Finally, after almost three years of living in Leogane, not far off the coast of Haiti, we were able and very happy to make our move to the mountains on February 19, 2014.
Life here is quite dramatically different from living in Leogane;
cool, damp air versus heat and dust
quiet country life versus noisy city life
braying donkeys versus blaring bus horns
Leogane’s population of mosquitoes was very high…. here the most bothersome bugs have been the gnats that like to invade my open, airy kitchen!
I think there are negatives as well as positives in most circumstances if not all….. Living “in the clouds” has a few negatives:
mold grows very quickly
laundry can take several days to dry
the grocery store is so far away
the road to our house is long and treacherous
Happiness does not depend on the location of your home or the abundance of possessions you might accumulate.. It depends more on your thoughts and your focus… AND knowing that you are exactly where the Lord wants you at the present time!
We have been overwhelmed over and over again how the Lord provided for our family the past several years… and He will continue to do so! Mesi Jezi!! (Thank you, Jesus!)
I WILL BLESS THEM AND THE PLACES SURROUNDING MY HILL. I WILL SEND DOWN SHOWERS IN SEASON; THERE WILL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. Ezekial 34:26 NIV
This verse was in my devotional a couple days after our move to the mountains and I had a feeling that that verse was speaking to us… just another promise of God’s blessings. The land that was bought for LOTM (Light on the Mountain) has been dedicated to God and His work.
It so happens to be the season of showers and rain up here in the mountains of Terre Rouge, Haiti. Since we depend on the rain for our water supply, the showers truly are a blessing. An inch and a half of rain fills the big black 600 gallon tank behind our home. That is approximately how much water we use in a weeks time. So far, we have had enough of rain to keep us supplied!
Have you ever wished that you could live “in the clouds”? At 3,600 feet above sea level, clouds come rolling in upon us frequently! It is literally a “COOL” feeling! Along with the cool feeling is a sense of refreshment. I love to breathe deeply and take the fresh air deep into my lungs…. so different from the dust and smog of the city where sometimes you breathe as lightly as you can or hold your breath altogether!
Our reason for moving to Haiti in the first place was because we felt a divine calling to come and minister to the needs of little children… and the Lord opened every door.
Presently, four precious little ones live with our family;
Mr. William Claudsie, age 4,
Miss Karlee Jo, age 4,
Abigail Fabmoyla, age 2, and
Sharina Estherline, age 17 months.
Abigail Fabmoyla is the most recent addition. She joined our family almost 4 weeks ago…. first on a trial basis, due to her age.. (our plans had been to take in infants who had lost their mothers but of course, we want to be open to God’s will) Since she is doing well and really does need a loving home, we consented to keeping her long term.
Trista has been taking a genuine interest in her and has been doing a SUPER GOOD JOB at being her mom! When Abby (her nickname) first came to our house she was content to just s.i.t. and do nothing. It is obvious that neglect has been a part of her life… from the scars all over her little body to her distended little stomach and rotting front teeth. The first several days she hated her baths and refused to sit in the water. Now she is MUCH more compliant and enjoys playing with the bubbles in her bath water! She has rewarded us with her sweet little smiles… I have come to believe that a simple smile is almost “magical”!
William Claudsie and Karlee are still like two peas in a pod… what one does the other wants to do.. like go to Ti Goave with Daddy Don or go to Rhonda’s house!.(the other orphanage just across the way. They play together all the time.. ( and fight sometimes too!) I often hear them sweetly call each other “honey”! And I have even heard William call Karlee, “Beautiful”!
In the above picture, I had trimmed some plants in my flowerbed and Karlee claimed the trimmings and wanted to make an arrangement.. quite attractive, is my opinion!
Karlee with her baby.
And the baby of the family.. is….. sweet, little Sharina! She is as cuddly and lovable as ever.. and seems very intelligent, too. She knows a lot of children’s songs and can sing some by herself… on tune!!! She can also count to 20 with a little help…
…… trying to help Sharina stop wiggling enough to pose for a picture!
There are many things you can pray about as we endeavor to serve God where He has called us:
wisdom for us as we teach and train these sweet, little ones
that each one would grow up to serve God with their whole hearts
that each one of us could be filled with the fruits of the spirit
health and strength for all of us as we adjust to a cooler and much damper climate
funds for LOTM as we expand its ministry
for Don as field director for LOTM
that he might have the wisdom that comes only from above
for protection and safety as we live and travel in Haiti
Our house is not totally finished yet but we decided that it would be better to move up awhile so Don can be with the family while he works on the house..
My very busy and competent husband has a whole list of things to do…..
*wiring the house
We are using a small generator for our power and have extension cords running here and there since the wiring is not done yet.
*build kitchen cabinets
Last week Don started building some cabinets for my kitchen and I am eagerly waiting for them to be installed… maybe impatiently waiting would describe my anticipation better.
*build a chicken house
So far we do not have any of our own chickens but we plan to in the future sometime… we eat a lot of eggs and it would be great to be able to have our “own” eggs.
*build an outdoor kitchen and pavilion with the plans to have a neighborhood children’s ministry
This week our yard man was leveling off some of our pasture/yard in preparation for a “foot ball” field for the neighbor children…. the young boys in the area love to play soccer! This play ground will be right next to the pavilion.
Unfortunately this list of things came to …almost a stand still this week because Don caught some kind of bug… a bug that made his insides churn…and I won’t elaborate for his sake! Maybe I’ll say this much.. that he spent some nights on the throne instead of his bed! (that is what he said!)
BiG ReD.. has a problem right now. His front CV joint flew apart on his last trip up the mountain….so.. that added another job to Don’s list of things to do! Don ordered the part he needed to fix Big Red from Maine… from Maine it got sent to PA and from PA it found itself in Grandpa Harold’s suitcase en route to Haiti!
This past month we were happy to share a pig with the Allegre mission. Shana Simmons, the director’s wife, had bought a pig about a year ago intending to have it eat their garbage… and eat their garbage it did!!! …until the last couple months it ate something better in preparation to butcher! ..poor pig…
The pig was about 180 pounds of meat after it was all said and done.
What a tremendous blessing for us to have almost 90 pounds of delicious meat in our freezer.. most of it flavorfully seasoned sausage….
May God bless all of you for taking an interest in our lives and taking the time to read this blog…
Love to you!
Karole
* Morning Serenity *
