Hallelujah is the universal word around the world for praise. When I think of how to sum up 2023, words like “hard” (so, so, hard) and “how” (How will I survive this?) and “heartache” (the kind where you feel like you can’t breathe and have just about given up hope), oh and also “hospitals” (because hospitals were definitely a theme for us in 2023–though I won’t share all of the episodes) are what come to mind. Honestly, I’ve tried hard not to remember the most painful parts we have survived. But can we know joy unless we understand sorrow? Isn’t our hallelujah more sacred when shouted in the storm? At the end of this long list of happenings in 2023, I am so very thankful to end our year with none other than Hallelujah!
It was at this very time last December, right after celebrating Christmas, that we received news of Eric’s cancer diagnosis, “squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.” The doctors said they needed to operate quickly and two surgical teams were scheduled for January 25th, 2023. Eric previously had bothersome spots removed from his tongue that had never shown up cancerous before. We sort of assumed this would be the same drill. How wrong we were. Eric ended up needing to have a good portion of his tongue removed. Skin grafts were taken from his wrist to patch his tongue and thigh to patch his wrist. Eighteen lymph nodes were removed from his neck so that the cancer would not metastasize there. He had to have a tracheotemy and was in the ICU for seven days. Necessities such as breathing, eating, and talking were obstacles that took time to heal and to adjust. A freak accident occurred on day two in the ICU which required an additional life saving operation as the staples in Eric’s wrist skin graft came loose on an artery and he lost enough blood to almost kill him.
Eric couldn’t talk for awhile so he used this white board to communicate.
There were certainly moments (ok, honestly it was too many days to count) that the emotional toll from several hard circumstances made me feel like I didn’t even want to survive it all. Yet we serve a faithful God and even when we are faithless, He is faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. I spent some time looking through photos taken over the past year and realized it appears as though we have had a wonderful year surrounded by family and friends, amazing travel, and fulfilling jobs! And while I know photos can be deceiving, I realized that in the midst of a painfully traumatic year, all this good is true as well! Our God is the God of redemption, God With Us, Light in the darkness, Hope and Hallelujah even when all seems lost. It has been a crazy ride, and we are ending the year quite weary and not feeling super healthy, yet hopeful and thankful to say Hallelujah to the end of 2023! We are overwhelmingly grateful for the many friends, family and the Church that has prayed for us and supported us through this year. Our hearts cry Hallelujah in every remembrance of you.
Hallelujah’s include lots and lots of travel whenever we get the chance thanks to Eric’s side gig at American Airlines giving us free flights for our family all over the world! Our combined family travel in 2023 included at least ten states and six countries (not including travels in Texas). My teaching job at Hill Country Christian School has been such a blessing and healing balm to my heart this past year! And Eric very recently started a part time job as Mission’s Pastor at our sweet church, Fellowship at Plum Creek, which will enable him to do more of what he already does with the people he loves! We continue passionately in mission work with Heart of God Haiti and Heart of God International Ministries!
Highlights and Hallelujah’s of 2023!
January
Eric, while in full cancer diagnosis mode, saw this picture posted by friends with puppies in Illinois. He decided he needed to fly to Missouri to acquire this puppy –a puppy he could not take care of for many months after surgery. Huge thanks to Papa and Mema and the Potts family for caring for Myka while we were in the hospital and during our travels. While she is very cute, I’m not sure she qualifies as a Hallelujah. But she has been a memorable part of 2023.Elita and I went to visit Esmée, who was living in Florida, to encourage her through a hard time.
February
Elita traveled to Egypt for her 24th birthday with my parents who were leading a tour group there.My sweet, lifelong friend Julia and her dog Honey came to visit us for a week in February and she was a great encouragement to me during Eric’s recovery.
March
Eric’s goal after surgery was to work through enough speech therapy to be able to officiate our niece Karlee’s long awaited wedding as promised. God was faithful to help Eric keep that promise! Our whole family flew to Saint Augustine, Florida for Karlee and Devin’s beautiful wedding.Though we had tough travels getting to Florida flying with eight people on standby and the VRBO we had booked got canceled leaving us with nowhere to stay during the packed Spring Break season, this re-routed our journey through a different part of FL which allowed us a to stop in for a surprise visit with my sister Eleisha, Pavel and the nieces Ellie, Talia, and Bella!It was Evan’s Spring Break right after the wedding, and since he is always antsy to travel like his dad, he and Eric hopped on a plane to Panamá simply because flights were open to go there.Eric and Evan at the Panama Canal.When Esmée and I returned from Florida, we were excited to see The Thorn production with our dear friend Page. Page jokes that even though we live close now, we actually saw each other more when we lived in Haiti. Sometimes you just have to plan special events to get together! Love you Page!Bluebonnet season on our hill and the rare moments we can get the big kids all together are moments that are cherished more with each passing year. Myka puppy is now as big as the kids.
