Good Friends are medicine to the Soul

We have ran the guesthouse for GLA now for a little over a year, and now have the opportunity to host previous teams. This team in particular come from Illinois and is the hometown of John and Dixie, the founders of the orphanage. I have been looking forward to this team coming and am enjoying their visit immensely! We bonded with them when they were here a year ago and it seems like we have known each other for years!! Tim and Melissa are a dear couple whom were on that team last year and it is great to sit with Melissa in the evenings and just chat! Good friends are hard to come by and I thank the Lord for the position He has given us to meet so many wonderful people!

A Busy Productive Week

What a week! They all seem to fly by so quickly now a days! We had a great team in our home this weeks with such servant's hearts. They worked all week up at Ft Jacque on a home that will house a staff couple. Every evening, tired and weary, they would enter our home with just as much joy as they had left with in the morning; never a complaint, never a cross word. It is weeks like these that are so truly a blessing to us as we host them. At times, it is difficult when we have a team that complains of the work being too hard or that they didn't come to clean and paint, they came to play with babies. Teams like the one we had this week is what makes running a guesthouse easy on the soul; however, there are days that seem to be long when having people in and out of the house and you just want to run to a quiet place with no phones, no people, no questions, and no complaints! It weighs harder on me than Brandon and he seems to always carry it on his shoulders that is why I sucked it up and told him that I really wanted him to be able to go to Football Camp in Dwight, IL. I did so well and tried to cover the feelings of so desperately wanting to be the one to "get away" until the night he booked his ticket. I found myself crying! The next morning, Brandon and I had such a wonderful conversation and it helped me realize that none of us are perfect. So many times, I feel sooo guilty for those feeling; feelings of needing a break, or to get away, or to want to go shoe or clothes shopping. God is so gracious and loves us in spite of our selfishness! The rest of my weekend was wonderful as I looked past my selfishness and looked on others! I know that these things maybe aren't necessarily things that you may want to read about, but I want to be honest in all that I blog about!

4th of July Weekend

Saturday was a relaxing day at home. Sunday morning was a great service at Hope BaptistChurch. Brandon was able to share communion with the church and it was great to see their reaction. Brandon has been telling the people of the church that we are not a ritualistic church. We do not do things based on the rituals of the country but when God leads us to do them. Brandon had been praying about The Lord's Supper and felt like God would have us do it this Sunday. It really felt like a light came on with several of our members, and God moved among the people! Please continue to pray for these new Christians as we train them in the Word and not in rituals of a country. English service up on the mountain was a wonderful time to share with GLA staff and others who join each week to worship!

After church, we decided to join many of the staff on a ride up, up, up the beautiful mountain side to a log cabin retreat called "The Lodge"; it was absolutely breath taking! It was so relaxing to be away for a little while and bask in the beauty of God's creation! We had a wonderful lunch with our friends!

I love holidays! Every holiday is my favorite and so as the 4th rolled around I made sure I ordered my Old Navy t-shirts ahead of time! We proudly matched in our shirts! It is fun as the girls get older and know what holidays we are celebrating! They were so excited to get our matching outfits out to wear! After our team arrived that will be staying with us this week arrived, we had a light lunch and a little rest and then headed up to our Ft Jacque property for some fun, food, and fireworks! It is so awesome to have a family to share these moments with! Our GLA family have been such a blessing to us and we had a great time celebrating our independance with all of them! Happy 4th of July to all of our friends and family!!

Some past happenings

To bring everyone up to date, I thought I would blog a little this evening on a few happenings since my last post. The new year brought many great things for our family and ministry. On January 12, I had the awesome opportunity to sing for a crusade that a missionary friend of ours had. It marked the year anniversary of the tragic earthquake that took place in the country. However, we didn't focus on the loss, we celebrated the life that we are so thankful to still have to serve God in an even bigger capacity. Going into this experience, I truly felt inadequate to sing in front of so many people, but I felt like God would have me do it. As I thought about this, I joked with a couple friends of mine who are awesome vocalist and told them that they needed to come and help me sing; next thing I know they are coming! I prepared a medley in English/Kreyol of a song written by my friend Betsy, who was on her way to sing with me along with another dear friend Nathan. Their plane was delayed and I had to take the stage by myself; I was amazed at the peace and confidence that God gave me. On one part of the song I had incorporated "Amazing Grace" and it was amazing to hear thousands upon thousands of Haitians, those who had lost loved ones, homes, and everything that they had, join me in singing. God showed me that day thay He uses any and all talents that we have if we allow Him! Betsy, Nathan, Melissa, and I were able to touch many lives with our voices. We were able to share the love, healing and hope that we have in Jesus Christ!

