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30 August 2010

You know you're in Haiti...



...when you have been terrified by, chased around the house for 30 minutes, and then killed TWO ginormous tarantulas on the same day. (and one of them was pregnant. with a MILLION baby tarantulas)

...when you have four different visitors come to the door before 8 am

...when you find massive amounts of mold growing on things you NEVER thought mold could grow on (Sheets. Pots and pans. Glass jars. Baby dolls. Pens.)

...when you attend an ordination service, and it ends up being over 2.5 hours long (see theSeminary blog for more on this)

...when 3 of the last 5 meals have been rice

...when the sweltering evening drives you the freezer, searching for something mildly similar to ice cream, and you find nothing but 13 trays of ice and two rock-hard cuts of pork that Sharon blessed you with 5 months ago but you won't eat because you are still saving them for something still unknown but very special...and then you realize that you won't find ice cream in the freezer for another 11 months. ouch.

...when the community gives you an emaciated kitten as a welcome home present (for those of you who have been following the blog long enough to remember the feasted fate of Bundy, YES...we're on that track again)

...when three month old babies (yep, that's Jil's daughter, Wedensis!) come to visit you in 110 degree whether wearing three layers and wrapped in a blanket. (Lily helped strip her down, and then wouldn't let her go!)

...when your entire house and belongings have SUCH a thick layer of dirt and dead bugs that it looks like it's been abandoned for 3 years

...when you start to plan supper, and realize that you have access to all of the ingredients for ZERO recipes in the cookbook

...when all the newly finished houses (YES, all done! all dry! no mud! BEAUTIFUL!) are thick with new paint: in hot pink, neon green, brilliant blue, or Big Bird yellow.

...and finally, when our night watchman and good friend James comes to work early so he can see if we are now truly "as fat as everyone says you are! YOU ARE!" and then proceeds to pat our midsections and compliment us greatly.

It is GOOD to be home!

Emmaus' new director, Bryan, comes tomorrow, followed by staff meetings Wednesday, new student orientation Thursday, student retreat Friday and staff retreat and the reopening of Evangelical English classes on Saturday. Thank you for praying us through this transition!



28 August 2010

safely home

Wednesday night's presentation went really well, and Matt had a great time meeting this new family in Kirtland, Ohio! THANK YOU all for having him and for your passion for what God is doing in the world!

From there, Matt headed straight for Delaware to be with family after Mose's death. He was able to have some good time with everyone, and we're so thankful that the timing worked out for him to be there before we left.

Lisa, Lily and I worked on final medical, shopping and packing details, (Lisa should be a professional packer, I swear!) and then spent our last day in the States at the zoo...something we'd been promising Lily all summer. I hate that Matt missed it, but Lily had a blast!



Matt drove the 10 hours back to Columbus yesterday evening, arriving after midnight. We left the house at 4:15 this morning for the airport, and three flights later arrived safely back in Haiti this afternoon at 4! There is a big part of us that NEVER wants to travel AGAIN!
We are thrilled to be home, to see our friends and neighbors, to hear about how things have been, and to have OUR place again...The house is pretty nasty with lots of dust, mold and dead bugs, but it has been SO fun to follow Lily around as she THRILLS over her old toys, shoes, and most, over Shay. She is happy to be home, and so are we! Matt keeps saying, "Ah! I love it here!" :) It's easy to forget exactly why after being gone for seven weeks, but it all comes rushing back now that we are here!

I caught a cold yesterday (blah!) and Matt is exhausted as well, so it is 7:00, Haiti time, and we are OFF to bed! We are so beat, but excited to start this new year in Haiti tomorrow!

25 August 2010

a walk down memory lane...


Pop-Pop Mose passed away this afternoon, and Matt headed to Cleveland to speak tonight, and then will head for the East coast first thing in the morning from Cleveland. Please keep praying for Mom-Mom Kay and for the rest of the family. While Matt and I feel peace about his death, we both hate that this special man will not be a part of Lily's life, no longer a part of our earthly lives. Death's victory IS gone...but we have to admit to still feeling that sting. Thankful, tonight, that Pop-Pop's increasingly deteriorating body has finished giving him pain, and that he is carrying no burdens tonight with Jesus.
Our quick trip to our college stomping grounds was lovely, just full of all the peace, quiet, natural beauty, and memories that Kentucky could afford. While our walk around Asbury made us feel admittedly old, it held such happy and profound memories for us both, and Matt, especially, was incredibly overwhelmed at the memories of how the Lord transformed and met him there.


