Aug. 30

Settling back in to a 'normal' routine feels good. Yesterday Cory headed out early to Pignon to help with an agricultural training seminar. He reports that they made good time arriving before lunch. They plan to head back home Wed. afternoon.

Eli, Anna and I completed a full day of school, exceeding my expectations. As we delayed starting to read some of the books on the schedule it will take us a bit to get all subjects on the same day. As always with restarting classes we changed a few things around hoping to improve and enhance our learning experience.

A couple of pictures showcasing new areas of ministry on campus. Pastor Rigo and Dr. Wilnie, dentist will be discussing how to start a dental clinic with our new dental tools. Two zero gravity lawn 'dental' chairs should arrive in the next couple weeks. Currently no dentists work in the Fauche / Portmargot area but lots of people need dental work.

Agriculturally, Cory can now add breadfruit trees to his list. The trees traveled very well and already growing new roots in their larger pots. He brought a few with him to share in the Central Plateau. He plans to multiple these trees but I forget exactly how.

Many people welcomed us home and asked about Beth. At least 4 churches and the Kid's Club are now joining us in prayer for her health. Today a port will be placed in preparation for chemo. They find out Friday what mix of drugs she will be started on.

Aug. 27 Home at Last!!

Yes we made it back home to Haiti after a couple day delay because of Hurricane Irene.

A tad late leaving Grand Rapids which raised a bit of concern as Atlanta airport's size can be discouraging with less than an hour to make our next flight but thankfully the second flight delay gave us plenty of time.

At Ft. Lauderdale no problems getting our checked bags and making it to IBC by 11:30 p.m. Because of 10 pound carry-on limit we shuffled some items to the checked bags. Only 30 pounds over for our 4 person totals. Not as bad as most. We came in second in line. And waited.

Check in started shortly after 2 a.m. Some folks tried to talk their way out of the $2 a pound over weight fee, some borrowed money, some sent items back with the folks who dropped them off and some cheated. I do not mind so much the ladies who stepped on the scales [yes they weight the passengers too] with their purses on their shoulders but wondered about how much weight got sneaked on by leaving bags back at their chairs or behind the counters.

The extra plane for the delayed folks like us left at 5:30 with the normal Friday plane behind us at 6. But it really did not matter as the Immigration folks did not show up for more than 1 hour after we landed and the second plane already in line too. Also our bags flew to Haiti on the flight that arrived at 11 a.m. so we did a bit of shopping and got a bite to eat while we waited in Cap.

Roads not any better with the recent rains washing away the dirt from around the rocks makes it bumpy. Got home and took a nap. Then we did a bit of cleaning and unpacking. With 3 bags of donated medical supplies and 1 bag containing bread fruit trees not a lot of stuff to put away.

Cory leaves for the Central Plateau on Monday so thankfully he has a couple days to recover before more travel. I'm also thankful I do not need to go but will start school with the kids.

Aug. 24 Still in MIchigan.

Well instead of being home in Haiti we wait for flights to resume to Haiti. Thankfully Delta agreed on Monday not to charge us for changing flights after IBC canceled our flight into Haiti.

So we called again this morning to find out if IBC would fly to Haiti tomorrow....no.

Tomorrow we need to call at 1 p.m. to find out if flights will resume on Friday but doubtful as we need to fly to Florida and then Haiti. Looks like Hurricane Irene will still be in the way.

We remain packed. The apartment is clean and most of the laundry still clean. We generally give away our food before going but had not done it yet so we still have some food.

Cory's working on office work. Eli and Anna spend some more time with Todd and Beth's kids while Beth had 4 hours of medical testing. I finished a cross stitch for my Dad's birthday...September 15th.

Cory phoned Fauche on Monday to cancel our ride home. We hear that our area received a lot of rain but no wind damage. Praying for those in the path.

Aug. 22 Packing, cleaning and WONDERING

Today will consist of packing, weighing the bags and likely repacking some. It never fails that we end up needing to shuffle a few items to the 'come later pile' to fit in items that we deem more important at this time.

The BIG question mark in our return travel to Haiti ? Tropical storm / Hurricane Irene. Her path continues to drift a bit to the North so that this mornings Update shows some of Southern Haiti now clear but unless the path continues to shift in a more northernly direction she will pass over central and northern Haiti on Tuesday. Our plane should be landing in Cap Haitian at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning?

As the only thing we can do at this time is to pray.....we continue to pray. More for the safety of the Haitian people but as well for our return trip home. In the last 13 years we've been delayed twice due to hurricanes-once while we remained in Michigan and once in Florida.

