the ayars affairs: a different perspective and change

A tiny old lady, Madame Saint, from our community and church passed away this weekend. She has been widowed for years and years, had since gone blind, and frequently sat along the road about a block from us, singing and talking to herself or to the Lord or to anyone who would listen. What I will miss about her, though, was her presence in church. She frequently embarrassed the youth by standing in the middle of a song, prayer, or sermon and waved her arms back and forth in silent praise.

Many people would start giggling at her craziness, but I always wondered if maybe she was just seeing something that we weren't seeing, and that in the midst of worship, perhaps she was not in the Saccanville church after all, but in the true presence of the Lord. I loved to watch her dance before the Lord and wished that I had the same abandon as this frail little lady. She couldn't see anyone else, and so no one else ever mattered...just the Lord.

Praying for the same kind of blindness to the world and awareness of the Lord.

We are back at school today with three weeks to go until Christmas break! The guys are feeling anxious about their grades and are working hard! The Cooper's got out safely on Saturday and we are expecting the Hubele's in tomorrow. Lily, who was insanely in love with Jacob and Josephine, will be THRILLED to have some kids living next door.

The students are starting the garden today, and we even have a student from Port-au-Prince who specializes in farming who will be able to help. The annual EBS Christmas party is well in the works, this year featuring, of course, a soccer match, but also a Bible trivia night, and a music composition competition based on a passage in Isaiah. We'll end it all with a big party in the cafeteria, the FIRST Christmas at our new campus, complete with Home Alone 1, tons of Haitian food favorites, skits, speeches, song and...well, we're always surprised :)