and...SNAP!

Life can change in a moment's notice.

I haven't the heart to rewrite another version of this current announcement...it saddens my soul at the moment. 

So I am just going to post a LINK HERE to an important announcement that we sent out today.

If you want the short version:

We no longer work for Apparent Project.

While we've had a million thoughts & emotions related to this abrupt & unforseen turn of events, God has granted us perspective & peace for the moment. We are sad without a doubt & a little confused.

PRAY for us.

PRAY with us.

We need clarity, guidance & provision -

we have the same attitudes,

the same hearts,

the same calling,

we have a home that is paid for the next 10 months,

a car,

a community,

a life

& a vision that we've been given here...

that we have just finished preparing for...

and we don't intend to make any SNAP decisions ourselves. 

I'm thankful to my cousin who tagged us in a facebook message earlier today with this scripture:

He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence,for their lives are precious to him.

Psalms 72:12-14

He had no idea of this announcement, but the passage has been a salve of encouragement today as we pondered on our next steps. It confirms that we have been on the right track in seeking to put action into areas close to His heart. More importantly it reminds us that HE is the one in charge of the needs here in Haiti. We hope to be able to continue on here, but rest assured that HE has a plan either way!

Read today's announcement letter HERE.

our kids...our heros

Being away from each & every one of our kids is a very strange thing. Our time without kids in tow has been SO rare the past 20+ years, that it is taking a lot to get used to. While the older girls, Tania & Ana moved out years ago & we have gotten used to not seeing them or hearing from them for longer periods of time, we still miss them being nearby & sharing day to day life. Olivia left us almost 2 years ago & our contact with her has come to a complete halt with zero communication in the past 6 months. We pray for her, for all of them daily. 

More recently we "left home" in CA to return to "home" in Haiti...I guess...because that has been the home we've shared with Em & Tynan for the past 2 years... It IS confusing to have more than one home. Texas is another "home" in our hearts since that is where we lived for the past 8 years before moving overseas. Ana & Oliver have called Germany home since before his birth and yet there is Russia & the US as home" for her too!

I've been musing a lot on our complicated family. It certainly hasn't been an average childhood for any of them. Contemplating our kids' backgrounds and the international experiences has given me a deeper respect lately for all that they have been and are going through. They struggle at times and have a LOT to "process" as we call it, but they are each and everyone of them AMAZING human beings!!! 

Falling into the typical "mom" role, I realize that I didn't often see that about them. As they have entered adulthood & I am able to let go of that (often overprotective & authoritative) mothering nature, I feel free to relax and let them find their way. Being away from them all has given me a wider view of who they each are as individuals. I admire their strengths and see the "hero" in each of their hearts as God continues to write their life stories.

These are a few recent media pieces that give me a greater awe of who they each are.

The twins have dealt with this background:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/20/280237833/orphans-lonely-beginnings-reveal-how-parents-shape-a-childs-brain

All of our kids now would be considered TCK - third culture kids. 

“A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture." (tckid.com)

Here are a couple of videos sharing the complexity of life as a TCK:

 http://tckid.com/what-is-a-tck.html

 These are just a couple of topics that touch on the complex lives that our kids are coping with at a young age. We pray that it will continue to mold them into amazing young adults with a better understanding & heart for the world, with compassion and love for all races, cultures & creeds.

Back in Haiti - day 5 - travel

It's always fun to have visitors here from the states. It seems to get us out of our ordinary routine typically & helps us have a little bit of much needed fun. While we've only been back for a few days, the last few months & weeks have been pretty stressful and after a last minute trip to TX before returning we found ourselves here flat out! With the board members here for a week, we've put most of the unpacking & organizing aside to show them around, spend time getting to know each other better and talk about the future of Apparent Project. 

This weekend we are all on a brief retreat together at Club Indigo up on the Cote de Arcadins, one of our favorite places!!! I've never lived somewhere where you could leave home and find yourself in such a starkly different, absolutely breathtaking and magical place in a little over an hour (depending on traffic!).

So yesterday we took our group downtown into Port Au Prince to tour the city, stopped at the iron market to shop and headed up the coast and out of the bustling city for the quiet and rejuvenating northern coast. Unfortunately our trip took more like 3 hours due to an epic Haitian BLOKIS. I don't know if I can do justice to how these situations happen, but they are usually the result of a minor stoppage that becomes monumental because impatient drivers tend to start adding lanes to get ahead on both ends and then you have to wait for 5 lanes going in each direction to reduce to one or two at the slow down again in order for anyone to pass in either direction. It WAS one of THOSE days!

