Praises.

A quiet morning for me full of prayers and praising.

Praises:

• Spending time with Eli. Getting to listen and watch him interact with our family and friends. Laughing at videos or discussing books, good-morning and good-night hugs.
• Getting a chance to Face Time with F on Sunday. Very special hearing his voice and giggles and seeing his expressions. Hearing him ask questions to each of us and his wanting to learn more about his new home. Seeing his small bag of possessions he packed last week..asking the Lord to continue to fill him with hope and joy while we continue to wait for paperwork to exit IBESR.
• Needed rain for the gardens.
• Anna's sprained thumb continues to improve.
• Speaking to about 50 people on Monday and 20+ adults yesterday while they wait to see the doctors or dentist. Very appreciative and listened well for close to two hours of health advice.
• Cory helped with the planting of some free cocoa trees for the campus from a Compassion group program on campus yesterday after they taught about the environment and demonstrated to young people how to plant the trees. Thankful as well he arrived in time to prevent a water line from being broken and being able to direct some from the large group to the best places to plant the trees.
• For many of the students in the adult literacy classes who were able to receive reading glasses so they don't have to share anymore during class.
• For the credit card company blocking an Air Canada ticket purchase that we didn't do on our card. That our card was not used for any other items and is now being changed and replaced.
• That Calvin let Eli know about a required class he needs in the fall and that he was able to sign up for it without trouble. 
• For having enough bananas to share with the children in Kids Club, volleyball and literacy programs. 
• That the generator for the clinic was fixed yesterday.
• For faithful supporters. 

Trip to Port Margot: health clinic, courthouse, and market.

I do not find paperwork and homework very exciting to blog about so forgive me for stretching the posting times a bit. The end results from the office work will be exciting!

Saturday, the morning spent cleaning and doing paperwork. Afternoon filled with family time and some paperwork.

'Courthouse' with flag behind Cory.

Sunday we attended church with Anna attending children's church. The afternoon we watched the first episodes of the History Channel's Bible that someone sent to the missionaries. We watched it with a Bible in hand and paused occasionally to read the stories.

Monday started with paperwork at 6 a.m. which continued throughout the day with a few breaks for school, dealing with folks at the door, a couple walks down to lab, and some exercise. All that hard work resulted in five envelopes ready to be delivered to Tuesday's MFI mail bag to the USA.

Tuesday we continued with some more paperwork and homework that needs to be done before the social worker's visit. We learned early in the week that she did confirm flights into Haiti on June 17th! She will stay here 2 nights before traveling to another part of Haiti for 2 nights with another family.

Today our family and Genner drove to Port Margot at 10 o'clock. Earlier research indicated that Eli and Anna, being children, could have TB skin tests at the public health clinic. After we walked in an explained to a nice lady what we needed, she led us past rows of waiting mom's and children to the lab.

The lab person sat at an empty desk and quickly preformed the tests. Because Dr. Jean Pierre works at our clinic on campus we will be able to just walk down the hill on Friday morning for the results.

Next stop basically the local courthouse. Earlier Cory talked with one of the local police man about our need for a police letter and learned we would need to see the justice of the peace as the local police station is currently closed.

Across the river from market.

Before we reached the office the judge saw us and looked over our paperwork right beside the truck. He let us know what paperwork we needed 'Certificate of Good Life and Manners' is the literal translation and how much it would cost.

While the paperwork was being processed we proceeded to market where Genner, Cory and Anna shopped while Eli and I read in the truck.

Then back to the office for a bit of a wait and more reading. Not as long as Cory thought however and we returned home by lunch time.

With the help of the computer I translated the French document into English and will ask our French teacher to help with a couple of rough spots before E-mailing the agency. We will either mail the documents or hand them to the social worker during her visit.

Cory will be trying to call the Embassy to learn about fingerprint processing.

Unsettling Blessing. Red Alert

Life events can be very unexpected, especially the first time they happen and one occurred today.

