The Cutie Patootie

 Isaac loves music, especially when he helps Daddy play the keyboard.

Isn't he adorable?

Our first boat ride. Arold's not showing off his phone, he was making a video.

Isaac and his friend R. She is four months older than him, but he's a good 3 pounds heavier and at least an inch taller. Crazy kids.

Isaac helped himself to a snack while Mom was doing something else.

The Sorta Update

So much to say and so little time to write! I hope this weekend to get caught up on some posts I want to write, but I make no guarantees. Here's the quick version to tide you over until more pictures and stories can be shared.

• We went to Fonds Parisien on Tuesday to visit some friends who work out there. The town is on a big lake that sits on the DR border. It was dry and dusty out there, and definitely warmer than the mountain. But it was really fun to explore a new part of Haiti with my husband (and one of his brothers too). 
• Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which means lots of Haitians were celebrating Kanaval (translated Carnival, means extended Mardi Gras celebration) over the weekend and Monday and Tuesday. It was pretty quiet in our neighborhood, so that was nice. It was also really nice to have three days off of work! (Mon-Wed were all national holidays)
• Arold's final visa interview was today, so we woke up at 4:30 to head to the US Embassy. It was the busiest I had ever seen the embassy, but we were one of the first interviews (scheduled for 7am, actual interview around 8am). The interview was so easy we thought it was a trick, but he was approved after a very short conversation with the nicest lady we've talked to yet. We were in our car by 8:30 and on our way to celebrate. His visa will be ready in about a week. PRAISE THE LORD!!!
• After the Embassy I made my husband take me to Handal Maison, the Haitian Wal-mart. It wasn't open yet, so we stopped for some juice at a nice cafe. Then we went shopping (only bought teething gel, so disappointing).
• After that we took a tour of the Historic Sugar Cane Park. It was pretty cool and will hopefully have it's own post some day soon. Isaac was impressed, and Mom and Dad learned a lot about Haiti's history.

Pre-Wedding Photos

These are some of the pictures that were snapped by guests during our wedding. We're hoping to have the professional photos by the end of the week. You can click on the picture to see it in full size.

Grab Bag

Some days are a "grab bag." You just never know what you are going to get.Yesterday was one of those days for me.
Here's a sampling of what I was up to yesterday:

• teaching students how to make a PowerPoint presentation (only it was with OpenOffice software, not actual PowerPoint), which was really above their competency level but they enjoyed inserting pictures
• helping two students fill out applications for the YMCA Ambassador's Program in English and writing references for them
• coloring some full page letters for a banner
• learning about networks and CSSIP, both of which are computer stuff that goes way over my head!
• verifying student data for our current class rosters
• discussing school policies and spiritual gifts with Beth
• taking pictures of some friends before they went off to meet Oprah

In the Land of Rice and Beans

Ah. It is such bliss to be back in Haiti...other than the needing to unpack and put everything away part. I really loathe unpacking. Maybe I'll just live out of my suitcases for the next week and then unpack.

 New construction on the waiting room building has gone up while I've been away. The second floor wasn't even started when I left 5 months ago and now it's nearly complete.

My college friend Beth is in Haiti this week helping in the clinic. She came with me back in April of 2010 when this chapter of my life started. :)

My good friends Porcupine and Mouse. We had a lot of fun talking after clinic finished today. I've missed them!

Where my heart is...

On Sunday I was able to be at my home church again. I don't think I'd been there in about 5 weeks. Two boys from the youth group actually sought me out to say they were happy I wasn't back in Haiti yet. They thought for sure that I had gone back without saying goodbye. Aren't they sweet?

I have really enjoyed traveling to other churches and sharing about what God is doing through Mountain Top Ministries in Haiti, but it was really refreshing to be with my church family again. I think I'll be able to worship with them for the next four Sundays. Then it will be time for me to return to Haiti and worship with my friends in Gramothe. Only four more Sundays in the States. That's both exciting and heart wrenching. Why can't Northern Indiana and Haiti be only 20 or 50 or even 100 miles apart? That would make my life much easier.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited to be going back. YES!! I'm thrilled that I will be with Arold in just 25 days. I can't wait to see my students and talk about school, their families, and what's happening in their lives. Being involved in the life changing ministry of MTM, through the clinic and the school and church, is something I love about being in Haiti.

