Abigail says Dada

So, I am about a week late posting this but Abigail has possibly said the most important words she will ever say, Dada. Yes, that may be a wee bit of an exaggeration.

Things are going well here in Canaan. Recently, we along with the other volunteers here began preparing for International Student Convention. This Convention is full of academic and athletic events that is put on by A.C.E. which provides the curriculum for the school. Anna is going to be working with the Drama (fitting for her, just kidding) and photography. I will be working with the Basketball team (no jokes) and the Bible bowl team. We are really excited as are the kids as you might could imagine. The Convention begins in May at Indiana University in Pennsylvania.Please be praying for the preparation and logistics leading up to it.

Recently it has been busy around here. At the beginning of October, there was a team of 40 something, and since then teams have sprinkled in. If any of you all ever want to come please let us know as there is much to do inside and outside of Canaan.

Luke and I have really been having a good time the last few weeks. I have been getting out of school around four and then going and getting Luke and playing basketball till supper at five. Everywhere we go, he backs up to me and says "Daddy, I ride on your shoulders". Precious, truly precious. I am really excited for this coming Saturday because all of the volunteers here will be going down the road to a place where we can swim and visit the beach. The pool has long steps and Luke likes to walk up and down the steps, he calls it swimming.

By for now.

Abigail

Abigail has been running a fever for a couple of days. We were discussing this morning about what to do about getting her some medical attention. But God had already worked it out. There is a doctor from the States that arrived this afternoon. What is his specialty you ask? You guessed it, pediatrics. He thinks it could be a UTI but we will know more tomorrow. Please be in prayer for Abigail and praise God for His provision.

We serve an awesome God!

Update

So, everyone has probably heard by now, but Abigail has gotten her first tooth. She should be crawling any day now.

I wanted to share something else with you all. Two weeks ago a team came from the states and I had some great conversations with the team members, one in particular. There was a guy who had spent time in Honduras sharing the Jesus film. He informed me of the vast present of Mormon missionaries there. He expressed to me the sadness of the fact that there were so many more Mormon missionaries than Christians. While expressing this he was almost crying. I was very convicted about not having enough zeal and passion for the lost.

Egg Sandwiches

David's class in school met a goal yesterday and got some egg sandwiches. There is a place just down the road from Canaan that makes egg sandwiches that are so so good. The students really really enjoyed it and are excited about the next opportunity for sandwiches.

Please be praying for us as we will both be starting bible studies with some of the kids here on Monday. Anna will be working with another volunteer going through Ruth with girls 12 and under. David will be going through Luke with boys 13 and up.

We celebrated Kristi's birthday last night with some Dominos pizza, Luke was so so excited, as was his daddy.

Making a difference

We wanted to pass this along to you all. We thought it to be to good to keep to ourselves. Several of the teachers that we are serving with have received notes and letters from the Haitian teachers we serve with and students that we serve expressing that we have made a difference in their lives and they enjoy working with us. We give all this glory and thanks to God.

On a different note our family is doing great. Luke is enjoying school and plays with a different friend almost daily. He also has made a friend with a young lady down here named Debbie (Luke refers to her as his girlfriend) but we told Luke no dating before he turned 20. Debbie was also wearing Alabama Crimison Tide cheerleading outfit the other day so that wouldn't work either. Abigail is doing good, we think she should crawl any day now. We may be a little biased but we think she has the cutest smile in all the world.

Thanks again for your prayers.

School

We had our first week of school this past week. I, along with the other teachers, think it went extremely well. We worked very hard but I only have praise and thanks for the Father. The students had a great amount of motivation and worked very hard themselves. We had numerous opportunities to help the students individually during the day in a lot of different subjects.  We also provide time in the evenings, about two hours or so, in which we provide homework help. This is probably the best time as it is less structured and generally more personal. There is a lot of excitement among the teachers for the coming weeks and months. Please pray with us for these students and their motivation and discipline. Also, please pray for us and the rest of the teachers. After observing all the volunteers work in their respective classrooms it’s amazing to see how God placed each one where He did. It seems as though each teacher is suited perfect for their classrooms.

