THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Soon I will post some updated photos of the house and the progress we've made in transforming it into a home for our family.

In the meantime, it occurred to me that I haven't posted many photos of the GROUNDS around the house. When things got stirred up last spring on the OMS campus where we had lived for five years (with the threat of imminent eviction of the mission) and we decided proactively to move towards more secure living space, we literally moved to higher ground. 

Those who have been to Haiti will not be surprised by the beauty of our new surroundings - Haiti is a gorgeous corner of God's amazing Creation - but we are doubly blessed to now live on this particularly beautiful property.

It was a BIG part of what sold us on this move.

Here are a few photos from an early morning walk around the grounds this past weekend - just me, my phone and my coffee mug. And Ginger.

Here's the drive looking downhill from beside our house.

Just a bit further on. Ginger turning around to see why I stopped on our walk.

This view, looking across the plains toward the Citadel on a distant mountaintop, changes from day to day and even hour to hour, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. 

Now turned around and heading back up towards the house...

The mountain continues to climb upward back behind the house.

Here's the corner of the side yard. This stone wall is Caleb's favorite new place to practice guitar.

There's a lot of construction back behind the property.

The turtle pond in the front yard of the house.

A stand of bamboo in front of the house. 

In the center are the doors that lead into the living room porch.

A closer view of the turtle pond, home to 11 or 12 turtles that enjoy eating stale Cheerios.

Front doors from another angle.

And here's the courtyard on the back side of the house, just outside the kitchen.

The back doors leading into the kitchen. The blue propane tank feeds our stove on the other side of the window.

I can hardly wait to get a bit more settled in. Maybe in the not so distant future, I will have the energy to spend a quiet Saturday morning landscaping or the leisure time to spend a Sunday afternoon swinging in a hammock. 

Right now ... well, we don't even have hot water flowing yet. There's plenty of work inside to keep us busy still. In the meantime, we are satisfied with the frequent glimpses of God's majesty during our coming and going. What a place to live! 

(But don't take my word for it. Come see for yourself ...)

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."  Romans 1:20

WHAT DIDN'T HAPPEN

Tonight Caleb and I are a bit shaken up, but I am praising God for what DIDN'T happen.

A bit of background: There's nothing bad in our tap water that we know of, but simply out of desire to play it safe, we don't drink from our faucets. Instead, we have a water cooler. So every few days I have to make a trip to a local shop just down the road with all our empty five gallon jugs to refill them with filtered water. 

Today, after school, I asked Caleb to accompany me to help carry the jugs. The shop is on the main road - a very busy and sometimes chaotic road - up a very steep driveway above the sidewalk and then a small flight of stairs. 

Today, we had six bottles and as I turned from placing filled bottle #3 into the back of the pick-up, I saw Caleb walking filled bottle #4 down the steps. When he got to the driveway, the bottle slipped out of his hands and hit the ground hard. In that first moment, I think Caleb was horrified that the lid popped off and water was pouring out and Dad was undoubtedly going to be upset over the waste and any damage to the bottle. 

But then we both realized something much worse was happening. That bottle quickly rolled down the driveway, picking up speed as it went, headed toward the road and in a perfect position to blindside traffic by popping out from behind my parked truck. There was no way I could reach it in time and even if I had, it would have simply swept my legs out from under me and kept going. 

As I moved helplessly toward the bottle, in my peripheral vision I saw a motorcycle quickly approaching in exactly the wrong spot and the wrong speed. Before I could call out a warning, the rolling water bottle suddenly appeared in his path and that driver struck it head on, instantly sending him and his passenger tumbling onto the pavement, the motorcycle, on its side, sliding fifteen feet to a full stop in the road just in front of them. Caleb and I were horrified.

The two men were stunned, of course, and Caleb and I ran to help them out of the road before worse things could happen. We walked each to the curb and then a passerby and I moved the bike out of the path of traffic. 

Fortunately, the victims were not seriously injured and the motorcycle was not badly damaged. Better yet, the two guys seemed to be men of good will and were not wanting to make a scene or milk the accident for profit. After stretching their arms and legs and searching themselves for injuries, they stood to their feet hesitantly and assessed the motorcycle. When the driver quietly asked for a not-outrageous sum of money to fix the motorcycle, I was glad to hand them a bit more than requested. 

In retrospect, I can't help imagining what would have happened if another vehicle had been directly behind those two men when the water bottle rolled into traffic. Truly, the accident could have been horrific. I cannot even fathom how either Caleb or I could have coped with causing great pain - even unintentionally - to anyone in our adopted home, this country already so full of grief and suffering. Many lives could have been altered in that moment.

So tonight I am praising God for what didn't happen, for his protection over me and my family and the strangers on the street. And I am praising God that we work and live in an atmosphere thick with your prayers. There is truly no doubt in my mind that they make a tremendous difference. 

And speaking of prayer, please say an extra one tonight for our tender-hearted young man. Caleb kept it together as we dealt with the aftermath of the accident, but when we got back into our truck, he couldn't hold back the tears. And I couldn't blame him. I wanted to cry, too. I am so thankful that Caleb is not carrying to his bed tonight the weight and guilt of an unexpected and irreversible tragedy. Thank you, Jesus, from the very bottom of this father's heart.

P.S. I would be remiss if I didn't share this particular fact that speaks volumes about my son's character: After dinner, Caleb found me and quietly and privately offered a handful of money to replace what I had given the two men. I reminded him that it was purely an accident and that HE was MY responsibility at least until he turns 18. The money was NOTHING compared to what that trip to get water COULD have cost us and others. 

Later, I spent some time grading some student essays on Dickens' Great Expectations and Caleb did some homework. Praise God for ordinary, boring, school nights like tonight ultimately turned out to be.

Psalm 5:11 - 

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad; 

let them ever sing for joy. 

Spread your protection over them, 

that those who love your name may rejoice in you."