But in some ways the next 25 days in the U.S. are the hardest because the excitement about going back is tempered with heart ache over leaving. My entire family lives here. They celebrate birthdays and holidays together. They hang out and eat at each others' houses. They get to do life together, and I'm in a different country getting glimpses of it through Facebook and e-mail. Two of my best friends just had babies. I can't cuddle with them from Haiti. I can't just stop by and get my baby fix. I won't be around as they grow and change. I can't celebrate milestones in their lives, and I likely won't even know when some of those milestones happen. Living in Haiti doesn't allow me to be intimately involved in my loved one's lives.

I fully recognize that this is the choice I've made, and I am confident beyond a shadow of a doubt that God wants me in Haiti. I have the peace that only God can give about moving to a country plagued by poverty, civil unrest, and diseases like cholera. I know that once I'm in Haiti again I will be excited to be there, but saying goodbye (even when it's just for a few months--I will be back in June) is hard and I wish I didn't have to do it. I hate thinking "Is this the last time I'm going to see this person before I go?" because it makes me want to cry every. single. time.

Maybe I'm a little hormonal today and my emotions are getting the best of me.

Or maybe life is messy and saying goodbye to the people you love is always hard, no matter how confident you are that where you're going is where God wants you.

Dream

Josalyn is a young twenty-something employee of Mountain Top Ministries. She's super sweet and always tries to talk to me. I appreciate the attempts even when I can't understand them. The key with Josalyn is that she truly wants me to understand her. She talks slowly and simply. And she laughs with me when I don't understand. I like her. She worked for MTM at Laboule Children's Home, but I learned recently that she is working in the cafeteria in Gramothe now.

Last night I had a dream that I was at school in Gramothe. I went to the cafeteria to say hi to the ladies. I kissed Josalyn on the cheek (as is the custom) and greeted her in Creole, but she started talking to me in English! I was so surprised, and I wondered why she had never talked to me in English before. But I didn't dwell on it in my dream because in that moment Josalyn became my best friend. I don't know how to explain it. It's just one of those weird dream world truths. You just know something, and in my dream I knew that Josalyn was my best friend.

This morning I have been practicing how to tell all of this to Josalyn in Creole. I want to tell her that I had a dream she could speak English. She'll like that a lot. I hope some day Josalyn and I can have heart to heart talks in Creole and be good friends. And I'd like to tell her about my heart dream of being good friends with her, but I think I'll just let God take care of that.

Support Update & God's faithful provision

I think it's time for another support update, but I'm not sure where to start. I've been overwhelmed with the goodness of God and how he is providing for Arold and me. I feel like I'm on some sort of Extreme Home Makeover show where the family is blessed beyond belief with what they've always dreamed of but never would have been able to do on their own. But instead of a house, I'm getting the financial and prayer support that I need to return to Haiti. Some days I am so overwhelmed with God's goodness and the way he's providing everything I need that I can't even form proper prayers to thank him!

Here's a look at what God has been up to this summer.

What I originally needed to return to Haiti full time:

• $2500 in monthly support
• a vehicle to drive in Haiti
• a way to ship some personal belongings to Haiti
• renters in my house in Mishawaka

God has provided...