Our time in the USA flew by being full of travel and visiting. Time to return to school and our Haiti lives. We received official approval from Global Partners on Friday to return for our next term. YEAH!

Thank you for praying.

Aug. 18th Back in Michigan.

Many miles now lay behind us.

We enjoyed visiting our 3 sites in Virginia and Delaware. Welcomed at each site as we shared updates, thanked people in person and answered questions. Thankful to give folks a clearer picture of how the Lord is working in Haiti as well as the continued need for prayers and support.

In between we traveled and fit in some 'school field trips' visiting Mount Vernon, a art museum, African and Asian grocery stores, museums at Jamestown and Yorktown and a naval museum. We learned many interesting facts.

Tired of travels but we will rest once we arrive back home in Haiti next week. The next four days we need to start with our family good-byes and finish up packing and loose ends. Thank you for praying for us.

Aug. 14th. Alexandria, Virginia

Friday as planned we occupied Todd and Beth's kids during Beth's surgery. Thankfully her lymph node did not show any signs of cancer and the surgery did not take as long as predicted. Once we received the news that the surgery went well and my folks were heading to Todd's we headed East.

After 13 hours on the road we pulled into our destination. A few hours of sleep and we headed to our breakfast talk. Brookhill Wesleyan puts on a wonderful Saturday breakfast with fruit, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and juice and more! We shared about our work and met many nice folks who partner with us in Haiti.

Driving through the rain we then headed North to Alexandria. [So very thankful we do not live in a bit city!] Checked into the hotel that the United Wesleyan church graciously reserved for us. After a bite to eat we headed over to the church for the block party. Eli and Anna enjoyed playing games with the kids while we talked. United church holds services on Sunday in 4 different languages-reflecting how diverse the area is culturally.

This morning we shared in the English service. Always nice to be able to answer questions and thank people in person for their support of our ministry. Interestingly when we went through missionary training back in 03, Beth, the pastor's wife taught some of the classes and the assistant pastor, Jared, a classmate.

Aug. 9th

Two weeks before we need to be packed and ready to go. As we will be traveling for close to half of that time we need to get many things done now before we leave on Friday for out east.

Cory's packing up the donated medications, mission stuff along with some personal supplies to send to Florida to ship to Haiti via sea container. Packages arrive daily from Cory's on-line shopping as we stock up for the year.

We continue to enjoy blue berries and sweet

corn. Time with family and friends continues to be a priority. Tomorrow will celebrate Eli, Cory's and my birthday with Cory's family.

Praise the Lord Beth's MRI showed no additional tumors. Friday we will stay with Todd and Beth's children during her surgery. Then will head out to Virginia as soon as we can.

E-Update Thedes

Three more weeks and we should be traveling back to Haiti. Our busy time in the USA continues to march forward as we work to complete our to-do list. Thank you for you prayers.

Prayer Requests:

• Todd & Beth's family as Beth receives treatment for cancer
• Support Team: Connecting while in USA, new prayer partners, Faith Promise renewals
• Creole Health Books. Selling about 1 box of 62 a week in Cap Haitian.
• New Christian's faith will grow and strengthen-those recently saved.
• Wisdom on Banana multiplication, new teaching opportunities.
• Kid's Club Impact.
• Thede International Travel Dates July 1st and Aug. 23-24.
• Hurricane season: Tropical Storm Emily [flooding still a concern, Through November

Home Ministry: Cory and Kris spent a week at Global Partners Headquarters in IN while Eli and Anna enjoyed Christian Day Camp in Allegan. We enjoyed meeting co-workers from around the world as well as interacting with the staff. A 3 minute video will be produced about our ministry in Haiti so we filmed some footage for that. The Wesleyan Women's linen closet blessed us with some needed house hold linens. We enjoyed thanking Wesleyan Publishers in person for the help on the health book. We also enjoyed meeting with Katie, a young women who made and sold purses for a senior project and then donated the money for the Creole Health books.

Support Team: This summer we will have a chance to visit __ of our supporting churches. We also hosted an Open house which enabled us to visit with many friends. We were thankful for an invitation for a few minutes at West Michigan Family Camp's last night to share about our ministry. We will continue to connect by church visits [a trip to Virginia and Delaware as well as one more church in Michigan] as well as contacting individuals by E-mail and phone calls during the next couple of weeks.

