full days, full hearts

I will forever love this picture.  Given, yesterday was a bit overcast and rainy.   But it is May in Haiti, and I was still dripping.  Berthil, however was miserable, and I actually caught him blowing warm air into his hands :)

This is a fun time to be in Haiti...our hearts are about as full as our days!

It's hard to believe that another full year is drawing to a close at Emmaus Biblical Seminary...our fourth! Once again, it was a year of instability in Haiti, with cholera and then all the political excitement, but once again the staff and students endured and persevered and are ready to step into the next stage of ministry and training for their lives.

Everyone is tired and excited for the weeks off ahead, but still buckling down to finish well and test well.  Having fun activities (see the EBS blog for the full schedule) in the afternoons helps, and it really has felt like a week of celebration of all He's done and been this past year.

On the homefront, it also feels like a celebration with a full house of friends and family, friends coming to visit and wish us well for our time in the States and Lily elated 24/7.

She has only asked for Mommy or Poppy one time since Aunt Lisa and Uncle Adam arrived.  Yesterday, when scaling the outside of the bunk beds in her room, Aunt Lisa told her that it was not safe, and put her back on the ground.  Quickly realizing that Aunt Lisa was not going to budge, Lily let out a big sigh and said, "Hey, where's Poppy?"

Are ALL dads known for being push-overs when it comes to their daughters :)?

The staff/3rd year soccer match yesterday was a little sad (while the oldest person on our staff is only 43, we looked...old :), we only lost by one point, and everyone had a blast playing and watching.  Soccer competitions bring out this child-like and joyful side to our Haitian brothers and sisters that rarely show elsewhere, and I always love sitting in the middle, listening, and just enjoying being a part of so much happiness and excitement and comedy.

NorthRidge, Chris also proved himself well during the match (the first visiting professor ever to be allowed to play) and we believe that "soccer skillz" needs added to his repertoire in Sabetha!

We feel blessed to be a part of so many different cultures and surrounded by so many different lives and callings and giftings day in and day out!

(every time the ball went over the wall, everyone would collapse :)

"don't cry if you're ugly"

I'd never heard this Haitian proverb before today, and then today I heard it a hundred times. Basically, "don't cry out about your greatness is you're not so great," or "don't boast unless you can back it up". Today was the first (of many, I believe) soccer match of Sakenville...the Sakenville church youth group vs. the seminary.

You would think that the seminary guys would have whipped the gangly group of young men that came out to play, but our hearty EBS diet and additional years slowed us down, and the game was neck-to-neck fierce competition from start to finish. In the end, the Seminary managed to score one goal in our tiny pegged together sugarcane-rice sack goals after both sides endured the much delivered: "Don't cry if you're ugly!"

Jean-Mark was deemed "announcer" and called out commentary for all to hear from the sidelines the entire hour. His "microphone" was an empty juice bottle, and throughout the game he interviewed various onlookers. Anytime his commentary upset someone, they would take away his juice bottle, which somehow rendered him speechless until the bottle was returned. When we see our brothers and sisters work His Work, we are blessed by the mature and talented and deep men and women they are. When we see them play, we are blessed by the children they allow to surface :)

No one was as happy as Lily though, who joyously went from friend to friend, happy to have all her "zanmis" together in one place.

By the end, there were about 200 people there, from little kids that shimmied through the drainage holes in the wall to much of the Christian and Voodoo community. What an awesome afternoon, to see Emmaus and Sakenville (all HIS children!) together under His GLORIOUS heavens, mountains grand in the background, watching everyone enjoy an equal passion.

winter games...

It’s that time of year again! It snuck up on us, and suddenly there are 2 more days of class until Christmas Break! The annual Emmaus Biblical Seminary Christmas Party was Thursday night, following the big Staff vs. Students soccer game.

This game is a BIG deal. After weeks of practice and “Pastoral trash talk”, the building of two goals out of pieces of wood and rice sacks, and choosing of captains, forwards, goalies, refs and DJs, the match began.

Neither team had enough shoes among them, and it was almost comical to watch players go in and out of the game, rapidly swapping out shoes of all types and sizes. (Notice Matt is in socks in half these pictures ☺ ) Every time anyone almost got a goal, the students would go WILD, and Lily, sure that something was wrong, burst into tears each time.

However, NO one ever scored, and a rather pitiful and debatable shoot-out ended in victory for the staff (for the first time…probably EVER.) Pitiful or not, you would have thought the staff won the World Cup, and proudly paraded a tiny golden trophy for all the young whippersnappers to see!

It was a FUN fun time, and a joyful time of relationship between staff and students. It was fun to be FRIENDS and not at all professors and students, missionaries and pastors.

The big game was followed by an annual Christmas program/party, in which the students and staff share devotionals, sing songs, pray together, do some skits and comedy routines, and clap. For everyone. A lot.

It was a lot of fun, though we had hoped to better understand Haitian humor by year three…and that was NOT the case. We rolled with laughter because the guys were rolling with laughter, but man, just like my students never think that sarcasm is humorous, we didn’t get why, well, ANYTHING was particularly funny tonight.

Lily, following our "Arms Up!" command..

Lily and Olie, helping out the cooks...


I LOVE that our God “gets” us each…That our joy is His, that He knows our intricate parts intimately, and that culture is N O T H I N G to Him…just us, His kids. We LOVE being His kids with these men and women! Thank you, Lord, for the gift of being YOURS here in Haiti!