Return to northern Haiti.

Greetings from Cap Haitian.

So very thankful that the Lord blessed us with children who travel well.

This trip Fritz enjoyed the planes, not being sick and was very happy to finish the movie he had started on the plane when he left Haiti.

We enjoyed our visit with Pastor Ray and Mary in Hollywood, FL on Monday night.

We approve of the increased space for arriving passangers and baggage in the Cap Haitian airport!!

Everything went smoothly.

Our friends greeted us at the airport and helped us load up the Land Cruiser.

We then headed off to Pastor Rigo's church in Trou du Nord to meet Dustin and a team from IN who are working this week on the new school buildings.

Then on to Deep River guest house where Fritz practiced his swimming and burned off some energy while Cory enjoyed talking trees and plants with Michael.

It worked out for our national superintendent, district superintendent, and friend, Pastor Denor, to stop in for a quick chat.

Fair parade candy!

Dustin and team are staying here as well so we arranged for some of our stuff to be dropped off from the Fauche house..so it can travel on the truck toward Délice next week.

Fritz likes goats

Today some business and shopping in Cap Haitian before we head to Fauche.  Will not have internet there. Plan to spend the day there tomorrow-packing, visiting [hopefully with Fritz's aunt/family], and checking out the gardens.

New school

IF all goes well will head up to Délice on Friday.

Thank you for the prayers! 

Pre-travel - Travels

Prior to leaving Délice we finished moving our household items to the new house, and did some major cleaning at the house we left.

Thankfully with the spring rains starting up we could do some laundry and mopping.

Monday we finished up these tasks along with packing for our trip to northern Haiti and the USA.

Tuesday morning we loaded up early and enjoyed the sunrise as we traveled down the mountain.

Anna's cat joined us on this trip as he will be staying at Fauche for the summer.

We made good time even with a couple short stops.

Jean Pierre helped us to set up a small party for Anna's friends to celebrate her graduation.

The timing worked out that the women's volleyball teams returned from nationals that same day.


The three teams came in first, second, and third in their age groups.

Cory visited the trees and gardens around campus before we headed to Children of the Promise to visit Fritzlin's last foster house.

We spent the afternoon reconnecting with the Hope House family.

 Cory and Anna did travel to Cap Haitian to pick up our Haitian residential paperwork that was flown from Port-au-Prince to Cap due to our having to wait 8 days after having our fingerprints taken at the police station.

Thankfully we receive the paperwork before heading to the airport!

Thursday we flew to the USA.

 You can read more about this on our adoption blog here.

Unfortunately  Fritzlin did not feel well all day.

We were all ready for bed by the time we reached our hotel in Ft. Myers.


Friday everyone enjoyed visiting ECHO as we connected with friends and Cory talked plants.

We showed the kids Cory's intern picture on the wall...Fritz was surprised that Dad looked 'like a kid'.

Friday night-Sunday morning we enjoyed time with Cory's Uncle and Aunt. Good food-Chinese buffet, burgers, ice cream! Swimming. Shopping at Good Will.

Sunday we surprised one of Kris' missionary aunts but showing up at Fellowship Community Church in Spring Hill before heading over to worship at Brooksville Wesleyan.

We enjoyed the park for the afternoon before returning to share in the evening service.

Always great to be able to thank people in person for their support of our family and ministry, as well as answering questions.

Good-byes for now.

A few peach palms from Costa Rica seed collected in '14 have flower buds!

Working on learning to swim

Travels & home again..

Thursday afternoon found us out in the snow and cold, heading to the airport. Very thankful that we could check our six big bags all the way to Cap Haitian!

Thursday night we flew to Charlotte. Watched a movie on the computer. Moved to the baggage area at midnight with all the other folks overnighting and napped a bit until 4 a.m. when you can check back in and wait.

Flights all went smoothly other than circling Miami for 20 minutes waiting for the fog to lift. Originally the pilot told us that we might circle for 40 minutes so thankful the time was shorter and Anna slept through it all.

We were the last folks to clear customs in Haiti...6 big bags get you noticed and so Cory had to go into the side room to pay. But soon we were on our way home. The roads have not improved since the heavy rains but no delays.

Cory checked out a few things last night. We saw the new baby goat and took pictures to send to F so he can help pick out a name for her. Kody, our cat forgave us and is friendly again. We checked the mail and emails, ate supper and were in bed shortly after 7 p.m. Slept well despite the drums near campus.

We were up shortly after 6 but Anna managed to sleep 13 hours. She helped me unpack and organize while Cory headed to market to purchase food. Also working on cleaning up emails and next weeks to-do list.