Aug 7	Life Stream Wesleyan Church - Allendale , MI	AM Service
Aug 13	Brookhill - Forest, VA	Sat. Breakfast
Aug 14	United Wesleyan Church - Alexandria, VA	Am Service
Aug 17 6:30 PM	Cedar Grove Wesleyan - Wyoming, DE	Wed. Night Prayer Meeting

Family Time: After home ministry training we headed out West to Yellowstone with Kris's folks and brother Todd's family. We now see God's timing in Todd's Team/Family visit to Haiti in June as well as the Yellowstone trip as between the two we learned of Beth's cancer. We will be in Michigan to support them through the first days of surgery and treatment but will need wisdom prayers to know how best to support the family from Haiti. The time we spend together really drew us closer as never have we had so much personal time with our niece and nephews-or our kids with Todd and Beth. Squeezed in between our travels time with Cory's folks and family also happened. Visits to Great Grandma DeWent and Great Grandpa Thede also enriched our time in the USA.

Fauche: Thanks to E-mails and phone calls we know that the work continues at Fauche. The cat and plants are well. The Kid's club continues every Sunday afternoon. We will be shipping to Haiti medications that were donated to Todd's team but will not fit in suitcases as well as additional supplies needed in Haiti [baby packets, dental supplies, books and more]

Agricultural: Prior to leaving Haiti Cory discovered to our disappointment that some of the 'disease resistant' banana plants appeared sick. With yellow leaves it appears that while the plants did better than some of the local types the plants can become infected. So we do not plan to purchase additional plants of those varieties and will focus on a slower method of multiplication. The plants purchased and distributed in the last few years will continue to grow and produce for a number of years but as it is likely with time that the plants will become diseased we do not plan to continue with distribution of new plants.

Cory will likely be traveling to Haiti's Central plato the week after we return home, to teach at an agricultural conference. To increase the impact of the agricultural work we pray for more opportunities for classes and education of the local farmers.

Haiti: Hurricane season started out calmly but the news this week indicates the first real threat may be heading to Haiti in the form of tropical storm Emily. Politically the weather in Haiti remains stormy as well with protests last week in Cap Haitian [the town we plan to fly into on Aug. 24th] against President Martelly. The rains also complicate Haiti's health issues with increased cases of Cholera. [No update yet on how the Evangelical Crusade went]

Serving the Lord in Haiti with your help,

Cory, Dr. Kris, Eli and Anna Thede

Aug. 4th Countdown started.

Lord willing in 3 weeks at this time we will be unpacked, greeted all our friends, checked out the garden, done a bit of shopping for food and be prepared to restart our school year.

The last couple of days we focused on thank you letters, E-mail updates [will post it on the next blog], on-line shopping, phone calls and reducing the size of donated medications to be shipped to Haiti. By unpackaging some of the medications we can reduce the size which reduces the cost on the sea container.

Tuesday Cory and I completed our psychological evaluation-another item completed off the list for returning to Haiti. Yesterday Eli and Anna's TB skin testing was also completed-check.

Eli and Anna went to enjoy some time with Cory's folks and the cousins today and tomorrow. So Cory and I clipped some overgrown bushes, pulled weeds and played with a power washer. Cory also enjoyed putting 'Round up' weed killer on some poison Ivy-a nice therapeutic break from the office work.

While working on these tasks we remember to pray for Haiti as tropical storm Emily dumps rain on the country.

Aug. 1st Blue Berry Picking and more memories

After returning to our Michigan home on Thursday following a great 3 generation trip out West last week we unpacked, shopped, visited the library, did a few loads of laundry and worked on office work.

Sunday we traveled East to Livonia Wesleyan to thank and share in person for the first time a wonderful supporting church. Although they have supported us for years and years, until yesterdays visit we had only met one family in the past.

As our visit followed a week of Vacation Bible school and a tent revival meeting we spoke for the first time under a large tent! Very neat. Fellowship continued after service with a tasty 'cold' potluck and a chance to visit with different folks.

This morning we headed out to let Eli and Anna experience first hand-picking Michigan blue berries. Both did very well and when Cory cleaned the berries he discovered that his pail contained the most stems and even a few green berries. The gal when we checked out remarked on how good the berries our kids picked looked. We plan to share with my folks and Todd's family.

This afternoon Eli and Anna need to have TB skin testing done and the results will be read on Wednesday. Cory and I already completed this testing in Haiti.

Then we plan to spend some time with Todd's children as Todd and Beth will be at the doctor's office learning more about Beth's treatment for early breast cancer. The diagnosis came just 2 days before our trip West. We thank the Lord for the weeks of togetherness in Haiti and out West, as it provided time to bond between cousins, Aunts, Uncles. Now we feel we will be better able to support and pray even when we return to Haiti in 3 weeks. Please pray for them and Beth's treatment-we know that the Lord will work though this situation and we will continue to trust in Him and praise Him.