a birthday, a baby & a break!

The last few days have brought several blessings! Today, our OMS Annual Retreat begins. A previous OMS Haiti field leader has come in to speak to us for a few days. Today and tomorrow will be held at our radio station, and Monday and Tuesday will be at the beach! He and his wife are speaking about the history of OMS in Haiti, and also about prayer. We are looking forward to a few days "off" with the other missionaries, and to a few days of being fed spiritually.

Friday was Sheila's birthday...29 years old, though I continue to tell her she looks 24! She has been my language helper since the week we moved to Haiti, and has become a good friend! She is also working with the only other two women missionaries here who are under the age of 30. Amy is from Canada and Julie from Northern Ireland...

All three of these women have been such a blessing to both of us. Sheila seems to have unending patience and a constant joy which has truly shaped this first 7 months of life in Haiti!

Finally, one of my students, Cherisme, has been praying for months for his pregnant wife, who just had another beautiful baby girl! My whole class was excited, and it was our priveledge today to go to their small home and meet "Chris-Lovely", and pray over her and her small family. And she IS lovely! His wife went to the hospital Saturday morning at 10 am, had ChrisLovely, and left the hospital at noon, the SAME DAY. wow. Cherisme is known as our class "trouble maker" (not to be confused, as it often is in first year english, with COFFEE maker). His joy and teasing has lit up this school year for me.

These people have truly become the people that make up our days, our lives. Even when days are hard, we just cannot help but thank the Lord so much for bringing us here...or we would never have been able to align our lives with these dear friends. We cannot WAIT for you to meet them, even if we can't introduce you to each other until heaven!

We won't be able to blog from the beach, so we will give a full report Wednesday!