Hugo & I chilled in the back with the luggage trying to keep cool & drink enough water to replenish what we were perspiring off. Have to say that I felt a little like a kid again - sleeping on the floorboards of our old Chevy II on a road trip - while napping on the bench seat in the way back, reveling in the freedom from seatbelts here. Finally we broke free & Ted shuttled us on up the coast with his refined Haitian driving skills. 

Tomorrow...we'll share a little more of the BEAUTIFUL side of Ayiti!

Back in Haiti - day 4 - celebrations!

Yesterday started off with a fun gathering at the new bridge to celebrate it's completion!

Our ApParent Project board member, Cami Franklin's church, Hickory Grove, raised the resources needed to help the Clercine community build a desperately needed bridge. During rainy or hurricaine season they are cut off & stranded from the main roads, unable to get supplies, go to work or school. They are so happy to know that this won't be the case next storm that rolls through.

Then we crossed over it to visit this local community where 70-80% of the Papillion artisans work.

We ALL ended our day with dinner at the Hotel Montana in Petionville to celebrate Donna's Birthday! She of one of the four potters that have been with us the past 2 weeks here & is leaving today for home. The view & the company was a real treat.

PHOTOS by Cami Franklin

Back in Haiti - day 3 - normalcy?

Yesterday we finally got out and about to do some of our errands.

First order of business: finding a different Freezer/Fridge set up for this house. The kitchen is much smaller & we have no more housemates, so it was time to downsize our big chest fridge. So we are selling our current freezer & bought a 4 & a 5 cu ft chest freezer, to replace it. We have had no freezer at all since our regular refrigerator was killed by our bad power last year!

Let me try to explain why I am calling them all "freezer"...with our power set up we are always trying to live using less energy. There will invariably be days, maybe even weeks during the year where we have NONE! Running a generator is expensive, noisy & limited, so we try to live as much off the grid as we can so that it won't affect us as much. One of our near-future plans is to get solar power set up so that our batteries are used less & continually filled during the day. That means that we would be much better off with our basic power needs in the case of no electricity for a longer period of time.

As it is we have power from the city for about 8 hours every night. This charges our battery banks & then during the day we can keep food cold in the fridge & use our laptops/internet & fans! We have found that you can use a special thermostat to convert a chest freezer into a fridge. The reasoning behind it is that cool air drops, so when you open a chest freezer the warm air pushes the cold air down and keeps it inside, unlike in an upright, where the cold air pours right out! Also, freezers are typically better insulated so they stay cold longer. Some sites documented using only 8% of the energy that it took for a regular fridge, so a 92% kwh reduction. This means our fridge will be able to work on solar power once we set that up too!

Here is our new set up:

It was also a lift to my spirits to just go out & do a normal thing like shopping for those items & also some groceries. At our local hardware store, MSC, we ran into a couple of "friends" which immediately renewed my sense of community here and of belonging. They have recently had a stint in the US & left a young adult daughter behind as well, so it was sweet that God placed them in our path for a few minutes of brief conversation. Tara is also a midwifery student working in a birthing center here, so we had a chance to chat about that as well. It was a fleeting moment of semi-normalcy, in a place where when meeting up with friends, getting out to the store & shopping around town are NOT a daily occurence! Spending the day out helped lift the struggle in adjustment to the confinements of our life here, which had hit me hard upon arrival. 

In a recent blog post, Tara wrote

 "I submit to you that pain is a part of life. Goodbyes are a part of life.  Disappointment is a part of life.  Messing up is a part of life. Starting over is a part of life. LOVE and sacrifice are a part of life.They are worth the pain. Love washes over these things, love lights the path when things get dark or scary or very, very sad. Love gives you courage to do hard things."

read more on adoption & imperfect parenting, here...

I am so thankful for the other expats/missionaries that we know here who understand. It is an encouragement & reminder of God's faithfulness to us all.

So, in addition to our fridge set up, we also found a NEW best friend!!!

Meet "Winter" our first ever air conditioner. She is portable and refreshing, as our new place has very little breeze. We've made a very short list of items that we felt were imperative in staying here for the long haul & this was definitely one of them.

For Hugo's ever expanding fan base out there...he continues to do great & every day proves himself by far, to be the sweetest, easiest dog that we have ever owned! He's a little joy & delight to everyone that meets him & hasn't found an enemy yet. Here is the little traveler all crashed out: