Ready to go...

Packing 98% done. Cleaning about the same amount. My brother's family will come for supper to visit with us. Good-byes to Cory's family done, as well as several members of our home church.

The completed Konsey book for children price quote came this week, and so we plan to place an order for 15,000 books.

Tomorrow we need to be at the Grand Rapids airport by 4 a.m. We will have short layovers in Chicago and Miami before heading to Haiti. Lord willing we should be back home in Fauche by supper time.

Second only to unpacking, will be rapidly preparing the guest house for one of the Global Partner's families joining our Haiti team as they will be flying to Northern Haiti this weekend to start their Creole language training.

Sunday will be our first time since June 7th, 17 weeks ago, to visit the same church twice.

I know we will be thinking of our home church, Allegan Wesleyan  church that will be having their last service before closing their doors.

Seven generations of my family attended Allegan Wesleyan, since the first day it started back on March 19, 1870.

Please be in prayer for the members as they mourn and look for new locations to worship.

Other prayer requests include: Eli at Calvin, travel to Haiti, Haiti team meeting tomorrow, adoption process, F, transition back to Haiti, Anna's school year,  Daybreak house flip, Haiti's presidential election on Oct. 25, tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

House flip and stuff....

The week continues to speed by filled with: packing, organizing, jerky making, school work, book editing, an e-mail update, and a couple of meetings.

Eli will spend his first weekend away from college this weekend, as we plan to pick him up tomorrow afternoon.

If you do not get e-mail updates or prayer requests from us [one sent today, as well as an email sent to recorded prayer partners this week] and would like to please let us know!

Some photos from the house Habitat for Missions and Daybreak church plan to renovate and sell to support missionaries......us!!

 A wonderful bit of news, we learned last week.

We enjoyed meeting a few of the team and look forward to getting regular updates about the project, so we can pray specifically.

We plan to enjoy the weekend with Eli. Continue to organize our space and then visit Marshall Wesleyan on Sunday.

Last week, we enjoyed a visit to Faith Community Wesleyan.

In addition to connecting with the folks at the church again I introduced Cory and Anna to one of my freshman college roommates, and enjoyed meeting her husband and son.

Starting to weigh the checked luggage as the packing continues.

If we repeat our normal pattern, a few items will be removed from the bags next week to make room for more important items!

With less than one week before we return to Haiti, we are starting to feel the good-byes and enjoy a few last meals of foods we cannot get in Haiti.

School work is starting to get pushed aside as well with more 'important' events to take time for like: visiting family, watching TV, and last-minute shopping.

Please pray for us this weekend and next week, as the mixed feelings that always accompanies switching countries continue to build.

We continue to wait to hear if the updating of our truck paperwork is done.

Anna's exciting day.

We enjoyed celebrating my Dad's birthday and folks anniversary at the local Allegan County Fair on Tuesday night: seeing the exhibits, enjoying some fair food like elephant ears, listening to local talent show semi-finalists, and a bit of rodeo.

Wednesday night we enjoyed some time with one of our nieces after filling the day with packing, shopping, school and more.

Anna used some frozen venison to make jerky to bring back to Haiti.

Thursday we went to visit Cory's folks and do a bit of yard work.

We contacted Eli to see if he would be free for lunch and then we all enjoyed a Chinese buffet before seeing a bit of Calvin's campus when we dropped Eli back off.

He continues to do well with his adjustment.

Yesterday we worked on paperwork and packing. We had checked on our flights for September 30th mid-week and could not find our third flight, into Cap Haitian.

On Friday our travel agent responded to our e-mail confirming that the flight had been canceled and he had not been informed.

So now we plan to fly to Haiti on October 1st. Lord willing we will make the whole trip from my folks to home in one day. Three bags packed so far.

Last night we hosted our niece and a friend who attended a concert at the fair. Giggles kept us up past our bed time and Anna getting up early to go dear hunting with my dad woke us up early.

With our return to Haiti before the November deer season Anna's only chance to hunt this year was with the Michigan Youth Hunt.

With the cutting of trees and shrinking woods in the area my folks do not see near as many deer as they did even a a year ago and only rarely this summer.

But in less than 10 minutes this morning, with just enough light to see horns Anna shot a big 9-point buck.

She used the gun that Eli received the day he shot his buck 5 years ago.

After processing we put 80 pounds of meat in the freezer. We will enjoy some venison before we leave and make more jerky next week.

Two more busy weeks..

It feels more like a Monday morning to me as we were on the road most of the day yesterday coming back from Ohio. We did get some Haiti shopping done before we joined my folks and niece and some of our friends for a pot-luck and Allegan Country Fair parade get-together.

Busy days, with more ahead as our time in the USA dwindles to two weeks. Last week, Anna started her school year [with mixed emotions as you can see], while Cory and I put the finishing touches on the Konsey Children’s book .

