We had a nice Christmas. Abbie and Vero came to join us and we had a good time opening presents. Being Savanah's first Christmas to participate was fun. Last year she was only 2 months old.
On Sunday we had our Christmas service at English Church. I made a ton of cookies and one of the other gals made drinks. It was a nice service of singing, sharing the story of Christ's birth and then fellowship and treats. I tried to get Savanah to stand still for a picture... right. the original tornado when on her feet. This was the best I could accomplish.
Then on Christmas, so many things to look at and do... it was just simply fun. Both Abbie and Savanah loved their presents, but when it was all over, what do they do? Yes, the wrappings and boxes. But Savanah got a doll from her mama and daddy and sisters... she loved holding it and saying her words for baby. Abbie also got a doll from them, similar to the other one. The girls were doing the "mommie" thing for quite a while. Don, Vero and I had our share of fun things, too, but mainly watching the girls.
In the afternoon we had some friends come over for dinner and had a good time of fellowship. For days all Abbie talked about was the BIG meal we'd have. And we did. Then topped it off with Don's favorite (pumpkin pie), and Abbie's favorite (apple pie).
Today the girls spent a lot of time playing "house" in the boxes and then Abbie got out her mike set from last year and proceeded to preach and then sing. Savanah loves music, so she had to get in on the singing.
Very early on Christmas eve day, Noufie had her baby (It was like at 12:05 AM, almost 2 weeks late). She was back here by 6:30 AM. Her little boy, Christny, weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces. They are now home with Noufie's folks.
And we are still battling the water situation. Not so much the drain field now, but our well, and all it's components. When the radio station generator is on, we have power to the well (but not on our smaller generator). But there is some mysterious problem with the whole works. We are in the process of asking people in the know what to do. Pray, okay?
Well, we are well on our way to New Year's and all the celebrations here. That is the big day in Haiti... they celebrate Christmas, New Year's and their Independence day all at the same time. They are cleaning streets, painting trees, and putting up decorations (not the US kind, but decorations, just the same). And the highlight of the day will be pumpkin soup. It is SO good. They make a HUGE pot in the early morning and it's on the stove all day for anyone who comes to visit.
Well, time to get going here, since power is at a premimum. Need to get some other work done and help Don try to figure out our water situation. (like I would know what to do?? Don't think so.)
We are praying your Christmas was Christ centered. We were blessed because Abbie wanted to read the Christmas story from the Bible this year before we did anything else. She did an excellent job and really knows her Bible. Her mom and the school are tremendous helps to her in that area.
Please remember to keep Christ in your minds and hearts throughout the whole year, not just on those days we celebrate His birth and resurrection. He's not only the reason for this season, He's the reason we have to celebrate each and every day for the grace He has extended to us. May your New Year be filled with praises and thanksgiving to Him for what He has done, what He is doing and what we WILL do in the future!! Blessing to all!!
I just sent out an email, so thought I'd quickly paste it here for those who are not on our list to receive it. Please keep praying!!
I have come to the conclusion that something good, or even great is about to happen... Why? Because we are under attack and have been for the last several weeks. We are talking all areas, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I'm not about to list all that has happened, I
don't have the time (with electric like it is) and you don't have the
time (it would be WAY too long to post). But I'll give you some
highlights....
- Our drain field is plugged up... can only flush or use water once in a great while. (the OUT house is now IN house).
- Our water lines ended up causing some major problems.
- Seems our well pipe may have broken, down in the well.
- Our well pump is having WEIRD problems, going on and off all the time, and Don has replaced EVERYTHING connected to it.
- Don is having problems sleeping trying to figure out everything.
- Can't get the online teaching Don has been watching, and it's his main feeding right now.
- Pressure water thank in the house....the bladder disintegrated.
- Don's glasses broke (with the help of a little girl), sent them out, using his old ones. Now the lenses fell out of those.
- Our refrigerator quit... but got that fixed.
- Karen lost the back of a tooth (not the filling part, the TOOTH part), then two days later the filling fell out.
- Both of us have had some physical pain that has been hard to handle.
But there are some upsides to some things too.... MFI had a glitch when loading the plane and
somehow over 20 boxes meant for the Dominican didn't get off loaded
there, but did here. We cleared with customs to be able to take them
home to return when MFI next flies to the Dominican. But we didn't have
a big enough truck to haul it all, with our cargo and EBAC cargo, too.
