Refrigerator (Pastor)

As we chatted for a few with the kids tonight, we are all looking forward to the upcoming reuniting of our family in just 4 days. They are full of stories and insights, culture and characters, of victories and defeats. So much to say, but so little time. Beth has been cleaning and readying the house for their return. At one point she turned the camera on the little FaceTime app around to give them a glimpse of her work and the house. It was fun to listen to them revel in the rooms they have not seen for months. As she ended their little tour in the kitchen Kelly said, "hey, what's in the refrigerator?" Beth advised him that there wasn't much, we have had little in stock since they have been gone. But now Krystle chimed in and asked as well. We pulled the doors open for them and really, there wasn't much in the refrigerator...at least from our perspective! Suddenly there were excited exchanges taking place between brother and sister. "Oh," says Krystle, "there's mustard!" Kelly says, "there's Ketchup!" "There's tomato's! There's eggs! There's hamburger!" And the delight on the other end of the phone was palpable, and the listing continued. I'm looking at an empty refrigerator for our house, but they see something different. As I close the doors, they both say, "open it back up!" I was struck once again by perspective. Stripped of a refrigerator for 3 months, keeping stuff cold only with ice in a cooler which has been pretty much drinks only, they could see what I could not, they appreciated what to me was nothing. It's going to be quite a change for my kids coming home, and quite a change again for me, I will get to breathe the fresh air of a different view of our culture and "stuff".  We are grateful our kids have been brave enough, strong enough, and loved these people enough to set themselves aside at this age in their lives to go and minister while separating from so many luxuries they didn't even realize they had. They are beginning to open up and share things that they couldn't really afford to talk about just to be able to survive from day to day. Sharing the shattering and devastation they felt as the team left and they stayed behind, of when their Grandpa came and once again left them behind. As we were finishing up, I said to them, imagine what it's like to be dropped at an orphanage at age six and never to return to the life you had known. Such was the dilemma of Robinson, our Haitian pastor, Orphanage director, and leader of all the ministries we are engaged in Haiti. They were both shaking their heads. I was too, because even I was receiving fresh perspective tonight through my kids. I am ungrateful! Not intentionally, not on purpose, but because I take it all for granted. We all do, until something is stripped away, we are prone not to see or appreciate it. Relationships, family, cars, homes, food, pets, stores, jobs,... the list is endless. For me on so many levels, as I have worked and sacrificed to help Robinson help his people, I often come away feeling like I'm the one who has been helped the most. A culture with nothing, through it's suffering and pain, rebukes me for taking all I have for granted. So the next time you grab that refrigerator door and pull it open, and groan and mutter about the lack of contents, remember this post, take a second look, get a new perspective, for in reality, you are looking at far more than most of the world. I'm working on being more grateful for less! After a few minutes with my kids tonight, a few thousand miles apart, I found out I still have a long ways to go! Blessings Always!

Projects

Greetings everyone! The past couple of days have been rough to say the least. I came down with a flu bug on Tuesday and then passed it off to Kelly Wednesday, so we have been a couple of very sick Americans! Lol! We have been laying low all week now and plan to do so through the weekend. It would be awful for someone from the team to come and get sick, so we want to make sure it is completely gone! One good thing is that even though Kelly and I have been out of it, the two projects at the church have been moving forward. I think the mason is finishing up the floor upstairs in the guard house and it should be dry enough to start moving stuff back up there tomorrow, it really looks nice now! The power is on today so the welder was over at the church putting the railing, grates for the windows and the big lock up gate in. The team will be surprised to see all the changes when they get here!

Kelly and I have been talking about how we are going to spend our last week here. There are lots of projects to do and some little things to get done for the team, but we both decided we are clearing our schedules of everything except what is most important. We want to spend this coming week making good memories with all the orphans, family and church people. I think we will go home sorry if we were just working like crazy to get "projects" done. When we go home it's not important to me if people remember who built the octaball court, I want them to remember all the fun times that we had together playing in it! So in ways, this coming week will be relaxed because it will not be physically draining, however, I know in some ways it will be worse because it will be emotionally draining. Even though we aren't leaving Haiti in just over a week things are going to change drastically when the team arrives. Pray specifically for the orphans because we have to tell them soon that we are going to leave next week to stay with the team, and this time we aren't staying here when they go home. I know it will be hard because they have experienced so much loss in their young lives, pray that instead of pulling away like the Haitian culture does, that instead they stay close to us and enjoy themselves with the time we have left to spend together! We love you all and you will continue to be in our prayers! Love always,

Krystle

Happiness (Krystle)

Greetings from Haiti everyone! 15 days to go, but I feel like it might actually be possible to make everything happen before the team gets here! After breaking our backs getting things done last week I think everything is going to be much more manageable for the next while. We are very tired from working so hard, but I must say I think we feel pretty proud that we were able to do what we have done! Yesterday afternoon we literally just sat and watched movies on Kelly's iPad and read books all day! We even got to talk to a bunch of our family last evening! A very special treat! We are back to getting things done today but we aren't as pressed anymore.

