Wish you were here, there

Why We Wish You Were Here...

    -graduation is upon us, and the Alumni day preceding it is bound to make for a GREAT two days...lots of friends, lots of testimonies, lots of goat and plantain!

    -after 5 graduations of wearing my VERY best teaching dress and still being told I was way underdressed, I finally gave in.  80's prom wear is where it's at for graduations in Haiti, and while I didn't go vintage, I did finally bite my pride bullet and ordered a clearance Mother of the Bride dress I KNEW our Haitian friends and family would love.

    All Matt could do was laugh when it finally came and I tried it on, but I am the Maren, godmother, for this graduating class, and I don't want to shame them!  It even has sequins AND shoulder pads.  You know you want to see that.

    -Sweet final times with Junior.  MAN, it's killing me that he's graduating.  It hit me over pizza last night that these might be some of our last meals together, and I hate that.  Junior is the kind of brother and friend I would ALWAYS want to be in the daily life our family, and while he doesn't yet know what God's got in store for him, the large chance that that WON'T be near here is hard to swallow.  

    -Yesterday, the third year class spent the entire day making paper/glitter flowers and hats.  Tons of hats.  Tons of flowers.  Buckets of glitter.  This is another one of those things that I just did not understand our first few years here, but have come to appreciate.  I don't know WHY large brimmed straw hats mean PARTY, but they do.  You glue a ton of ribbon, lace and glitter to those babies and hang them on the wall, and things can't HELP but be festive.  

    -It is, truly, just gorgeous this time of year.  EVERY day, sunshine and a slight ocean breeze.  The sunrises.  The stars.  The mountains, backdropping every scene.  Of all the many seemingly contradictory hats that Haiti wears, one of them IS some type of paradise.

    -SO many sweet and juicy mangoes, and quiet, dewy mango walks with Sofie and the dogs in the early morning!

    -A shockingly, miraculous, never-anticipated NEW road.  Not all of it, no.  But our little portion of the road outside the gate all the way down to Lily's school is FABULOUS.  Real.  Smooth.  Letting the government park all their equipment at the Seminary was a small price to pay.  

    -Lily.  Of course, I think Lily is a great reason why you wish you were here :) Today and tomorrow she has her final exams for the school year (oh yes, Haiti has final exams for 3/4 year olds!), and Thursday is a huge end of the year teacher appreciation party.

    Can I brag for just a moment?  At the start of this school year when we decided to send her to the local school, yes, we thought maybe we were crazy.  And honestly, I never thought it'd work out...2,3 weeks tops.  And here we are, at the end of a full year, and when the Directrice asked me yesterday for my reflections on the year, I felt nothing but grateful and proud. 

    When I took her to school on Friday (Matt usually does the drop off), I held her hand while we crossed the road, and then she led me straight for the vendors.  She picked out her snack for the day, handed over her coin, thanked the woman, pulled me down to kiss her, took a deep breath, and plunged through the huge gate.  

    Inside the gate, before the bell rings, there are literally almost 500 children, all running here and there, heading for class, finishing breakfasts, playing soccer, ages 2-12.  And here goes one little bobbing blondie, never once looking back, just weaving through the crowd, scanning the crowd for her friends, running over to them and sharing the snack she just bought, and then all skipping off to class holding each other's hands.

    Can I say BREAK YOUR HEART?  I'm standing there anxiously watching my dear one in the midst of this huge crowd, waiting for her to look for her mother...and she never does.  She has got it.  In just 10 months, she has gone from clinging terrified and shy to my English skirt to skipping and chattering Creole with friends from our neighborhood, the lone foreigner in a group of 500, completely unconcerned.

    "I'm like Merida" she told me this morning, when I told her how proud I am of her, talking about the newest brave red-headed Disney princess.  

    And her dear friends...they're not Haitian.  They're not in the top 10% of the world's impoverished.  They're not "those poor kids in Haiti."  They're not the ones who live in stick homes in a dirt yard two houses down.  They're Lily's FRIENDS, and that's it.  I love that. 

    Lily's no missionary.  Just a friend, living alongside of others, giving and taking and being her sweet self...just like I want to be.  

    You should be here!

Why We Wish We Were There...

    -It IS Beautiful.  But it is getting so hot that everyone has started walking across the yard or street in zigzags, going from shade patch to shade patch.  It's well over 90 when you get in the sun!

    -There is a whole home-culture mission-field we've been hearing about and praying for for 10 months now, and with the school year drawing to a close here, we're feeling pretty excited to be salt and light in our own culture for a month or two!  As burdened as we continue to feel for our Brothers and Sisters and nonbelievers in Haiti, North America always tugs at our hearts, as well.    

    We're looking forward to some time to preach the Gospel and share some of His life and love and relationships throughout the States and Canada this summer!

   

 -Yes, there is nothing like homemade handmade bread.  Dinner rolls.  Hamburger rolls.  And pizza.  And cinnamon rolls.  And muffins...desserts...meals.  Every single day.  All the time.  But when YOU are the one home-making it EVERY SINGLE DAY without a chance at "Can't you please just drive through Wendy's on your way home?" or "Couldn't we just order a pizza?"... Yeah.  I'd be lying if I said I'm not REALLY looking forward to at least having the OPTION of someone else cooking from time to time, of BUYING my bread already MADE, my milk already pasteurized, a few meals ready to eat, etc.  Trust me.  I will NOT make a loaf of bread the entire time we are on American soil :)  After four loaves a week for 10 months...that's gonna be SWEET.

    -We LOVE mangoes, pineapples, papaya, oranges and bananas!  But by now, even Lily and Sofie are talking about SOMETHING DIFFERENT...apples, blueberries, watermelon, oh, sweet grapes.  Strawberries!

    -One word:  DQ.

    -I'm noticing most of these are food related.  

    -Because friends and family, darn it, WE MISS YOU.  We have been missing you for a very long time.  He has given us such peace, such joy, and such friends and family around us for this journey He has us on.  But we are SUPER THANKFUL and EXCITED to have June and July with YOU.  

Today is more printing, folding, decorating, wrapping, finalizing, good-bying, taking the kitchen staff out for a "Thank you lunch", packing and preparing... Wednesday and Thursday 200 past students, now pastors, evangelists, teachers and community leaders will be coming in for Alumni day, several missionaries from Port-au-Prince and the States are flying in for graduation, Friday is the big day, and we fly from here, to Port-au-Prince, to Atlanta to Columbus, Ohio, Saturday!

Some great days of pictures to come...