The house has a new front door lock replacing the one that broke. The jujube tree lost a branch due to the weight of the developing fruits.  Anna harvested the branch so we will enjoy some jujube crisp soon.


Our water cistern received a thorough cleaning just before we arrived. A snake got in through a vent pipe so that will get a screen.  The others were screened but we missed a small air vent above the cistern.

 Three cupuasu fruits filled our kitchen with a wonderful smell. One is now made into jelly, a small one was spoiled and the third will probably be given away. When we share the jelly the plants in the nursery will probably find new homes quickly.

Cory's Travel Schedule USA trip Nov. 5-10. Emma update.

Thursday,  Nov. 5 Arrive Miami 5:49

   Pick up rental car, drive to hotel in Homestead

Friday, Nov. 6. Visit a fruit farm?, then the Fruit and Spice Park

    Drive to Brooksville.

Brooksvillle Wesleyan Church Mission Conference!

Theme for the Weekend is 'LOVE IN EVERY LANGUAGE'.

Schedule:  Friday Nov. 6th 7:00-8:30 PM- "Missionary Round Robin" There are five 

    individual stations where the missionary guests and local missions from our community 

    present a 15 minute segment about their work.
        

Saturday Nov. 7th 9:30 AM- "International Coffee & Tea Tasting" with guest speaker Cory 

    Thede and special music from guests from one of our Florida Wesleyan Haitian sister churches.

                                Afternoon - shop to fill luggage for Haiti.

         

 Saturday Nov. 7th  6:00PM- Missions Rally featuring a panel discussion about missions 

      leadership training and development.
         

Sunday Nov. 8th  9:15AM,10:50AM, 6:00PM- Missions Rallies with special guests Jim and 

     Karen Pickett in both morning services and Sherri Beck in our evening Faith Promise 

     Celebration.

Monday, Nov. 9th Drive to ECHO for 8:30 a.m. staff prayer.

               Stop at some fruit tree nurseries on the way back to Miami.

      Return rental car at airport.

Tuesday, Nov. 10  Leave Miami 12:30        Arrive CAP 2:23 p.m.

Thank you for remembering not only to pray for Cory but for Anna and I as we hold down the home-front. Postponed election results now due out on Thursday when Cory will need to travel to the Cap Haitian Airport. Eli is on emergency phone standby incase we run into trouble!

Emma's condition remains severe. She woke enough yesterday to talk to the family and they agreed to hospice care. "We are so grateful for the love, prayers, and supports through this time....we grieve as a family and enjoy our last moments with one of the most incredible ladies we have ever known". Please continue to pray for Dr. Tim and the family.

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.

Travel Day One = Great! Two...not so much.

Home feels good after 2 long days of travel. Will give you day one before I start to unpack as my helpers need a few more minutes to finish up breakfast.

Wednesday morning started before 3 a.m. with breakfast and getting carry-ons in the truck. Thanks to Dad and Mom for getting us to the airport. Made it at 4:30 as requested to check in for our international flight.

Cory had checked in the Thedes but the computer did not like my hyphenated name so I checked in at the airport. This interestingly put them in boarding group 2 and me in 4. But we just had them take the heavy carry-ons and I carried a couple personal bags.

Check in-smooth and no charge for our 3 'second bags'! Said our good byes. Breezed through security for our first and only time of the day. Left on time for Chicago.

Chicago-a short walk to the next gate where we had our longest wait of the day. Thankfully we did have an hour to wait as one child discovered that they'd left a gameboy on the plane. Gameboy retrieved we boarded the second flight to Orlando.

In Orlando we stepped off the plane and moved over one gate for plane number two. Enough time for bathroom break, leg stretch, and snack.

Miami's walk took a bit longer but it felt good to stretch. No airport seemed overly crowed. Anna and I grabbed our skirts and went to change. By the time we returned folks were boarding the plane. This plane surprisingly looked over 1/2 empty.

Haiti, on time with all bags! Connected outside with the gentleman with our truck keys. He even walked to the gate to let the man know that the person who dropped the truck off had payed for parking as we did not have the ticket.

Traffic in Port-au-Prince was not to bad-did not sit for hours only minutes in a couple of locations. Then we were off heading down the coast to the Ortlip Center for the night. Made it just in time to see the sun sink behind the sea. After unloading we enjoyed spaghetti supper and were in bed by 8!

Day two travel did not stick to plan A as a major detour doubled our expected travel time and took us into new territory. I'll try to post it later along with some pictures once I find the camera cord...