Early afternoon turned out to be a rather busy time of day while we dealt with many little details.

After the team enjoyed lunch they shopped a bit with a couple vendors we arranged to visit campus. I tried to squeeze in a science test for Anna before the time arrived to translate for the massage class, and Cory dealt with some laundry, kitchen clean up. We also tried to review plans.

Seeing two ladies come up the walk I assumed that they were looking for the massage class but when I went out to tell them where they could wait I was surprised that they did not come for class but because God sent them to pray for us.

Thankfully Cory was still in the house as they said they could not wait but needed to be going.

So we stood on our front step [so I could keep an eye on my student] while the two church ladies sang about the Lord hiding us in the cleft of the rock and under His wing.

 

They then prayed for us. For safety. For protection at each door and window of our house to protect us from evil and curses. To protect our family and our children, our house. They prayed for blessings.

While I greatly appreciate people praying for me I’ve never been told that the Lord sent a ‘dream’ or vision to pray for us.

As they sang and prayed a small part of my brain could not help but wonder what event [s] the Lord sent them to pray for protection? Would their prayers be enough? Will we know and recognize why they were told to come pray for us now at this time?

These questions cause the unsettled feeling. Like learning one will be having a pop quiz or test soon. I mentally reviewed my problem areas, relationships and obligations. I prayed for the Lord to show me any spots I need to deal with at this moment.

 Prayed a few times since the ladies visited, like packing my first aid box: courage, strength, wisdom, patience, compassion, endurance, faith....and anything else the Lord know’s we will be needing!

Feel that the Lord increased the alert level to Red.

I'm not quiet sure what to make of it as I don’t remember similar warnings in the past before big spiritual battles or crises: hurricanes, earthquakes, political instability.

So to our key partners on our prayer team-consider yourselves on alert too! Keep praying!

Kid's Club Dental Clinic

Confession, I like to see rapid improvements. During college, a period when most of my life consisted of learning and study, (both hard to physically see any change), I mowed lawns in the summer.  Mowing not only made a bit of money and provided physical activity but it also satisfied my need to see improvment. At the end of the job I could easily see what I accomplished.

Missions can be one of those jobs where improvement takes time and can be hard to see some days. Sometimes one takes one step forward only to fall back a few steps all in the same day. Trees grow slowly. One may not know for a few years if the tree will fruit, and what the quality of the fruit will be. Not a job for the faint at heart. Homeschooling takes time too.

Checking out the tools.

Last March, Dr. Wilnie shared with us his dream to provide dental care in Fauche and we started praying.

This summer a set of dental tools generously donated made it to Fauche and through a second gift we purchased two "zero gravity" dental [lawn] chairs. Because Dr. Wilnie does not have a full time job or the additional supplies needed to run a dental clinic the prices for a cleaning or extraction prohibit most people in our area from being able to pay.

But knowing how bad teeth can badly impact one's health we worked with the Kid's club leaders to identify the 40 worst cases and today the first children received dental care and education. Praying that the dental clinic can continue to improve lives and touch people with God's love. After a slow start I enjoy seeing some progress.

The dental work started after 2 p.m. down at clinic. This allowed clinic to be competed for the day and the children finish their school day. Notice the line still waiting around 3 p.m. Doubtful that most will be seen today but perhaps they can hear the educational talk given to the others. Clinic started with prayer.

Thank you to each who prayed and donated to help make this happen!!

Prayer- A truck driver hauling earthquake rubble in Port-au-Prince lost control this morning and slammed into a crowd killing at least 26 people and injuring around 60 others.

What if trap.

OK, I admit I wasted some time in the 'what if trap' this weekend.

Back-LaGonave Moringa Dry shed. The work continues.

After the days of hospital meetings and hearing of the plans to greatly improve and advance the work on LaGonave I came away with mixed feelings and thoughts which led me to the 'what if' line of thinking.

