Last week of summer family time

Last Saturday we spent the afternoon rejoicing because Fritzlin's American Certificate of Citizenship came in the mail. YES!!!!

What a huge praise for us!

Sunday we shared at my brother Todd's church.

His family did return from their vacation in time to worship with us.

Monday the five of us loaded up in the car and headed to Holland MI.

Our first stop was to apply for Fritz's social security number. As soon as we receive it [should be within 10 days] we will be able to apply for his American passport.

Then we headed to Windmill Island Gardens to show our children the De Zwaan Windmill and teach them a bit about their Dutch heritage.

Then an American cultural event...shopping.

The next few days consisted of packing for Anna and us, office work, making green tomato relish, cleaning elderberries and family time.

Yesterday, Friday Sept. 24th we left Fritz with Eli and moved Anna into her room.

We arrived just minutes ahead of Felicia, Anna's roommate from Cameroon.

After the parents helped the gals carry their stuff to the room and arrange their furniture, Felicia's Dad let us in prayer.

The afternoon we met and visited with other parents/guardians as well as fitting in a visit to a near-by hardware store.

We plan to return to Haiti on Sept. 18th.


Every time we saw Anna she was in a group of students chatting...at one point explaining a game to a group.

Wheel for rotating the windmill direction

Don't think she had any time to unpack but hope she makes her bed before she gets too tired!

For the next 6 days at least part of our day will be spent at Calvin participating in first international student orientation and then freshman orientation.

Next Friday we will move Eli into his room.

Making relish

Family photos

Heading to college after pie and ice cream for breakfast

Let the games begin!

He's Home...

Last week I did not blog much as there was not much to tell: school, gardens, and getting ready for Eli and my folks.

Saturday morning we planned to leave between 9:30 and 10 o'clock to visit Deep River Mission, about 15 minutes from the airport and share some trees, plants, and eat lunch.

Well while we were busy cleaning and eating breakfast Jean Pierre called and said that Limbee, the first town we go through on the way to Cap Haitian was very hot politically and possibility the road could close.

He advised us to leave as soon as we could and not wait.

So we scrambled around, packed an overnight bag just in case, loaded the trees, and as soon as Gener arrived we headed out.

Two political rivals live in Limbee and the release of election results had the loosing neighborhoods upset, blocking the normal road and throwing rocks.

So we zigged and zagged a bit on new roads to us, through the winning neighborhoods and made it through town.

Our extra time disappeared once we hit Cap Haitian traffic.

Anna and I looked for Christmas decorations-found a few but often had to look into shops through doorways.

We filled the clinic's oxygen tank and then made it to Deep River Mission guest house without problem.

We enjoyed getting to know Michael and Nancy and a tasty lunch.

One we received the email that Eli and the folks made their flight to Haiti, the day took on a new level of anticipation.

[7 hour mechanical delay in MI, few hours in Dallas, first class to Miami, then into Haiti.]

Very happy to hug them.

A bit of a delay to deal with the one suitcase that did not make the trip with them.

Hoping to get it today as it has our Christmas cheese it in but so very grateful to get them home, fed and tucked in bed.

Lots of laughs already with Eli and enjoying hearing about his first semester at Calvin. Extra hugs.

Enjoying hearing more of the phase 'did you know...'

Missing F but trusting in the Lord.

Our favorite gift this year!!!

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.

First full day at Calvin

Good day yesterday.  Thank you for the prayers for Eli, our family, and Haiti. Looks like parts of Haiti received rain and wind on the news but could have been worse. Not sure when we'll be able to talk to the staff at Fauche but will update when we can.

We did a few things before heading back to Calvin including a bit of shopping.

We joined the rest of the students and parents for lunch.  Following lunch the whole group went to a banking talk and students signed up for the local bank.

Then the parents loaded into a couple of old-fashioned trolleys for a tour of Grand Rapids. This was a fun and interesting way to learn a bit more about Calvin and Grand Rapids.

Then we had a bit of down time before a Welcoming reception and Dinner. The president of Calvin, Michael Le Roy spoke as well as some of the staff for international students.

Interesting many of the 'third culture kids' growing up in a culture other than that of their parent's nationalities are missionary kids from Korea growing up in other cultures like countries in Africa or Asia.

I had a cultural moment with a grandfather from the Netherlands noticed my name tag and asked if TerAvest was Dutch. He noted that they did not print the space and that it wasn't a very common name even in the Netherlands.

At the dinner they asked various groups of the students to stand. Eli's the only new student coming from Haiti but we met a Mom who lived in Haiti as a child.

Surprising that only two were from Europe! Only about 20-30 are American TCK's.

Today and tomorrow Anna will come with us. Will be a long day today with visit to the Frederik Meijer Garden, a shopping trip to Meijer store with our students, an Asian dinner followed by the major cultural groups student acted interpretation of Romeo & Juliet....not sure if Eli will be in the African group [culture] or Latin America [location].

So a late night and then back early for breakfast and worship.

Please pray for Haiti as it looks like tropical storm Erika could dump lots of rain on the north coast and produce some high winds. 

On Wednesday, we celebrated Eli's 18th birthday with Cory's family.

We did some shopping while Cory's mom took the older cousins to a local place for some games like laser tag and pizza.

Thursday we headed out to Calvin after an early lunch. We signed in and picked up our name tags.

Eli quickly joined the mixer games already in process.

I know how privileged we are to get to experience the International student orientation with Eli and even just getting to drop him off at college. Many families living over-seas do not get this chance.

Groups took tours of Calvin's campus before we headed to dinner. Eli went in one group while we joined another. A very nice and compact campus so at least Eli will not need to hike across long distances come winter time.

We chatted with some of the other parents. Close to 10% of Calvin's students come from other countries.

While some of the international students will be arriving this morning between 115 to 120 will participate in International Passport orientation.

Calvin students represent 55 different countries!

I'll try to keep you posted but with a very full schedule the next few days you may need to wait for details until after Wednesday.

I'm starting to like the whole texting option, just need to figure out how to continue once we return to Haiti and leave grandma's phone behind.

 Eli slept well but needs a blanket as he got cold.

He only brought the basics as he will not move into his room until Sunday afternoon.

Today the parents will be sitting in on a banking talk, visiting downtown Grand Rapids and then enjoying a welcome reception and dinner.

 Anna plans to join us for Saturday and Sunday's activities.