April
We celebrated Easter at our friend’s river house with all our kids, our housemate Alexia, Clay, Emilee and nephews Titus and Oliver! It was a sweet time together!Rescued Husky Cyan Sky “Cy-Cy” or as I call him, “Big Sigh”, joined our family as an emotional support dog for Esmée and playmate for the January puppy addition.Myka and Cy…what else can I say besides so much more house cleaning in 2023.Quick trip to Lynchburg, VA with Evan and Kami to see family and meet my brother Jon and Casey’s newest addition!Our sweet niece Evangeline Grace “Gigi”! She is definitely a Hallelujah!My sister Erin and her family moved to VA a year ago and we’ve missed them terribly. But we are thankful they are in the same town as our brother and parents so we can see them all when we visit. This visit was a surprise to little Toby!
May
Evan getting to celebrate his 17th birthday with his best buds. May is our big birthday month celebrating Esmée, Evan and Eric. We had another week of hospitalization in the middle of birthdays that made it hard to celebrate this year. But we are very thankful as we have deeply felt how fragile life is this year.Made my 8th summer in a row trek (yes, I was once upon a time coming back from Haiti to do this for my kids) to Leakey, TX to drop Evan off at Alto Frio Camp to serve. This, however was the last summer which is bittersweet.
June
We started out the month with Ethan’s 19th birthday with his buds! Ethan still lives down the road from us and has been working a full time job at Tesla for about a year.We assisted my parents in leading their tour to Israel with World of the Bible Ministries. Eric and I went ahead of the tour to spend some time with our missionary partners at Aviv Ministries in another area. Then Chris and Tahrea (our pastor and his wife) arrived with a large group from our church to join the tour! Our dear friends Zach and Stephanee, their boys and mother Sue also came to Israel with us! Esmée was the last of our four children to make the trip! It was definitely a Hallelujah trip as we flew first class for free on Eric’s AA employment. *Just in case you are wondering about the odd green skirts Esmée and I are wearing…They were forced upon us by Palestinian authorities because even though we were already wearing long skirts, they found a small fraction of our leg to be showing.Yay! We all climbed Masada (along with Zach who was taking our photo)On the Sea of Galilee where Jesus calmed the storm and asked that we walk in faith, looking always ahead to Him.On the Mount of Olives with my Much Loved Girl. We have both had the hardest year ever and are looking forward to the day Jesus will return right here, just as He said.It has been a thirty year dream to be in Israel with my childhood bestie, Stephanee! The fact that her family got to be there too was so many Hallelujah’s. We are so thankful we made this trip happen when we did not know the war would break out only four months later.While in Israel, we learned that our dear friend Nancy had passed away. We were thankful to get back in time to be part of her memorial service. Nancy was a member of our church and a part of our intimate small group that met in our home. She was an immense encouragement to me when I was struggling the most in early 2023. Her decline in health the latter part of 2023 was a very sad part of our year. We miss her and look forward to seeing her again in Heaven.
