NO TIME TO WASTE - OUR SPRING BREAK VISIT FROM THE KISERS

To be clear, it was THEIR spring break, not ours - ours was in February!  And even though Melissa and I had to work and our kids had to go to school (the first part of the week), together the Grosses and the Kisers made the most of their (much too) short visit.

We've known the Kisers for years. We were part of the same small group at our church in Columbus, Indiana, but this trip gave us opportunity to get to know them at a whole new level.

Lee and Cara and their three kids, Maylen, Emie and Zach, arrived last Sunday afternoon - and were scheduled to leave by Friday at noon.  Soooooo, after the initial hellos ...

... they got right to the process of unpacking - which meant a table full of fun STUFF.  There were various types of food that we can't get here, from Pop Tarts to jelly beans, fresh strawberries to potato chips, and also extra soccer balls, supplies for the preschool kids at Cowman and a set of 50 bowls, cups and spoons for our friend Daniel. Like Christmas morning!

They also delivered notes from hometown friends - like this one from Hannah's BFF Anna who wrote to say HER parents are promising to bring HER to Haiti in the fall.  Hannah was on Cloud 9.

THEN, we got right to sorting through some soccer equipment shipped to us from a young man named Vince Grana, a high school senior back in Columbus, Indiana, who gathered equipment for "our" orphanage as his senior project.  

The plan was to deliver the soccer equipment - cleats, socks, shirts and balls - to The Potter's House and to use the visit, too, as an opportunity for Dr. Lee to look over any of the orphans who had health concerns. So we loaded up the pickup ...

And had a great and productive time at the orphanage.  Lee found several kids who had skin fungus and the Director suspected several others had worms, so Lee was able to gather up some medications for both issues at our own Bethesda Medical Clinic over the next few days and deliver them to the kids later in the week.

One of the workers also had a more serious issue - high blood pressure.  She had gone off her meds because of the expense, but Lee was able to supply her with six months worth before he left.

One of the best parts of the Kisers' visit was gathering the eleven of us around the table at meal times - I think Melissa outdid herself with the dishes she put on the table. Case in point: homemade cream puff!

Monday through Wednesday (and even Friday morning), Melissa put Cara and the kids to work at Cowman.  They got a lot of work done that will make the end of the school year so much smoother.

And had some fun along the way.  How many adults does it take to put together a water table for the four-year-olds?

Meanwhile, Zach was on permanent recess duty - playing non-stop with groups of students from the preschool and kindergarten.

This kid's a MACHINE!

On Wednesday evening, we met up with Daniel in his neighborhood and the Kisers were able to deliver the bowls, spoons and cups they brought for his weekend feeding program.

And we got to walk around his neighborhood a bit and meet some of the kids he feeds.

Then on Thursday, we played hooky from school and took the day off to go sightseeing.  We had trouble deciding between visiting the Citadelle (which is historic and magnificent) or going to the beach (which is gorgeous and relaxing). 

We finally set out on a quest to see if it would be possible to do BOTH in one day: Head to Milot, then drive and hike to 3,000 feet, see the Citadelle, eat a picnic lunch, visit the Palace San Souci on the way down, then drive through Cap Haitien to Cormier Beach with enough time to spare to do a bit of swimming, snorkeling and building sand castles.

Turns out, it CAN be done.

Group shot taken by our guide:

Heading back down...

Palace San Souci

We made it to Cormier around 1:00 and hit the water.

And the sand.

The Kisers treated us to a fantastic dinner at the Cormier restaurant.

And we still had a few minutes to play after dinner...

And just after we had gathered all our wet towels and seashells, Lee and Cara told us all to sit down...

Because we hadn't had any ice cream yet!

The Kiser kids are serious about their ice cream.  ;-)



We all slept very well Thursday night.

Which was kinda sad because that made Friday morning come even faster.  And Friday morning meant goodbyes.

To new friends at school...



And to old friends from Indiana. We'll miss you, Kiser family! Your presence and your generosity and compassion have blessed us and so many others around here so much - in a record short time!  

We told a lot of folks as we traveled around the States last summer, "You ought to come visit us in Haiti!" We've been delighted so many have taken our invitation seriously. (Ask them - we MEAN it when we say it.)  

We are truly so thankful to the Lord for sending visitors our way. And it's not just because they bring encouragement, a willingness to help, and Pop Tarts with them. It's ALSO because visits give us the opportunity to share the beauty and the need in this wonderful place we now call home. And God always seems to be at work in the midst of that sharing...