1. Renters for my house in Mishawaka at the exact time I needed them. They pay their rent on time, and are in general great renters.
2. Space in a future trailer for my personal belongs. Some friends of MTM allowed me to deliver some furniture and about 15 rubbermaid tubs to their storage facility earlier this summer. They will store my stuff until there is another trailer headed to Haiti, at which time they will load it all on the trailer for me. This is fantastic because I don't need those things right away, and it will be like Christmas when they finally arrive in Haiti. 
3. A man I have yet to meet has donated an SUV to MTM for me to drive in Haiti. Say what?! I know, it's something only the Almighty God of the universe could do: A total stranger donating the perfect vehicle for my ministry!! Call me Doubting Thomas, but I really thought I was going to have to return to Haiti without a vehicle. It just seemed too big a project to really happen. Here's a picture of "Traxy" the Tracker. Okay, so the guy who donated the SUV is not a total stranger. He knows my mom and apparently she's been forwarding him my newsletters this year. His daughter is going off to Europe for a year of language school, so he decided he would donate her vehicle to MTM for me. It's a Chevy, so at first I thought I wouldn't be able to ship it to Haiti because there's no way I would be able to get parts for it if something broke. But it turns out the motor is made by Suzuki, and there are about a million Suzuki Trackers in Haiti. God is AMAZING and clearly knows what he's doing!!
4. The next hurdle was shipping Traxy to Haiti. I started asking some questions about the process. It was overwhelming and confusing. Then a friend of MTM again stepped in and said, "Don't worry your pretty little head about it. We'll take care of everything." *Sigh* Not only do I have a vehicle to drive in Haiti, I also don't have to figure out all the logistics of getting it there. Such a HUGE blessing!!!
5. And then there's the monthly financial support. God is providing just the right people to be a part of this ministry team. I am so blessed to have the continued support of so many people, but it doesn't stop there! It seems like weekly there are new people joining my support team. Currently I have 53% of the monthly support I need to return to Haiti. My mom thinks that's not very much, but I'm confident God will provide the rest in his timing. 

Friends, join me in praising God for his goodness. Maybe you'll be able to form articulate prayers on my behalf because I think I'll just keep repeating my "Jesus, thank you, thank you, thank you!!" prayers until I the awesomeness of God's provision is not so overwhelming.

Pendulum-like Emotions

Today I received some disheartening news in an e-mail about some problems with my house in Mishawaka. I don't know that "disheartening" is a strong enough word, though. I'm really, really frustrated. There's very little that I can do from Haiti, and the problems seeming to be growing exponentially rather than decreasing. I wanted to throw something I was so mad. And then I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. Because if there is one thing I don't want to do, it's use wedding money for house repairs.

In my frustration and despair, I wrote a quick e-mail to some friends at church. I asked them to pray for this situation because I totally need a new attitude and my house needs to be fixed.  I also asked them if they knew of anyone in the congregation who might be willing to help.

One of the ladies has already responded to my plea for help. She started with, "First of all....I'm hugging you tight even tho you can't feel it.  :-)" She always knows how to make me feel loved. I can't wait to see her again and get a real hug! She mentioned some possible leads for people who may be able to help at my house, and then she had this to say:

Finally, take a deep breath...do not allow satan to discourage you and pull your focus from what the Lord has called you to do.  In times like this I have found it helpful to speak (aloud) truth to myself... reciting scripture, recalling God's faithfulness in past experiences (my own and others), sing songs of praise.  All these things help me to shift my focus from my problem to God and His power over all.  It can be a real battle but these things help me.    

And with those words my heart is feeling much better. Hopeful in fact.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving me friends who know and trust you. For people who remind me that YOU are in control and that I can put my trust in you. Thank you for this opportunity to watch you do what you do best: solve life's problems in ways that only you can do. I know that whatever happens, it won't be because of anything I can do or orchestrate. You are the one who's in control and you will have all the glory. 

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

 A couple of weeks ago, my friend Arin wrote me an email. She said her family wanted to send me a care package and wondered if there was something specific I wanted. I knew Arin liked to read so I asked her to send me a few paperbacks if she had any laying around--along with a few other things. Well, her package arrived, via a doctor who was coming to the clinic. It was HUGE. I thought she might send one of those small flat rate boxes, but she packed the giant box chock full of goodies for me. There were some school supplies, facial wipes for after I walk up the mountain, Crystal Light Peach Tea packets, and a smaller box that was gift wrapped. I was really curious about the smaller box. There was a note attached that said several families in our church made the gift possible. I am so incredibly blessed by my St. Mark family already. I thought their package was awesome.