PTL, one of "our guys" agreed to drive to the airport and pick up the
overload. But a BIGGER PTL.... when customs saw the problems we were
having, and I took our shipping list in to figure the tax, he simply
smiled and said Merry Christmas and signed it off... no duty. I just looked at him in shock and then hugged him and thanked him and told him I hoped his Christmas was very blessed by God. He smiled and said, "it is."
Abbie did most of the decorating of our tree. She wanted to help so much. So, I said, go ahead. She did, and remembered we had the little one here. She put breakable ones on the top, and non-breakable ones on the bottom. Good thing, too. Savanah UN-decorates the tree about 4 times a day now. All the lights toward the bottom are in one place. But we are leaving it that way. It's a "unique" tree. She has also pulled some branches off (and they won't go back in...the tree is very old and falling apart). This kiddo is a smart cookie... she does something bad (I think to get our attention), but if we don't notice it, she'll bring to us whatever it was, or yells and then does it again. Like most little ones, forget the toys... give me pots and pans and anything that ISN'T a toy and I'm happy. Especially if it's something I'm not supposed to have. She really is a joy to have around, even when naughty....I was sitting in my chair with my feet up... she walked by, leaned down and bit my toe, HARD. I yelled, but everyone else had to cover their mouths because they were laughing so hard. She is cutting teeth (now has 6), and seems to think she needs to bite everything. We ARE putting a stop to that one, quickly.
Abbie
had her Christmas program for school and did a great job as one of the 3
female Kings. The program was really nice. I'll try to post some pics
if/when I can get on to do it. I'll also try to get a pic of our tree... and all the presents under it. Some are empty boxes, but that's okay. Some are for others that were sent through us and a few are ours. It looks like a lot, but isn't really. And of course Savanah thinks those are play things. Oh the fun of having a one year old around.
Add Noufie, who was supposed to have her baby by December 9th, is still here and still doesn't have the baby. She is so anxious to have the child. And emotions are running wild with her too. It seems they don't induce labor here unless it's an emergency. Humm.. wonder how LONG she has to wait before it's declared an emergency? And they re-figured several times to make sure the due date was right. Pray for her, too.
Well, I've given you a HUGE amount
of things to pray for. With Christmas only 4 days away, we sure could
use some of those prayers to be answered before Christmas. But you
know the biggest and most important thing? We have NOT lost sight of
the Lord and that He knows what is happening and He is there with us in
it and through it. He has known all the feelings we have been having, and He knows how best to answer our prayers. I guess His timeline and ours aren't the same right now, so we will continue to trust and depend on Him to help us through all of this.
Our Christmas IS blessed by wonderful friends and family who have stood with us through thick and thin. And have encouraged us and prayed for us and with us. God has put a lot of wonderful, awesome, sweet, encouraging people in our path and we are so thankful for that.
We
pray that this Christmas you are totally depending on Him in and
through all things, too. Be it the babe in the manger, the sacrifice on
the cross or the triumphant Savior, He is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of our lives!! And we praise Him and thank Him and love Him, for who He is, what He has done for us, and the huge part He plays in our future!!
Blessing to you all, and have a fantastic Merry CHRIST centered Christmas.
I realize it's been a while... life just does not stand still here... for anything. But I honestly didn't realize it's been almost a month since I posted. Lots happening and yet not anything newsworthy.
On Thanksgiving day we stayed home, did normal work and just carried on. Then on Saturday, we had our English Bible Fellowship Thanksgiving dinner at the radio station where church meets. Had a nice crowd. We supply turkey, ham, drinks and dishes. Then everyone brings a dish to share. We have quite a few single Haitian men who attend, and they normally don't bring anything, which we do understand. So a couple of us bring a lot more.... I did one of the turkeys, did mashed potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, and a few other things, including drinks. But some of the Haitian women who came brought HUGE trays of food. It was FANTASTIC!! We had SO MUCH food. And we had one of the missionaries share. We did some singing and had a good time of fellowship. It was a much needed break for many of us.
One of the things we had prayed for was rain, a couple months back. Remember I said be careful what you pray for? Well, the rains have NOT quit. The flooding has been really bad. So many, many people displaced by the water everywhere. We have one young woman staying with us now. She will only be here until her baby comes, which is due tomorrow. Then she'll stay one week and head back home. She will have to rent a boat to take her home because their home is totally surrounded by deep water. None has gotten in their home, but very close. The family was concerned they would not be able to get her out of there when she goes into labor. Someone has to go (and in some of the areas swim), to get someone with a boat to come and get her. That can take quite a bit of time since everyone is looking for a boat to get to and from town now. Then they have to go back to where there is a place that is dry, THEN find a tap-tap to get her to the place the mid wife is at. (Which is about 1/2 mile from our house). So we agreed to let her stay here with us until she delivers. Then give the baby one week to make sure there are no problems, and she'll return home. They are one of the families who are blessed that their home itself isn't flooded.