"HOME" - A POEM BY CALEB

Home

By Caleb Gross

Banana trees 
Glowing in the mid-day sun
Slowly wave their wide leaves
Over my head as my shoes squish 
The jelly-like mud
Small meringa trees line the path -
So unlike the corn fields behind my past home -

I sprint on
Dodging the mangoes lying dead on the path -
None of those in Indiana -
The green painted concrete of the medical clinic
A church two stories tall behind a fence
A soccer field spread out next to it
Cows grazing
All these blur together

I pass another small house and a larger building
A grassy field with only a few trees in it
The gravel underneath my feet makes a kirch kirch sound
The smell of creole sauce and chicken make my stomach roar
The Haitian sun burns my neck 
Like a furnace
The plants lining the road prick my ankles

At last
I come to a swing set and bench
A play area
Not unlike the one I had in Indiana
I complete my run
And as I stumble through the front door I call out,
"I'm home"

"THE PATH BEYOND MY HOUSE" - A POEM BY HANNAH

Ever since she got her bunnies, Hannah has had to make frequent trips up the path behind our house in search of vines and leaves and grass to feed them. Apparently she's found a bit of inspiration along the way...

The Path Beyond My House
By Hannah Gross

up a rocky path
up a deserted road
up the path beyond my house

there, long grass sways in the wind
and mango trees embrace the sun
and clouds are nowhere to be seen

where bees bounce from flower to flower 
and wasps lurk beneath leaves
and butterflies flutter in the wind

there the Mountain stands
looming before me
reminding me that there is no great length that can't be walked

with a breeze coming down from the Mountain
my hair flutters around my shoulders
and I breathe in fresh air

"DHALOO BEACH" - A POEM BY SAMUEL

My students wrote and revised "place poems" over the last few days of school and I thought they turned out so great, I needed to share a few with you. First up, here's our own Samuel's poem about one of our family's favorite spots to get away.

Dhaloo Beach: by Samuel

Step off the boat and look around

At the beauty that does surround

The colorful coral that grows

The green sea that glows

The pure white cliffs that touch the cloudless sky

The Hibiscus whose blossoms never die

The buzzing of the bees

From the sand beneath the coconut trees

That sway to the breeze

The soft music that in the air floats

The quiet coming by of boats

RETREAT

Our "Spring Break" at Cowman came extra early this year. The OMS Haiti field has found that the local craziness of Mardi Gras makes for a convenient time to get the team out of Haiti for our annual retreat. That meant February 14 found our team, all the kids and five days worth of luggage boarding a bus bound for Sosua in the Dominican Republic.  

The bus was a brilliant suggestion from Stacey, saving a whole lot of time and stress compared to our eight hour truck/van convoy last year.  Anybody who didn't catch a nap - or two - on this bus was in the minority!

We were super excited this year to have our dear friends Phil and Connie along to lead the retreat and Nathan and Hannah to work with the children.



First stop across the border: lunch with ICE CREAM.

If you get the impression that a good portion of our retreat revolved around food, you'd be right on target.  Here's the buffet line at our hotel, Sosua by the Sea. The appeal is not just the good food, but having someone else do all the cooking and all the dish-washing.  (Our family is used to spending a good chunk of every day doing both.)

And what GORGEOUS surroundings to enjoy!



All of which made a great backdrop to our real "business": getting to know God and each other better. The constant crashing of the waves against the rocks below us were a repeating reminder of the power and majesty of God.

That first evening was the first time in my life that I actually enjoyed karaoke. Hannah R. shared a beautiful song and her husband did a great Johnny Cash.  Here Phil belts out "Impossible Dream"...

But most of our singing was in the context of worship.

While the adults gathered to talk, Hannah and Nathan met with the kids in the room next door.  Part of their activities involved half a ton of scrapbook supplies:

Each of the girls got to put together her own scrapbook with the main points of all the kids' group talked about during the course of the retreat.

Speaking of the kids, they couldn't get enough time together.  Playing games ...

Eating meals ...



The littlest ones enjoyed collecting hermit crabs among the rocks...

While the older ones learned some new skills ...

(Our Hannah is on the left; her friend Brianna is on the right.)

And EVERYBODY enjoyed pool time.

There was plenty of time to just enjoy the beauty and to be quiet before the Lord.



Some of us took a couple of hours one day to explore an art museum I had discovered on an early morning run. I thought it looked interesting from the outside ...

Nine of us took moto taxis to get to the top of the hill where the museum was located.




Turns out, it WAS interesting on the inside.  And creepy.

A few pieces were whimsical.  A couple were beautiful.

Quite a bit of it depicted aliens and space ships...

But the vast majority of it was just downright dark and ... evil.



The following photo was taken just before Melissa turned to me to ask, "And WHY did you think this would be a good place to bring us?!"

But the views from the upper floors were fantastic and, if nothing else, it was a graphic reminder of the high-stakes spiritual battle being waged all around us in this world. It was almost as if the typically-invisible forces of what the Bible calls the "Dominion of Darkness" decided to come out into the daylight for a time. Chilling ... but also fascinating.

Phil and Connie, thankfully, survived the motorcycle ride and the tour through the Castillo Mundo King...

Fortunately, none of the darkness clung to us as we finished out the retreat. What else can I say beyond a HUGE "Thank You" to Phil and Connie and Nathan and Hannah.  Both of these couples took time away from work and ministry obligations at home to come be with us and to serve us and we are so very grateful.  It was a refreshing time that ended much too quickly!