Mama's first evening here and Kristina snuggled right up to her! :) All the kids are thrilled that Grandma made it! We had 4 days of rain - and MAMA's plane was late due to the low cloud cover here in Cape-Haitian. At 4:00 the clouds lifted and the sun began to shine-for the first time since Saturday!!! We were rejoicing! :)

The kids (all 4 of them) are working with Brett this morning at the Seminary site. There are still lots of finishing touches to be done before the dedication of the new Seminary in a few weeks. Sylove, their babysitter, and the Folkeringa family (3 wonderful teenage boys) are with them - so I am sure that they are well looked after. :)

We are thrilled to have the Folkeringa family back in Haiti with us for a week! We enjoyed a wonderful time having them over for supper last night followed by Legos and indoor "Hide and Seek". It was a LOT of fun!!! :)

This afternoon we are heading to the airport to pick up MAMA. The kids are excited about grandma coming! :) Of course Brett & I are too - but the kids show it a bit more .... they were announcing it quite loudly first thing this morning! :)

The kids are enjoying their Christmas break! We are also joyful about the return of the Hubele family this week. They are farmers from southern Illinois (great place! :) who come to help us in MANY ways and then return home for planting season.

What a joy it is to have Rachel just next door to pop over and talk to! The kids are enjoying having their playmates back! :) And Brett is grateful for not only John's friendship, but also having another man on the field to help fix things!!

The kids are really enjoying their Christmas break. They are thrilled that the Hubele family returned this week - so they are able to play with old playmates. Dr. Rodney's kids are also joining in the fun so the center yard really does look like a park full of kids! :)

We have just made it back in from picking tangerines. We have not had the rains yet this year - so there are not as many as last year - but we came back with a bunch - thanks to the kids' tree climbing ability!

Getting the speck out.....

Matthew 7 has new meaning for me. This morning, as I was making the pizzas for Cowman's "Pizza with the Principal" Party, I heard Alanna yelling for me out in the yard. I ran out to see what was the matter. She was leading Jake up to the house. He was crying and couldn't open his eyes. Alanna said that he had something in his eye. He was crying harder and harder. I grabbed the eye drops and right there on the front porch we had a wrestling match as I tried to get them into Jake's eye. I recruited the girls to help. Asking each one of them to hold a hand down. It didn't work. We prayed, we tried again. It didn't work.

So, I led him into the living room and helped him to lie on the couch. I again tried to hold his arms down and put the eye drops in at the same time. It just wouldn't work. We prayed again. I sent Brianna for a towel and a cup of water. Then I sat on Jake, sat on his arms too, and with one hand held his eye open and with the other hand, poured the cup of water over his eye. The two younger girls are wailing right along with Jake. Then, a small piece of bark, with one end being pointy, washed out of his eye and onto his cheek.

I helped him to sit up and pulled him into a hug - and apologized for having to sit on him.

He was still crying. Within just a few minutes - he settled right down.

What a lesson: the cleaning out process can be hard - but once cleaned out, the pain begins to lessen and restoration can begin.

I just asked Jake how his eye is feeling. He says that it doesn't even feel like there was ever anything in it!

Praise the Lord!!!

A strange sound woke me up in the middle of the night Saturday. I woke Brett up, asking him, "what is that"? It sounded again- we jumped up and ran to the bathroom and there was Brianna standing over the toilet throwing up in the dark.

We were so impressed! Not only had she made it to the bathroom, but she aimed right into the toilet - even in the dark! We were doubly amazed that she had not called for us or cried out. What 8 year old gets sick in the night and doesn't wake up Mom?

She stayed home from church Sunday; and was able to go to school today. She came home wiped out though.

Thankfully, no one else has gotten sick.

A strange sound woke me up in the middle of the night Saturday. I woke Brett up, asking him, "what is that"? It sounded again- we jumped up and ran to the bathroom and there was Brianna standing over the toilet throwing up in the dark.

We were so impressed! Not only had she made it to the bathroom, but she aimed right into the toilet - even in the dark! We were doubly amazed that she had not called for us or cried out. What 8 year old gets sick in the night and doesn't wake up Mom?

She stayed home from church Sunday; and was able to go to school today. She came home wiped out though.

Thankfully, no one else has gotten sick.