And it was Christmas...

We have been busy, busy, busy.  It seems time flies when you would really like it to slow down a bit.  But we did get things done and have accomplished all we wanted to in the last week or so.

I really thought I had posted last week, but looks like I didn't.  Don has been working hard to get all the needed cement, sand and gravel out to the church in Milot.  Well, the soon to be church, I guess.  It's been fun for him to have John, a long ago friend, and also a watchman for a while, with him.  And John has been a tremendous help in a lot of areas for him.  Of course, Pastor Marius has also been in the truck with them, so it was quite a fun time for all of them.  Don is out again today hauling more sand.  I guess Marius way under estimated what was needed, so they are working frantically to get things ready before the team comes in a week or so.  The only problem being the bad roads, and the flat tires...I think he is up to 6 or 7 by now. 

And then there is Abbie.  With Mama leaving for the states, we allowed mama and Abbie to each open ONE present before she left.  I think we created a monster.  We got her a mike, with buttons for music accompaniment, and applause.  She loves it. Abbie loves to sing...which she does with any and all music, plus she'll make up her own if I don't have a CD in.  Her favorite is Christian music.  But, here is a picture of her first present....and MAN, did she make use of it.  Our only problem from that point on was that Abbie REALLY, REALLY missed her mama being here for Christmas.  But she got to talk to Uncle Agneau and her mama on Christmas Eve.  Our phones have been really bad, and the call got cut off not long into the conversation.  But she did get to talk to mama.  Three different people called, and the calls were cut off.  I hope they didn't think we cut them off, because we sure didn't.

 

 

 And it was Savanah's first Christmas.  A good friend in Pennsylvania sent her some gifts and she had them on for both Christmas eve and Christmas day.  I don't think she had a clue what was going on, but that's okay, she's only 9 weeks old.

We took Abbie to a restaurant in town for a treat for Christmas.  It was a new place for us.  It was nice, but we still prefer going to our old one, "la Kay".  The new one was real windy (on the ocean front and upstairs), and they have TV's with LOUD music videos...some real wild ones.  But it was still a fun time out with the "girls".  Savanah was really good and slept through the whole thing.

 Christmas eve I read the Christmas story from Luke, chapter 2.  Then Abbie wanted to "tell" the story in her own way.  She did great, adding things that were not in the Luke account, but in other places.  We had watched Mark Lowery on YouTube, singing, "Mary Did You Know".  Don loves the part where he sings, "Mary did you know when you kissed your baby, you kissed the face of God?"  He mentioned that, and Abbie sat and thought about it for a long time.  Finally she asked, "When I kiss Savanah, am I kissing the face of God?"  So, we had to explain what the song meant.  But she loves Savanah a lot and really enjoys making her laugh and talk.  

Christmas day, we had Pastor Paul Romeus and Belle over for dinner.  Had a great time of fellowship (and food).  What a joy they are for us.  On New Year's Day we are going to their home for the celebration.  It's Christmas, New Year's, and Independence day for Haiti, all in one.  (I'm hoping we have pumpkin soup...it's traditional and we really like it).

Abbie has not felt good for the last two days.  Had a "headache"...when I finally found out where it hurt, I checked it out.  She had a BIG sore on the back of her head and it was draining.  So, her hair was all matted and a mess.  With hair as thick as hers it was a real challenge getting it all out.  Now we have to prepare for her to be in a wedding tomorrow.  Time simply does NOT stand still here.
 

We pray your Christmas was really CHRIST centered and wonderful.  And we pray God will bless you in the coming New Year.  Keep your focus on Him and all He is and all He does, in and through you!!!   It's in Him we have our being!!

Her Christmas Program

It's been a week...and then some.  Trying to keep Abbie toned down.  She was SO excited about the program.  I have to admit, it was a really neat one.  They did it as if there was a TV station there.  They really did an excellent job with it.  Some great actors in that school for sure.  They even put in commercials....one was for a special "camel wash solution".  Of course they had to use whatever "props" they had.  But for the limited things available here, it was pulled off really well.  And they did sing in Spanish and then in French, too.  We enjoyed the whole thing.  Here are just a couple of pictures.

 

Don has been trying to be good about how much he uses his hand.  When I changed the bandage, I thought it was looking really good.  Of course it hurts...I'm sure it will for a while.  He didn't do very good at the airport on Tuesday, but Thursday went pretty good.  Just that both days were really long.  

Vero got her visa.  It's for a year.  She'll be going out on Tuesday for 2 weeks.  She is SUPPOSED to spend most of that time with her brother, whom she hasn't seen in over 15 years.  We'll see how it goes.  The sad thing is that Abbie will miss her mom being here for Christmas.  

Savanah is doing good.  She is gaining weight so quickly.  Sort of cut her back on how much she is eating.  She is the happiest kiddo.  Normally only cries when she is wet, dirty, or hungry.  And when she is ready for bed.  She has a  very short crying time, then just like turning off a light switch, she's asleep.  She really loves Abbie!!  As soon as she sees her, she is all smiles.