We have learned to pray carefully now. Yes, we desperately needed rain, but not this much. So, now we are praying that the rains stop until things dry out and then only rain when needed. Is that being too specific? I don't know, but that is what everyone is praying. Last night we had just some sprinkles during the night...the first night without heavy rains. We are praising God for that, and also praying the rains cease for a short time.
Another problem with the rains has been our septic system. We had a team at the dorm for two weeks. The rains totally soaked our whole yard, including our drain field for the septic system. There was no where for the water to go from the tanks, and thus, it backed up... into our bathroom. We have been able to flush toilets once a day, and sometimes once every day and a half. This is much worse than camping (and I enjoyed camping). The "outhouse" is IN the house. The team left today and we are praying between that and the rains easing off we may get back to being able to use our bathrooms again. Sponge baths are fine, but I long for a good hot shower!!
During this time of "no water being disposed of in the house", we would take the dish water and throw it outside. In a lot of ways, this reminds me of how the pioneers had to do things. Except for the fact we had running water, just couldn't use it much. Then you forget, and either dump dish water in the drain or flush a toilet and end up mopping up the bathroom. Such a fun time.
But our next thing on the list of "careful what you pray for" is food. I was having some friends over for a meal... I had a roast in the freezer, so thought "good, that and potatoes and carrots would be great". I asked our fruit/vegetable lady to get me 8 carrots. Eight carrots for 6 people should be fine. She came that day and said I have your carrots.... After my gasp and being able to respond, I said "I can't use all of these!" She said they were all there were and I did ask for 8. I used TWO for the meal and we have eaten the left overs for 2 days from those 2 carrots. These are a few of the left over carrots we still have to use. They are good tasting and we are enjoying them, but half a carrot for a meal is a lot. So, I'm not praying for her to find me any more carrots for a while. With the rains, I thought we might have a hard time getting any, but they come from another area of the country where they didn't get any of these rains.
With Christmas approaching, we are really busy. Most of the missionaries leave for the holidays. There will be only a few of us left. So, we are planning on having another family over for Christmas day dinner. Abbie wanted to "help" put up the tree this year. I said, well, we have to consider that Savanah may be a problem with the tree. So, Abbie put unbreakable ornaments on the bottom, where baby can get them, and the more delicate ones at the top. Some of my treasured ones we didn't put up this year. And true to a one year old, Savanah takes off ornaments daily. She redecorates the tree very often. And at times we have a pile of ornaments on the table that she has removed. I store ornaments in boxes from previous years, with the bows and paper on them. Then simply put them under the tree once it's up. Looks rather festive, but they are empty. The kiddo thinks these are hers to take apart. Fun never ceases.
Generator time is limited (another reason for not getting a lot done on the computer). Our generator would run the computer, but with the cost of fuel, we limit the time we use it. And it does not hurt to have time without power. No, I'm not really happy this way, but it also gives me time to catch up on things I don't accomplish when we DO have power. Washing floors, folding clothes, doing reading, but mostly doing Bible study and prayer time (when the baby allows). She really is a main factor in what I do when.
Don has been busy hauling water again. Even with the rains, good drinking water is scarce. I only go to the airport once a week, but Don still makes the trip twice a week. Those are long days now, with the Christmas season on it's way. A LOT of cargo comes in the month or so before Christmas and New Years. And mail increases, which is Don's main job now at the airport. It takes him quite a while to get things distributed, then help finish up giving out boxes.
So, in closing, I'll ask for some prayers. First, that the rains cease, FOR A TIME. Then for the baby about to be delivered. Pray for Noufie and the infant to come that all things go smoothly and both come through healthy and happy. Then pray for the country of Haiti. Only our area has been hit by these rains, but they are devastating. Pray for those who have lost family members, lost homes and lost all their belongings. And pray for us to be diligent in how we help those in desperate need. We have had some help arrive, and we want to help only in the way the Lord directs. We don't want the people to see US, we want them to see Jesus meeting some of their needs. We want them to turn totally to HIM for what they need. Pray with us that the Lord will guide and direct in His way, not ours.
For now, blessings... and remember to keep CHRIST in Christmas. Being "politically correct" will take Christ out of Christmas and that is NOT an option. He is totally the whole reason for the season. We pray you will have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with others this time of year. We pray God opens doors and gives you the words to use to draw others to HIM. Until next time.... love and prayers to you all!
