This life is rough . . .

You know life is rough when you “have” to spend your Sunday at Zanglais beach trying out the sailboat that you recently bought from a fellow missionary who is leaving the field . . .

It was a blessing to have the opportunity to take a break from ministry and normal life with our teammate, Star Harvie today.

Tomorrow, our leadership team from the States flies in to spend a week with us for planning and preparation for the busy year ahead. We look forward to spending the week with Dan Shoemaker, Rob Thompson, Kim and Barb Rose. Please pray for all of us as there is a lot of work to be done this week.

For those of you who are following the rat saga here; in the past week, we have diminished the rodent population by four rats and one mouse. :)

First Full Week at Home and School

What have we learned or experienced this week, you may ask . . .

Daniel wasted no time in trying his skills at climbing a coconut tree and this time he got higher than ever before . . .

Isaac was happy to sit by and cheer him on at the base of the ladder.

“Now, I’m too scared to climb any higher and too scared to climb down,” said Daniel at this point in the venture.

Tobi was eager to play with when Daniel finally did reach the bottom of the tree.

For the rest, we do not have pictures to share . . .

- After being a bit overwhelmed on the first day of school, Nathan and Isaac quickly adapted to their new classrooms, schedule, and teachers.

- Josiah has gotten started on the online college classes that he is taking this year. He has been reminded of how difficult some days of class can be when internet service is less than desirable, but so far, he is doing well with what he has.

-Daniel continues to work with other RMI staff on the very lengthy list of to-dos that need to be accomplished. He spent one full day this week cleaning the ice machine to ensure that it is ready for the teams that we will be serving in the coming weeks.

- Tina is figuring out her school schedule, Creole studies, and hospitality responsibilities.

- Lee has gotten back into the swing of team schedules and correspondence, as well as, working hard to catch up on the yard work and responsibilities at home.

- We have learned that rat traps do not catch mice . . . therefore, mousetraps have been ordered (we will spare you the pictures of the messes left by our attempts at capturing mice and rats this week). We believe that although one rat may have escaped the trap, the mess that it left behind indicates that it probably did not survive for very long and since we haven’t smelled any foul odors, yet, we are confident that it did not die in the house (may I insert a happy dance here:).

- Tina learned that geckoes may jump (or fall) from the ceiling at random and land on you when you are innocently laying on the bed reading. (Sorry, those pictures didn’t turn out) I’m not sure who was more surprised, the gecko or Tina.

- We have experienced the blessing of rain at the end of the day on several occasions this week; no words can express the incredible feeling of that cool rain and breezes to end a hot, sweaty day:)

So, now we enjoy a day of rest and get right back at it tomorrow morning.

May you all enjoy this new week that God has planned for you, whether the events of this week are ones that you are looking forward to, or events that you wish just didn’t need to be experienced . . . God is in the center of them all!!

What we have been up to . . .

This summer flew by so quickly that we barely had time to process everything there was to accomplish and everyone we wanted to see. For those of you whom we were able to visit with, we were so blessed to spend some time with you, regardless of how short that time might have been. For those whom we were not able to connect with, we are sorry! Between a full schedule and a three week battle with strep throat in the family, we just were not able to see everyone that we wanted to see. Following are some pictures of our experiences this summer . . .

We learned that gaining wifi connection can be a challenge, even in the US. On this particular night, we needed to take care of some things online and went to the public library after it was closed. We had to sit on the bench next to the door and then when it started raining, we pulled the bench under the overhang in front of the doors in order to keep our laptops dry:)

We finally had the opportunity to meet our nephew and cousin, Evan, who turned eleven months old while we were visiting:)

We enjoyed some time in the pool with friends and family.

Daniel gladly played with Pap’s tractor . . . Lee and the boys also helped with some other projects for family and friends including moving boxes, staining a deck, splitting wood . . .

We found a great new form of entertainment . . . little rubber chickens that you shoot at each other. They provided hours of entertainment this summer for everyone at Grandma and Pap Eiseberger’s house. You gotta love those Dollar Store purchases:)

Some of the cousins left Pap Eisenberger someone special in his barn to remind him of them.

As a grand finale to our time in Lancaster, the guys went to a Monster Truck event at the Buck in southern Lancaster County.

Besides all of this there were golf games to be enjoyed (and laughed about), board games to be played, fishing excursions, and precious time with family and friends. Thank you to all who helped us to enjoy our time in the states.

Monday we get back to the work and ministry that we came for in Haiti. A large part of that means that it is time to get back to school. At 8:00 tomorrow morning we will join the other students, faculty, and parents of Cite Lumiere Christian School and community as we gather for our opening chapel service. Lee will be sharing the devotion for the start of the school year, so he would appreciate your prayers as he shares the message that the Lord has placed on his heart. This year, Josiah will be starting his senior year in high school at home. Nathan and Isaac will be attending CLCS in 8th and 3rd grades. I would like to say that there is a lot of excitement surrounding this year of school for them, but excitement has never been a word that any of our boys have used in the same sentence with school. We appreciate your prayers for them as they adjust and put their best foot forward in this new year with new teachers and new friends.

Following the chapel service tomorrow, Lee will return to the RMI office to get back to work on team schedules for this coming year. Daniel has already done a good bit of work in serving teams and fixing things since we arrived back in town on Friday night, so he will be plunging in with both feet tomorrow morning, as well. As for me (Tina) I will be overseeing Josiah’s online school schedule for the year, teaching 5th and 6th graders at CLCS for history and Bible the first half of the school year, and will be overseeing the team hospitality this year in Becky Thompson’s absence.

As a side note to our arrival back in Haiti, Madam Lala and Emilye (our cook and housekeeper) were quick to inform us on Friday that our rat problem is not solved. Since we have been back, we have noticed that they have eaten through our screens at a couple of different spots, they stole a basting brush and chewed the bristles and part of the head off of it, and have generally made nuisances of themselves. Fortunately, we brought new rat traps with us and we heard the first one go off last night right before we went to bed . . . but, the rat got away . . . so our battle will continue to wage . . . and I see new screens being on the project list for this fall:)

Thank you all for your prayer support, your financial support, and your words of encouragement to us. Without you as our support system, we could not do what we do. Your prayers are invaluable to our ministry here.

Look who I found . . .

Look who surprised me when I was working on preparations for our first day of school, which starts on Monday. I’m not sure who was more startled, but I thought he/she would be much happier in the great outdoors rather than in the container of labels in the classroom . . . he/she was not as convinced. I must say that this frog has beautiful blue eyes, not sure if you can tell from the picture. God’s creation is amazing, even when it catches you by surprise!

Keep an eye out for an update on what we were up to this summer and what the coming year looks like for us. - Tina