We've had some pretty heavy and constant rains lately.  We are praying it will ease off soon and let things dry up a bit.  And the rains brought down the temps, too.  Been pretty chilly here for us.  But it won't be long and we'll be complaining about the heat, right?  

Well, it's back to work...we are blessed that Pastor Paul and Belle will be coming for Christmas dinner with us.  Really good friends.  And a blessing in so many ways.

I hope your Christmas is totally CHRIST centered and wonderful.  We need to remember and share the REAL reason for this season...Jesus Christ coming to this earth to take our place before the Father.  We serve an awesome God!!!

Sorry...about the address...

I'm not sure of I posted the wrong address or not.  I hope you can see this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=OExXItDyWEY&vq=medium

A Christmas thought

I just received an email and went to the "youtube" site.  It is awesome.  I wanted to share with you what was sent to me.  It IS very thought provoking.  And it makes us think about what we are teaching our children.  Here in Haiti we don't have the hard push for "Santa" that there is in the US, but still, we need to bring the TRUE meaning of Christmas to our children as well as adults.  I hope you read this through and watch the video.  It is really neat.
Blessings!!

"Where's the Line to See Jesus"

About the song;
While at the mall a couple of years ago, my then four year old nephew, Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus.  Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, "where's the line to see Jesus?"

My sister mentioned this to my dad, who immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes.  After putting music to the words, and doing a quick recording at home, he received a great response from friends.  he sent the song off to Nashville without much response, except for a Christian song writer who suggested adding a bridge at the end of the first chorus.  My dad then asked if I wanted to record the song to see what we could do with it.  I listened to the song, made a few changes to the words to make it flow better, and we headed to Shock City Studios.  It was at the studio where Chris, owner and producer, rewrote the 2nd verse and part of the chorus...with goose bumps and emotions high, we were all hopeful and felt like we had something special.  The demo was recorded in just under 2 hours and sent off again to Nashville...still no response.  Then 2 weeks before Christmas last year, my cousins Greg and Robbie decided to do a video to see what we could accomplish on YouTube.  The first day we had 3000 hits and it soared from there.  We received e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages from people all over asking for the music, CD's, iTunes, anything...we had nothing.  After a couple of meetings with Chris following the amazing response, we got serious.  We headed back into the studio this past spring...this time with guitars, drums, bass, pianos, choirs...the real deal...and here we are today.  Getting iTunes set up, a website put together, and loving that thousands upon thousands of Christians have come together...remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  Out of the mouths of babes come profound truths that many adults cannot understand.  Hopefully Spencer's observation will cause people all over to reflect on the love of Jesus, and that one day we will all stand in line to see Him.
We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father to have this chance to share our music with you.  Merry Christmas everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=OExXltDyWEY&vg=medium

  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  Have a super blessed, Christ centered Christmas!

Christmas is coming...

We have been very busy, and involved and going through an "interesting" time.  First, Don and Pastor Marius have been hauling sand for Pastor's new church in Milot.  They have been working for days getting enough there for a team to come and build the church in January.  Praise God they now have enough.  But between that truck and the pickup we have right now, 6 flat tires...Don is a bit frustrated by that.  I've put a few pictures here of where he goes to get the sand.  It's at a place called Gran Rivere.  For those of you who knew us a long time ago, you may recognize the one fellow in the pictures of the guys.  It is John. (He is on the far right.)  He worked with us when we were in Milot, then he was our watchman for a while here in Cap.  He went with Pastor and Don for all the loads they hauled.  

 Then there are Abbie and Savanah.  They are both a trip and a half.  Abbie loves to sit with the baby on the bed and "teach" her.  She does math and reading.  She tells me Savanah is doing really well.  Okay....the baby was 8 weeks old yesterday, so I'm SURE she is doing well in both subjects!!☺

And our other "news" is Don's trip....well, that sound exciting, but it's not.  He had changed something on the TV and backed up to use the remote...and tripped over a box.  We really have NO idea what he hit or how he did it, but he did do damage, to himself.  When I first saw the blood and his hand, I thought he had torn off a finger.  After cleaning it up, we realized he only ripped part of the finger off...but not totally.  I put ointment and what dressings I could find on it.  It was late evening.  Then spent a LONG time cleaning up the blood all over the living room and kitchen.  The next morning our good friend, Belle, came with a doctor who sewed Don up.  He should be fine now, even with those stitches and a sprained wrist and thumb.  The loss of blood had made him a bit weak...but then, he's a man, and all that blood alone would have made him fuzzy.  Stitches come out next weekend and he'll be fine.  But for now, no driving for a couple of days.  

And it's only 14 days till Christmas.  Abbie is SO excited.  She is also excited about the school play and her part in that.  She can tell you the story of Jesus' birth in DETAIL...with all the expression of the shepherds shocked faces to the love on Mary's face.  So, our Christmas is going to be reading the whole story in Luke (Abbie wants to read it herself) to having birthday cake for Jesus.  

I hope you are keeping the REAL reason for this season at the front of all you do.  And Yes, please wish everyone a VERY Merry CHRISTmas!!!!