God has brought Matt a long way since that freshman year at Asbury, where Matt enrolled as a non-Christian Bible and Theology major (ah, how this must have cracked God up :) We're so thankful for all of the "God's sweet presence" moments that we experienced during those years at Asbury College!
(James! Heavens sakes, we called you twice and looked for you everywhere to no avail! Craig and Debi, he was NOT in the library studying!)

We ended our 24 hours away at Shaker Village, the largest restored Shaker community in America. We'd both spent good time there during our college years, and we LOVED enjoying the simplicity, quiet and natural beauty for the evening and into this morning. As we prepare to return to dusty, hot, crowded, loud, busy life in Haiti, breakfast at Shaker Village seemed as polar opposite as possible. It was a great few moments of peace and allowed for some meaningful time with the Lord.
Praising the Lord for where we've been, how He's carried us, and where He's leading...

24 August 2010

prayers and plans


Pop-Pop's pacemaker is technically keeping him alive at this point, but his organs are beginning to shut down and his spirit seems to no longer be with us. Thank you for all of your prayers...Tomorrow evening we are speaking at New Promise Church in Kirkland, Ohio, and then on Thursday afternoon Matt will be heading out to Delaware for a family get together in lieu of a funeral service, as Pop-Pop requested. The plan is for him to return late Friday night before our 5:30 am flight back to Haiti Saturday morning. Please be praying for Mom-Mom, who hasn't been without Mose since their marriage at age 15!

Meanwhile, today we are spending the day in Kentucky, visiting old friends and places, trying to squeeze in that quick anniversary trip before heading back to Ohio tomorrow morning. We had lunch today with one of our best friends from college, Scott, and his girlfriend Lacey, at Tandoor, our favorite Indian restaurant. Thank you, Aunt Lisa (or Sheesha, as Lily calls her) for making this possible!


23 August 2010

blessed.

Our blog had it's 20,000th hit today! Man alive...grateful for all of your support and encouragement that comes from taking interest in our lives and in the lives of our Haitian family!

We had such a wonderful time in Kansas! We met up with so many friends from our last trip to NorthRidge, friends from Haiti at one time or another, and made some new friends, too...We're just so thankful for this sincere, sacrificial, generous, loving and gracious body of believers.

In this church and community of Sabetha, Matt and I were able to see a rare living out of true God-honoring Christian community, and it was a blessing to be a part of and was an inspiring example for us as Christians who also live in community in Haiti.
Sharon and Martin were our loving hosts, who showered us with love, friendship, good coffee, good food, shared their home, bathroom, car and motorcycle with us, gave us lots of time with different friends, loved on Lily, gave us good encouragement and advice...their home was just such a wonderful place to be. THANK YOU, guys! (Look, Martin, I made you LOOK like you are sleeping again!)
It was hard to say goodbye to the Aberle's, especially when Lily continues to ask for "Ahhh-zeeee!" over and over, but I am so thankful that they made the 15 hour (yes! at 10 days-till-due-date) drive to come and see us...we are so blessed by your precious family!
Jane, Robert, Luke, Anna and Issac had us out to their lovely home Saturday night along with a bunch of other friends, and we had such a good time....thank you for this encouraging and fun time! (They also might be our most rigid blog stalkers...we love your family! :)
BLESSED.

People keep asking how we feel about heading back to Haiti, and that is my first thought, just BLESSED. We have been so blessed by our time here, and by the love and sacrifice and prayers and friendship of so many friends and family around the States.

We have spoken to literally thousands of you this summer about our friends, family, churches, students, testimonies, communities and ministry in Haiti, and we feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of His kingdom in Haiti. We are ready! After speaking for 7 weeks dozens of times about how we feel led to live and love in Haiti, we are ready to get back to it! We want to see if Jil's house is finished, want to worship next to Pehpay, want to hear about the ministry packed summers of our students. We want to get back to Bible training, catch up with good friends, get back into the Word with my Saturday class and encourage our neighbors.

We'll have our chance soon! Saturday afternoon we arrive home, and start officially with Emmaus on September 1st. This week we have packing, laundry, a presentation in Northern Ohio on Wednesday, final runs to Wal-Mart, final shots, final DQ runs, final phone calls, and final time with family! Please be praying for His presence and preparation these next days...

