catch up and r-e-s-t

Alright, so let me catch you up!

Sunday we were with our Livingston UMC family, the church and family I grew up in as a little girl.  It was a joy to be with them, and it always is.  Matt shared a bit of Junior and the funeral story in the adult Sunday School class, and then preached in the main service.

Afterwards, we headed to Kevin and Bonnie's and enjoyed SUCH a good lunch with lots of Millers...special time we look forward to all year.

By 3:30...they were done :)

Then Matt was straight off to Greenwood, Indiana, for field meetings, and Lisa swept me off for my 30th birthday present!  Yes, that was in November, but we finally headed off for our first sister-friend overnight since Lily was born at a lovely bed and breakfast not far from here.

of course, it was WONDERFUL.

AWESOME food, great time with my sister, no high chairs, no husbands, no schedule and no alarm clocks for 24 whole hours.  What a great gift (not that those aren't good things, but you know :)...totally worth the wait!

 We all got back to Columbus in time for Dad's 60th Birthday!

Our dear Billingsley friends swept off the girls for an evening of horseback riding and playgrounds, and we took Dad out for a nice long dinner, and gave him a book of memories and prayers from friends and family far and near (THANK YOU, friends and family far and near, for taking the time to do that!)

He's a very special man, my dad.  If I talk about him too much, he'll get mad :), but let me just say...He loves the Lord and loves others and loves his five kids and two grandbabies like few I've ever seen.  

His example of Christ-like crazy love is one that has formed each of us and become part of who we are and what we want our lives to look like.  And no matter what?  You know Dad's all in...behind you, beside you, and praying for you.  

We love you Dad!  Happy Birthday!

 And then there are these two, who are suddenly really into all things ballerina.  We finally got to Good Will today and hooked them up in some better ballet garb, which of course, they have worn every moment since.

After so many back-to-back crazy days of travelling and speaking, this little space is our space of rest for the summer.  Dentist trips, renewing passports, and then this weekend we head to PA with some good family friends for camping!  

We are, I must say, a bit tired.  These last weeks since Matt got home from England have been crazy.  These few days before we hit the road again of rest and family, ice cream, ballet, play-dough and good books and movies are being much appreciated!

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and 

our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” 

― Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

things I'm deciding...

1) My dad REALLY needs to just move in, and live with us forever.

2) As much as I groaned about losing Noel as a nanny and sending her to university, I'm starting to realize that this is a really good thing.  Here we have a young, smart girl from a really poor family of 11, lived her whole life in Saccanville, and she has a dream to be a nurse, and we have this God-given chance to DO something in Saccanville and DO something in her family by DOING something in her.  

Having two kids in school in Haiti is a good thing.

3) Dengue fever, and mosquitos in general, should be outlawed, especially in children who were ALREADY very hard to please on good days.

4) Sickness in general should be outlawed...wait, I'm pretty sure that is how the Lord set things up!  Ah, to be living in the health, happiness, and wholeness that He originally designed!  Strep and Dengue and even colds make me re-anxious for heaven.

5) I may be too hard on myself.  Sometimes.  About things that don't matter to Him.  I'm thinking.

6) Taking a stand on what is right in the face of extreme opposition may be right, but it also may be exhausting and discouraging and a bit depressing.  I'm proud of you, hunnie...hang in there!

7) Parent meetings at school should NEVER be over 3 hours long.  never.  

8) Lily's school's decision to start school even earlier, locking the front gate at 7:25 am...not good.  

9) Konpech is a REALLY HARD PLACE.  Despite Junior sharing his riveting and powerful testimony there on Sunday and ALL the sharing and sowing of the Gospel there over the past 2 years...man, it is almost like nothing has ever changed.  Empty, dark eyes.  Bored expressions.  Closed spirits.  We've gotta keep dusting off our sandals when led, going when led, preaching when led, and praying for the people described in 2nd Cor. 4: "Even if the Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded their minds so they canNOT see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ."