Not negative feelings or thoughts about the plans for LaGonave and the hospital but more why the improvements took so long to start.

Most of the problem areas that need improvement did not develop in the last few years but continue to remain problems decade after decade. Some areas received attention and work but slid backwards when the focus shifted to more urgent and serious problems took priority. Other areas never quit made it to a priority level that resulted in efforts to correct the problem and therefore continue to remain problem areas.

A few issues that came to light developed after the medical missionaries left because we did not anticipate them becoming problems. For example the medical missionaries would orientate visiting medical staff and help answer both cultural questions and questions pertaining to practicing medicine in developing countries. Now some of these questions remain unanswered. [Will be working on putting together orientation information for visiting medical personal with the Haitian staff]

But before I could slump into a major pity party about what could of been...my thoughts swung to a second set of what ifs. What if the missionary personal had not trained the Haitian office staff and medical staff. What if they had neglected to raise financial and prayer support for the hospital for 50 years. There may not of been any hospital to rebuild at this point. What if the hospital had closed years ago? What would the town and island look like now?

What if as a child no hospital existed for me to wander about and see how God's love touched sick and suffering people? What if teams years ago had not made a guest house for teams? What if the earthquake had not brought Haiti back into the news and highlighted the medical needs?

I'm reminded that I do not possess all the facts to make any judgement on what occurred or did not occur. The 'what if trap' only wastes time and energy. The Lord's timing often remains a mystery to man.

Some of us prepare the soil, some plant, some water, some weed, some trim and only a few will harvest. But without each part or role the harvest would suffer or not even happen.

My focus needs to remain on today, the here and now. My attitude today while doing the task in front of me, large or small. How I relate right now to the person at my door or on the phone. Focus on each word, tone, thought that passes through my head. More than enough right there to overwhelm me into a state of doing nothing BUT I am not alone. The Lord can work though me and with weak little old me to do remarkable things. WOW!

Thanksgiving Fellowship

Today we drove to the Christian radio station just outside of Cap Haitian for the annual Thanksgiving get together. We also do our best to celebrate Easter Sunrise with this same group and may get to 1-2 Sunday afternoon church services during the year.

I'd guess we knew about 1/2 of the folks there or less. So we visited with some old friends and met some new folks [new to us]. Folks brought dishes to share and also chipped in for the turkey and ham. Many of the traditional foods tasted great-cranberries, rolls, stuffing, mash potatoes with gravy, casseroles-green bean, corn, and sweet potato. Yummy.

Because of a wedding we needed to hurry up a bit so we only sang one song, enjoyed a short devotional and prayer. We helped clean up and chatted while Eli and Anna enjoyed some after dinner football [American style]

A small amount of rain welcomed us home. For the end of November our area is dry with the lawn starting to turn brown. It would be nice if the rain came today and tomorrow so that we would not need to drive through the rain on Monday.

Monday we will head to the Wesleyan boat dock at Croir Luly where I will be staying at the Wesleyan Guest house while Cory, Eli and Anna go to visit LaGonave. I will attend a meeting about the Wesleyan hospital of LaGonave. While I will not visit the island some of the staff will be attending the meeting so I'll have some time to reconnect.

Eli and Anna nicely decorated our living room for Christmas last night. Our small tree, Furdinand had its lights removed for the first time in years. Eli decided the only way to fluff up the tree branches properly and make sure the lights looked right was to take the lights off and then put them back on. I read aloud while the kids decorated. The trees will be put in Eli's room while we're gone so that the cat does not get any ideas.

We enjoyed a short visit from some of the World Hope staff on Friday. Nice but rare when folks drop in and we have a short chance to visit. Eli and Anna completed a day of school before decorating for Christmas. Next week with the trip we will likely only complete a full day on Friday, providing we return home as planed on Thursday.

I think it interesting that our ham in the picture lasted us for 6-7 meals. A rare treat that shows how much less meat we eat now-than we did when we lived in the USA.