We'd also love to ask for your prayers for Pop-Pop, Matt's grandpa, who has been a joyful, encouraging and loving part of Matt, Lily and my life. He has been fighting cancer and other health issues for several years now, and the last few times we have seen him we have made sure to have good time with him and made sure to say good-bye, just in case. These last few days his health has taken a major turn for the worse, and while he has told us countless times that he is very ready to be with the Lord and out of pain, we are heartbroken thinking about Mom-Mom and thinking that his time with us might be finishing on earth.

Please be praying for Pop-Pop and for the whole family...thank you!


21 August 2010

friends!


Isn't it exciting that we have this many friends? :) Today Jarod and Jen, (good friends from Haiti) their five kids, Sam and Cammie and their two and our family spent the morning together and then the afternoon at this really awesome pool/water park! It was fantastic spending time with all of these dear friends, and I felt so blessed to have had the chance to all come together from Haiti, Kansas and Colorado to catch up and just be friends!
Plus Lily, of course, was thrilled to be in water for the afternoon...
Lily, Dora and Azi spent some time this morning watching Dora the Explorer...I love Lily having such good kid time. She is completely unaware of the fact that she is the baby of the group, and has been sleeping SO well :)
These two women and I, along with Angie, used to meet together every Friday for a few hours to catch up on each other's lives and to pray for each other...truly some of most cherished memories from the past three years...It was GREAT to have some time for that again! (we missed you, Angie!)

We feel thoroughly blessed!

19 August 2010

our brethren in the world

(standing out front of "Butchies", the steakhouse that Sam would share dreams about over beans and rice hot nights in Haiti...we FINALLY all ate there...not lots of charm... LOTS of beef :)

Next to 1 Peter 5 in my Bible there is a list of names, names reminding me that we are not alone in His work in the world..."Resist the devil, stand firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world...God, who called you, WILL Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."

Know matter how hard things get or have been, knowing that there are others around the world loving and praying and preaching and teaching and training and encouraging, seeking and following, giving and going and sending and sometimes even dying that HE might be made known is just DEEPLY encouraging.

Sam and Cammie are two of the people scrawled on that page, encouraging us from afar by the sheer knowledge that they are unwaveringly faithful, deeply committed and uncommonly obedient to the Lord. We flew to Kansas from Ohio, they drove down from Colorado (though their baby is due in 15 days!) and today I was overjoyed to have precious time with these dear friends and their ti-mouns, Azi and Gideon.

I love being with people that make you want more, more, more of the Lord and less, less, less of you! Hanging out with Godly people makes us so much more hungry for Him, and helps us long for holiness and unity with Him over all else. We are blessed to be surrounded by several of these couples this week, giving us rest and friendship, ice cream and encouragement!
Lily was as thrilled as we were to hang out with Azi and Gideon, and kept right at their tails all day until crashing this evening...she's probably dreaming of monkey bars and forts right now :)

"Stand firm in [the true grace of God]" 1 Peter 5 ends. We are thankful to be on the journey with you!

Tomorrow and Saturday, more time with friends, with another Haiti couple coming up tomorrow evening!

16 August 2010

cross-cultural calling

We arrived early Sunday morning safely back to Columbus, Ohio, had more doctor's appointments and errands today, and leave for Kansas tomorrow! We'll be catching up with fellow Haiti missionaries and dear friends serving God around the States...and can't wait!

We spoke to several Haitian friends today, who filled us in more on Miso's unexpected death. A sore tooth led her to a dentist, who did some work which resulted in so much bleeding that Miso had to go to the hospital to receive more blood. At the hospital, she received blood that was "not good" (either not her blood type or contaminated blood) and a day or so later, she died in the hospital.

"This is life in Haiti, I guess," our friend said, and we are so saddened to have lost our friend and to know her husband and children and friends are alone...for a tooth ache. As we headed to the doctor's yet again today, and were able to trust that this complete stranger WAS educated and trustworthy and experienced, I felt so burdened for the 80-90% of the world that has NO such ability.

I'm just so thankful that Miso loved Our Lord, and feeling more and more anxious to share Him with more of our Haitian family... Meanwhile, as Cheryl reminded us last week, there is no American that needs Jesus any more or any less than any Haitian....please continue to pray for us as we work to be faithful to sharing His Truth WHEREVER we are!


13 August 2010

on the road again!


This evening we went to the Dixie Stampede, Dolly Parton's country western dinner show...It was SO much fun! Lily loved the racing pigs, chicken chases and horse stunts, and I must say Matt was borderline embarrassing rooting for the "gray team" at the top of his lungs :) It was a great show!
Two nights ago we caught a show on the "Showboat Branson Bell", which was a really great show, too...Lily even got to kiss one of the famous "talking dogs".
This morning Lily slept through part of "Spirit of the Dance" (like Riverdance) but then danced in the aisle through the second half.
Tomorrow is our last day (golfing for Dad and Matt, pool time for Lily, Lisa and I) and then we head back tomorrow evening, attempting an all night drive again so that Lily can sleep...

