sure about at first since girls don't play soccer in Haiti), and she scored the winning goal for the staff! 

My momma's cousin Anna came for a week for a visit, which we all enjoyed so much! 

We had our lovely staff Christmas party that I look forward to every year! Everyone loved the games
(as you can tell from the picture!)...

We played limbo again this year, and I won! Woohoo!

Here's the group...

And of course with Christmas time comes Christmas cookies! Had a blast making these with Rosa and Mom!

I absolutely loved our talent show this year,

and so did the students (as you can tell)...

We had one of the most amazing Christmas services ever (haha, in my opinion)...

We had several students read scripture passages and we sang a bunch of English Christmas songs with them. They loved it, and we loved it.

Every year we get new first year students, and they have to get "baptized" into the seminary by their fellow students, which means being teased for an entire day. It's a Haitian tradition and it's apparently very necessary to do for them to be accepted into the family... 

It was hilarious to watch them get squirted with water and get flour thrown on them :)

The best part was that the first years loved it too!

Had such a great year and I'm so excited for next year...

Hope you enjoyed this blog, be looking for the next one!

Before and After...

We have been serving in Haiti for over 2 years now, (going on 3!) ... working each day at the EBS campus, living daily life and routine in our home... and lately we have been hit hard with a reality in our lives...

How often do we walk by things in our busyness, day after day, and not realize how much they are changing and growing? How often do we miss out on seeing God's blessings or thanking Him for His goodness to us because we get so busy that we don't take the time to stop, to take it in and to appreciate?

I am certain this happens to all of us to some extent, right? (Please tell me we're not the ONLY family   who does this... :)

Per the suggestion of my Momma's dear friend (thank you Janis!), this post is dedicated to the changes that have been happening here at Emmaus over the past 2 years.  I have been looking through old pictures of the seminary and I'm very excited to share these before and after pictures!

If we will just spend time each day noticing what is going on around us, thanking God for what He is doing, we will be continually reminded of His provision, His blessings and His faithfulness...  my family's prayer is that this post might help you to stop and take time today to notice and to praise Him for all that He has done for you!

These first few are from around our houses....

Here's our house...

And after....

 The garden...

And after...

This is the "Ti Kay" as we call it (which means little house in Creole)...

And after...

Here's the other side of the Ti Kay...

And after...

These next several pictures are of the seminary...

By the chapel...

And after... (This one's one of my favorites!)

And at the entrance of the seminary...

And after...

(probably the biggest transformation yet! This space is used for fellowship, prayer, Bible study, group pictures and more!)

In front of our cafeteria...

And after...

Dad has one more BIG project he is working on now... can't wait to show it to you very soon! (Its almost done!) 

Can you believe all that he has accomplished since coming here? 

Isn't it beautiful?

Thanks for reading this blog about how the seminary has been improving over the past two years!

Stayed tuned for another update!

A Very Full November

I am excited to announce that there are some much needed changes happening with the blog!

As much as I have wanted to stay in touch on here, with the ridiculous amount of reading I am doing for school (some weeks its over 500 pages!) plus the time I am spending sitting in front of a computer screen and typing papers, forums, critiques, taking exams and submitting assignments... I just can't seem to find the time or energy to write and keep up with the blog...

After talking with my dear friend about how frustrated I have been with myself for not keeping up, she encouraged me to STOP trying to do it all and turn over the responsibility to someone I KNOW can handle it! (Thank you Kris!)

SO...  

Our daughter Haylie is such a fabulous writer and has done a great job staying in touch through HER blog that I have asked her to officially take over our family blog... and she is SUPER excited about that!  Haylie is now writing for us and I know she will keep you all connected on a regular basis.

 Thank you all SO much for your patience with me and for your desire to connect with our family and with what God is doing here at Emmaus. 

Without further ado...

 Here's Haylie!

Hey guys! As my Mom said, I am so excited to be taking over this blog! To start off, I'm gonna tell you about our crazy full November!

Two of my Mom's good friends, Martie and Trish, came down to visit us for a few days! 

Here we are with Prudence, an amazing lady who runs the OMS clinic!

And here they are at the beach...

Isn't that gorgeous?

Sadly their stay here had to come to a close...

Rosa was so excited to have her Mom and sister come to visit her for a week, 

(and of course we all were too!). They stayed for a week helping around the house and spending quality time with us!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving here with our OMS family, playing games and eating great food!

This past Sunday we hiked up to Coup A David for the first time since we've been back!

One of our good Haitian friends, Aldy, who came with us this time, told me people call Haiti 

"La Terre de la Montagne" or, "The Land of Mountains".

My brother and I have gotten so much closer since coming to Haiti. I really love spending these precious little moments with him...

The humble beauty of this house was incredible.

Probably the most adorable cow I've ever seen.