Balance

This morning I turned the page on our calendars to a new month, November. I took a bit of time to write down a few goals for this month on the side of my organizer. October 2011 fades into history never to return. A new month stretches before us will it be a balanced or unbalanced month?

Balance can be a difficult concept to identify, reach, and maintain. Priorities can shift subtly, slowly, escaping notice until suddenly a crisis draws our attention to the shift. One needs to stay alert and intentionally keep goals clear or they fade. Urgent problems can shift priorities as can day to day, 'normal' routines.

Thankfully the Lord grants us wisdom when we ask. Only He can help us identify health balance in our lives and reach balance. Balance requires making hard choices and sometimes saying 'NO' not only to bad or unhealthy things but sometimes to good things. Good things but things we just do not have time or energy for.

Thankfully many things in our lives the Lord balances for us. We do not normally think about these balances in our lives. My grandmother's can no longer produce enough blood cells-so she needs regular transfusions. Ironically my mom makes to many blood cells therefore needs to have blood drawn weekly to keep her levels down. Thankfully most of us do not need medical help to maintain normal blood levels.

Balance.
     Computer time with real life time.  Devotions and prayer time. Money-life needs vs. wants. Helping others enough without causing dependence. Personal time vs. sharing time with others. Family time vs. serving others. Work vs. rest. Busy vs. slowing down to enjoy earth's beauty. Order vs. random. Pressure vs. control. Details vs. basics......


Eli, Anna, and I continue to wind down the school year with each day seeing projects completed. Yesterday after a French quiz our teacher told us we were doing well. Grammar falls low on each of our 'like' list to study in any language but we continue to learn.

Most of the people sitting on the clinic benches yesterday morning turned out to be family of the 15 or so Cholera patients receiving treatment. Cory reported seeing a body removed after clinic. I cannot imagine being sick in a room with 15+ other people, staff and family members coming and going at all hours and witnessing the death of someone with the same diagnosis. But I remain grateful that the Lord continues to supply the resources [supplies and staff] to keep this vital ministry going.

My parents continue to work on getting tickets for a visit in February. Please join us in praying for the potential work teams for 2012: right people, right dates, right travel, right projects and right experiences.

Cory attempted to contact our friend for news about his wife but the phones would not work.

Praise: Ministries at Fauche-spiritual, medical, agricultural, educational.
Prayer: Ministry balance, effectiveness.

May 10

Enjoyed American Mother's day with cards and good food. While we miss being able to see our Moms we greatly appreaciate our upbringings and the continued support of both our mothers.

I finally made it down to clinic again [no bad ankle, no rain] only to find our Intern with only 2 charts on his desk. So I chatted a bit with the staff about patient packets and Health books.

I noticed a friend [Mme. Fanny on the left] sitting there who works for us 2 days a week-she admitted that she'd been 'negligent' and run out of blood pressure medications. I reminded her that the Lord gave us minds for a reason and that she needs to take care of herself.

Returning to the house I asked our other cook [Mme. Rosemary on the right] if she'd received

one of the health books...nope. Oops fixed that oversight right away. Maybe the part about blood pressure can motivate them both to take better care of themselves.

After a full day of school work Eli, Anna and I returned to the House of Hope for our last job with the patient packages [other than taking pictures] While I read they labeled the packets and we sorted them into groups: Kid's club, pastor visits and hospital.

Noticed yesterday that the brick walls on the new church building started to go up. Do not know when the church will be completed but it is nice to see progress.

7 May Books Arrived & Patient Packs Ready

A nice Saturday morning during which we tackled the project of putting Creole Health Books in each of the patient packets that the kids and I stored this week. Cory helped too. We have almost 400 patient packets that will be divided between hospital patients, Kid's club members and pastors [to share on visits to the sick].