Anna has had a good week, she floats around the school in different classrooms during the morning and early afternoon. Then from one to four she watches over the night school students. This is a program for those individuals slightly older than regular school age that are given an opportunity to complete school. That program resumes in the evenings from six to nine, Anna helps then also on some nights. Anna has enjoyed this time, she has began making flash cards and studying Creole with this time.

David is enjoying his time in the school and getting to know the kids. He also is enjoying getting to bring God’s word to some students each morning during a devotion time. On Wednesday the school has chapel which includes some singing and a message from God brought by a teacher. David was blessed with the opportunity to bring the word on this Wednesday, which was Isaiah 6.

There are many things going on during the week and we are enjoying our opportunities to be used by God in each of these. Thank you for your faithful prayers and please continue.

Let us share a word with you that God gave us Saturday morning. Isaiah 53:10a “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him”. This verse comes near the end of the prophetic passage of the suffering servant in which it is foretold that Jesus would die on the cross. I am certain that this is nothing new to most, if not all of you. It was a good reminder for me that God made a conscious decision to “crush” His only son for me and for you. He didn’t let it happen, He ordained it to happen. He didn’t just die, He was crushed. 

Preparing for school and learning a new languege

Sorry to be so long in writing. Hopefully we will get better.

We spent most of the first week getting acclimated and painting the school that we are working in. Doing that has provided great opportunities to bond with our team. It is neat to think about each one and see how God knit this team together. The people are very spiritually mature and are an encouragement daily. Also they have loved on Luke and Abigail like they were there own family. It was fun working in the school thinking about the kids and the opportunities that we will have to share with them in the coming months. The only difficult part was dodging the misquotes.

Sunday morning we had the first opportunity to worship with our Haitian brothers and sisters. The service was much like the one David experienced in Africa. The music was great. They did their best to translate the service. Since it was our first Sunday there they called us up front and prayed for us. Sister Gladys (leader along with Pastor Henri of the orphanage) told the people that they have no excuse not to know that God loves them because we were there. What a humbling thing to here, to know that God chose to love these people through us. Two words come to mind, not worthy.

This week we continued to work on the school, to include everything that teachers and administration do prior to beginning school. We have also continued our Creole lessons. The process of learning another language is humbling. I often think about people in America, including myself complaining about foreigners in America speaking a language other than English and then appreciate the Haitians being a little more patient with me than I would be in a situation where the roles were reversed. Mwen renmen ou.

Luke is doing well, he has made so many new friends. A new Luke line is "I want to go play with my friends". It makes sense though, he loves to be outside and he loves to play with other kids. Abigail is doing well, she is so hot natured but she is adjusting and of course everyone loves her. Their adjusting so far has been good and a blessing from God.

Thank you for your prayers. Love you.

Hello

Greetings from Haiti. Anna, Luke, Abigail and I are getting settled in nicely. We have a two bedroom apartment with a beautiful porch. We are still unpacking our eight check bags, yes eight. We also have our own bathroom and almost all day power. Praise God for all the batteries.

I miscounted our luggage on Monday so I had to go back to Port au Prince yesterday. It takes about an hour and half to get to PAP so when you go, you make a zillion stops for this and that. It was a good experience and education. We saw many families in tents. Many is an understatement. I wondered to myself, how could I (we) make a difference? One by one? I believe God spoke to me and said no, plant churches, biblical churches that will evangelize there areas, disciple them, and plant more. I believe that is the biblical model. The vastness of those in need of whatever can be overwhelming.

Today we worked in our room more trying to get situated and develop a good routine. We are encouraged that Luke is making friends. It is an answered prayer. He plays with his new friends like they have known each other a while.

Thank you for your prayers. Hopefully as we are here longer we will get better at communicating with all of you all. We love you!

Update

We wanted to give all of our praying family and friends some updates.