10) Even in the sickest moments, the most monotonous of days, the most dreary of tasks, I'm deciding this:

Your work is a gift… that means that above all joys the highest joy to be enjoyed is the Giver.

And he is worthy of your worship this hour and every hour.

In the Lord’s presence there is joy with a magnitude and endurance that our finite minds can hardly fathom because it’s full and it’s forever.

When our work is unto the Lord, through the Lord, and for the Lord, we find that he does not fail to satisfy us. And when our hearts struggle to feel this is true, we declare by faith, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Ps. 73:25).

lookin' up

Dad got safely in this morning, and we enjoyed a great day together of REST and with friends coming to see him.  So glad to have made it through the week, to have a weekend, and most, to have grandpa here.

Sofie this afternoon, still looking peaked, not eating, stuffy and fussy, but getting some smiles...doing BETTER.  Praise the Lord!

goats, friends and the harvest

Having these two weeks off school (and having Dad's extra set of hands) has given us more time in the community, too.   Yesterday morning we visited several good friends, and went to see "Oreo's" new baby goats.  

Sofie and Kevins are only 3 weeks apart, but he is beating her in chub and in hair!  It was wonderful to be able to catch up with lots of friends in Saccanville, and Lily REALLY had a good time making new little friends and playing in the mud and with all the goats, chickens, dogs, cats...

We also had good time here at home with Grandpa, with Dodo and Bubba...

...and with Junior, Civil, Fanfan, Belony, and other staff and students as they are using the campus as "ministry headquarters."  If this was a women's university, we would have a lot less dinner guests :)

Junior, Belony, and a box of Bibles headed out yesterday morning to Yolene's church community, and met up with 11 other students.  They all then joined with member's of Yolene's church plant and broke into three groups, going throughout the entire area, preaching the Gospel.  

"I'm not going to lie to you," a very weary Junior and rather down-trodden Belony told me upon their return.  "It was a really hard day.  It was like EVERY person we met wanted to fight with us.  One long debate after another, everyone had so many arguments.  Some days, it seems like everyone is interested in Jesus, and today it seemed like NO one was...everyone was interested in being told that nothing needs changed."

One woman argued that she never had sinned, therefore had no need of Jesus.  Many argued that they pray to demons and spirits, Jesus, God and Satan, and that it didn't matter who you spoke or committed to, as long as you were committed.  Lots of people felt that a commitment to the saints was the same as a commitment to Jesus.

As Belo and Junior revealed conversations from the day, I found myself uncertain about what the right response to varying debates should be!  These were hard issues, hard arguments.  "What did Brave SAY when he said that?" I kept asking, or "How did Jasmine respond to that kind of an argument?"

As Junior and Belony told me what each of the students had said in response to each debate, I quickly felt as if I had been to church.  AMEN, I kept thinking.  Hah, YES...that's it.  Ah, what a relevant Scripture to bring in at that point....YES, way to go, Benjamin....that IS the truth!  Amen!

While the guys were exhausted and a bit discouraged in the retelling by people's responses to the Gospel, I was invigorated, thrilled and blessed by the students' presentation of the Gospel!  THEY HAVE GOT IT!  What Matt and I came to Haiti to do, to accurately teach leaders the Gospel so that they could take its' transforming message throughout Haiti, has happened, is happening.  

We tend to get so frustrated by the immediate picture that we haven't seen the big picture like I did yesterday.  A student threatened another student, and had to be expelled.  Failure.  No matter how big the portions are, a small group of students continue to gripe that they aren't served enough food.  Failure.  We want the seminary to have a high academic standard, and half the first year class didn't even know the books of the Bible.  Failure.  By OUR standards.

And yet here this evangelism day yesterday and the fluency, accuracy and passion with which the students were able to boldly present the whole Gospel in the face of persecution, ridicule and worldly thinking...Success...By His.  

To encourage Belony and Junior, I told them again that they weren't responsible for how the Gospel was accepted, for people's responses, or for conversions.  They weren't responsible for what kind of soil the Seed fell upon.  They were responsible to give it.  To preach it, and they had.