February brought in some great teams and friends that we have made. One team came not knowing where they were staying or who they were staying with. We built a strong bond with them as they told us of their love for church planting. They were such a blessing to our family as we sat with them on the final night of their stay and heard their blessing and prayers for each one of our family members.

March we were able to take a short vacation for 9 days to Orlando. Disney World is alot of hard work but it was worth it to see the excitement on the children's faces!

Since the beginning of the year, we have held 2 baptisms, baptizing 8 precious haitian people. Our church continues to grow and we are running out of room. We have so many faithful members. I have, also, started a ladies singing group. It is exciting to me to be able to start this group and get to know the young ladies who come each week to practice.

April brought a broken leg for our little girl Kylee. I now do not like trampolines very well! Thankfully we are surrounded by great nurses and doctors who were able to help us in every possible way, even in casting it!

May 26th, I was able to share 10 years with my wonderful husband. We had a staff outing planned that fell on the weekend of our anniversary so we spent the weekend at the beach! It was so nice and relaxing to get away from the busyness of life!

Two weeks ago, we had a team of college students who helped us conduct a teen conference and a VBS! It was great to have the help with these activities!

Summer is here and busy, but I will definitely try to keep up the blogging! Just in this blog, it is encourgaging to see the accomplishments!!

A Lazy Saturday

Not often do we just sit around on a Saturday. We usually have a house full of people seeing as our home is a guesthouse; but on this lovely Saturday, our house is empty and a team won't arrive until Monday. So, we took advantage of the opportunity and slept in, sat around and drank coffee, and made cupcakes for Sunday School. Then daddy decided he wanted to treat the family to dinner at the Baptist Haiti Mission! So, off we went to eat some hamburgers and french fries. We all wanted to splurge on some icecream but the machine wasn't working (bummer!). We came home and got things ready for tomorrow's church service and played some ball on the balcony, enjoying the beauty of this country. Children are bathed and I am sitting enjoying the cool breeze and the quietness of the evening! Mood - Content!

Better Late than Never

Someone once told me that I should keep a journal so I could look back and see how far the Lord has brought us in our ministry....I thought to myself, "Sure, in all my free time!" But as I thought about it more, I remembered that I had started this blog! I loved when I was taking time out to blog about the day to day things that happen in our lives and in our ministry. So, as the saying goes, "it is better late than never"; here I go again with trying to capture my favorite moments, not so good days, and day to day life in a third-world country.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

MY oh MY! Where has the time gone! I must apologize for not blogging in weeks. Life here in Haiti has been crazy busy, but some of the best crazy busy days have passed since I last blogged and I will fill you in on some of them.

October 31st arrived, and it was one of the happiest days in our ministry. We opened the doors to Hope Baptist Church. It was so nice to have Brandon's parents and grandpa here. It was such a special time for Brandon and I as we watched Grandpa preach the first service. It has now been 4 weeks since the opening of the church and we have had an average of 125 every week. We have seen at least 7 souls saved. God is blessing and it is so awesome to see HIM work through us!

We had a great time at our Halloween party! It was so fun to see everyone jump in and play along! With trick-or-treating from room to room to coming up with unique costumes, everyone had such a great time!

Several teams have passed through the guesthouse in the last couple of months and we have met some great people. It is fun to get to know everyone on the teams and sad when they leave as we form a special bond with each person!

What a special time for me ths month, as I was able to interpret for Virginia Grounds of Victim Relief Ministries. As we spoke to ladies in several different areas here in Haiti, we watched as unsure faces turned to faces that were happy to hear the encouragement Virginia gave to all these hurting ladies. I was honored and humbled to stand beside this Godly ladies as she ministered the women of Haiti.

Thanksgiving day was so special this year, with a "family" to share it with! What a joy it was to cook with the GLA staff and listen to Christmas carols! The feast was amazing with lots of yummy food and wonderful desserts! I am so thankful for all the friends we have acquired here at GLA.

Today is December 1st and I just don't know where the time has gone but as I look back on the last month or so, I am excited to see that the time passed on good measures and we have seen God's hand in our lives!