I wanted to share a story from Saturday morning that really touched my heart! That was the day all the guys were working on the electrical work at the church. I was once again working on one of my lists and Robinson decided it was a good time to go and get something done I needed help with. So we went and did that, and when we got back to the church I remembered I needed to take Kelly's clothes for Sunday morning to the dry cleaners. I ran inside quick, got a little money from Kelly, then Rob and I went to take care of the dry cleaning. There is a little bakery between Robs house and the church that sells all kinds of little baked treats, often we will stop by and pick up something little for breakfast because it is usually inexpensive. The best thing though is that they got an ice cream machine right before Kelly and I got here, so our favorite thing to do is stop for a cup of ice cream! On the way back from the dry cleaners we stopped by the bakery to see if they had power, and if we could grab some ice cream! They did! We got three ice creams so I could take one back for Kelly. I was sitting in the car holding two melting ice creams and Rob was driving with one hand holding his ice cream! Lol! Then he handed me the leftover money to give to Kelly when we got back, needless to say, we had our hands full! When we got to the church I hopped right out of the car to get Kelly his ice cream because it was melting all over. A little street girl was standing there smiling and gave me a big hug as I was trying to make my way inside but I managed to not spill it all over! Lol! Kelly was happy so we took a break and sat down to eat it and talk for a couple of minutes. Rob came in a minute later after parking the car and he asked where the money was he had given me. I couldn't remember! He went outside to look and I was rummaging around in my purse because I have NEVER lost money while here in Haiti! He came in a couple of minutes later with the little girl from out in the street following behind him. He explained to me that I must have set the money on my lap and when I had gotten out it fell out onto the street. The little girl found it and when he came out looking for it she returned it to him saying what had happened. In the end it was not very much money, 250 Goudas which is just over 6 dollars American, but when I looked at this little malnourished girl with orange hair I realized how big of her it was to return this money that might have been her only hope for a meal that day. I gave her a big hug and had Rob translate how grateful I was that she had returned it, what a wonderful little girl I thought she was, and how blessings were going to come her way if she kept doing what she was supposed to. Then I asked Rob if we could give her the money or what we should do, so he took part of the money and bought her a whole armload of water, crackers and special treats!  She was SO happy and grateful! I felt bad that I had dropped the money in the first place but then I thought of how God had actually used my big mistake to bless this beautiful little girl. I am so thankful for such an awesome and all knowing God! If I had had my choice at that moment I wouldn't have dropped the money but then that little girl wouldn't have gotten that chance to make a good choice that will influence her life forever!
 
Now we will see what other great things God has in store for this week! Pray that we will get everything accomplished that needs to be! Keep the Haiti team in your prayers as the time is drawing near for them to leave, I know how the devil fights people getting ready to come on these trips! We love and miss you all, stay safe! Love and prayers being sent your way always! Krystle

Overacheivers (Kelly)

Hey everyone, I know its been a while since I last wrote a blog, so please forgive me. I've been really busy working down here,  especialy when grandpa came. I've had many projects going on, been helping to quell many needs as they arise in the church and the orphanage, and helping Krystle with extracting the information that our Doctor is requesting to come down here and help treat people. That said, honestly Krystle has done most of that work. In fact I, without Krystle being down here there would be no lists, hardly any blogs as you can see, for I have not written much. She takes care of returning all the emails. If it involves mail, lists, taking notes, or blogging she's on it like fuzz on a peach, and on top of that, add private cook to the list! I like to refer to Krystle as my personal secretary, and not just any personal secretary, that award-winning poster dream-girl personal secretary!! AND SHE'S ALL MINE!!!!!!

Over the course of the past 2 weeks I've been working on building a storage lock up for tools, pipe and whatever else can handle the outdoor weather, Krystle and I have been working on building the octaball court, which I thought would be pretty simple to build... if you can buy enough screws to put it together! So far we've built 5 walls with 3 to go. As I said earlier, I've been helping Krystle with the lists for the doctor, been working on repairing the old sound system for the church via extreme air dusting and major cleaning. This weekend I'm doing a major electrical job at the church where I'll be roping Krystle in to help to (she won't know until she reads this post)! :-) Today we payed a welder to make up a railing for the church stairs, 2 window grates, and big gate for the lock up. We also bought a new cell phone for Pierre Paul, a young man who helps Rob with running errands, making deliveries of the orphans, and other miscellaneous needs for him and us. That's the raps on up, and what's been going on with all the projects in progress!