July
Our VA family came to celebrate July 4th on our TX hill. Nancy’s husband Gary, their son and grandson also joined us for the 4th. It was a tearfully sweet time with a day in between Nancy’s funeral on July 6th. I’m so thankful Nancy’s family came to spent the 4th with us. Nancy was close to my sister Erin as well and Erin was able to attend the service with me as the Lord worked it out that she was already in town for the holiday.After a week at a curriculum training my school sent me to in Dallas (and somehow squeezing in some sweet visits with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and dear friends Julia, Angie and Rebekah), I flew to Nashville, TN, to meet my Haiti bestie Jennifer for a Haiti Missions Conference. It was a wonderful time with fifty missionaries and humanitarian workers who all work in Haiti and came together for encouragement and to brainstorm ways to continue fighting for Haiti under the current constraints.While I was at the Haiti Missions Conference in TN, Eric went to Haiti to meet with a few of our Haitian ministry partners who could get to the capital. This is Patrick who serves with our mission, Heart of God Haiti to assist with all the sponsored students in the Godet area.We were able to bring in some supplies and give them to our dear Roselie who does her best to go back and forth to our house (usually by boat as roads are too dangerous.) We have submitted an application to be sponsors for Roselie to come to us on Humanitarian Parole. She is family to us and living in a very dangerous area in Haiti. Her application has been pending approval for the past seven months. Please pray for protection for Roselie and all those we hold dear in Haiti and for approval to happen soon so she can come to live with us in Texas! We have received dozens of request to sponsor Haitians on HP. But we only qualified to sponsor one and Roselie is our very special one.Just a day after my TN, travels, and while Eric was stuck trying to get a flight out of Haiti, I flew to Uganda!I had a very difficult time getting to my international connection in NJ so I could get to Dubai, so I could get to Uganda. Alas, after a cancel flight that was paid (not standby) and trying to fly standby on another route , I ended up not making the cut by one (my name is the one below the green). But I soon found out God had another reason for re-routing me to NC and for my missed flights.That reason was Anne Rose. While waiting in line to rebook after missing my flight, I overheard the two AA agents discussing a certain woman’s predicament. “How are we supposed to find out who she is and why she missed her flight? We’ve tried English, Spanish, and French but apparently the only language she understands is Haitian Creole and no one around here speaks that, so I guess she is stuck!” I was standing in front of them as they said this and said, “Excuse me…” to which I was met with a rude, “Wait your turn.” When I was permitted to speak I told them I was in line to rebook my ticket but overheard them needing someone who can speak Haitian Creole and asked them to point out the woman needing assistance. They stared at me in complete disbelief but decided to give me a try. Anne Rose from Haiti missed her flight only because she didn’t understand the boarding directions in English and when they called her name she didn’t recognize it because they were not pronouncing it “Anwo” like in Haiti. I was tasked with helping Anne Rose for the next five hours until we found her luggage and both of us had rides in NJ. We became fast friends and enjoyed many laughs and conversations about Haiti and Jesus. Determined to make it to Dubai before the flight left for Uganda, I took an Uber at midnight from NJ to NY and waited all night for the United Arab Emirates ticketing desk to open. I did not get my layover in Dubai but definitely shouted a Hallelujah when I made it to meet my brother an hour before our flight departed for Kampala, Uganda. Then we spent five hours in immigration lines and another five hours traveling by minibus to our destination in M’bale.My brother Jonathan has been doing mission work in Uganda for several years and invited me to join him to launch a small business loan program similar to our KOFAEL program in Haiti.Oh how I’ve missed riding on motos while wearing a dress! Uganda made my missing of Haiti a little more bearable. It is much lighter feeling and not hot like Haiti. It is also easy to communicate since everyone speaks English. Our Ugandan friends kept me smiling and laughing the entire time. It was both a highlight and Hallelujah of my summer! I’m planning to go back in 2024!We were in Israel in 2019 with Eunice and her husband Pastor Allan and discussed the similarities between Haiti and Uganda and their desire to launch a small business program to help the members of their church. Eric and I planned to go sooner but then COVID shut down travel. God’s timing is perfect and all the steps were in place for the program to be launched right at the time I was finally able to go. Eunice was pregnant with little Beverlee (who is named after my mom) on our Israel trip in 2019. It was precious time spent with them and Christ Light Church.While I was in Uganda, Eric and Evan took a quick trip to LA to hang around Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive and take a tour of the Dolby Center which was on Evan’s bucket list.Evan strolling Rodeo Drive.Evan at the Dolby Center with Hollywood in the background.Eric plays pickle ball every chance he gets and is quite proficient at the sport!Two very well traveled dudes enjoying Venice Beach. They typically make day trips with free standby flights so an added bonus is that these adventures cost next to nothing.