We are getting excited as the departure date nears. However, there is still so much that needs to be done. I wish there was enough space on this blog to list all the things that God had done. Anna and I through this process have developed a different, new level of trust and intimacy with the Father. It seems ludicrous to have lived any other way. We have stepped out on faith and believed and trusted that God would do XYZ, and He has, over and over again. Speaking of stepping out on faith, it is not a blind step, He has given us direction for the step, it just requires willingness and obedience.

Please pray that God would help finish the preparation and that these last days would be smooth. We are glad to know that God doesn't call the prepared but prepares the called.

Thank you again for your love and prayers. Hopefully the next post will come from Haiti with a video of our new home and surroundings.

Dreams

Do you believe that God can speak through dreams? I believe so because there are examples of such in the Bible. I also believe in this because I believe God wants to be intimate with us and speak to us in many different ways. It makes since, why should I put God's ability to speak to me in a nice little clean box? I can't.

I recently became aware of a dream that involved my family, specifically, Anna. This women recently emailed me to inform me of this dream. She was actually in Haiti when I was down there, she arrived several days before I did. This dream occurred prior to my arrival and my knowing her. I have since talked with her about Anna's diagnosis of Pseudotumor Cerebri. After she researched that condition and recalled the details of her dream it was unmistakable that she dreamed about Anna having this condition. In the dream (and we believe in reality) the origin of this condition was from satan. She shared details with me that were spot on when thinking about Anna and her symptoms and experiences. Her purpose in sharing this with us was to remind us of the origin and encourage us to press on towards the goal that God has set before us.

I have but only one word to describe this experience and I know that it is grossly inadequate, awe!

Why do I share this with you? You are family and friends who have come a long side of us to pray for us. This is but a portion of the fruit of your prayers. Thank you, and pray on.

God's lessons to Anna and I in the Atl

Anna, Luke, Abigail, Erin (my cousin and awesome helper with the kids) and I went to Atlanta on Monday night and returned Friday evening. We were in Atlanta for training on the ACE program which is what we will be using in Canaan for teaching the children. God did so much I don't even know what to tell y'all. Why do I write? So that we all will be reminded how big our God is.

Well, lets just start with a man named Terry. Anna and I were in the car in the parking lot fixing to leave at the end training on Tuesday. He pulls along side of us and starts talking to us. He had overheard that we were going to Haiti and wanted to talk to us. He gave us some money and said he wanted to be apart of our ministry, also that he wanted to share some things abut his life and ministry with us. So we went to lunch with him on Thursday and the one thing we wanted to talk to us about was trust in the Father. During lunch he spoke of three missionaries, George Muller, Hudson Taylor, and David Gates. In each one of these cases, the men wholly trusted God for their ministry. He didn't stop there, he spoke specifically about God providing for the financial needs of these men. All of the examples were astounding. Anna and I would like to share some and will if you want to know, let us know. God spoke to us through this man, because Anna and I had been thinking a lot, even to the point where we were potentially taking things into our own hands and worrying about financial support.

God convicted me that I was trusting in people more than Him. It's all logical and makes sense if we take a step back and look at it. If God calls a person to the mission field He's gonna take care of Him. I read about a missionary K.P. Yohannan and there was a story where he had ten dollars left to his name. Nothing in the bank, nothing nowhere besides that ten dollars in the pocket. He was in church one night and God moved him to give that ten dollars in the offering. He said, "God, this is all I got". God didn't budge, and K.P. gave the money so that he had not one penny to his name. That night after the service a man whom he had never meant gave him one hundred dollars in the parking lot. After reading that I thought to myself, why doesn't God do things like that in my life. Well, God answered. He said to me, I don't do things like that in your life because I don't have to, you take care of yourself. Wow!

