Inn for a Penny

"Well, in for a penny, in for a pound!" Bubba told us last year when caring for visiting professors while I battled with work, a 2-year-old, being 8 months pregnant and keeping on top of it all.

I pictured this pair of weight gain and financial gain, totally in the dark about what he meant.  It wasn't the last proverb we've learned from John and Dorothy!  


What we DID get was that Dodo and Bubba were all about doing whatever they could to help us, which in the end was a thousand little things every day.

Coming to Haiti for 6 weeks to help may not seem like a big thing, but leaving Canada, traveling to Haiti, outfitting a house, making beds, cooking meals, doing dishes, making airport runs, buying groceries, mopping and sweeping, battling the heat, helping with Lily and Sofie, etc...are a lot of little things that made what Dodo and Bubba did for us a BIG thing.  

For four semesters, they faithfully helped us do ALL those things and more, and when we got back from Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday, they were gone.  Our house was full of gifts of lots of little things that are BIG blessings...frozen cheese, lamps, Ziplocs, spices and even laundry detergent with Febreeze (ahhh, luxury!).  


It's one thing to ask someone what you can do to help.  But when they respond, "Come to Haiti, live with us for 6 weeks every semester, and take care of all the physical needs of total strangers, sometimes totally 10 or 12 at a time, with very limited resources available to you"...that's when you right-mindedly say, "Uh, no thanks, but I'll be praying!"  

When John and Dorothy said yes, we were shocked, and as their 24th week of service finished last week, we were (are) just totally overwhelmed with gratefulness!  


From offering a cup of cool water to strangers, to washing their dirty clothes, from preparing a feast that a toddler manages to mostly squash into the tile floor to feeding and caring for an ornery dog not their own...Dodo and Bubba ran "The Penny Inn" like our Lord Jesus...like servants.


Much of it was done just out of their love for Matt and I and for the girls who adore them, and man, we will always be touched deeply by that greatest showing of love, laying their lives down on our behalf!

What an example!  


I hope and pray that God is able to use Matt's and my "retirement" one day for His glory in a similarly powerful way!


THANK YOU, Dodo and Bubba!  We love you!


Meanwhile, Sam, Cammie, Gideon, Azariah and Abigail move in on Tuesday morning, another great thing done out of someone's love for God and for us...we are blessed!  Lily can't wait to have more friends next door, though she has told me several times that she "might be a little bit shy, like God made me, ok?" and we can't wait to have the help, not only physically, but all of the help that living in community as His body provides!  

Please pray with us for both of these dear families and the transitions they are now in!

great news and travel prayers

We had a really great day today...lots of laundry, cleaning, unpacking and re-packing, but also some great time with friends in Saccanville and in Vaudreil. 


Lily and I walked down the road to a friend's house and while I enjoyed catching up with friends, she enjoyed running like crazy with a few other little ones, eating up Kerline's rice and beans and putting on Shayla's make-up.  Then tonight we had coffee and fantastic cookies at Bud and Cindy's with the other four missionaries here right now (several are in Port and many still in the States).


We are thrilled (understatement) to share with you that some good friends of ours, Sam and Cammie, have just been accepted to come work with us here at Emmaus!  They have lived in Haiti before, have three little kids, and have a heart for Biblical training and being a part of people growing in Christ.  Sam is also a plumber/electrician/fixer-person (how's that for Stacey's description of a profession) and Cam is an evangelist if I've ever met one.


They are funding now and hope to join us after our crazy month (March) of visiting professors.  Ah, the thought of having help with the maintenance-side of things and having someone else living here with us full-time is just divine!  


You can check out their blog here.  If you are interested in helping get them here, you can find out how on their blog.  Please be praying for them as they fund and prepare for this big transition!


Meanwhile, we head for Ohio tomorrow, and would so love your prayers for safe travel and for fantastic behavior from our 2LOs (two little ones).  Please pray for cantankerous Sofia to just be miraculously content...or miraculously sleepy.  One of us is very excited about icy weather, one of us is very excited about icy cream, both of us are very excited about seeing lots of family and about medical appointments (starting on the 29th) to get to the bottom of Matt's health issues.


Thanks for your prayers!  We have truly felt and seen His presence so closely these past weeks, and are so grateful!

blessed.

Our blog had it's 20,000th hit today! Man alive...grateful for all of your support and encouragement that comes from taking interest in our lives and in the lives of our Haitian family!

We had such a wonderful time in Kansas! We met up with so many friends from our last trip to NorthRidge, friends from Haiti at one time or another, and made some new friends, too...We're just so thankful for this sincere, sacrificial, generous, loving and gracious body of believers.