Then I opened the small gift wrapped box. I had no idea what was inside. Once it was open I thought I might pee my pants I was so excited. Arin and some other families sent me a KINDLE and a $25 gift card to the Kindle store!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Can you believe how amazing they are?! I had never considered buying a Kindle, so it wasn't even on my secret wish list. However, it is an AWESOME gift!! I love, love, love to read. I cannot get my hands on enough books here. I have access to a library, but I frequently forget about it. I also have some audio books on my computer, but when it's not charged and there's no power I can't listen to them. Now I can download books and read them anywhere.

Doesn't it look just like the picture on the box?

I am overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of Arin and her cohorts. If you helped make this happen, please accept my sincere thanks!!

Hmmm....

Last year for my spring break I came to Haiti to help in the medical clinic. Willem kept asking when I was moving to Haiti. I thought he was joking. Little did I know I would move to Haiti in September.
 
My friend Abby is here for her spring break. She's helping in the clinic and hanging out at my apartment. It's been such a blessing to have another familiar face around this week. Willem keeps asking her when she's moving here. She thinks he's joking.

Any guesses on where she'll be living in September?

Familiar Faces

This weekend a medical team arrived at the guest house. They were delayed a couple of days due to the snow in the Midwest, but they finally arrived on Saturday afternoon. I am excited to welcome some familiar faces back to the guest house. It's especially sweet to have Beth Martin and Dr. Marcia on this team because they were both a part of the April 2010 team when I fell in love with Haiti and decided I should move here. I've already enjoyed the little time I've spent with them.

If that wasn't enough, my parents fly in on Thursday morning. They'll only be here a couple of days, but I am SUPER excited to show them my life in Haiti. And, of course, they'll get to meet Arold (ah-wol) while they're here.

Alphabet Soup

Here's an alphabetical look at 2010.

A is for Arold, the man who captured my heart this fall. (And that's all I'm going to say about that online.)

B is for the significant budget cuts to education funding in Indiana. Budget cuts that made it possible for me to take a year off and go to Haiti.

C is for Creole, the language I'm learning in Haiti.

D is for Dax, my English Setter who thinks he's a lap dog.

E is for the encouragement of my small group to follow God even if it meant moving away from them.

F is for fabulous friends who find ways to stay connected even though we live in different countries. (Can you say Facebook?)

G is for Gramothe, the village where I teach English.

H is for hiking up the mountain road and even the super steep short cut.

I is for the incredible legacy my grandfather left with us when he passed away in March.

J is for a job I love. I enjoyed my job as a public school teacher in Indiana, but I love teaching in Haiti.

K is for all the kids I've loved this year. First there were my 8th grade students at John Young and the teens at church. It was hard to let them go, but now there are my students in Gramothe and the children from Laboule Children's Home.

lam veritab

L is for lam veritab, my new favorite vegetable.

M is for Mountain Top Ministries, the organization I've been working with since September.

N is for the new normal: bucket baths, inconsistent electricity, a corrupt government, hurricanes, and a cholera outbreak.

 O is for the overflowing goodness in my life during 2010.

P is for God's provision for all my needs. He never fails to provide what I need when I need it.

Q is for all the questions I ask. I ask a lot of questions. Maybe later this month I'll make a post with a list of all the questions I ask in a single day.

R is for reading really good books. The Hunger Games series, Code Talker, The Wing and the Wall, The Sea of Trolls, and some others I can't remember the titles of right now.

S is for St. Mark Missionary Church, who have blessed me beyond my wild imagination this year.

T is for the various teams that volunteer with Mountain Top Ministries throughout the year. They are primarily medical and construction teams, but we get people with a wide variety of skills who do anything from install new gates to bake cookies for the kids.

ugly chicken with super long legs

U is for ugly chickens that live at my house. 

