Happy Birthday, Alanna!

Family Update

We praise the Lord that Alanna was feeling better for her birthday last Friday, but this past week, she was back to not feeling well.  She and Kristina stayed home from school several more days this week.  Thankfully, they seem to be feeling much better now!  Unfortunately, Jake woke up not feeling well this morning.  He is lying down with a fever.  You know when Jake is not out playing on a Saturday morning...then the poor kid is sick!  It sure will be nice when we can get our household healthy again!!  

Yesterday, we had our monthly, "Party with the Principal" at school for the kids who were recognized as being "Exceptionally well-behaved".   A team here from Pennsylvania helped the kids make trail mix, (we had to explain "trail" and "hiking"  to some of them), we made Valentines bags and cards, and then we broke up into teams and went on a scavenger hunt.  The hardest item on our list to find was a "bug" ??!!!  How weird is that?  :)  So for all of you afraid to come down for a visit....keep that in mind! After much searching, the only bugs found were a couple of tiny black ants.  We had a great time and I am so thankful for the team's willingness to help out! 

Jake could have participated in the party, but he was not at school due to being the ring bearer in a wedding.  Dr. Brooke and Wadner, an employee of Cowman School,  were married yesterday.  We pray the Lord will bless and protect their marriage in the years ahead.

We are nearing a month since we planted our garden.  I wanted to get some pictures out to show how well our "January"  Garden is doing.  Folks from Illinois helped us to get the ground ready.  :)  Our goats are doing well too.  We added another pregnant mama to our herd - someone was needing to sell her.  So, now we have 4 goats. 

they are making posts for the tomatoes to tie to

beans will tie to posts, squash to the left, lettuce in the back

One more interesting photo to add from this week.....a first for us in our 9 years in Haiti!  For those of you wanting to come to Haiti but are afraid of creepy crawlies....please read NO further!!

a centipede in our shower...yikes!  I have NEVER seen one of these guys before!

I have not been able to get online all week due to connection difficulty....  I was home with Alanna on Monday and Tuesday. She was finally able to go to school on Wednesday.  Wendesday night I held Krisitna most of the night in the rocking chair since she had a croupy cough and chest.  I stayed home with her on Thursday.  Praise the Lord on Friday, Alanna's birthday, we were all healthy and well! Kristina still has a bit of a cough - but she is doing much better!  PTL!

Jake got stung by another wasp this week at school.  He got stung by 10 wasps in our back yard during our first week here.  Brianna was stung by a wasp at school the other day.  They suffered from swelling and pain near the site of the sting...but thankfully there were no other allergic reactions!

Our little farm is doing well.  The garden is growing and looking real good!  Towards the end of the week, it will be a month since we planted it.  I will try to get a picture posted (if the internet will cooperate) so you can see our "Winter" Garden!  :)

Last night we celebrated Alanna's birthday at the Hoiday house with the visiting team.  This morning I made her requested breakfast of scrambled eggs and crepes with pineapple syrup, sprinkled with powedered sugar.  Tonight she has asked me to make chicken fettucine alfredo ( I brought in a block of cream cheese so that I can make the sauce), breadsticks, salad, and angel food cake for dessert.  With us being at the Holiday House last night, and Brett is in a meeting in town this morning, she has not even opened a present yet.  Considering her birthday was yesterday.... I am pretty impressed with her patience. She hasn't even asked yet!?

I am off to scrounge up something for lunch, to make some bread, and bake a cake....

Thank you for your prayers for health and protection.  We pray that we may daily follow the Lord's leading and that everyone whom we come into contact with, will get a glimpse of Jesus!
I pray that you will allow the Lord to lead you as well!  God Bless you!

As I mentioned yesterday, 3 of us in our house aren't feeling so great.  We stayed home from church this morning.  Kristina is feeling better though not quite her chipper self yet.  I am feeling better - but still not totally feeling great.  Alanna is still not feeling well - she had a fever all night, could not sleep well, achy all over, earaches, and a sore throat.

This morning I told Kristina that I would be staying home from church with Alanna and asked her if she wanted to stay with me or to go to church with Daddy, Jake & Brianna.  She asked, "Is it going to take for a long time?"   Poor thing...she LOVED going to church when she got to go to her own class.  Sitting in the adult service for at least a couple of hours is a little bit of an adjustment still!  Though, she has done really well when we have gone to church. I just pray that she will learn to enjoy it more! Somehow...