Last Days in the USA

Friday night we hosted Todd's children for the night. Lots of laughs and calories burned as we all danced to a video game. Good to tire children out before a sleep over.


Saturday morning the fun continued until all three generations of my family headed to the local county fair as members of my family have done for generations. After checking out the fair: animals barns and sitting though part of the 4-H sheep show we enjoyed one last meal together for this trip, Mexican.

Then  the good-byes started. Sigh.

Sunday we joined Cory's folks and headed off to connect with our partners at West Berlin Wesleyan Church.

Answered questions during Sunday school while Eli and Anna presented to the children.

Then we presented our pictures and stories during church ending up the morning with a good potluck lunch!

After loading up our items we headed to a park to enjoy the afternoon reconnecting with the team who visited this spring from Kentwood Community Church.  This team included Cory's mom, sister and niece. So again lots of laughter and fun between the cousins and 3 generations. Then more good-byes.


Once home we visited with a few more family members who dropped in to chat and say good-bye.

Monday: packing, laundry, cleaning, E-mail update, thank you notes, organization, haircut for Eli, and the arrival of our legalized dossier Dossier Done.

Today will finish packing, return library books, clean, send our adoption dossier to the agency, charge electronics and say more good byes.

Tomorrow our day will start at about 3 a.m. for those who can sleep. Airport #1 by 4:30 with departure scheduled for 6:30. If all goes according to Plan A we should be landing in Port-au-Prince [airport #5] with all our baggage about 4:30 p.m.

We plan to overnight at Irvine's which will cut off over 1 hour from our drive to the north. Lord willing we should be pulling into home on Thursday afternoon.

[Sorry, didn't remember the camera on Sunday.]

A Full Day One.

Cap Haitian Airport

We enjoyed our travel time and the many families traveling on planes reminded us how blessed parents can be by children who travel really well.




We refueled in the Bahamas. Anna liked the art work.

We joyed our flights and arrived on time in Michigan.

Today Cory and I dropped off Eli and Anna at Cory's folks for the day as we headed to Lansing for adoption paperwork. Lansing Day.

Eli and Anna enjoyed picking blue berry's, played baseball and enjoyed time with cousins.

Two of the three suitcases emptied and more to deal with tomorrow.

Tomorrow's goals include: applying for Anna's passport renewal, renew Kris's driver's license, mail additional adoption paperwork,  sorting mails, finishing unpacking, preparing for Sunday's sharing, library visit, one more notary and hanging out with more cousins.

Last hours before the USA.

What does our last full day at home look like as we prepare for a month visit to the USA?

• Last minute laundry that hopefully drys so it will not mold while we're gone.
• E-mail update out to support team to get our prayer coverage in place.
• Packing up items to go with us, importantly: passports, adoption papers, licenses, credit cards, shopping list, to-do list, computer, last minute items that we need but can't print here because of the death of the printer.
• Office items like July's accounting and next year's budget.
• Putting out pet food for the month.
• Payroll
• Cleaning out the refrigerators and freezer so that they can be shut down.
• Packing some snack foods for tomorrow's lunch.
• Giving away food or packaging up food so bugs do not party while we are gone.
• Last minute editing meeting about the Konsey book 
• Planting dragon fruit plants in the new locations so they can grow while we are gone.
• Getting together the papers for the editing of the heath and ag. books so we can work on them in the USA.
• Straightening and finishing cleaning the house for our house setters.
• Give away the donation box sitting in my bedroom.
• Checking bags going to the USA to make sure small liquids are in plastic bags, scissors removed from my cross-stitching.
• Making sure that all electronics travel with their charge/cord buddies.
• Checking the flight times tomorrow and making sure folks we need to met at the airport know when we'll be there. 
• Confirming schedules and plans for the rest of the week/ month. 
• Good-byes 

And what interesting events are planned for our visit to the USA?

 Dragon Fruit Plants

• Celebrating with my family my brother's graduation from IWU with his masters.
• Final notarization and authentication of our adoption documents.
• Shopping-including school books, Book Herder Project books.
• Library visits!
• Orthodontist and passport renewal with Anna
• Driver license renewal
• County Fair
• Fingerprints for background checks
• Visiting 5 supporting churches 
• One team meeting
• Celebrating birthdays.
• Warm showers. 
• Foods we do not get here: ice cream, green beans, broccoli, bagels, sweet corn, blue berries, peaches, apples, Chinese, frozen peas, cereal other than plain cornflakes........
• Visiting family and friends.
• 

A Very Good Town Day

After my restless night on Monday Cory, John Pierre and I headed out for Cap Haitian shortly after 7 a.m.