Cory asked John Pierre yesterday to stop in Cap Haitian and ask about the arrival of the Creole health books as he knew that 10,000+ books takes up a lot of space. John Pierre called Cory late morning to ask if he could come to Cap as the books were to clear customs that day and later they learned that the warehouse is full.

So Cory and 2 guys went into Cap. Thankfully the one mission who ordered 2,000 books could come get their boxes of books. Most of the books are being stored in a warehouse just outside of Cap while Cory brought a truck load to Fauche.

Each box holds 52 books. Cory now plans to deliver a truck load of books for LaGonave and Port the week after next. The books look great-almost identical to the first ones we had printed but cheaper so that we can sell the books here for $1 each.

Join us in prayer that these books can reach the farthest corners of Haiti, touching people with the Lord's love. We pray that the books can help to lift some of the physical suffering so prevalent in Haiti and maybe prevent at least a few deaths.

Special thank you to Wesleyan Publishing House, Wesleyan Women International, a family from the River Church, Shunem Ministries and others for helping make the second printing happen.

Thank you to ECHO's bookstore for carrying the health book for folks in the USA who want a copy or two.

[The freezer to the right is a merchant's business location while the books made a barrier in the side street. The crowding in Cap Haitian is amazing]

March 30.. Lord's Provision after a bump in my road

Yesterday did not end as I expected. Late afternoon after completing school and talking a bit with Cory I went for a short walk behind the house for a bit of exercise. Thankfully I stayed close to the house as I soon found myself on the ground with a painful twisted ankle.

Eli and Anna provided first aid after helping me hobble into the house. When they told Cory as they were unable to find an elastic bandage my painful, swollen ankle was elevated, with ice packs cooling, pain medications administered and a fan blowing. My kids are great!

When they interrupted Cory's talking to a couple of the local men my plight became known. So John Pierre and Daniel asked to come in to pray. Not only did they pray they started with a song, something about walking with assurance, a quoted chapter of the Bible and then prayer.

Before and after my pain medications began to work my mind flipped though all the amazingly strong people I saw following the earthquake with major fractures and crush injuries as well as some of the bad cases I remember from LaGonave. I'm a major wimp compared to them. I just heard of a case this weekend from another missionary of an OMS rural clinic where they found someone with a untreated femur fracture for 5 days!!

I received immediate treatment. Correct treatment. Things that provided me comfort that most Haitians don't have access to include: soft couch, pillows, fan, pain medications, ice pack, elastic bandage, air splint, chair with wheels to get around the house, friends to pray.

Thankful too that I can still do my main job of schooling the kids. No hikes for a while but that's OK.

Thankful for the news that the second printing of the Creole health book that contains the way to treat sprains and even splint breaks is completed and the books are on their way.

Thankful for our prayer team. Thankful for a helpful family. Thankful I can normally sleep and normally live without pain on movement.

Praying for the people who live in constant pain and have much more serious problems than I. May they be comforted by God's love.

March 23. Lots of good things today.

I'm writing via our fixed Internet. I know they replaced part of the dish but don't know the cost yet....so I can be thankful without stressing about the cost. Cory just left to deliver the technician to Limbee.

School the last two days ran very efficiently! In 2 days Anna completed 4 days of lessons and Eli 3 [as a high schooler his work load takes longer] And both completed lagging subjects to be completely caught up with all subjects being on the same day.

My cold continues to weaken.

Cory picked up mail, groceries and the technician today near Cap Haitian.

Todd's team tickets confirmed so we can start to work on ours for this summer's home ministry time.

The space bar on my computer started working as mysteriously as it quit.

Anna and I enjoyed a bite of homegrown broccoli this week.

Cory's enjoying playing in the garden and cleaning things up.

$ 1.50 ?? Banana Project Growth

What can you buy for $1.50??

How about a baby banana plant that keeps on giving.

For $1.50 Cory buys a disease resistant lab grown banana plant [some are cooking bananas, some are desert bananas]

This baby plant will grow in a pot for about two months.