August
I returned from Uganda to hit the ground running with a teacher retreat, teacher work days, getting my classroom ready for open house and the first day of school, on top of getting over fifty kids ready for school in Haiti and organizing summer field trips in Haiti! It is a joy to help Haitian kids go to school. It has been a joy to drive Evan, Jo and Hannah Joy to school each day and watch them grow in grace and knowledge at Hill Country Christian School! I truly love the twenty girls I teach and the teachers and staff I work with very much! Hallelujah!And on the first day of school, we came home to special Haitian guests Eric brought home from the border! Stanley was our friend and neighbor in Saint Marc, Haiti! He left Haiti for work in Chile in 2018 and then went to Brazil where he met his wife and raised their daughter until they made the long and difficult journey to America. We had been praying and waiting for months hoping to receive them so their arrival was a big praise! An even bigger Hallelujah is that we had shared the gospel with Stanley for years and found out when he came that he had finally decided to put his trust in Jesus–our only Hope!Working in the airport has given Eric many opportunities to help traveling Haitians as well! The Lord is so good to bring Haiti to us so often!
September
Eric, and our girls and I flew to Florida to surprise Mema for her 70th birthday. It was a sweet time with our nieces and their families. But the best part was seeing Mom/Mema/Mona so happy. She and Papa live in an RV across our driveway and do so much for us. We say Hallelujah daily for the gift of them.
While at Mema’s surprise party in Florida, I learned that my dear Aunt Brenda passed away. Her funeral was a beautiful memorial and precious time with family in East Texas. We will always miss her beautiful songs and funny faces and sayings. Eric traveled to his hometown in IL to attend a missions conference and visit our Grandma Ginny who is still smiling at age 96!
October
Evan had his yearly medical appointments with his mitochondria specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and when they finished in only one day instead of three, Evan and Eric decided on a quick trip to Seattle, just for fun. Hallelujah Evan has been so healthy this year!Eric flew to Florida to surprise our “Papa Daq'” Pastor Branch, Eric’s childhood pastor and mentor, for his 70th birthday! He got to see our Sweet “B” Brenda, stay with our friends the Shekells, and see old friends Brian and Ginger Wise as well!Elita loves to run and ran her first 1/2 marathon in October!We celebrated Julienne’s graduation from her certification program and Jo’s 9th birthday in October.Elita and Esmée took a trip to the Dominican Republic to visit their Haiti childhood friend Faona who lives there now.
November
Eric went to Panama again but this time to attend a Global Pastor’s Trainers conference for indigenous leaders around the world. He was able to connect with Pastors from many countries and there were even fifteen Haitian Pastors he spent time with as well!While Eric was in Panama, we had an exciting surprise (well, a surprise for Frantz that I had kept secret) visit from Jochem who we knew from his visits to Haiti. The last time we saw him was at Frantz and Julienne’s wedding in Haiti. It was wonderful to host him and for him to meet the whole Osier family in Texas!Jeremey is a lifelong friend of Eric and is partially responsible for us being married as he was there to help orchestrate many of our firsts. Years later, Eric officiated Jeremey and Allison’s wedding and they are dear friends. Jeremey celebrated his 50th birthday with a Casino Royale theme, and we couldn’t miss it!While back in the DFW area, we got to hang out with our dear Dallas Seminary besties Geoff and Rebekah!We hosted Thanksgiving for our family and International Students from Texas State University!We have had the joy of opening our home to international students this year and long for more opportunities to serve this mission field! Andres (pictured on the far right) has sought to be mentored by Eric the past few years and has become a cherished part of our family. He is excited to go with Eric and our church on his first mission trip to Honduras this Spring!Alexia with the guitar, sweetly bounced around living with us, or our daughter Elita, or my sister Emilee’s family, this past year when she was not on her summer mission to South Asia. Alexia has been a joy to have in our home and she is our connection to this group of Texas State International students.
December
I flew to Hawaii to see my dear Kelli and celebrate our December birthdays together, before she and Ben and little Danny are moved by the military soon. Ben was in the Philippines so I got some special island time with Kelli and Danny who showed me all their favorite spots on O’ahu.After taking family and friends to our church’s Bethlehem live nativity story, and our community Sights and Sounds of Christmas, we also made it to Shaw Family Christmas in Arlington. We do this every year and I am always in awe that God gave us this amazing, hilarious, sweet family!We love our cousins!
And our Uncle, who is a real Santa!December involved lots of planning for Haiti Christmas surprises!And of course Texas class Christmas parties! I cherish the gift of my precious girls at Hill Country Christian School!And then family time where we tried to love one another well but so often fall short. That’s why we needed Jesus to come to us and show us the way. Hallelujah for the best gift we could never earn or buy! The gift of our Savior! We pray you come to know Him deeply in the New Year!
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise” (Jeremiah 17:7-8,14).
