Quick re-cap: Melissa and I and the kids are hoping to be heading to Haiti in about a year. We have applied to and interviewed with One Mission Society, an agency which maintains a multi-faceted ministry in Cap Haitien. We should have an official acceptance within a week or two and then we'll be going through their orientation before beginning to raise support. In an effort to pay down our debt, we have decided to rent out our house. Melissa's mother, Trudy, has graciously agreed to house us for the next year so that the money that used to go to mortgage can be redirected to other bills. Our neighbors recently had a house fire, so they are the ones who will be renting the house. Tomorrow (Saturday, July 30) we'll have another moving sale, then clean the house up good and ... God willing ... turn the keys over to Rob and Jessica Monday morning.
Our kids are being such troopers about all these changes. Melissa and I are so caught up in packing and pricing that the reality that this might be our last night in this house hasn't really sunk in yet. Maybe the kids aren't grasping the reality either... A lot to process these days.
I want to share some pictures from our first three weekdays in Haiti. A bit of background: Our family was tagging along for VBS in Godin. A 4-person mission team from Spokane was there to support the Godin church financially for both the VBS and a construction project designed to both ease an erosion problem and provide the church and the connected school with some play area for children's use. The Godin church is only 11 years old, but when they put the call out for VBS, they had to limit the participants to 150! An important part of the VBS is providing lunch to all the kids. Lunches cost $2 a kid, so three days and 150 kids costs nearly $1,000! Many kids came even though they couldn't get a lunch.
Here are the pics:
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| On the truck, ready to head to Godin. It was probably only 5 to 7 miles, but the trip took a half hour! Dave Graffenberger, the interim director of the OMS ministry, drove us. |
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| The Princess was worn out before we got half way! |
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| The truck would only take us so far and the final quarter mile or so was on foot. What a beautiful setting, huh? On the first day, Dave got the truck hung up in a deep rut and spent most of his morning working it back out! |
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| Justin, the leader of the Spokane group, drinks some water as Pastor Awoud (spelling??) greets us from his porch. Dave is on the right with his back to the camera. |
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| Over 150 kids inside the church - all impressively attentive and so willing to sing and to learn. |
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| On the second day of VBS, The Princess stayed back on the compound with Jane. Thanks, Jane!! |
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| Picking up kids on the way to VBS for Day 2. Melissa is looking happy! |
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| We told the creation story with the flannelgraph and then the Pastor took it over and quizzed the kids on various aspects of the story. |
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| Dave is undoubtedly sharing some wisdom as we wait on the Pastor's front porch for lunch. They offered us some incredible food each day! |
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| The Spokaners, Hannah, Jeremy, Logan and Justin, surround Renee, an intern who had spent the previous two months working alongside Jane at the compound. This was her last day in Haiti before heading home to Indiana. |
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| The kids got hot and thirsty and ... at times ... a bit cranky. |
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| Some of the kids line up for their lunches. In the background is the "Starfish" School that the church operates. |
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| On our way back home, we gave a ride to some women who had harvested some plantains and were taking them to market. |
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| The Drama Queen rode up front to provide some company for Dave as he drove. |
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