As He always seems to be faithful to do, I am so thankful for the outpouring of emails reminding me that we are all in this together, and that there is nothing new under the sun.
I don't know how He uses our intimate struggles and joys to speak directly to the circumstances and hearts of each other, but He does, and I'm so thankful. THANK YOU for sharing some of your intimate stories with me (making this whole blogging thing more like a conversation than an article), and I'm so grateful for this chance to lift many of YOU up as you press on With me.
It's time for another of those random answer-your-questions posts...I am behind.
1) Just to the right over there ------> is a column that says "Sign Up." If you enter your email there and click "Sign Up", then every time I write a post and select "Publish", it will email that post, with pictures, to you.
That is what "Sign Up" means, and that is how you can have our updates sent to you whenever I update.
2) I know it still seems early, but our summer speaking schedule is all but wrapped up. If your group or church would like us to worship with you, share, preach, come, whatever, this summer, final call! We are always asked each summer if we could please come share at someone's church, but BY summer, our days are already not our own :) We'd love to see you and to share a bit of what God is doing in Haiti, especially through Emmaus!
Email us! staceyhaiti@gmail.com
3) YES, our most recent cat is still alive. It might be a record :) And seriously, she has turned out to be such a great kitty...super patient with tons of toddler love, and she is a very cross-cultural cat. Just like every cat we've ever owned, she always acts like she can't stand us, and yet magically moves from room to room with us, ever playing by our feet at dinner, sleeping on our beds at night, plopped on the couch for story time, and waiting by the door while we hang out laundry.
Callie-Q is well loved, and was even a great prop for our unit on Ancient Egypt. (Did you know that Ancient Egyptians used to shave off half of one eyebrow anytime their cats died to show they were in mourning? We would be an entirely eyebrow-less family.)
4) The girls are GREAT. Sick. But great. Lily finished her final testing last week for 2nd Trimester and therefore has this week off, and at the beginning of March we began a new homeschool curriculum with both girls that we are LOVING.
I know March is a weird time to start, but we had entirely finished the entire curriculum I had put together for the year, and 6 months is too much of a summer break :)
SO, we joined the neighbors in using Sonlight, and so far, it's been fabulous. Lily actually woke me up Saturday morning telling me, "MOM! It's time for SONLIGHT!" (I have threatened the other campus kids not to tell Lily that most kids don't do school on Saturdays. With her in local school 3 days a week, we gotta. Don't tell her most kids don't do two schools, either! She's happy, she's learning, she loves Jesus....we happy :)
I NEVER thought I would be homeschooling, and had NO desire to homeschool...but I'll tell you what, God has really changed my heart about it. BEING THERE as our girls are learning things, incorporating their learning into our daily living, watching their eyes light up as they learn about how the world turns...it's precious. I might feel differently if we're still doing this when Algebra approaches :) But for now, I'm so thankful for this burden turned opportunity.
This is all I know: if you have been considering homeschooling, IF I CAN DO IT, YOU CAN.
This is SO not my thing.
5) Our neighbors are good. You've gotta check out their blogs...I'm surrounded by great bloggers blogging through their FIRST months of life in Haiti. They are always packed with great reminders of cultural differences I remember marveling at our first years and great insight into God's heart. You can find their blogs to the right--------->, any that are followed with "next door." So thankful for all of our community here in Saccanville!
6) NO, we are not going to miss my dad's wedding (nor hopefully, the birth of our newest niece!) Graduation, Alumni Day and board meetings are mid-May, we'll head for the States around May 20th, Dad's wedding is May 30th, and Matt leaves May 31st for his annual month in England for his doctorate (next summer, GRADUATION!). Wouldn't miss it.
Share your life, today. With someone. Anyone. Even the tragic, embarrassing, hilarious, heart-wrenching, monotonous, personal parts.
He is redeemer.
You'll be surprised how powerfully He can and wants to use our daily testimony to support, inspire and MOVE each other in Him.
fun to hear these updates - we miss you!
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