V is for the vital role of my ministry partners. Their prayers, financial donations, words of encouragement, and care packages are changing lives in Haiti.

W is for the human trafficking workshop I attended at OSU in January. Such an eye opening day.

X is for the extraordinary experiences that have unfolded in my life this year. God plans for me was infinitely better than anything I had planned for 2010.

Y is for the yearbook, a crazy project I spent many hours completing at the beginning of the year.

Z is for zero regrets about 2010.

I am excited about 2011 and the adventures that it holds! 

Happy New Year!

QCS Discipleship Group

Willem and Beth Charles (founders and directors of MTM) have two boys who attend a school in Delmas (between Port au Prince and Petionville) called Quisqueya Christian School. The American style Christian school wants to implement a more structured discipleship program with the middle and high school students, so they are piloting a structure for discipleship between now and the end of the semester. In order to keep the groups small they asked for parents and other volunteers (in addition to the teachers) to lead small discipleship groups on Friday mornings.

Since I don't have any classes in Gramothe on Fridays, I gladly volunteered to lead a group. While this ministry opportunity isn't through MTM, I'm pretty excited about investing in the lives of some middle school girls--especially since they all speak English fluently. I have three 7th grade students and three 8th graders. They are a fantastic group of girls! I wish I could spend more time with them outside of our discipleship time. They decided they wanted to study the book of Revelation, so we are tackling the end times and all the questions that come with it, together.

An added bonus to leading one of the discipleship groups is that Beth and I get to spend Friday mornings together. We've made it a tradition to stop for coffee and a pastry after we leave the school. It's a nice time for us to get away from daily life and just chat. I really value that time with her because in many ways she my unofficial mentor. Friday mornings gives me a time to ask questions about MTM, Haitian culture, and life in general. It's almost like my own personal discipleship class.

Senior Citizens

In the past two months I’ve been surprised by how many older people have come on the various teams. And by older, I mean over 60 years old. Both the medical teams that have come have included 2 or 3 seniors. I am impressed by their courage to leave the comforts of home for the rough terrain of Haiti!

Currently, there’s a four man construction team here from Canada this week. Three of the guys, all over 60, have been here numerous times. The other guy is in his 40’s, and is a race car driver. I’m still trying to figure out how he got connected with these other guys. Anyway, they are a really fun group of guys, and they’ve included me in their joking around. They even babied me yesterday when I wasn’t feeling so well (just a sore throat).

In addition to the construction team, we also have an older couple (both are right around 70 years old) from Northeastern Indiana here. They were supposed to arrive on Wednesday, but due to some passport issues and the hurricane they were delayed. They finally arrived on Saturday morning. I met them this summer at the MTM banquet, so it was nice to see some familiar faces. Plus, John is baking 36 loaves of zucchini bread and 55 dozen cookies while he’s here. He’s definitely in the running to become my new BFF!!

Being in Haiti has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of different people, and the senior citizens (I say that lovingly) have been some of the most inspiring new friends I’ve made.

Only God Knows

Every team that comes in is curious about my role here at MTM. They want to know what I do and where I live. When they find out I’m teaching English, they want to know how I get to school each morning (I walk or catch a ride with the teams that are here), if I’m learning Creole (I have a really good tutor and many others willing to help me practice), and how teaching here is different than teaching in the States (that’s a whole other blog post!). Inevitably, they also ask me how long I’m staying in Haiti. If Willem is around he tells them I am going to marry a Haitian man and stay for the rest of my life! I just laugh and tell him that I’d like to meet the guy. My standard answer is that I have committed to being here until July, and only God knows what will happen after that.

But this question of how long I will stay weighs heavy on my mind. I love working with the kids from Laboule. I hate to think about what it will be like to say goodbye to them. I also really like my high school students. The boys that are my escort home from school have become some of my favorite people here. They asked me last week why I didn’t want to be their teacher again next year. It hurt my heart to hear their question and I wanted to promise that I would be here again next year!