We wait for news from the publisher about costs before settling the details for the order. Cory will start editing the first book again with his new Creole knowledge learned from the latest two books so that we can republish, as all the copies in Haiti have been distributed.

We enjoyed seeing members from the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in the USA this past weekend, having only met them in Haiti during the three medical teams we’ve joined them on during the last couple of years. We shared in an adult Sunday school class and answered questions, thankfully picking up some additional prayer partners.

This next week we will be visiting Faith Community Wesleyan in Livonia, MI on Sunday morning.

I started my continuing medical education requirements last week and hope to finish my unit study this week.

Eli continues to do well at Calvin. We enjoy getting short texts and questions from him as he learns and grows as a Calvin student.

Packing will start soon as we prepare to return home. Last week, we increased our on-line shopping; therefore, the packages through the mail and shipping will escalate this week.

Anna started her library duties with some book purchases for the Fauche library.

Our days fill up with tasks and emotions. Next week, two families will move to Haiti to join our Global Partner’s team. Please continue to pray.  

Happy Labor Day America

Family time, helping the cousins.

Most of our Labor Day labor looks like school and office work.

 I did straighten up our basement living area some and started the packing pile!

With Eli moved in to Calvin and orientation behind us, our thoughts turn strongly to our return to Haiti.

On weekends, we will continue to connect with supporting churches and fit in family time.

Calvin students: Past and present.

Anna started school today!

 Eli will start his classes on Wednesday with Wednesday and Thursday being his longer days due to Chemistry and Engineering labs in the afternoon/evening.

No chemistry book yet but should be at Calvin in the mail system.

I finished up the Kid's Konsey book cover design last week and am in the final checks for page formatting before we send it off to Wesleyan Publishing this week.

Last minute shopping for items we need for Haiti started in earnest today with a growing list and increased internet searches.

Cory, Anna and I enjoyed connecting with Liberty Bible church Sunday and are looking forward to connecting with the Lutheran team in Ohio next week.

We also visited Eli yesterday with my folks to take him for a birthday celebration.

Because he does not have a roommate at this time we helped him put up a few more items on his wall to make the place look more occupied.

We continue to enjoy the ability to 'chat' with him by texting and work on finding the best ways to stay in touch once we return home.

No news on our adoption.

We continue to pray to exit IBESR and enter the court system for the adoption proceedings.

Family orientation done and Eli moved in!

We survived a week of international and freshmen orientation!

 Eli continues for three days of new student activities.

 Today in a small group he will worship, an intro to Grand Rapids StreetFest, a service/learning project and then 'create your own adventure' this afternoon.

Yesterday's best surprise occurred when we bought his books... he's signed up for 16 credit hours this semester and his books cost about what 1.5 of my big science books cost when I attended college.

Because the International student orientation came late in the summer, many classes were already full before Ei met with his adviser.

The general engineering classes remained open but not the English. So he will be studying: chemistry, introduction to Engineering, calculus, a first-year prelude class [only once a week for seven weeks], philosophy and two labs.

One book, chemistry, not available so we bought get one on-line and it should be mailed to him by week.

We waited to arrange his room until his roommate arrived, but by 4 p.m. decided we'd better go ahead. He still has not arrived.

Anna nicely went out to find help when we needed to stack the beds up and the dressers as Cory was taking care of some phone calls.

We enjoyed the family cookout in the middle of campus and then said our good-byes.

Eli still had three meetings before ending his day. We are very proud of him and excited to see him dive into college life.

We started today with straightening our living space and laundry [after a week we did take Eli's back as he's very busy the next few days, and we plan to visit on Sunday for dinner]

We will now turn our focus on preparing for our return to Haiti and starting Anna's school year.

Each Sunday we travel to a supporting church to share how the Lord is working in Haiti.

Quest Starts.

Last day of family orientation.

We finish up the Passport part and now move onto 'Quest'.

We will only join Eli today until 6:30 p.m. when the families are no longer invited/allowed to participate.
 
Eli will spend from that time until late on Saturday bonding with the rest of the freshman and first time students.

 Today we will meet Eli's roommate, John; finish moving him in and arrange his room; get his class schedule; do a bit of shopping and decide about how/when to get his books; and attend the family cookout before we leave.

Yesterday we continued to learn about college life, met with his Engineering adviser, worked on his computer and finished the day with a wonderful chapel worship service.

Eli continued on to a final orientation get-together with the other international students.

Wonderful to see how Eli's already changed this week. He's made a big effort to be more outgoing and interact with the other students.

Great to see the other's greet him enthusiastically by name as we walk around campus.

For us the biggest blessing other than meeting and getting to know some of the other international families has been hearing over and over how the folks at Calvin plan to care for Eli and help him in every area of life to thrive at Calvin.

Thank you for those praying for Eli and us.

