Praise Him all creatures here below!
The days have been hot and sticky and, as a result, I tend to deflate irreversibly in the evenings as soon as I sit down at home. As a result, very little blogging gets done, even with so much to celebrate from day to day. Most evenings, my only accomplishment tends to be keeping on top of grading papers and lesson plans - and even that raises a sweat.
So I sit before my bug-covered laptop screen tonight (as a rainstorm rolls in with a cool breeze), looking at some recent pictures and I am reminded of so many relationships and milestones we've had to celebrate lately. ALL from the Lord's hand.
A few days back, for instance, my three Haitian sons accompanied me into Cap Haitien on a mission to find a couple of items. (I love these guys!) The most pressing need was YEAST. Melissa bakes all of our bread from scratch and so running out of yeast is a huge emergency. Although she wasn't convinced that sending four guys to the market to shop for food items could possibly be successful, we proved her wrong.
After tracking down the yeast, our other major purchase of the day was a live chicken. Mikenn was instrumental in finding the biggest one in all of Cap Haitien, negotiating a fair price (about $10) and then wrestling it all the way back home.
It even had lunch with us inside a local restaurant.
Back home, Samuel grabbed my phone and made sure the execution was extremely well-documented. Killing and dressing a fresh chicken was a new experience for us, but I will spare you the pictures.
Although Johnny refused to "do the deed" itself, he was more than happy to teach me the techniques for preparing the chicken for the oven.
And Rusydael was more than happy to take home the feet for his own enjoyment.
Mmmmm.
The next day, Melissa stuffed that bird full of carrots and onions and baked it up and we had half the meat left over. It was one, big old (tough!) bird.
But it made one heck of a Sunday lunch. And Melissa was glad to have chicken breast to enjoy. (Drumsticks are plentiful here, but this is the only way to get white meat locally.)
Another celebration - the oldest three kids and Melissa and I got to enjoy the recent lunar eclipse. (It was a bit past Sarah's bedtime.)
An amazing sight and a memorable testimony to God's incredible handiwork.
At Cowman, we celebrated the addition of a partial, temporary roof over some of the new construction. Now the kids can eat without fear of being bombed by the birds perched in the mango trees.
The roof didn't prove to be rain-proof, but we celebrated the rain anyway: a wonderful break from the heat late last week as the clouds on the back side of Joaquin provided an all-day sprinkling.
Some of our Haitian friends were complaining about how "cold" it was. But to me it was perfection.
Last weekend brought us to a birthday celebration - Samuel turned 12, and THAT called for a day at the beach.
Burgers and fries all around.
We are also celebrating a new friendship with a family who joined us for the day at the beach. The Mokmas live and work at a local orphanage, Children of the Promise.
As always, the beach was gorgeous and refreshing. Joaquin was kicking up bigger waves than we typically see.
Back home the next morning, Sam's actual birthday, Melissa spent several hours in the kitchen making ... a huge mess.
AND homemade donuts. Better than Krispy Kremes!
With lunch, Samuel was excited to enjoy some root beer we found in the market a few weeks ago. A rare treat!
It was so sweet to watch little Sarah celebrate her big brother. She gave him a present of her own choosing - a pack of Old Maid cards. (Every 12 year old boy's dream gift!) And she created her own little "pinata" for him to whack at. She even filled it with some candies from her own stash before tying some yellow yarn around it for hanging.
The "pinata" made me a bit nervous, but I survived without injury even though Sarah insisted each family member needed to take three whacks at it with the empty root beer bottle.
We topped the day off with homemade ice cream and a giant chocolate chip cookie!
That's one happy 12 year old...
A couple of other reasons to celebrate:
* After sitting empty (for one reason or another) for most of 2015 so far, our house is FINALLY rented out again. Thank you for all who have been praying for this. We pray it will be a win/win situation for both the family moving in and for us.
* And speaking of answers to prayers... Many of our Haitian friends and co-workers have spent the last two weeks praying for a dear young man who is part of our church back in Indiana. Cameron is a high school senior who is simply on fire for Jesus and so gifted in communicating the Gospel to his classmates (and, actually, all of Columbus). After a horrific accident resulting in a severe brain injury two weeks ago, doctors were preparing his family for the possibility of years of long term care and unimaginable disability. But now we're praising God, who has answered the prayers of so many people around the world. Cameron is conscious and speaking and ready to enter rehabilitation! And the doctors are amazed...
* Another celebration for our family - this week we have hosted our first visitors of the new school year: Dr. Lee and his daughter Maelyn. They are great friends and so supportive of our family and our only complaint is the shortness of their visit. I will have to share some pictures from their few days with us next time.
* Also still to come - I am celebrating another new hire at Cowman recently....
As always, also celebrating all of you who make it possible for us to be ministering here in Haiti. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
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