But I can’t make my students any promises because my heart also hurts when I think about my family, friends, home church, and dog in the United States. I miss them! Facebook and Skype have provided avenues to connect, but they’re not the same as being there. I can’t make library runs with Jen or attend impromptu game nights at the Shipes’ apartment. I can’t go shopping with my mom or call my dad to fix something at my house.

I guess what it boils down to is this: Only God knows what the future holds. So instead of being distracted by questions of where I’ll be a year from now, I am choosing to rest in the knowledge that God will let me in on the plan when I need to know. Until then, I need to spend my energy on the here and now—loving and investing in the people God has put in my life.

Heaven Help Me!

Some of my older students want me to speak Creole with them. They claim they want me to be "strong in Creole" before I leave the country, and they said I must practice with them. Then, my Creole tutor informed me this afternoon that I'm no longer allowed to speak to him in English. I have to speak Creole only.

I think it's a conspiracy against me.

Speaking of conspiracies, my students, and my Creole tutor especially, have gotten this strange idea in their heads that I need to sing a special song in church. I have NO IDEA where they got this ridiculous idea because I certainly didn't give it to them! I like to sing and can blend in with a large group, but I am not about to sing in front of a group of people. Crazy kids!

Thoughts on Today

• It's weird to have a medical team here and not be working with them. I still have my normal teaching load, so I can't have a job in the clinic. I pop in and help where I'm needed, but mostly I have been trying to stay out of their way.
• This afternoon, I sat with my friends Arold and Nalouse outside the clinic and listened to worship music on my laptop. There something amazing about looking out over the mountains and singing praises to God with friends who are singing the same song in a different language. 
• Teaching English to 40 plus 7th grade students who don't speak your language necessitates the use of a variety of classroom management techniques. Facial expressions must be at a maximum. Throwing in Creole phrases helps their comprehension. Threatening to get the principal will buy me 10 minutes of their attention. And calling random students to the front of the class to speak English is an effective tool for assessment and punishment for those who don't listen.
• I've learned I'm too self-conscious to practice Creole with people who speak Creole and English. Some of my students want me to speak in Creole with them, but I can't make myself do it. For now I'm happy muddling through with the little kids and the adults who don't speak English.
• Tonight my heart breaks for my friend Amy. I've known her since she was in 6th grade, and I love the girl more than I can say. It was hard to say goodbye to her in September because it's her senior year of high school and I've been with her since she started youth group. Amy's mom has had fragile health for a couple of years, but this fall she has had a rough time. She went to the hospital earlier this week and today she went to be with the Lord. My heart hurts for Amy. I want to be able to hug her and hold her and cry with her.

Sweetness

This message from a family at my church is just one of the awesome ways God has shown me how much I am loved and cared for by my ministry partners. Such sweetness from these precious little ones caused me to cry tears of thankfulness.

Britney-
Today is your big day! We looked on the map at how far you'll travel today and tomorrow. Then the kids and I talked about what you might be feeling today and prayed for you. Here is a message from each of the kids:
T (9)- "I hope that you get there quick and safely. I hope you have a good time there."
E (7)- "I prayed that you would teach good and that the kids would learn how to do what you teach. I hope you have a good time." E also prayed that you would remember that God is always with you.
L (5)- "I prayed that God would make you not be scared. I can send you some food if you get hungry." L loves that her VBS teacher is a missionary!
A (4)- She remembered that I was scared and sad before I went to Ukraine. She thought you may be feeling the same way and prayed that God would help you not be scared or sad. She also remembered that you had a friend helping at your garage sale and thought you might miss her while you were gone. She prayed that you and your friend wouldn't be lonely. It was very sweet and sincere!

Take care, Britney! We're thinking of you and praying for your traveling days!

P.

Ground Rules

Some friends felt it was necessary to give me the following rules before I left for Haiti:

1. You WILL come home.
2. Avoid the Haitian Sensation.
3. If you meet a man, he is moving here to be with you not vice versa. See rule #1.
4. You must come home for Christmas.

Does anyone else have other ground rules I should be aware of?