Anna and I resigned from our jobs and thought we were trusting in God. That fact is we were trusting, just not fully. Recall the story of the rich young ruler. God wants everything.
In closing this man told us that he had gall stones and that he was a very busy man. He said that he wouldn't have come to the training if he didn't have the gall stones. He told us that he believes God gave him gall stones so that he would come to that training to talk to us. So Anna and I will pray that God will provide for all our needs. Did God really give this man gall stones so that he would be there to talk to us about fully trusting in God? We believe so.

We will post more events from the Atl soon.

Satan is in the little details

I believe Anna and I are under a full assault from satan (by the way, I will never capitalize his name, just can't bring myself to do it).

We have experienced the body being stricken. Unexpected doubts and questions. And now little details that don't go as planned or desired. The specifics of what, when, where, and how are not important.

It is just crazy to me of all the types of fiery darts he throws (or shoots) at people. It really emphasis putting on the armor of God and the need for prayer. Interesting that Anna and I are thinking about this now. It was just three weeks ago that she was sitting in Dr. Weeks office. Dr. Weeks grew up on the mission field and saw the highs and the lows. She gave Anna what she said was the most important advice, to "daily put on the armor of God". And to think we didn't adhere. We have prayed more recently, but no where near what we need to be doing. I mean think about it, she was in the trenches from many years and that's the greatest piece of advice she gives.

We will do just that. Pray for us and with us please. We remain on course to depart for Haiti three weeks from Monday. There is much preparation to be made. We will buy some stuff here and there but He does the real preparation. He doesn't call the prepared. He prepares the called.

Update on Anna and the middle of God's will

Here it is Saturday afternoon and there is much to say.

Regarding Anna's condition related to the Pseudotumor Cerebri. Anna has been without head and neck pressure for three days which was one of the major problems. Anna has also experienced vision improvements, vision being the other major problem. For much of the morning Anna could see almost normal with the exception of the peripheral vision. Please join with us in praising the Father for this improvement and continue to pray for full restoration.

Anna had a doctor's appointment with the neurologist on Thursday and he looked at her eyes and noted an improvement. He also commented on the spinal tap that she had on Wednesday of this week, he said that the pressure that they measured when they punctured her spinal cord was at the high end of the acceptable range. That is a great thing meaning the pressure in her brain had subsided. All in all, we believe he saw improvement, couple that with what we've seen through today is exciting.

Regarding the middle of God's will, with Anna doing better and us confident in the Lord and trusting Him, something else has been thrown at us. Anna has a terrible spinal tap headache. She also has a cold and sinus problems. Then to top it all off, I was awoken about four o'clock this morning to Anna throwing up from the bed. It's almost like satan said (assuming the origin of this is satan) well you didn't fall when I sent the Pseudotumor Cerebri so here is this, this, and this. Anna and quickly recognized what was going on and read scripture and prayed, and then there was a great peace.

We are thankful that God is using us and pray for the strength to get through this temptation / trial. We are also very thankful for the prayers of the saints.

There is a peace in the middle of God's will, but it ain't easy.

When I was in Haiti a couple of weeks ago I was sharing with a guy how Anna and I discerned that God was calling us to Haiti. He shared from his own personal experience that there is a peace in the middle of God's will, but acknowledged it ain't always easy.
I know this to be true now. Anna and I are preparing to move to Haiti for an extended period of time and I believe with everything in me that this is what God wants for us. That said, the weeks leading up to our departure have not been easy. Currently, Anna has been diagnosed with Pseudotumor Cerebri which basically means that fluid in the brain is not draining properly which is causing swelling which is causing head and neck pain, and vision problems. When confronted with this diagnosis the question has arisen, what does this mean for us and our impending departure for Haiti. The answer to that question is nothing. God is not a God of confusion and His calls are not wrong. We will continue working towards the thing that God last told us to do until we get new or different marching orders.
I am curious of the origin of this sickness, a trial or a temptation. My first thoughts go to satan based on the assumption that he doesn't like what the Lord may do for His kingdom through our obedience. However, I do realize that it could be of God in a process of refining our faith and removing the dross from our faith. Prior to this issue I had been reading in Job and actually just finished yesterday. I noticed something yesterday in the eleventh verse of the last chapter that had escaped my attention until that point which was "And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him". At the beginning of Job it is evident that satan strikes Job, but only after the Lord allows him to. So we know the origin of the afflictions, satan. In conjunction with that knowledge, I considered it very interesting that at the end of the book of Job it said that the "Lord had brought upon him". The thought that comes to me is that "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose".
In conclusion, the thought of being there is peaceful. Preparing to go is peaceful. Watching my wife hurt is not easy though. But this is the will of God and I desire none other.