Even though it stinks that we have this sinus bug....I am glad to realize that it is just a bug.  As we walked up the campus to head home Friday after school; I had thought that my birthday was really hitting me hard!  I ached all over!!!   :-)  Silly me!  I am glad that it is just a sinus bug and not old-age catching up to me already!  ;)

Birthdays, Birthdays...

You may have read on facebook about Brett's funny birthday brownies last weekend. A squaking chicken going crazy in my kitchen, flew up and landed right on the fresh baked brownies that I had made for Brett's birthday. 

This weekend, my birthday has met with much less excitement.  Kristina did not feel well all day yesterday, and is still not feeling well today.  I came home from school yesterday not feeling real well.  And, I went to bed right after a birthday supper of rice & beans.  (no cake - I don't really like cake...but later realized no cake means no candles and no singing "Happy Birthday."  I hadn't realized that the child in me would still like to have that part! ;)   I slept for what seemed like 10 or so hours then woke up to do a few things around the house, whipped up some tuna to put in the fridge for lunch, then crashed back into bed and slept for another hour or so. 

I woke up feeling grateful for the nap, not feeling better, but not feeling worse.  Brett helped me to peel some plaintains and I fried up some chips to go with our tuna and sliced avocado for lunch. Alanna came in for lunch saying that she is not feeling all that well.    Oh, bother!

We had planned to go out for my birthday tonight, but we won't be going out now.  We aren't terribly sick - just achy and tired and not really feeling up to going anywhere.  I will just be thankful that we aren't REALLY sick!  Hopefully, we will all be healthy this upcoming weekend for Alanna's birthday! (Hmmm... should I have mentioned for school? ) :-)

Well, lunch has been served, a new blog posted, and I feel as though it is time for another nap.....I will worry about what on earth to make for supper later. 

A Week of Blessing

What a joy it has been to have our folks from Salem, Illinois (our hometown) here.  To see familiar faces from home throughout the day was a special way to "re-enter" back into life in Haiti.  It is always sad to say, "good-bye" ...so being with folks from home so soon after leaving the States was like medicine to the soul. :)

  We told the team, "See you later" this morning (our family really does not like good-byes - yet, it is such a big part of our lives - people in & out of our homes, just as we are in & out of peoples' homes during our time in the States).  But, how thankful we are for so many friends all around the world - it is so nice to love & to be loved! 

Speaking of which, this team sure went out of their way to show us their love!  For mine & Brett's upcoming birthdays they have taken care of the expenses for us to get new living room furniture.  Wow, what a very special & generous gift!!  I will post pictures of the "before" & "after" when it is finished.  The wood frame of our current couch is being eaten up with termites....and we really have been lacking in having enough chairs to "sit" people when we have company.  I generally have a hard time spending any money on anything when we can "make do" with what we have, especially in light of the needs of others around us.  So, for the Salem Team to take care of this for us...is very special!

I pray that as they return to their homes, families, and work that the Lord will bless their transition and grant them opportunities to share His love with those around them.  May they each allow the Lord to minister in them and through them as He wills! I pray that they & you also may have "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know HIM better.  I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe."    Eph. 1:15-19

A Day to Remember

Today businesses, banks, and schools closed for a day to remember the tragic circumstances from the earthquake two years ago.  We pray for those who continue to mourn for lost loved ones, for those who became physically impaired, and for those who remain homeless.    We also take time to remember the Lord's great LOVE and the countless testimonies of God's saving Grace!

Though offices are closed, that does not keep our team from working.  One of our friends from the team, Emil, is in our back yard on the tractor, plowing our garden up for us.  We thank the Lord that they were able to get the tractor running!  Brett had started the garden by hand on Saturday....they sure have accomplished a whole lot more with the tractor!   Two other friends, Brian & Patrick are working on some of electrical switches in our house.  The ladies on the team were busy this morning preparing for their Childrens party at a Starfish Kids school tomorrow.  Others are busy constructing and working at Bethesda Medical Clinic. 

We are thrilled to have Emil & Brett's Uncle Dallas stay with us in our home.  They were here to help us celebrate the birth of our little chicks!  We have 8 new little chicks that just hatched, from the same Mama that we left here in June.   She has given us 3 other chickens that are pretty good sized.

 As many of you know, Brett  began a worm farm last year. He was eager to see how it was doing upon our arrival.  The worms left us some EXCELLENT dirt for gardening, but then, they left.  So, he had to get some more worms dug up to start fresh.   It doesn't take worms long to mulitply though.  :)

The Bundy farm is coming along.  We should be getting 4 little goats tomorrow.   We hope to be able to use some for milking eventually.  The farm should be a good stress reliever for Brett - and we hope that the results will be a blessing to us and to others!