another sign of Faithful-Is-He-Who-Calls-You

Man alive.  This photo was taken exactly five years ago today (Friday).  It was 6 am.  We were 22 & 23, and we were boarding the plane to Haiti, and about to start on one of the greatest, hardest, craziest adventures of our lives.

They say the "old time" missionaries packed their belongings in coffins when heading for the field of calling, knowing they wouldn't return until the coffin brought them. 

All our possessions might have been crammed into 10 Rubbermaid totes, but things sure did feel that permanent and drastic that morning.  

There was no turning back.

Cap-Haitien was nothing like Port-au-Prince...the comforts and luxuries of the "big city" that I was used to and of "Over There" (America) that Matt was used to were far behind us.

We jumped right in at EBS (at it's previous location), starting to teach just 2 weeks after moving to Haiti, something I had sworn I would NEVER do and something Matt had been waiting for since giving the Lord his life just five years earlier.  It's a complete joy to look at this picture and see men and women that we're still working alongside today, and even some, like Belony, Lucner, Vilmer, Fanfan, who we were hanging out in the office with this week!

This was taken our first month of living in Haiti, in front of the very house where I'm sitting now. 

 We had no idea what He had in store...only that He was leading us.

 I can honestly say that some of the hardest and most beautiful things in my life have been here in Haiti these past five years, and as I look through posts from that first year, as difficult as I remember it being, I'm almost surprised at what joy we found Just in Him.

My best friend and room-mate moved to Africa exactly one day before we moved to Haiti, so I'm copying her fabulous blog and going to take a few days to dwell on some of the highlights, in pictures, of the past few years (this post being year one).  

From a post that first year...

"These may all seem like rather small things, but there are no small encouragements here, no small works of God's hands. In Nehemiah 6, Nehemiah sought to do what he was called by God to do, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And yet, the "Enemy's Plot" continued to call him away, threaten him, encourage him to leave it, and to discourage him.

Nehemiah finally addresses it in this way (vs. 9) "You thought that by trying to bother and frighten us, we would become discouraged with the work and it would not be done. But now, O God, strengthen my hands." 

We must not be discouraged with the work God has given us! Instead of praying that life would be easier here, that our inverter would work, that I would feel no sickness, that everything would be more peaceful, we want to pray first and foremost that God would just strengthen our hands...make us stronger, keep us firmly resolved.

We are blessed to know exactly what He has called us to here: training and discipling and living life alongside Haitian men and women called by God to take the Word throughout Haiti. So, "strengthen our hands!" 

 The recurring theme we echoed over and over that first year and a million times since is of His faithfulness.  He has been.  He is.  He will be.  Faithful to be who He IS in our lives, and that is all we needed.  All we need.  All we will.

anniversaries

I will always remember the day I came back to my room my sophomore year of college and told my best friend and room-mate that I thought I wanted to date Matt Ayars.

"Matt AYARS?" She looked at me in disbelief.  "Like, the Matt Ayars you are always fighting with, and always complain about, and you can't stand him, and he can't stand you either?  And remember last week when you said you were never dating again ever and were going to be a single, strong missionary all of your life?"

"Uh, yeah.  That Matt Ayars.  I think I like him now."

Nineteen months later we were married, and today, it's been six years!

What drove me nuts about Matt Ayars and what I have come to greatly value was that he didn't tell me what I wanted to hear and didn't put me first in his life.  He was searching out the Lord, and wanted that for me, as well.  I love being second in Matt's life, and love that to this day, he is still way more interested in our personal relationships with the Lord than with what others think or the pressures of the world.  

It has been a beautiful six years and I am grateful everyday for a truly God-given husband and Godly dad for my girlies!

...AND Miss Sofie has been with us ONE week today!  Hard to believe...time is already flying!  She has slept 6.5 of those 7 days :)  Her one week appointment went great, she's gained some weight and is doing well.

I feel so incredibly blessed.

Grandpa was dehydrated, but it led to some more major issues.  He's still in the ICU and they are trying to get his medication regulated.  He's doing well though and my dad has been there and will be until tomorrow.  Then, my sister will be driving out there for a few day, and Matt and I will be there on the 20th.  Thank you for all your prayers!

Aunt Lisa plans to keep the girls tonight so that Matt and I can go out to dinner.  We also had good friends come and spend the day with us this afternoon (Scott and Lacey), and were able to catch up with good friends yesterday at their pool...Lily LOVES going to "Jenn's House", playing with Erika and Lydia and with their kid goggles, was swimming better than ever.

  

        

5 years...

In January of 2004, I went to Port-au-Prince to live and work for 6 months with Christian Service International. Matt and I had JUST started dating in September, and the international mission field was something he had never experienced. I knew by then that the Lord had called me to make Him known in some of the darkest and forgotten places, and Matt and I knew that if "we" were going to continue, then he needed to know if this might be something the Lord had for him as well.

So, as soon as the semester ended, he came to Haiti for a week, fell in love with the people and the work, and we knew when we took this picture that week: God had brought us together to bring people to Himself.

A year later...

A year after that...

...then 2...

Moved to Haiti and soon after, 3 years of marriage and pregnant...

4 (and a little more tired than we used to be :)....

...And suddenly, today, it's been 5 YEARS. Unbelievable. When we look over the past 5 years, it is almost overwhelming to think about how He has directed, carried and loved us as a couple. No one over the past five years has done more to stretch and sharpen and guide me in my walk with the Lord more than Matt, and together, God has done so much to transform and grow us.

It has been the times when Christ is the foundation, stability, desire and motivation of our marriage that times have been so sweet!

We praise the Lord that He has a plan for our lives, and that He put us together for His glory...