After the two months it will be about two feet high and ready to be planted in the ground.

Once in someone's yard or field the type of soil and weather will determine the rate of growth.

A banana plant will produce fruit in about 12-24 months. The bunch of fruit produced can have over 100 banana fruits.

The banana plant will not only produce a large bunch of bananas but will also grow new baby plants from the underground bulb. In poor soil maybe only one or two babies will grow but with good soil five or even ten or more plants can grow.

These baby plants can be separated from the mother plant and planted where they too can grow well producing a bunch of bananas as well as additional plants.

If a church or individual receives plants from us we ask and will follow up that the recipient then donate the same number of baby plants to their church, neighbors or back to Cory for further distribution. Tithe and offerings of bananas will help support the church as well as reach out to the poor and unchurched.

So in less than two years $1.50 can be transformed into over 100 banana fruits and 3-15 banana plants. A ripe banana in Haiti sells for about 10 cents. This means not only a nutritious food source for the family but an additional source of income to help with school, medical and other financial needs. We feel this project can improve many lives in a relatively short time and be sustainable.

Donations can be made here through Global Partners. Select "Haiti" and go down to "Agriculture Training Program"

April 29 2009 First batch of resistant bananas. Flat of 72 Kandarian cooking banana plants.

Bananas ready to plant in a garden.

Next three photos of the same Kandarian banana plant from the first photo:

Oct. 14 '09

May 12 '10

Sept 9 '10 harvest. It has grown into a clump with three new larger plants which will have bigger bunches of fruit and there are several smaller plants at the base of the clump.

9 Sept. Praises

Praises-

School continues to wind down. Thankful for Sonlight and all the learning we shared this year. Thankful we will not need to carry many books back to the USA to finish.

Thankful to Fre. Onix who continues to add hundreds of accent marks to my book, correct my grammar and clarifying the information.

Thankful for a computer that can find and change hundreds of words in seconds.

Thankful that a mechanic traveled out from Cap and fixed the diesel generator yesterday.

Thankful to have two more church vi

sits lined up for our USA trip.

Thankful for the singing birds [roosters not so much], cool breeze and flowers in the yard.

Thankful for a good national team to work with for the Lord and for the Kingdom.

Thankful for His love and provisions.

Thankful for years in Haiti learning about His love and grace.

Thankful for a great support team who faithfully holds us up in prayers allowing us to continue here.

5 May Testing done!

Yeah for us. The number 2 pencils and table return to their normal locations. Tomorrow school will return to its normal rhythm. A slight breeze chases the hot air out of the house.

Cory found that some of the banana corms contained banana borer grubs. Treatment consisted of further trimming of the corms and following any found tunnels. Second they experienced a hot water bath to kill any burrowing nematodes that came along for the ride. (Update: The borers are already in this area but not very common yet so we need to be careful not to spread any to uninfested gardens).

Anna lent a helping hand, thrilled to use a machete for the first time. Not being the carefullest of people, full supervision was in place.

My job other than photographer included reading books to the workers thus accomplishing some school work along with the agricultural work. Multitasking the fun way. Kodiak watched and provided entertainment as well.

Today's we celebrated not only the completion of the SAT testing but a visit from friends. I also took the opportunity of the visit to have Eli and Anna clean up their rooms, school room, bathroom and the rest of the house. Now they will not have so much to do to prepare for Mother's day.

We enjoyed a nice visit. A neat story on how the Lord knows our needs and wants and provides our needs. Their little girl has a birthday coming up and they had unsuccessfully tried to find a cake pan in the shape of a flower. Remember our Easter cake.....well our friends left with the cake pan in hand. Neat how the Lord worked into our conversation her birthday and the kind of cake she wanted, and the lack of a pan. When 'it just so happened' that we could provide a very nice flower cake pan for that special 9th birthday party. Even in Haiti God Provides.