A flood of comments and emails this morning started the day off right. THANK YOU for taking the time to share that you care and are praying...a huge boost for me anytime. This one, especially, resounded.
Praise God, you can truly write a good story. If I didn't just visit Haiti a few weeks ago I might have a hard time believing it. But of course I do believe it, every word and even those you graciously left out. So glad you are all safe and well. Keep the stories coming and keep building your mansion in heaven. There are no rats there...... Peace
The reminder that my kingdom is in heaven was SO sweet I could smell its' fragrance...yes, even over dead rat. Thank you, Steve.
And then the Lord and others came through in all kinds of ways.
The beautifuls...
-The morning started out with a dead rat hunt (I mean, it just HAD to), which included pulling out the fridge and then the oven, and then taking apart the entire oven. As I tried to find something to feed the girls for breakfast, my eyes fell upon a sweet little container on the top shelf of my fridge full of STARBUCKS INSTANT CARAMEL ICED COFFEE. Sarah, I know that was you, and baby, I was dancing my happy dance for YOU this morning. It made Matt and I laugh, surrounded by oven parts and nest parts and the reek of rat and so tired and overwhelmed, and BAM, we're sipping Starbucks. Worth their weight in gold. THANK YOU.
-Matt finally found that stinking thing, took a nasty picture I will not share with you here, and Sam helped him finish the job and get the whole oven back together. Sam is tough as nails, and I even heard Matt asking him, "Uh, dude, are you going to throw up?" All that to say, totally overwhelming rat smell is now faint rat smell, and traps have been set...there have got to be more than what we found. Vengence! And THANK YOU, SAM!
-Junel, then Maxi, Magloire, Joseph, Rene, Asheline, Noel, Lucner, Fanfan...friends started trickling by to warmly welcome us back, and all of their care and excitement and affirmation over our return was such a sweet and timely blessing. As I apologized to Abel for all that he had to do yesterday to not get our suitcases, he held my hand and looked me in the eye. "MaPas (wife of pastor), your family is a blessing to this country and to me. Just as the sweet and long-awaited rain last night was a blessing to me, having you next door again is just as long-awaited and sweet."
It was a simple "speech", but it blessed me profoundly to have a friend share that, and to be reminded by the Lord that the same rain I had cursed the night before was used to deeply touch me this morning. Seeing lots of friends today throughout the day was the BEST. We are HERE to pour out Jesus on Haiti's people, and it's Jesus in Haiti's people that make being here so sweet.
-Asheline came around 10 for a few hours, and she, Lily and Sofie had SUCH a darling great time that I had a smile on my face all morning. "Swimming" in their tubs, eating way-old popsicles and dressing up like princesses, they were all so happy to be together, and Sofie was so thrilled by the "big girl" attention, that I got a lot of cleaning done and got to see them all happy at the same time. Lily's missing Creole appeared again, and by the time she left, Sofie had shared several words that Asheline had taught her!
-When the girls started to ask for lunch, I felt a bit panicky again...we just don't have food yet, and what we do have is condiments and little cans of tomato paste :) But as I had rooted through the deep freezer, trying to determine whether we had lost power too much over the summer to save the meat, I found three bags of "sub kits"-sliced ham and turkey- again, that I'd never seen before. Another gift from the Aubry's when they left that they never knew how much we'd need! LUNCH! And tonight, no one is sick, so determination: there was enough power--whoot-whoot!
-Abel ran back to the airport, trying to find out what he could find out, and when he returned hours later, oh yes. He had four of our five suitcases in tow!! Were they all rummaged through and unzipped? Yes. Are there things missing? Yes. But are they here? Oh yes! And in other good news, Matt's new running shoes were NOT in the still-missing fifth bag...only ONE of them is. So, we have one new running shoe. Improvement.
-Matt's bag had a espresso hazelnut scented candle I bought him this summer...nasty residing rat smell, GONE.
-Belony's wife had their first baby last night! All is well!
-I'd shared before that the second we transitioned to the States, Sofie stopped being potty trained, and Lily started sucking her thumb again. This is crazy, but without any change from us, Sofie ran to her froggy potty this morning, picked out her underwear, and did not have ONE accident ALL day, even at nap. TMI? Sorry. I thought it was beautiful.
On the not as lovely sides...
-I was quite shockingly electrocuted on the new goat fence, which I was completely unaware was electric. Obviously. and YEEEEOOWCH. So thankful I stepped over the line first before the girls!! Visiting the goats has never been so painful. BUT, good news is that when we left the end of May, there were 4 goats and 2 babies, and today, there are 4 goats and 2 babies! Obviously they know an electric fence better than I do.
The biggest issue is that in order to make the EBS finance laptop lighter for our carry-ons, I popped the battery out and yeah...put it in the missing suitcase. And yeah, forgot the power cord in Columbus (one of those, I thought you grabbed it, I thought YOU grabbed it scenarios). SO, financial registration starts Monday, and I still need to close July, and...no finance computer, no QuickBooks, no student payment records...nothing. yikes.
I'm not sure that God is all that interested in missing stuff. It's just stuff, and this earth is all about the temporal, anyway, and we're living in a country where everything has taught us that stuff doesn't matter much...So I haven't been sure what to pray about it. But I do know He's very interested in me and my heart and what comes out of it, and me and my heart have decided that we are nothing but grateful, and letting nothing but grateful come out.
So we are.
Thank you for surrounding us with love and prayers...with joy!
Good morning! Do you have a favorite kind of toothpaste? coffee?
ReplyDeleteLove,
Keesha