Over 2.3 inches of rain filled the road's potholes with water and surrounded the road rocks with mud. Thankfully once we reached Limbèe the roads improved. 

Stop 1 consisted of Cory changing money. John Pierre would exchange money twice more during the day for safety reasons-not to carry around as much and not to exchange a big amount at one time.

Stop 2 a medical lab we heard could help us but the man informed us they would not be open and then nicely walked us less than a block to a lab that could.

Stop 3 a pharmacy on the ground floor we followed a narrow stairway up a twisty path to a small room, cooled by a window fan. After a few minute wait we presented our list to the nurse. In less than 45 minutes our labs were paid for, drawn, recorded and we moved on.

Stop 4 consisted of the notary's office. We enjoyed watching a few minutes of Fre. Joel's 'Good News' T.V. show. We met Fre. Joel  years ago and he even taped part of a show on LaGonave featuring our work and that of WISH. We signed 5 papers in front of the notary and learned that his commission is for life. Also interested to note his desk held a wooden plaque he received from his church for his service to the Lord.

At Stop 5 we enjoyed an early lunch of chicken sandwiches and something to drink. Although the lab lady did not ask us we had fasted for the testing. Finished up in time to head to the airport.

Arrived at Stop 6 just in time for Cory to hear the mail call and pick up our mail. He also received cargo for the first time this year. So Anna received her Feb. birthday package from Grandma and Grandpa Thede!  We waited at the airport for about 20 minutes for the next event on the to-do list which was to connect with someone from COTP to pick up a couple of spare modems they no longer use. We hope that we can use them for backup as our's is ailing.

Stop 7 really wasn't a stop or rather consisted of several stops as we had two hours before my doctor's appointment. So we drove around town looking for a few needed items. By the end of the time Cory found and purchased a good shovel and tarp. Later we returned for a non-twistable hose. Oh, we bought eggs too.

Arrived at Stop 8 about 30 minutes early for my appointment to find a locked door and line. No problem I bought 2 books so lent Cory one. Throughout the day I also completed two Family Practice journals and eared 7.5 hours of medical continuing education credit.   Shortly after 3 p.m. the office helper came and took some names. The doctor arrived maybe 10 minutes later and while they helped the moaning, very pregnant lady into the exam room he wrote us out a prescription for the testing materials he needed for my test.

Off Cory and John Pierre headed to get the supplies. My heart sank a bit later when they returned empty handed. But they soon headed out again after talking to the helper and I started to pray. Soon they returned with the needed supplies and Cory and I advanced to the head of the line.

Not sure if this was due to our white, foreigner status or the fact we had an 3 o'clock appointment and many of the others were walk ins?? He thanked us and told us the results should be back in 15-21 days.

Stop 9 ended up being the same location as stop 2 and where the guys bought the test. Other than the lab person telling them that the results would take 2-3 MONTHS, everything went smooth. Praying for the 2-3 week results vs. months!

Stop 10, the return trip to buy the hose that Cory saw earlier in the day.

Stop 11 a short delay on the road at a police check point where we received a friendly wave from a police man who we know from Port Margot. We did not need to show paperwork and moved on.

Stop 12 HOME! Very close to the 11 hour mark. YEAH. Eli and Anna worked on school work during the day and when Eli held library hours Anna made us macaroni and cheese for supper. 

Thank you Lord for a very productive, safe day!

Last week in pictures.

Ready to leave Haiti.

But first need to push the plane around to leave. 

Fun afternoon at the VA hospital. 

Great Grandpa

Grand Rapids Art Prize

Hunter's dream?

Love A Child Visit Pictures

Another week and month draw to a close. Cory's trip went well. The paperwork completed but did not received both stickers. Judain, who works in Port will try to pick up the sticker in August for us.

Cory and Genier potted up the chaya, katuk, mulberry, figs, and mombin at Love A Child and filled a good part of their shade house.

Cory was impressed at the small family gardens by the homes.

Now that he knows more at some point he will make a second trip with the trees and plants he feels will do well at their location.

Although dryer than us, more like LaGonave, being located next to a large fresh water lake means that irrigation is possible.

School went well this week for the most part.

 The hot days added to the end of school, past push take an extra effort.

Guest houses cleaned and linens washed.

This week the kid's and I finished reading Rudyard Kipling's 1897 book Captains Courageous.

We noticed that on some DVD's from some other missionaries that a TV movie by the same name so we waited to watch it until after we finished the book.

What a disappointment! Major changes altered the story significantly.

So we advise you to read the book.

We feel the same way about Dickens' Oliver-book is better and tells a whole side story not in the movie.