Being away from it all for a few days has been great, and we are feeling so thankful and blessed to have had a few weeks of great family time on the east coast with Matt's family and this week away with mine.
Tuesday we head for Kansas, and we are looking forward to spending some great time with friends and our NorthRidge family there, and then finally head home for Haiti. God has been renewing His call on our lives to pour out His love and Word with our brothers and sisters in Haiti, and renewing our excitement and passion to be back at it!

10 August 2010

vacation ahhhh


I love these two! I hope to spend my whole life giving these two precious gifts back to the Lord!

We drove the 12 hours to Branson, Missouri through the night...brutal, but not nearly as brutal as a 20-month-old AWAKE for a 12 hour drive :) We arrived around 8:30 this morning, and almost immediately felt the "Ahhhhh" of vacation...lounging by the poolside, cool, dark naps in the middle of the day, dinner at 4 pm, Lily's first family putt-putt competition at Pirate Cove, followed by another dip in the pool (it was 111 degrees this afternoon!) and a movie!



09 August 2010

friends


We received word a few days ago that our friend, Miso (who is also one of the cooks at the Seminary) was sick. Then this morning, we have heard that she passed away in the hospital. We're not totally sure what happened, nor does it seem that anyone is, as that she was in good health when we took this picture on July 2nd, but we are hurting for her family and friends today! Miso is on the far right, wearing the black dress. She leaves behind her husband, children, and many who loved her! Please be praying for Miso's (Mee-zoo) family. We are so thankful that she was in love with our Savior...
Lily had a fantastic time at the Ohio State Fair...especially seeing the chicks, baby cows, baby goats, racing bigs, and even a monkey!

On Sunday, we had the privilege of sharing with our friends and family at Livingston UMC, the church where I grew up. We also had several "non-Livingston" friends come out to see us and hear more about Haiti, including Cheryl (above), daughter of our dear friends in Port-au-Prince, Greg and Cathie Benson.
Afterwards, we went out to lunch with more good family friends and prayer warriors, the Millers. We feel so blessed to be a part of the life of this church and these faithful and encouraging people!

And today, we are finally doing it! Tonight at Lily's bedtime we are making the 12 hour drive to Branson, Missouri for a real-life family vacation! No work, no master's studies, no speaking...just a few days off. We can't wait!

04 August 2010

august

WHEW...We left Delaware on Monday morning, picked up my Dad in Philly, spent Monday evening and Tuesday morning with my aunt, uncle and cousins in the Poccono's, then drove to Somerset, PA...spent Tuesday afternoon/evening with my mom's parents, Tuesday night with my dad's parents, then drove back to Columbus, Ohio this afternoon.

I am sick, Matt is getting sick, and I think what you all have been telling us is finally going to be advice heeded...We're taking a break! We are not traveling or speaking or visiting until Sunday! (That's kind of a break, right?)

We just moved our trip to Haiti up a few days, concerned that we were going to have to hit the ground running at an impossible speed. Suddenly, our return to Haiti date is around the corner (August 27th) and we are so thankful we still have a few weeks out and thankful to be going home soon, all at the same time...

Before then...
wedding dress shopping and final prep with my sister,
visiting the Ohio State Fair (the place where Matt asked my Dad to marry me, where I fell in love with kettle corn, and a favorite family tradition!),

hopefully a weekend with Matt's brother,
a week-long family vacation to Branson,

hopefully a weekend away just the two of us to celebrate our 5th anniversary, (Wilmore!...where we met, dated, and spent our first year married!)
several days in Sabetha to visit Sam, Cammie, Charlie, Judy, Jen, Jarod, Sharon, Martin and to share with NorthRidge Church,
this Sunday at Livingston UMC and lunch with friends,
presenting at New Promise Church in Kirkland,
we're really hoping to get Lily to the zoo,

and LOTS and lots of prep work for the upcoming school year...

Please continue to pray for our safety and joy as a family, and that He would continue to restore our souls, renew our energy, and drive our thoughts, speech and actions!

THANK YOU for your prayers, for your encouragement, and for partnering with us, TRULY making it possible for us to focus on ministry and making us flexible for His leading and His heart for His people and not on paying for groceries, Lily's vaccinations, fuel...etc.