A little word of encouragement we received the other night I wanted to share with all our folks back home. When Krystle and I went to YWAM, they had a guest pastor there on a short term missions trip. He preached from Acts 3:1-26 and Acts 4:1-22. What stood out to me was Acts 3:1-10 about the cripple at the Beautiful gate when Peter and John came walking by. They told the man to look at them, so the man looked at them thinking that they were going to give him money. But Peter told the man, I have no silver or gold to give you, but I do have something else to give you. By the power of Jesus Christ stand up and walk! The lesson for me was this; we don't need lots of money, or big church buildings, or great pastors that give thunderous awe-inspiring, very moving messages Sunday after Sunday to help build the kingdom, though it can sure help a lot!! But what we do need is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus. With Jesus in our life's and truly following and giving him 150% goes a lifetime. It doesn't matter how much money you have, or what you bring to the table as long as your ready to serve. God will provide all rest of the materials for building the kingdom, not you:) He's a Very Big God with Very Big Plans for Man Kind, so watch out. I hope this is an encouragement to you back home too, I know it was for me. Remember Jesus will change the world, not you!!

I would ask that you also keep Krystle and I in your prayers as the trip is rapidly coming to halt for us. It's been getting very crazy the closer it gets to the team coming. I feel at times that Krystle and I are getting to our wits end, so continue to pray that God gives us rest and strength to keep on giving our 150%. Honestly, there are days we wake up and feel like throwing in the towel. But by God's grace we find someway back and land on course! I would also ask you to join me in praying about some concrete and ceiling work in the guard house at the church that I feel needs to be finished up. God has really laid this on my heart so I would ask that you help me pray that He will help provide the needs in His perfect timing. Blessings to all from Haiti.  Kelly

Impermanent

It's another beautiful day in Haiti! You all probably just read that sentence in disgust considering all of Traverse City is buried under snow, but it really has been nice here the past couple of days, not so hot and humid like usual. We are officially back to the orphanage and having a great time, I must say, I didn't realize how much I missed everyone! Sunday afternoon might have been the best time Kelly and I have had in Haiti yet! Manius and I were going through the kids files to find out birth dates for these lists I have been making, and when I was writing down Kenley's information, imagine my surprise to see that his birthday was that day!!! Birthdays are not really celebrated here, at least not often. If you think about it though, there is no money to do anything, you don't have money for food, or a cake, or decorations. Kelly and I determined we were going to make sure Kenley got a party because it might be the only party he will ever get! While the kids were all busy, Kelly and I sneaked off to the Deli Mart to get some stuff. We ended up getting pizza, a ton of chicken wings, and a big birthday cake. When we got back and told Kenley we were having a party for him, he was SO excited! So we rounded up all of the kids, Junie, Manius, Catherine, and Boo-boo to start the evening with all the good food and some Beethoven (the movie). After dinner while the kids were still watching the movie we got all the young people into the kitchen, then paraded back out to the dining room with his cake singing happy birthday at the top of our lungs! Lol! It was the best, and only made better because it was the first time Boo-boo had ever had cake! You talk about hilarious! He was crawling all over the table trying to take the cake off everyone's plates and he was covered in it! We spent the rest of the evening watching movies and playing with balloons. I know it doesn't sound like much, but to these kids it was the most exciting party they have been to! I thank God for all these special moments He makes for us! I mean really, what are the chances of me going through the kid's files on Kenley's birthday and finding that out? It's a total God thing, and He is so great! I know I keep talking about how time is flying by and everyone's getting tired of hearing it, however, it seems like such a big part of this trip as crazy as that may sound! I thought three months was going to be a life time and it feels like that at times, but now that I look back realizing we have been here for over two months it doesn't feel long anymore. I have always felt how impermanent life is because of my battles with cancer early on, but even I start taking this time God has given me for granted. We have such a short time to get out there, live life and share God's wonderful news with all of the world and I never want to waste one second of it feeling sorry for myself, crying over things that don't even deserve a second thought, or anything else unimportant! So even though it's cold and snowy and a lot of you don't even have electricity, don't waste this time but reach out! You never know how you will speak to someone by helping shovel out their drive way or uncovering their car. Know that you are all in my prayers, stay safe and I can't wait to see everyone! Love and blessings always! Krystle

List-maker (Pastor)

