Update

Rainy season is in full swing. Almost every evening the skies open and torrential rains soak the ground. The first night it happened we were in for a surprise. After a three month dry season, we had no idea that the roof over our head had deteriorated the way it had. As we prepared for bed one night the rains began and it wasn’t long before water came pouring through our bedroom ceiling. Being 7 months pregnant and having just finished another busy day I was too tired to care, even if that meant sleeping in a puddle or getting wet sheets, so Jason got to work on his own with buckets and tarps to keep us dry.

Although rainy season is here, Haiti obviously didn’t get the memo that it’s supposed to be spring. My yard looks much more like fall, with a daily mass of leaves carpeting the ground.

Thankfully the rain has eased a lot of the dust issues we were experiencing, but now the mosquitoes are back in full force.

I’ve also encountered my first scorpion in the house. It was big and mean and black with cruel looking pinchers. One morning it jollily crawled out of the kid’s bedroom. I quickly pulled off my flip flop and smacked him. The smell that radiated from his body was nasty! I’ll take a cockroach over one of those critters any day. Thankfully, I haven’t seen one since. Hopefully that was my first and last time!

These past weeks are guest schedule has been busy. It started with a couple from Grand Rapids who are interested in mission aviation. When they emailed asking all kinds of questions, Jason invited them for a visit so they could see for themselves and we could answer their questions in person.

We had a really nice time with them! On the first day they arrived, Jason had taken the day off because he had worked the previous Saturday. After stowing their luggage we headed up into the mountains to explore.
 


Although we hadn’t planned on hiking, on impulse we decided to take a walk.

That’s how I at 7 months pregnant ended up traipsing over steep mountain trails in my flip flops.

We should have thought that through a bit better!

However, it was interesting and beautiful and I made it! “The Big Fat Momma,” like the kindergarten kids called me the other day, is still in pretty good shape.

The day the couple from Grand Rapids left, a team of 13 from our hometown arrived to stay the night. Not only that, MAF Canada’s president and the Director of Volunteers and Partner Relations also arrived that same evening.

While organizing for and taking care of all our guests, I rather suddenly became the speaker for our annual women’s retreat that weekend, but that’s a whole story in itself which I hope to share on my next blog post!

While I was away at the retreat, Jason was very busy with our president and director, flying them to various airstrips, visiting the ministries we serve and setting up meetings.
 
He also had the responsibility of looking after our two boys. With a little help here and there from our babysitter Jessica, he managed fine. He even took the boys to the shack for lunch one day since they love the chocolate milk shakes there.

Jayden has been counting the days till we leave for Florida, which is ten days from today. Since I’ve taken the quote from Jim Elliot to heart, “Wherever you are, be all there,” I’ve discouraged him from this practice, but he assures me he is just practicing his math skills!

Before we head on to Canada we hope to spend a few days in Florida to rest, visit with friends, alleviate some of our reverse culture shock symptoms, and spend some quality time together as a family before we spend most of the month of May apart.

We are very thankful to share that God has provided a place for us to stay in Canada for the duration of our time there. It’s fully furnished, has multiple bedrooms, and is close to both sets of parents.

Other than that we are healthy, happy and very excited to see how God has been at work in and around us.