Our Family Circus

Last Sunday, we arrived at church during a long and spirit filled prayer.   We waited outside of the door until the prayer was over.  As we waited, we saw a white family.   This never happens!   Not only were they white but the man was bald....perks!   When service was over, My Dear called the man by name.   I thought, "Does he know him?"   But of course, he just saw his name on his Bible when we stood and decided to use it to mess with him a bit. We introduced ourselves and Jen, the "wife" and "mom" shared that she saw our kiddos a few months ago when we had returned from Atrel.   They were here visiting with our neighbors.   We talked for a bit and asked them to join us for spaghetti (cause its Sunday!) They have only been here for 3 days.   They moved from Nashville but lived in Louisville for a time.   Chris left youth ministry to move to Haiti with Jen and their youngest dau...

I just pulled the dirty sheets of the girls' beds to be washed.   They usually do this task so I found it a bit amusing and thought I would share. B's top bunk contained: 5 books (chapter, picture and a large collection book) 11 stuffed animals 2 dolls a throw pillow a bed pillow a baby blanket a head light a yo-yo (under her pillow) and numerous tiny rubber bands from a broken bracelet I guess. Dolly's bunk contained:  2 flashlights (one small and one large) 2 wallets 2 pencils 1 pen 4 chapter books (cause one is not enough!) a filled backpack a math book a sweater a shirt a 31 lunch bag of hair accessories...yeah, they are not small. 2 bed pillows 1 portable, battery operated fan 1 doll 4 stuffed dogs...surprise! a electronic pad (thank you Emily!) a tag off of a piece of clothing a small blanket that I believe fell from the top bunk and a single hairband...surprised there are not more since the bag was not zipped. She wonders wh...

The past couple of weeks we continue to learn how to live here.   We have lots of great support but some stuff, okay, a lot of stuff is just not the same.   The kids enjoy making things in the kitchen.   Along with Mark, they have baked bread, which does not stand a chance in this household, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls.   There is no grocery in our area and it certainly is not open at hours we are used to.   This bread is so much better if I do say so myself and flour is readily accessible too.   Without a dishwasher, the kids take shifts on dish duty.   Miss B. is getting good use out of her apron and step stool and look!  We finally got some liquid hand soap and they had Dawn dishwashing liquid too, not at the Walgreen's sale price but....THANK YOU GOD! I so appreciate technology.   B. is face timing with her BFF , as you can tell from the smile and Dolly is reading a downloaded book. ...

Many of you kind folks have asked about or prayed for our kiddos.   Thought you might enjoy hearing about some fun they had. Our mission has 3 locations.  Our kiddos are the only ones at our site except for a precious baby boy.  I have shared about the family in Atrel that has 5 children.  The third location is at the waterfront where the camp is.   This is where Crossings teams go.  This family has 5 children as well.   The youngest of those children is 13 years old. This week, the Atrel family drove to the mountains to fully some responsibilities and gather supplies.  On their  6 hour drive in, they stopped about half way and picked up the other BHM kiddo.   With all that being said, THREE NIGHT PARTY AT OUR HOUSE!   A game of Apples to Apples Jr.  along with some silly faces.     A treat of ice cream at Mountain Maid, a ministry of BHM.   ...

Atrel experiences summed up in our, bucket list we didn't know we had. 1.  Having others peel your dead skin off from a sun burn you received while in the vehicle.  The special educator in me, wanted to correct the behavior and share that it was inappropriate.   But then I thought, when will they ever get the chance to do this again.   I know  as they pulled and rubbed my skin that it was because they cared and wanted to help care for me.   Thankful I only had the burn on one arm since I was hanging on to the side of the vehicle to get to Atrel. 2.  Sleeping under a mosquito net not because it makes you feel like a princess either.   Yep, like father, like son. 3.  Riding a donkey.   Little Anna (age 4) had dreamed of riding a donkey.   She sees them every time she leaves her home so it is easy to see why she would want one.  She is super happy about riding one and asked for one for her ...

Sunday, we will be taking off to Atrel!   Yep, we will pack up after being her for 4 weeks and take a 2 week trip to Atrel.   Our home is located on the mountain so it is not only lovely but it is cool!   In fact, it is so cool that we do not have air conditioners and we close our windows at night (well I do, I am sure My Dear wished we didn't close all of them.)   In Atrel, we will living with another family in our ministry.   They are the only family serving in that area.   They have five children so that is a major perk for our kiddos!   But the climate is dry, dusty, and well, it is hot there!   She told us to bring the coolest clothes we have and good walking shoes. We will go each day to live along side of a Haitian family.   It will be a sink or swim saga as we learn to communicate with them and their family and to work along side of them.   There are no washing machines, ...

The girls decided they want to do laundry like "real Haitians."   They set to work along with a rope that was left behind by one of the teams.   When the teams leave it is like Goodwill and the girls score all kinds of goodies...or at least goodies to them.   I did have to cut them off on taking insect repellant.   We are over stocked!         They washed and hung clothes to dry and had fun.  When they dried, we folded and put them away.   But I learned the folding and putting away part is not near as fun!  My favorite book as a little girl was a Little Golden book called Little Mommy.   It was rereleased a few years ago and I bought every copy I saw to share with little girls in our lives.   One page looked a lot like this one but with a washboard.      My Dear had an overnight trip to Miami.   He flew back with a team of teens, than...