As they drug themselves back to their dorms for a well deserved rest, holding my hands and affirming, "Yes, Sister.  You are right...praise the Lord"...I realized that this same message was for my encouragement, as well.

I feel so blessed and encouraged to be used by Him, to give the Gospel...unresponsible for how the students accept or apply it.  It is He who cares for the harvest...and He is. 

Praise the Lord...

p.s...11 new brothers and sisters joined us in His Kingdom yesterday!

one of the crazies

WHEW.  What. A. Day.

At any given moment today, there was one screaming-bloody-murder or teary-whiny-fussy infant or toddler, someone at the door, a ringing phone, bread or a pot pie or a roast in the oven, a student that needed help...man...it was just a crazy, GO GO GO relentless day.  I am SO thankful Dad is here, or you would have found me in a corner crying by noon!  My brain was so numb just from working in two languages literally every moment today that I found myself talking to dad in Creole this evening and confused about why he was just staring at me.

However, now that it is over and I'm literally falling asleep at my desk, there were a LOT of GREAT things today...

Maxi, Dad and Abel, a dear relationship that has formed over the years.  Very thankful for these men, for the unity they have in Christ, and for an unexpected and powerful "break-through" conversation I was able to have with Abel this evening.

 Friends.  Shayla, Kerline and Max are three of my best friends, not "in Haiti," but in life right now.  I'm so thankful for these three, and this afternoon was particularly blessed by the way a very fussy, tired, dad-sick, stuffy Lily transformed into her joyful, gleeful self just a few minutes after their arrival.  I can be myself with these friends, they are real with me, they love our girls, and having them in our lives greatly improves our lives.

 Baby Gertha.  While she still hasn't been given a name, 'Baby Gertha' is just beautiful and wonderfully healthy and such a joy.  Gertha was just beaming that first-time-new-mom smile this morning, and I am so grateful to see this little miracle unfold.

 Lily had a blast with baby Gertha, too, though she was very discouraged that Sofia and baby Gertha didn't hit it off better, because apparently they are "suppose to be friends!"

 More friends.  Noel and Micheline went with us this morning to visit Gertha (and insisted that fussy Sofie was fussy Sofie because she was too hot, and therefore took off her clothes, all the while bundling Baby Gertha.)  These three women are a great joy and encouragement to me, and time with them is good time.  So grateful for these true and transparent relationships.  Plus, we could not have made the steep hike to Gertha's house with Lily, Sofie, and three boxes of baby clothes and diapers without their help :)

Also, praise the Lord, Dodo and Bubba (Dorothy and John McC.) arrived safely today and are sound asleep next door...YAY for friends next door!

End of the day...Matt is doing well in Jackson, we've had sweet time with dad/grandpa, we have help, I've been especially touched by the transforming power relationship has in our lives, and I am richly blessed this evening to realize that in the midst of a million tasks and people today, a handful of His children that I came to minister to minister instead to me...on the good days and on the crazies!

prayers and beach

First things first....

Lily and Sof with Gertha, friend and nanny.

Please be praying with us continually for Gertha and her baby.  She called at 7 this morning and was bleeding.  She went to a nearby clinic, who with no information and no treatment, sent her several hours later to the main hospital downtown.  She is there now with minimal pain but continued bleeding, and each time I ask what the doctor's are saying, she says, "nothing."

She is concerned, I am concerned...the baby is expected to come in October.  Please join us in praying.

Also, Micheline has had several people die of cholera in her area the past 10 days...her rumor is that "it's back."  Please be praying that this strain is squelched by "over-care" in how everyone is cooking and drinking right away...

We had a good time at the beach, though electrical/water/mosquito issues and colds for all three of us girls brought us home a bit more worn out than we had hoped today.  SO glad my dad is here and thankful for a rare day away from normal life!

Matt and the guys are safely in Jackson and enjoying their first day of classes today!

Liked ice cream like her momma...