Sunday Night Fun

Here is just a quick shot of what might happen here on a Sunday evening.  Dan made dinner tonight and often brings up the computer to listen to music while he does the dishes.  He was watching/listening to some music videos his brother Jed and nieces have done and graciously sent him.  I came into the kitchen to find this scene.  Everyone likes your music, Blood Harmony!  It doesn't look too comfortable to me, but everyone seemed quite content with the arrangement.  Sorry about the photo quality...I had to catch the moment quickly before it passed!

A prayer request and some pictures

Blogging is hard sometimes.  There is always something to write about, but the timing is not always right.  Right now is one of those times.  We have many emotions about our friends here in Haiti and the hardships they face.  Right now it is "back to school" time, a very difficult time for anyone with a school age child.  It is a time when money is often short.  Difficult decisions need to be made.   Maybe parents have to choose what child will go to school this year if they can't send more than one.  Maybe they do not have enough money for any of them.  They often look to others to see if they could borrow or get the money from someone else.  I could write a whole blog about this, but I will not at this time.  I will just ask you to pray for children and parents during this difficult season.

Our internet has not been stellar lately, and we always have something to keep us busy!  I know I have not blogged in quite some time, so I thought you might enjoy some photos.  Dan's sister, Rachel Shaw, along with our nephew and several people from their church in Michigan recently came on a mission trip to Children of the Promise.  They did a little Bible school with our kids and I decided to share a few of the photos from that.  Our Haitian children are learning and growing each day!  They are so fun to watch and play with and laugh at.  They are toddlers and preschoolers so they are challenging also, but so fun!  Enjoy the photos!

Home

I have been thinking about the word "home" for a while now.  It seems that the more I live life, the more confused I am about where "home" is.  For many years  after I moved away from Minnesota I would call that home.  Even though my parents moved out of the house I grew up in 15 years ago, going to Prinsburg still felt like going home in a way.  I have lived in Michigan longer than I lived in Minnesota now, so Michigan really feels like home too.  Grand Rapids was home to us for our first few years that we were married and we love to visit there and have many family members there.  We lived in Lake City for over 10 years and grew to love so many people there.  We never owned that home because we lived in a parsonage, but it was home to us for that time.  

Now we are in Haiti.  In many ways this doesn't feel like home.  It is so different than what we are used to.  There are people in and out of our house each day because the aunts come to and from work, and every day someone different comes to eat at our table or chat with us on the porch.  But it is home in a way, also.  It feels right, like we are supposed to be here.  

In a discussion with Jadyn the other night she said that Haiti feels like home now. Where is our home?  People often ask us that when they come to volunteer.  How do we answer?  When people say "are you coming home sometime soon?" they are usually asking if we are coming to the States.  Haiti is now our home.  That might change, but for now, it is home.  

Many of you have lived in the same area for most of your lives.  You are settled, you plan to stay, you have roots.  Others of you know what I am talking about.  You have moved many times, you know that God might call you to move again, you feel restless at times.  

I do not like the restlessness.  I have dreamed of feeling "settled" for many years.  I feel like in a way I have been waiting for that my entire adult life.  Desiring marriage and a family....waiting for that.  Getting married but having a husband in seminary....waiting for graduation and then our first church.  Feeling so grateful to be in Lake City, but then after several years, feeling God's preparation to move on to something different but not knowing what that was and praying for several years.  Now we are in Haiti....for how long?  Is this home?  Is God preparing us again?  

I think God uses this to keep me close to Him.  To keep me praying and seeking.  To keep Dan and I talking about God's plan and to keep praying together.  To focus more on Him than being satisfied in a "home" here on earth.  To think about heaven and all of the people we have met and how awesome it will be to be reunited someday.  Hebrews 11:10 "For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God."

I have not lost hope that someday we will buy a home and settle down....and then go around and visit all of the people we love!  I am not saying in any way this is wrong.  I just think I need to learn that it is not the most important thing.  The most important thing is to honor God and worship Him wherever I am at the moment.

One of the songs we used to hear on the radio in our home in Lake City was Building 429: "Where I Belong".  The chorus goes like this:

All I know is I'm not home yet 

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

Or you can listen to the whole song here.youtu.be/he32vwlKQPY

Someday we will truly be HOME.  And if you know Christ as your Savior you will be there also.  So much joy, celebration, singing, and praising The Lord.  I am looking forward to that, but at this time I will focus on The Grace House in Lagossette, Haiti, where He has placed me for now.  

An Opportunity For You

People love seeing the children from Children of the Promise.  They love seeing the children in our house and the Joy House and the baby house.  I know many people who check out the photos on the website on a weekly basis.  The children here at COTP are precious.  God placed them here for a season and we are here to be a part of their story.

We love to hear about people praying for the children at COTP.  How you become invested in their lives and pray for their parents and families, whether they be in Haiti or in another country waiting for their adoptions to be completed.  

