the ayars affairs: praise

The last few days have been a struggle... Ever been there? One or two little things wedge in there, and before you know it everything feels a bit weighed down? Harder? Discouraging?

All I ever know to do when I'm going through a rough patch is praise, and I was reminded today in Acts when Paul and Silas were beaten with rods and thrown into prison, only to be praying and singing hymns of praise to God at midnight (Acts 16:25)--that that is always to be our response.

And I have no shortage of praises.

Our kids and team are so thankful to have Ryan and Cheyenne settling in amongst us. They're language learning, painting and working in their apartment, teaching, helping in the finance office, doing some translating, washing windows, joining us for meals...busy and good! Getting to know them better has already been a privilege.

We cooked out Sunday night, a "Family Fire-Bon" as the girls kept calling it, before heading into a new week, and unfortunately, Uncle Don's last. His hard-work, servant's heart, humility, friendship, and dedication to doing everything he can to the best of his ability is such a blessing, and we're just SO thankful to have Uncle Don as our brother and friend. As always, so much has been accomplished, and WELL, the three weeks he's been here!

Another praise was that after 6 weeks with no passport (had to send it out to get more pages before I could travel anywhere) it finally made it back today...three days before our annual retreat in the Dominican Republic. I was starting to think I'd be staying home! A HUGE thanks to Larry L., the Drahotas and Sharon for all your help making that happen!!

Three additional baby goats have joined the crew making an even and final 22! One of the girl's favorite things to do is visit all the Oreos, Butterflys, Princesses and Cutie Patotoies.

Despite not having rain for several months now and so many losing gardens...It's still beautiful. truly.

Don finished our falling apart shower, which now looks almost too fancy to use :)

Matt and Phil bought a bunch of lobster and crab off of Sam, and we had a big seafood night Saturday night.

Being from Ohio, well. I'm no seafood girl. I don't want to see my food looking like sea monsters.

And the house smelled like Sea World for like two days.

But everyone else (all those New Jersey people and our two Haitian lovelies) adored it, and I'm not sure when I've seen these two eat so much!

I praise God for Shayla, Naomi, Florina and Jean-Sius, and for the dear friends this family has been to us. After so many weeks with visitors, the girls and I finally got an afternoon at their place Monday, and it was SO good to just sit and be friends and catch up.

I praise God for Cheyenne, not just because she is ALREADY making a difference by helping me in the finance office (I got out of there by 11 today...world record!) but also because of her boldness to tell ME no.

You know "no" is not my thing, and last week as we discussed some ways Chey could help in the office, I shared with her my desire to finally, after five years with Lily and 2 with Sofie, be able to spend one day a week at HOME with them. I've never been able to do that. Not since Lily was 3 weeks old. I want to spend an extra day on homeschooling, having time to eat breakfast with them, stay home, read books, start slower.

But yesterday morning, when Lucner came in my office and asked if I'd be willing to start teaching an additional English class so that we could bring in more students, I, of course, said, "Yeah, no problem! Now that Cheyenne is here to help, I can be freed up to do more!" (Yes, I don't even hear myself saying these insane things. It is a problem.)

No sooner had he left...Cheyenne working away at her desk quietly, and me feeling quite content that I had been able to "help" Lucner, she said, "Uh, I thought your big desire was to STAY HOME one day a week? I am helping you so that you can have more of your life...not so that you can teach English 6, 7 and 8!"

As soon as she said it, I felt the truth of her words, which had been the truth of MY words, so quickly abandoned to say another "YES, of course!"

I praise the Lord, because Cheyenne, shy and new and sweet and wanting to help, still had the guts and love to speak the truth in love...to hold me to what I TRULY desire. So often I paint "loving others" as telling them what they want to hear, or doing what they want to do, or NOT speaking up, no matter what...but I am truly thankful Cheyenne is here, loving me better than that.

Finally, I praise God for this upcoming retreat in a few days. Yes, it is quite a long drive, leaving the country and entering the DR is not easy, traveling during Mardi Gras celebrations could prove challenging, and part of me wonders if it wouldn't be far more relaxing to actually stay home and have three days OFF instead of being gone the whole very rare 5 day weekend.

BUT, I am so thankful for a chance at some spiritual feeding and focus, for a chance to be away from work with our team, for a chance to not have school, for the girls excitement, for five days with NO cooking, SO thankful for the chance to see our dear friends who are coming to facilitate the retreat, SO thankful for how the Lord has brought all the details together, and SO thankful to have TWO of my four dearest girlfriends coming in to help facilitate and help work with the kids!