In this church and community of Sabetha, Matt and I were able to see a rare living out of true God-honoring Christian community, and it was a blessing to be a part of and was an inspiring example for us as Christians who also live in community in Haiti.

Sharon and Martin were our loving hosts, who showered us with love, friendship, good coffee, good food, shared their home, bathroom, car and motorcycle with us, gave us lots of time with different friends, loved on Lily, gave us good encouragement and advice...their home was just such a wonderful place to be. THANK YOU, guys! (Look, Martin, I made you LOOK like you are sleeping again!)

It was hard to say goodbye to the Aberle's, especially when Lily continues to ask for "Ahhh-zeeee!" over and over, but I am so thankful that they made the 15 hour (yes! at 10 days-till-due-date) drive to come and see us...we are so blessed by your precious family!

Jane, Robert, Luke, Anna and Issac had us out to their lovely home Saturday night along with a bunch of other friends, and we had such a good time....thank you for this encouraging and fun time! (They also might be our most rigid blog stalkers...we love your family! :)

BLESSED.

People keep asking how we feel about heading back to Haiti, and that is my first thought, just BLESSED. We have been so blessed by our time here, and by the love and sacrifice and prayers and friendship of so many friends and family around the States.

We have spoken to literally thousands of you this summer about our friends, family, churches, students, testimonies, communities and ministry in Haiti, and we feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of His kingdom in Haiti. We are ready! After speaking for 7 weeks dozens of times about how we feel led to live and love in Haiti, we are ready to get back to it! We want to see if Jil's house is finished, want to worship next to Pehpay, want to hear about the ministry packed summers of our students. We want to get back to Bible training, catch up with good friends, get back into the Word with my Saturday class and encourage our neighbors.

We'll have our chance soon! Saturday afternoon we arrive home, and start officially with Emmaus on September 1st. This week we have packing, laundry, a presentation in Northern Ohio on Wednesday, final runs to Wal-Mart, final shots, final DQ runs, final phone calls, and final time with family! Please be praying for His presence and preparation these next days...

We'd also love to ask for your prayers for Pop-Pop, Matt's grandpa, who has been a joyful, encouraging and loving part of Matt, Lily and my life. He has been fighting cancer and other health issues for several years now, and the last few times we have seen him we have made sure to have good time with him and made sure to say good-bye, just in case. These last few days his health has taken a major turn for the worse, and while he has told us countless times that he is very ready to be with the Lord and out of pain, we are heartbroken thinking about Mom-Mom and thinking that his time with us might be finishing on earth.

Please be praying for Pop-Pop and for the whole family...thank you!

friends!

Isn't it exciting that we have this many friends? :) Today Jarod and Jen, (good friends from Haiti) their five kids, Sam and Cammie and their two and our family spent the morning together and then the afternoon at this really awesome pool/water park! It was fantastic spending time with all of these dear friends, and I felt so blessed to have had the chance to all come together from Haiti, Kansas and Colorado to catch up and just be friends!

Plus Lily, of course, was thrilled to be in water for the afternoon...
Lily, Dora and Azi spent some time this morning watching Dora the Explorer...I love Lily having such good kid time. She is completely unaware of the fact that she is the baby of the group, and has been sleeping SO well :)

These two women and I, along with Angie, used to meet together every Friday for a few hours to catch up on each other's lives and to pray for each other...truly some of most cherished memories from the past three years...It was GREAT to have some time for that again! (we missed you, Angie!)

We feel thoroughly blessed!

our brethren in the world

(standing out front of "Butchies", the steakhouse that Sam would share dreams about over beans and rice hot nights in Haiti...we FINALLY all ate there...not lots of charm... LOTS of beef :)

Next to 1 Peter 5 in my Bible there is a list of names, names reminding me that we are not alone in His work in the world..."Resist the devil, stand firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world...God, who called you, WILL Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you."

Know matter how hard things get or have been, knowing that there are others around the world loving and praying and preaching and teaching and training and encouraging, seeking and following, giving and going and sending and sometimes even dying that HE might be made known is just DEEPLY encouraging.

Sam and Cammie are two of the people scrawled on that page, encouraging us from afar by the sheer knowledge that they are unwaveringly faithful, deeply committed and uncommonly obedient to the Lord. We flew to Kansas from Ohio, they drove down from Colorado (though their baby is due in 15 days!) and today I was overjoyed to have precious time with these dear friends and their ti-mouns, Azi and Gideon.