Preparing a place

David has gone with a group to Haiti this week. Along with the mission work the group is doing he will be preparing a home for us.  While he’s off enjoying himself (sure, there’s probably a little hard work being done in above 100 degree temperature) I’m waiting to fro the next mini-catastrophe. He flew out Sunday Within hours of our last phone call I was so sick I didn’t think I was going to survive til morning. If you know me, I really never ask anyone to take my kids. I love every moment with them so people usually have to beg to take them. Well, I felt so awful I would have begged someone to take them (of course I didn’t have to). So I went home to crash. As soon as I was just getting to sleep good, I was awoken by a man in a paramedic uniform. My first thought was, really, I’m not dying! Then I realized it was just Matt, my brother. Mom had sent him to check on me.  As aggrevating as that can be, I’m going to miss the closeness of my family while I’m gone. (Did I mention that my aunt and cousin were there too) Apparently, getting sick is a family affair :)

I finally got some sleep and was feeling a little better so I decided to try going to church. Everything was fine and we were about to head home when Maggie, my cousin, came running in holding Luke and said, “Look at his head!” To try to sum up this one day’s events, we were now headed to the ER. Luke has fell into a door frame and had a golf ball sized goose egg. Literally. It was huge.

As I went to bed all I could think was Lord, please don’t let my whole week be like this!

We survived Monday and so far Tuesday. Got a text from David saying they are all good and it’s feeling like home down there. Kristi sent word that it’s not as bad as one would expect. David said that compared to the rest of Haiti, Canaan is an oasis. Can’t wait to see for myself!

Brief bio

For those who don't know us (or for those who do and didn't know this) we want to introduce ourselves.
After some rather dramatic events in our lives God led us to marry each other May 10, 2008. Maybe one day one of us will get around to posting that story. It's a good one. But too long for me to type right now. To make a long story short, God used rain to prove to David he wanted us to marry. A few years later, while standing in the middle of a cemetary, God used rain to confirm his presence with David. Since God has used rain to show us himself in a clearer light David came up with the awesome title for this blog.

David: Accountant by degree. Teacher by God's appointment. David is an incredible teacher to youth and adults. But more than that he's an amazing father and husband! I honestly don't think I could have imagined more. He loves the Lord our God with all his heart, mind a spirit. Next, he strives to love me the way Jesus loves the church. And last, our kids think he's a super hero.

Anna: I don't really know what I am by degree or God's appointment! I have an odd degree that has lead me to work in agriculture, with children, and with politics! I try to just go with the flow but every now and then God puts a kink in my plans. :) Which always works out better than expected if I'll just let Him do His thing. I am a proud mother of the two most beautiful kids on the planet.

Luke: A 2 year old boy full love adventure and animation! He has the most dramatice expressions you'll ever see in a kid. His thing these days is to ride in or on anything that moves, especially a lawn mower or tractor. Not sure what he'll want to ride in Haiti but I'm sure he'll find something to climb on. He also has te sweetest heart and blonde curly hair and big blue eyes to go with it.  This kids steals the heart of everyone he meets. Seriously.

Abigail: Our 6 month old fire cracker. This red head is laid back and content as long as things are going her way! And when they're not she'll be sure to let you know. However, when she smiles it will light up your world and her laugh is America's 8th wonder. It looks so effortless, she won't even move but sweetest, the most amazing laugh will come out of this little drool box!