Ream Team International

But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The Lord is great!”
Psalm 40:16

It is hard to believe it is November as I watch the kids search the calendar already counting the days till Christmas break. I’m thankful the roller coaster month of October is over. The month began with a slew of disappointments. Discouragement continually knocked at our door. So many people prayed and gave so that we could purchase a generator that would provide power to our home. It was our daily hope since our return to Haiti in September that our purchased generator could be delivered. Delay after delay continued to defer our hope until our hearts were sick and our bodies saturated with sweat and sleep deprived were nearly depleted. It was hard not to despair. We needed the glad game.
Continue reading “The Glad Game”

BUMPS

We have had our fare share in the last month since returning to this little island. Getting resettled and adjusting to life back in Haiti has been an expected adjustment. Little things like re-teaching ourselves that the toilet paper doesn’t go in the toilet, bucket bathing outside, fighting mosquitos constantly and remembering what it feels like to sweat are among the small bumps experienced (though sweating off seven pounds of U.S. fast food in two weeks is a plus for me). A larger bump has been trying to get settled back in our St. Marc rental home while trying to work things out with the owner of this house. I have not at all nice words I could use to refer to him right now, but I will spare you. God knows and is working on my heart regarding my nasty thoughts about the giant jerk and justice factor. The owner has been promising to come see his house and the issues we moved into that he promised and we paid to have fixed in our original contract for the past year and 1/2. He lives in the states and speaks English making the situation even more ridiculous because we have been communicating with him the entire time we were stateside about a new contract and getting him paid. He refused to make a new contract nor give us his info to wire him the money for the past 5 months saying that he wanted to come and see the house first. He finally came and arrived unannounced on our doorstep one week after the kids and I arrived in Haiti.
Continue reading “Bumps, Blessings, and Back Up Plans”

$20,000 for a generator? Really? We understand this question that we have asked ourselves and tried to get around several ways without success the past year since moving to our neighborhood in St. Marc. Our first year in Haiti we lived on a compound that had its own generators. Our second year in Haiti we lived on another compound with many power sources for a few months before moving to St. Marc where we were able to live on the school property using that generator for another four months until we were able to secure our own housing. We have struggled to live as simply as possible while meeting many needs without sufficient electricity to our home the past year. Though it is very hard at times, living among our Haitian neighbors has been the very best way for us to build relationships with them. In many ways it has been a blessing in disguise to live like our neighbors who mostly do not have sufficient power.
Continue reading “About that Generator…….”

“Where God Guides, He Provides…So Trust God” was the theme of a VBS at one of our special stops this summer spending time and serving with our friends in Crossroads, TN. It has continued as the theme of our summer as God continues to guide us all over the place! We have enjoyed our time with everyone we have been able to see in eleven states and three countries so far! We are so thankful for these relationships and the time so many you of have invested to share your lives with us. God has created us for relationships. He uses relationships at all levels to draw us closer to Him and through that relationship draw us closer to one another. Oh how we wish we’d been able to blog about all the places God has guided and provided for us during our travels in detail. Everyone has been so wonderful. We truly have the best friends and family in the world…all over the world. My grandma who is now with Jesus used to say everything was the best. “He is the best baby! This the best cake! That was the best sermon! Oh honey, it is just the best!” She said that about every baby and every thing she experienced everywhere she went! Everywhere we have been we have felt that it was just the very best. And then we enter another home and that was the best too! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of you who have loved and served us the past few months! You’re the best!
Continue reading “Where God Guides…”

Three weeks in the US and three weeks in Haiti have the Ream Team split. I am in Haiti. My family, as many of you know, is in the US. It is difficult to be separated as a family. Part of who I am is in two worlds not far apart geographically, but far apart in every other way. It feels like I have one foot in Haiti and one foot in the USA.

Our family of six traveled to the USA for the first time together after waiting four years to be able to do so. Watching my daughter as the plane started to move brought us all joy and excitement and tears to my eyes.
Continue reading “Wherever Our Feet May Roam…”