A WEEK IN FLORIDA

In a desperate attempt to get this blog up to date, I started to sort through my photos from our whirlwind week in Florida and quickly realized why I feel so very TIRED. It was a wonderful week and there were plenty of moments of relaxation, but we kept pretty busy most of the time.

On February 1, the whole family jumped onto a Missionary Flights International plane after a few frantic days of preparing sub plans and gathering assignments for the kids to work on since we were going to be missing seven days of school.  We had been told by many experienced colleagues that the time at the Avon Park Holiness Camp would be worth any effort on our part.

They were right.

By the way, I do enjoy the leg room on the MFI flights!

Our first evening in Florida, we drove to Orlando to meet up with Grandma Trudy and spend a couple of nights at a timeshare there. Everyone stuck pretty close to the hot tub since Florida was a little colder than we are used to.

We drove to Avon Park on Sunday afternoon. Melissa had the honor of carrying the Haitian flag for the opening of the first worship service for the week.

This camp, now celebrating its 79th year, draws hundreds of people from all over the country to be challenged in their Christian faith through excellent Bible teaching and preaching. The camp also invites several missionary families to take part in the week - we were one of four invited to share about our work this year. 

In between meals and worship services, we got to meet a whole lot of great people who all love the Lord. AND we got some special experiences along the way as well. For example - a ride around town in a 1923 Model T Ford:

On Thursday, Caleb, Hannah, Samuel, and I drove over to Keswick Christian School in St. Petersburg to share about our work in Haiti with the high school Bible classes all throughout the day. We were very impressed with the campus, the staff and the student body.

When the lunch bell rang, my three and I weren't quite sure what we were going to do for our meal. We didn't have long to think before three Keswick students bounced up to us and invited us to tag along with them to the cafeteria. These guys and gals were so sweet and full of personality that I could have sworn we had stumbled onto the set of some Disney Channel teen show.

I did have an ulterior motive in driving two hours to St. Petersburg, though: CUPCAKES.

My old friend Aaron and his wife Ivy have a small bakery there and they have been torturing me for YEARS now with their Facebook posts featuring extreme close-ups of the most incredible looking pastries.

I am happy to report that these cupcakes lived up to my every expectation.

Plus, it was good to see Aaron and Ivy and their kids again ... and even Aaron's parents!

And they loaded me up with all kinds of goodies so that Melissa and Sarah wouldn't have to miss out on this goodness.

The following day was also a red letter day. Some new friends introduced us to an Avon Park icon: Maxwell's.  This place is an orange orchard that produces the sweetest juice ... and then takes that juice and turns it into fabulous orange ice cream.

But our favorite part of the whole place was the front porch:

And, yes, the afternoon was as relaxing and idyllic as it looks.

We truly enjoyed getting to know these two brothers, Jim and Walt. Walt bought us all some ice cream and then entertained us with stories of his life as a commercial fisherman in New Jersey.

He was quite the character.

That evening, we met up with my Uncle RT and Aunt Ginny who happen to own a house in Avon Park and had just arrived for a few weeks of break from the Indiana winter. They took us to an amazing buffet at another Avon Park landmark and continued the spoiling.

The week wasn't all fun and games, though. On Saturday morning it was time for Melissa and Sarah to drive Grandma Trudy back to the airport and for Caleb and Hannah and Samuel to take the ACT for 4 and a half hours at a local college campus.

Overall, Melissa and I had the chance to share about Haiti on four different occasions throughout the week and the camp raised thousands of dollars for missions. The bump to our support account will hopefully carry us through to the summer months and enable us to continue the work God has called us to here in Haiti for the immediate future without slipping into the red. We have been greatly blessed.  

By Monday morning we were in Fort Pierce, meeting up with our dear friends Bud and Jane who helped drive us to the airport in Fort Lauderdale in time to catch our flight to the Dominican Republic. 

Currently, I am facing a stack of papers needing to be graded - over a week's worth - and trying to get back into the groove before school starts up on Monday. It's been a crazy couple of weeks but the Lord's hand was over it all and we are so blessed. Blessed to spend time in Florida and even more blessed to come home to Haiti!