I would take this dusty little path over a paved road anytime...

Mom and I hiking together...

The farther away you get from town, the more you see Haiti's natural beauty...

Over these past couple months, I've gotten to watch little Nora grow everyday. I'm so excited to see what God has planned for her life!

With the end of November, comes Christmas time, which is probably our family's favorite holiday... (Definitely my mom's favorite!!) 

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year....

I am so blessed to live in a place so special and dear to my heart.

Until next time...

Our Summer 2015 Schedule!

After two months of silence, I'm finally back!

I have learned that teaching my first seminary course, taking a full class load for my masters, preaching my very first sermon in Creole, finishing up homeschooling, teaching dear friends how to make pizza for their brand new business, and hosting two teams within 10 days of one another (all while preparing to head back to the states for 6 weeks) will keep you VERY busy!

Phil has been working tirelessly on LOTS of projects, helping with teams, teaching Ethan how to do all that he does (MAN I am loving watching the two of them work together!), and the biggest thing right now is the transformation of a storage building into our new Student Life offices. Phil never ceases to amaze me at his energy, determination, perseverance and calm spirit!

Despite the busyness, it has been a blessed few months as we finished up the semester and lead our summer mission teams. I am so thankful for the amazing staff at Emmaus Biblical Seminary!! (AND that Matt and Stacey were able to spend some much needed time of rest and preparation for their new little baby girl... we are SOOOO excited to meet her!!!)

Here are a few pics of the last couple of weeks... 

 Preaching in Flavil Church for their special family service

The guys playing a game of rugby in Fèv

Junior showing us his new hand pump for clean drinking water

Rosa and Junior with some of the kids in Fèv

Haylie holding a beautiful baby girl (she is a twin!)

The awesome team from Illinois who came to serve alongside of Junior and the students in Fèv, as well as with other ministry partners.

Teaching the "art" of pizza making- 7 different varieties! They are starting their new pizza business this month!

Napo, Simeon, and Modline

The finished pizzas!

Worship at Granny's church with our LifeTree groups (another awesome team!)

Group photo outside the church

Ministry at Kids Alive (with members of the team from Poplar Level Baptist in Kentucky)

Another one of Granny's amazing meals!

A Bible story at Kids Alive (translated by Leme and taught by Jacob and Tanner from the group from New Life Wesleyan in Wyoming)

Over 80 kids came out each day for Bible stories, games and loads of FUN!

The three-legged race (it doesn't get much cuter than this)!

The tour at the Citadel (and Charlie, our tour guide)

The office project...

Mixing cement...

The roof is getting put on!

Amazing how much has been accomplished...

The girls were painting the gate and spent some time telling Bible stories and sharing Jesus with some neighborhood kids! (Haylie translated for them! I am SO proud of how well she is doing in Creole!)

A much needed coconut break!

Another view of the office project

Phil is hoping to have the roof completed before we leave! (Thanks to the hard work of this team!!)

In 5 days we leave Haiti for our summer deputation and for some much needed rest and time with friends and family! We are so looking forward to seeing all of you soon and sharing about what God has been doing in our family and at Emmaus Biblical Seminary...

Please be praying for safe travel, for us to raise the additional funds needed to return to the field, and for time to refresh after a super busy (but super blessed) year!

Below is our summer speaking schedule so far... we may be adding a few more evening or mid-week services, so check back to see if there are any additional times!

We would love to see you! 

Summer Schedule 2015:

Thursday, July 2nd- Depart Haiti and head to Kansas for the weekend!

Sunday, July 5th- NorthRidge Church (8:30 and 11am) in Sabetha, KS 

Thursday, July 9th-Saturday, July 11th- We will be speaking at the evening services for the Jericho Road Project (an in-house mission trip for junior highers to neighborhoods in Newark, DE through White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church)

Sunday, July 12th- White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church (8:30 and 11am) in Newark, Delaware

Wednesday, July 15th- Sharptown Church VBS at 6pm (VBS is from July 13-17)

 

Sunday, July 19th- First Wesleyan Church at 10:30am in Bridgeton, NJ 

Sunday, July 26th- Sharptown Church (8:30 and 11:15am) and Sharptown North (10am)

Sunday, August 2nd- West Park United Methodist Church (8:30 and 11am) in Bridgeton, NJ

Sunday, August 2nd-Saturday, August 8th- We will be at Delanco Camp for Junior High 2

Sunday, August 9th- Seeds of Greatness Church in New Castle, DE

AND.... A NIGHT WITH EMMAUS at Seeds of Greatness at 6:30pm that night!  Get your tickets HERE!

Monday, August 10th- Off to South Carolina for a family vacation before we head back to Haiti

Monday, August 17th- Return to Haiti

Monday, August 24th- The 2015-2016 school year begins at Emmaus!