I love being with people that make you want more, more, more of the Lord and less, less, less of you! Hanging out with Godly people makes us so much more hungry for Him, and helps us long for holiness and unity with Him over all else. We are blessed to be surrounded by several of these couples this week, giving us rest and friendship, ice cream and encouragement!
Lily was as thrilled as we were to hang out with Azi and Gideon, and kept right at their tails all day until crashing this evening...she's probably dreaming of monkey bars and forts right now :)

"Stand firm in [the true grace of God]" 1 Peter 5 ends. We are thankful to be on the journey with you!

Tomorrow and Saturday, more time with friends, with another Haiti couple coming up tomorrow evening!

baby, it's cold outside...

...where YOU are, of course. It's gorgeous and downright HOT here! :) Wanted to share some of the beauty of the day with you.

Cammie returned from Port-au-Prince yesterday afternoon, so we had one more wonderful evening with her (and the community that kept coming to see her :) before she returned to snowy Colorado today. So thankful, so thankful, for good friends! Being so far from all of our family and most of our good friends makes us so greatly appreciate a few precious hours of actual "face time" with a dear friend. We always need encouraged towards Christ!

Then today I came down with what everyone else seems to have had, and am feeling awful. I have so many blogs working in my heart and head as the Lord speaks and shows Himself to me in quiet, and vibrant, ways. So thankful that He is a god that communicates with His children. PROMISE a better blog tomorrow!

Poinsettia's grow behind our house year-round, so if anyone is looking for a discount poinsettia supplier for next year's church Christmas decor... :)

AH, not sure if we could love this sweet cheeked, grass/flower/bug/dog-food/stick/rock-eating baby any more...

Thank you, from the depths of our being, for all of your prayers...How much we need them and count on His presence and the presence of your prayers.

a great cloud of witnesses

When I was driving out to say good-bye to Sam and Cammie the other night, the sky was proclaiming the glory of God! It was full of clouds my mom always loved, calling them “heaven clouds”. I can still hear her pointing them out, “Look, kids! Can’t you just picture Jesus coming back in clouds like those!”

It was with a heavy heart that Lily and I left Sam, Cammie, Azi and Gideon at the airport this morning. For a year now they have worked alongside of our brothers and sisters here in Haiti, and I am touched even now to realize how the Lord has touched and grown our hearts through them.

I can honestly say I have never met someone whose clear spiritual gift, calling and passion was evangelism. For a year we have watched Cammie tell old people, young people, Haitian people, American people, UN, police, homeless people, church people, voodoo people, beach people, bus people, crazy people, mean people, rude people, happy people and lost people…about Jesus. It didn’t matter if it was our “day off at the beach” or if the crowd of burly men were all holding guns. “Do you know Jesus? Can I tell you about Him?” is as natural a question for Cammie as “How are you today?”

And I can honestly say I have never met someone so unphased by the opinions of man as Sam. When Paul says, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ!” in Galatians 1, I have always wondered what that would BE like. To truly NOT care about what ANYONE but God thought…to not live with concern for ANY opinion aside from the opinion of Our Father. For a year we have seen what that looks like in Sam, a church-planter.

How do you live, how do you work, how do you walk alongside people such as these and not be changed? Praise the Lord, it would have been impossible! So many of our blogs this past year about going out and telling people about our Lord have been because of the example of Christ in these two. God has used Sam and Cammie this past year to help bring Matt and I to a far deeper walk with Him, boldly seeking Him with hungry hearts unlike we ever have before and putting that into practice in ways we had never dared nor even dreamed of.

We are deeply sad to see them go. Yet tonight, I praise the Lord! I praise the Lord for bringing them, and for aligning our lives for a time. I praise the Lord for the examples of evangelism and church-planting and 'pouring out' that they have been. I praise the Lord for their children, and for their friendship. We are thankful to add them to our "great cloud of witnesses surrounding us," that Hebrews 12:1 talks about.

Sam and Cammie are not perfect people. But we have seen them love the Lord and the sound of His voice and the touch of His hand and the warmth of His delight more than they have loved themselves, us, or the even the Haitian people.

Praise the Lord, we are thankful.

"Now they observed the confidence of Peter and John...and were amazed, and began to recognize them as people who had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:28

You can follow Sam and Cammie's blog here.

smile, swim, eat sand

We've had a fantastic last few days, in which Dad and Lisa were able to join me for class, we got to go to the pool with good friends Sam, Cammie, Azi and Gideon, watch Elmo with Lily's Bundy buddies, and got to spend today as a family at the beach! We are all missing Matt, who is sick in Jackson (please pray!), yet are so thankful for this time God has given us together as a family and as friends! Bigger blog tomorrow, and more photos on Lily's blog...