redeemed.

After having 2-3 visitors living at our house for 4 solid weeks and 3-5 extra dinner guests most nights and two airport runs today...the Visiting Professors have blessed our socks off, taught their hearts out, and headed on their ways.  It's awfully strange to have our house back and to NOT be working on dinner this afternoon!

Thank you so much to Chris, Bob and Bryan for giving your best unto Him through our students and staff, and to Launa and Frank for joining them and helping us in so many ways!  It truly was a joy to have you all!

Friday afternoon the girls and I spent at Micheline's house, hanging out with her family and celebrating little Woudens' first birthday!  He's such a cutie, and has been such a joy to their family.  The Micheline we knew before she lost her little girl to stomach cancer has resurfaced through the birth of this little man...

There are a plethora of other little ones always at Micheline's, and as one of the few people in the community with a job, I know her house is a hang out around meal times.  Christ in Micheline is always manifested through gentleness, humility and a joyful heart, and watching her share that with her community and children is just as beautiful as watching her share Him with our family.  

Sofie and Tanika playing with a homemade "machine" that some of the boys made out of a broken bucket lid...she was sold :)

Micheline is every bit of 5'8"...yeah, her husband is incredibly tall, and the girls are already passing her up.  Even ti-Woudens was standing just an inch shorter than Sofie :)

 Micheline was the first friend I made when we moved to Haiti in 2007, and I'm so blessed to have her as my family.

As always, we know it's cooling down and getting fally in our first culture, and while we always miss that dearly, I've grown to love rice season...seeing every single sprig of vibrant green rice meticulously and tediously planted and redistributed and replanted in the black squares of blue water...

Each one of these squares represent so much time and care...and with our blue mountains as a backdrop?  Just beautiful.  Always so thankful we live in a rice-village instead of in downtown Cap-Haitian.  

As soon as we arrived home, I heated up dinner for Matt and the girls and headed to Kerline's with some ice (a precious gift in a no-fridge country).  I found her laying on the floor of her home (the only relief she's finding from the extreme heat right now) but doing a bit better.  The midwife had been not long before, and deemed the pains she's having in her back and stomach as good signs that she is about there and said everything is looking good.

As we talked and joked a bit with Maxi, for the first time I noted a hint of excitement in her face and in Maxi's.  They are trusting and believing they will be parents in a few days time, letting themselves trust and believe that, tentatively, and you could feel it.  As she walked me back down to the main road again holding my hand, there was more hope than fear.  

I so appreciate all of your prayers and so do they...keep praying, and I will keep you posted.

Matt and I both start teaching on Monday, Lily has one more week of homeschooling full-time before heading to school on October 2nd, the rain this afternoon is cooling things down a bit, and for the rest of today and tomorrow, we're going to be cooking as little as possible, enjoying every minute with these hilarious and busy two little ones, and committed to REST.