I have another way you can invest in the children.  You can become a sponsor for a child!  It is not difficult, and it helps pay for their stay here at Children of the Promise.  You would like to consider it?  Check out this link and contact us!   http://childrenofthepromise.org/child-sponsorship/

And while you are thinking and praying about it, check out their cute faces on the COTP website!

Jadyn Grace

Our daughter is 13 years old.  I know it sounds so cliche, but it really does not seem possible.  I remember the first time I laid eyes on her.  And now, entering her teen years....in Haiti.

 I actually love that she is entering her teen years in Haiti.  We have a lot of time together as a family.  She plays with little children, does crafts with them, feeds them, and does endless "photo shoots" with them.  And she loves it.  She has made friends in the village of Lagossette and has learned more about their culture and way of life.  She interacts with people of all ages....other international kids, our aunts, nannies all over COTP, international staff, and volunteers.  Over the past two weeks she has helped our volunteer nurse hand out meds almost every night because she does not know Creole or the children very well.  She appreciated Jade's help and it gave Jade a chance to serve in a different way.  The week before that she was able to help a volunteer make videos of our special needs kids on campus.  Jadyn loves making cakes and decorating them and she has done so on many different occasions.  She now has our aunts and girls in the village asking her to make cakes for them.  She still loves to read, draw and paint, and write.  She is a busy girl.

 Obviously I am not saying that Jadyn does not have any struggles.  She misses friends and family in America.  She gets lonely without girls her age.  She doesn't obey her parents perfectly and she argues with her brothers.  We are praying that God will use Jadyn as He sees fit here in Haiti and also wherever she goes from here.  That she will stay close to Him through each stage of life and will glorify Him in her thoughts, words, and actions.

I am going to share a few photos of Jadyn that our friend Emily took recently here, and then she is going to put out a blog post of some of her recent photo shoots of the children soon.  These are shots of her with her horse, Noel.  Happy Birthday, Jadyn!!  We love you!

Reminder to pray and Beach Day

Update for those praying with us about adoption.  
I just really wanted to remind people to continue to pray.  We have talked to a few people this week and without miracles taking place it looks like it will still be a long time for the children in our home and across this campus to be joined with their adoptive families.  Pray for the children, pray for the families, and pray for miracles to take place in the offices and governments involved!

I also wanted to share some photos from our Grace House beach day.  We took all of the aunts that work in our home and all of the children to the beach last week.  We have been wanting to do this for quite a while and finally worked it out so we could all go.  We loaded up in the van, which is a rarity for most of the children, and headed out.

It was a fairly quiet ride to the beach.  The children were busy watching out the windows and enjoying the scenery.  The aunts chatted quite a bit, and we all laughed at Paco's "wow!" when Dan took us a little fast over a speed bump.  

When we arrived at the beach the aunts went straight for the water.  They ran and laughed and put sand on each other and raced with the Willis kids and just had a great time.  The children were not as sure.  We played in the sand for a little while, and then tried to coax them into the water.  Fritzlin, Loudena, and Jacob were all afraid and held on very tightly to whoever was holding them.  They never really grew to like the water, but tolerated it a few times when we took them in.  Paco and Ezechiel loved sitting on the shore with someone and letting the waves wash over their feet.  They even smiled when the tide came in a little and the water came to their chest a few times.  

Everyone played in the sand together and a few of us took a walk to the hammocks.  We ate lunch together and the aunts were very grateful and thanked us several times.  The children ate great and I don't think there was a morsel left on the table when we finished.  

One of my favorite memories of the day was the ride home.  Dan suggested we do our evening worship on the way so we began singing and continued for the entire ride.  Such a privelege to worship alongside these ladies!  

Notice in the shot above....Fritzlin and Loudena couldn't smile for me because they were too concerned about the waves coming!

 Children of the Promise has given permission for the posting of the photos on this site.  Photos taken of  the children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.

A Post from Jadyn: Sweeter than Honey

Psalm 19:10

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey,

and drippings of the honeycomb

A few weeks ago, my dad called the "bee man" (we can never remember his real name because we always call him the bee man) to come take the bee boxes and do whatever he wanted to do with them. The bees were supposedly gone, so what good was a bunch of empty bee boxes? Anyway, the bee guy came, walked out to the boxes and came back to tell my dad that we had "anpil siwo" (alot of honey)!

So my dad gave him a large pan to collect the honey into. "Non, non, bezwen anko vesso" (No, no, i need another container) So he went out to collect the sweet honey, returning with at least a gallon of honey! We all gathered around the big containers of honey to watch as they squeezed the honeycomb to get all of the thick, sweet honey out. We ended up with alot of honey, and everyone got some honeycomb to chew on! Here are a few pictures! 

Sweet and sticky!

                                         

                                                            Proverbs 16:24
      Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

We all got a turn to help

The "Bee man"

One of the large bowls of honeycomb

Proverbs 27:7
One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.