Day 2 and 3 of International Orientation

Sunday afternoon finds Cory working on Eli's computer, Anna exploring the dorm activity room, and since I didn't recharge my Kindle I'm here.

Eli and the rest of the international folks should be enjoying the Lake Michigan beach.

Thankfully the rainy cool weather from yesterday gave way to a bit warmer weather but it remains cloudy.

Yesterday we enjoyed our first breakfast at Calvin. Anna joined another younger sister, from Africa.

Then the parents loaded up into a bus to visit the Fredrick Meijer Garden.

After a short time looking around the inside conservatories [arid, carnivorous plants, and rain forest] we loaded into a tram and enjoyed a 45 minute drive through the sculpture park.

We returned to Calvin for lunch and then returned to the bus for the big shopping trip to a local Meijer store.

Meijer sells many things including: food, clothes, hardware, school/office supplies, plants, household items, electronics....and more.

So picture 4 big buses with over 200 people stopping by your local store!!

 The staff stationed them selves by the areas that held the items on the list from Calvin.

Winners

Eli teamed up with a student from China and we tagged along. After completing their lists they checked out at one of the 5 check-out lanes designated for Calvin students.

Helpers wrote each student's name on their bags to help with sorting back at Calvin.

After a tasty Asian Dinner we enjoyed the night's entertainment which included the students being divided into 7 cultural groups and then each group acted out a skit.

Four elements needed to be included as they competed.....the China heritage group won.

Eli joined the group from Africa. Ghana students made up their own group so Eli joined the 'rest of Africa group'.

This morning after breakfast, students and family shared a meaningful time of worship.

After lunch everyone moved into their rooms for the year.

Until Eli's roommate arrives he will not be able to arrange his room so either later today or Wednesday.

Dividing up into the different dorms.

Tomorrow 1/3 of the Freshman class from America and Canada will join the international students for 3 days of orientation.

This will focus more on life at Calvin and academics.

Six events will still be specific for the international students.

Looking at the bed arrangement possibilities.

Indiana trip.

Feels a bit like fall in Michigan today with a grey sky and a cool wind reminding us that major changes are right around the corner.

Saturday we traveled as a family down to Indiana and spent most of the day talking about Haiti.

We connected with two missionary "aunts' from my childhood years in Haiti.

They both encouraged our family and prayed with us.

We then continued on our way to overnight at the Shenum house and connected with the most-recent missionary family to get clearance to move to Haiti. We rejoice with them for completing this major milestone.

Sunday morning we headed south to share at Crossroads Wesleyan church, and learned a new term for us a "pitch-in meal" [Potluck for those in the north.]

Having a bit of extra time during the afternoon we stopped in at the Muscatatuck nature reserve near Seymour.

Cory enjoyed the big trees while I think the rest of us most enjoyed watching many types of birds at the bird feeders.

For the evening service, we shared at the Seymour Wesleyan church followed by more food and fellowship.

Monday morning we enjoyed breakfast with Jim and Jeanette Vermilya, enjoying more missionary stories, before heading back north.

We shopped for some food in Shipshewana and then college supplies for Eli in Kalamazoo.

Cypress root "knees"

Today we worked on thank-you notes, did some office stuff and contacted supporting churches about faith promise.

 Just five weeks remain before we hope to return to Haiti so praying we can get financial clearance.

Tomorrow we plan to spend some time with Cory's family to celebrate Eli's birthday a bit early.

Eli's college pile. 

On Thursday Cory, Eli and I will start Calvin's Passport program, the orientation for international students.  Thank you for the prayers.

Iowa

Sorry for the quiet gap.

I find it easier to keep track of the blog and updates during our school day in Haiti with more of a routine that does not include interacting with so many people in person.

Thank you to all who recently mentioned following the blog, and that you enjoy following our family's story and our ministry.

Last week, we worked with the Konsey children's book. Eli studied driving.

We worked at the old farm a bit, but the major task included working and mailing a new newsletter.

We put them in the mail Friday morning on our way to Iowa.

For those receiving our e-mail updates, the newsletter should have arrived today.

For folks who do not attend a supporting church and didn't connect with us this summer, but would like to receive a new prayer card, please contact us with your mailing address.

We enjoyed our trip to Iowa.

On Friday, we traveled to Cedar Springs. Saturday we backtracked a bit to visit the zoo in Davenport and a faithful prayer partner.

In the afternoon, we headed back to Cedar Springs for a bonfire/hayride.

We really enjoyed the casual setting and getting to know the Living Hope Wesleyan church family better.

We shared in Sunday school and then a few minutes during church. We also enjoyed reconnecting with Tom, Grace, and Gwendolyn from Brazil.

After over a long lunch with great fellowship, we headed back to Michigan. Eli completed his required night driving time.

Today friends from Canada dropped in for a short visit to talk about Haiti.

Photos of family fun.

Watching a mother bear and cub.