one sweet day at a time

Matt is safely up North, and I'm still waiting to hear how the services went this morning at West Park!  It was extra fun to have him in the service with our most recent team (that just got home Saturday night)...I bet they all had a great time worshipping together...last Sunday at DuFour, this Sunday in New Jersey!

In Matt's absence, we all decided to catch nasty colds...but I am trying hard to sniff and ignore that fact because frankly, I can't handle it right now :)

The girls absolutely never get to choose where we go to church because Matt's always got a calendar full of student churches to visit and places to preach.  However, when Matt's NOT here, nobody minds where we go, so I gave the girls the choice, and they unanimously yelled, "GRANNY'S!"

Going to church on time-change Sunday is always a bit of a gamble.  Some presidents have decided we won't do the time change, and some decide we do...but it's always a bit chaotic either way because the time change isn't well understood.

For example, when we arrived at church this morning at 8, they announced that while the president has declared that from now on, the main service can no longer start at 8, but has to start at 7 am, this morning we would wait because no one was ready, and we started at 8 anyway.

I'm not sure that's how the time change works.  Oh well.

Though the way is long and bumpy, I like going to Gran's as much as the girls do...the worship is fabulous and the people are lovely and welcoming.

The girls love to walk a little ways after church and go to Granny's house...and it is getting harder and harder to get them to leave.  Gran has several village kiddos living with her who have been abandoned by the death or neglect of their parents, and so there are always precious friends to play with, she has lots of stuffed animals, and if they sweeten her up a bit (like today) they can even get some food out of it.

I scolded Sofie today for telling Granny that she was hungry, knowing that the lunch they shared meant less for everyone else.

"But mom," she said loudly in Creole. "Granny's food is just SO much better than yours!"

So.  There's that.

We are American parents to Haitian children, and no comforting chicken and dumplings or tantalizing pork and cabbage is ever going to stand up to Granny's rice & bean sauce.  

We spent Saturday morning catching up on homeschool and chores, playing outside (oh, Nora) and then I spent the afternoon with the Tullman's as they make their 'soul care' visits to all the OMS Haiti missionaries while Katie played some crazy version of settlers and war in the sandbox for HOURS.

I'm still trying to get you more normal Haiti pictures that you might think not so normal, so when I went to school Friday to get Lily and the crew, I snapped a quick picture of all the OTHER school carpools.  I transport 12 in the truck, but this young man had 8 (7 students and himself) and their backpacks on this moto.  Whew!  

For some perspective, many kids walk MILES each way to go to Lily's school, and we are the ONLY non-motorcycle transportation at any drop-off or pick-up.  This is how it's done...if you have a few coins to ride.  And if there are 7 of you needing to get home, you all need less coins to make it happen!

Getting ready for a really big week...one sweet day at a time, lifting our eyes up.

Meet Aunt Sharon's sweet new grandson!  So happy for all the Brown/Mishler/Trents...and for sweet Tucker!