I figured it was time to weigh in on my hero's. I have several, but a couple of my favorites that are on my mind are in Haiti tonight. My life has been blasting by at a supersonic rate since leaving my kids in Haiti two months ago. I have been sick twice, buried with all kinds of issues, working toward our next Haiti trip, pastoring, well drilling, and wondering what the empty nest syndrome might be like for Beth and I. With all that, we have been blessed to talk with the kids each day! As we ready for our March trip that will place us, along with a doctor in Haiti (a huge answer to prayer), the kids have been put to work gathering intelligence for medical purposes. Krystle is detail oriented and has been responding with her natural organizational abilities, making lists and checking them twice, rewriting them, gathering data, all in typical Krystle form. Certainly a chip off her mother's block! Today (Sunday) they accomplished much, but one of the tasks was gathering age and weight info of the children at the church. Turns out she had 99 children in class today! She worked her list and taught her lesson. Afterwords, she gathered all the young moms with children two and under for a general count, there were forty! In Haiti gathering info is a difficult challenge, made even more difficult by the fact that about the time you reach the end of the line, the line has somehow grown, and often exponentially! People will get in line without even knowing what the line is for. Hope is so bleak that a line of people is viewed as a potential for promise no matter what may be at the starting point. And patient, these folks can wait for hours. Not for a Black Friday sale item, but just an Advil, or a balloon, or a small bag of rice. But today I was struck again by what a list could mean. Krystle said Rob got calls all afternoon today from parents whose children were not at church today. They didn't know why Krystle was making a list, or what it might mean, but no matter, they wanted Rob to make sure their children got on that list. Here at home if I heard that there was a list of children being drawn up at church, I would likely pay no attention, matter of fact, I might even try to avoid having my kids on that list. Don't need anything added to my already loaded life! But then I witness parents buried in uncertainty, their children facing starvation and lives steeped in ignorance for lack of education, parents panicked that of all days they didn't get their kids to church, that some kind of opportunity might have happened and they missed it, and my heart breaks. I am reminded again of how blessed I am, how rich I am, that tonight my children are in Haiti spreading hope. That they willingly sacrificed money, food, opportunity, and time to spread love and learn these people. They are vaccinated, educated, healthy, and together as brother and sister! I'm not sure what the list may bring to these families, there are so many, but tonight the list has brought fresh reality to this humble father. There is another list-maker tonight who is gathering together names, and I want to be on that list. I want all these people and children to be on that list as well. I want to bring them hope, and help, and love. I will work these lines and these faces as long as I can to share hugs, and love and help in whatever way I can, because they deserve it. Because it points to a God who says they deserve it. All deserve hope, but these, the poorest of the poor, deserve a little extra push to bring them all we can! Count your blessings tonight, and pray for the suffering, if you have a little extra, consider sharing it with the less fortunate, it may seem nothing to you, but for those with nothing, something can be the world! The World is still changed not by the big things, but by the abundance and accumulation of all the little things. Remember, a little faith can move a mountian, a little of everything can change a whole nation, and a little love can change a whole heart! A little name on a little list may one day change a nation, it has happened before, it will happen again! "Little is much when God is in it" is a line in a song we used to sing, I believe that still today, and today that is what we are all about!  Let us journey on toward that goal! Blessing from a heart held captive by Hope tonight! Pastor

Bonswa (Krystle)

Bonswa!(Good Afternoon) It is March first which starts our third month here in Haiti! It is a good day and a sad day. We had to take Grandpa back to the airport this morning, he should be almost to Miami by now. The trip back to St. Marc went well until Robinson was in his first accident and hit a dog. No one else was hurt and the car is fine but he felt just terrible. It probably didn't help that earlier he had asked me what I would do if I hit a dog back in America to which I replied, cry..... But the most important thing is we are all safe! Kelly and I are back at the house now. We have both been a bit sad, it's hard trying to start over again and get back into the routine, but we will take a little time to rest up and get back to it!  Right now we are sitting out on the porch reading, or Kelly is, and I was! We each picked out a new book on our iPads, I being the frugal one downloaded a free one, but I'm surprised Kelly's reading at all! Lol! Robinson left for a little while, but when he gets back we will start the long job of moving back into the orphanage. I'm excited to be back with all my kids! On that note, I wanted to apologize in case anyone who has read my blogs lately thinks I'm being a bit morbid at times. Please do not misunderstand. I might just be the happiest person alive right now, this is what I have wanted to do for a very long time, and I am so blessed to be living my dream! Yes, it's true that there are very difficult times, overwhelming times, sad times and so on, but there are so many more happy times! I love these people, this country, and this culture, even if it is all so broken, it is still beautiful to me!

Kelly and I have been working on plans to help organize all of the stuff at the church. All of the well drilling supplies and tools that have been sent in over time have been being kept in a lock up there because that is where it is safest. If anyone has been in any kind of work shop, you know how messy it can get after a while! Today a concrete mason came and started working on an area under the stairs where we are making a new lock up to keep all of the tools. It's going to be so nice for them!

As the afternoon is going on I can feel us settling in. I pulled out some bead crafts to do with the two girls for a while, and had fun with them. Now I'm sitting here finishing writing this to all of you while munching on corn that is basically popcorn on the cob! Lol! Everything in Haiti is just a little over cooked but I have no complaints! Good night for now! Praying for sweet dreams for all in Haiti and back home! We love and miss you all!

Krystle