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...