Month: November 2016

It was our staff and their children who were shaken awake with rivers running through their homes. It was the young girls and their mothers who were carried to safety. Even today more than half are still displaced. They’re living in our girl’s dorm above the clinic – unable to move back home.

So Malaya and Mikela wanted to do something special for their friends to encourage them. Since 2pm Mikela & two of the staff girls have been making food in our home. Malaya made the dessert.

At 6pm we invited 16 teenagers into our home for a night of family fun. They started the night off in prayer – giving thanks for God’s protection over their lives and for the food that was prepared just for them. They thanked God that tonight they get to forget about what’s happening outside this room – even for just a few hours.

After we ate – we divided them into 2 groups to play the card game PIT. They played it for an hour! It’s a game where you try to get all the cards in your hand to be the same number. So you hit a bell to begin the trading. You yell you need X amount of cards – you might say you need 2 cards or 5 cards. You trade with people around you several times until all your cards are the same. This creates quite a lot of yelling! 🙂  Then you hit the bell once all your cards are the same and you win!

After the card game we watched a movie. After the movie I introduced them to a special “game” we’ve been playing with the staff adults for the past several years. It’s called Kindness Partners. You each draw a name. Then you do 3 Acts of Kindness WITHOUT getting caught.

Then at our next party you have to guess who you think had your name. If you guess correctly – you get a prize. If they guess wrong – then the person who had their name gets a prize.

They were SO excited to play the game and to have something else to think about these next few weeks!

I’m SUPER PROUD of Malaya & Mikela for hosting the staff kids tonight! Here are just a few pictures from our night. You may notice Fabi pretending like she’s just one of the teenagers! 

I’m SO thankful for this wonderful family I’m surrounded by this Thanksgiving! God has blessed me beyond measure when it comes to the people perfectly placed around me!

Of course Jose made most of the dishes – but I did make a sweet potato casserole! 🙂 Momma Gigi also made her potato salad!  Then we had Honey Baked Ham, Turkey, corn pudding, stuffing, green beans, homemade rolls, macaroni and cheese, apple cobbler, and peanut butter pie! 🙂

We went around the table and lit a candle as we listed the things we were thankful for. I love my children’s answers…

Rosie: School
Levi: That God protected us from Hurricane Matthew
Isabelle: That God loves me very very much
Asher: For the Holy Spirit
Gabriel: for my dogs
Malaya: For mommy and daddy. For Susan & Miss Beth.
Mikela: For the friends who stood beside her when she felt abandoned, for her brothers & sisters, for Fabi even though she doesn’t want to change her diapers,  for her family,  for daddy for cooking, for the food… (and I think there were many other things but I can’t remember…. LOL)

Keep Calm & Gobble On!

Mommy’s View

Daddy’s View

Slept Through Dinner…

Woke up just in time!

My mom came to the Mole on a plane with my brother Janeil last week! I was so excited to show him everything. He’s not been here since we moved onto the campus. The roads are blocked but the airstrip still works! He was only here for a few hours but we got my mom the whole week!

With all the flooding – we’ve had to clean-up all our storage depots. SO many things ruined. 🙁 Everyone knows I’m a huge lover of Christmas. Some of my best childhood memories are wrapped around this time of year.

This year we will be decorating the courtyard with even more lights than the year before! The orphans & the townspeople have already asked when will we start putting up the pretty displays?  I love to watch the eyes of the little children sparkle as we stomp out the darkness in our corner of the Mole.

Since we had to bring everything out to clean through it anyways – and with momma here – – we decided to decorate our tree! The kids are getting older now – they don’t break nearly as many ornaments as they used to. I seriously would cry just about every year as another precious ornament/memory would crash to the floor.

This year it wasn’t the kids causing all the commotion….. those stinking rats got into our stuff. Between the rats & the flooding – we had to throw away tubs and tubs worth of decorations and Christmas lights.  This is just a small example of what they did to about 40 ornaments 🙁

After we decorated the tree my mom made her famous homemade sugar cookies! I remember making them with her every year when I was little.  We are trying to carry on that same tradition with our kids too. They LOVE to bake with nana!

It might seem a little silly to decorate for Christmas with all the drama happening outside our home…. but my kids need something else to think about besides the mud and the rain.  I too need some light in the darkness right now. Granted I stare at the lights on the tree and cry as I reminisce of past Christmases…but I count those moments as sweet treasures to my soul.

There’s something to be said about making your home –  a home…..and allowing yourself the chance to breathe…. giving yourself permission not to think about the all the demands outside the door… if only for a few moments…..

We knew when we raised our children in Haiti  – they would have to give up a certain amount of “American” childhood experiences. They don’t get to play in organized sports,  play in the school band,  become a girl scout, be a ballerina, join the drama club, join 4-H, etc. etc.