New Mexico

Yesterday we took a short road trip with our friend Yoli. I love New Mexico. It has a different style, different decor, different people, different feel and the State border is only about 30 minutes away from the west side in El Paso.
Our highlight was a Tiki the Toucan. Nixon spent way too much time talking to him.
We still haven't heard anything about my uncle. My same uncle Martin's son's wife's father was kidnapped yesterday morning. His body was found later the same day. I was watching the news last night and there are so many more found each day.
My heart bleeds for my aunt's family and for all those stuck in the middle of this.

A tough day

Nixon and I spent the night at my baby sister's house on the other side of town. Since we will be traveling for a couple of weeks, our time is coming to an end in El Paso and we are just trying to spread ourselves out as much as possible. Everyone wants a piece of us.
We stayed up and played Sequence. It was really fun and I remembered our playing with our boys. I miss our boys very much these days.
Almost as soon as we woke up, our morning took a serious turn. My uncle was taken from his family this morning. Mexico's drug war seems to be touching every family that we know. Even those who are not involved have at lease some relative that drags them all into the mess. Nixon and I took some time to pray and we spent the day "being there" for my mom.
It is amazing to think that my mom and I were just at my aunt's house on Christmas day, as is our custom every Christmas day. We have been praying all day and our heart's have been heavy. I constantly remember that we serve a living and active God who hears our prayers. My momma has another brother that is an atheist. He told momma to pray since she knows how to communicate with God. I pray the Lord works a miracle.
We are expecting snow again tomorrow. This would make it the third snow this winter. What a strange winter in the desert.

More pictures

What a trooper!

My poor little frozen black man!

I can't believe we stood in the freezing cold just for

a picture. The snow was falling thick though,

it was beautiful.

Fourth Day in Texas

It snowed last night!! Wow!!! We meant to do some work on our upcoming presentation yesterday but we ended up spending the day connecting with old friends of mine and MORE FAMILY! This isn't even 1/3 of the family. How much family do I have? Tomorrow Nixon will start meeting some friends and sponsors.

Anyway, back to my opening statement. It snowed last night and it is cooollldddd!!!!!! The temperature will not get above 40 degrees farenheit and when we left the house this morning it was 29 degrees farenheit. Nixon is doing well, the cold seems to make him giddy. He just laughs and laughs. I, on the otherhand, am very congested and denying the possibility that I now have a light cold. Nixon's stomach is also doing well but I have a bit of Mexican happiness. Go figure!

We are having a great time. I have been working on making the final preparations for our Missionary presentation and Nixon has been entertaining the family kids all morning. He is supposed to start French and Creole lessons with one of my nieces and nephews next week. Fun Fun! I plan to sleep. LOL!!

Day 1 of our trip to the U.S.

Hello world!
We are in Texas. Since Thanksgiving, things seem to have gone really fast.
We left our house on Monday and left Port on Tuesday morning at 11:00am.
Our flights went well.
We were at customs in Ft. Lauderdale for like 2 hours. Nixon got to translate for Customs which was really cool. He liked doing it. My husband is so amiable, he made friends everywhere we went and of course wearing his Texas Longhorns shirt got him plenty of comments.
We arrived at 11:00pm last night in El Paso and then went to Village Inn. We stayed up really late talking and all but woke up at 7am, after sleeping like 4 hours. We are doing well though, not too out of it.
Today we went grocery shopping, Nixon met my sisters and their kids, ate Mexican food at a Mexican restaurant, had Mexican sweet bread at my sister Cynthia's house, went to see Old Dogs at a really nice theater. Nixon is presently playing video games with his 7 year old nephew Eduardo. Eduardo really likes Nixon.
Nixon is doing well but he is cold. He refuses to drink any cold drinks and defintely avoids ice. He is really having a great time.
Although I surprisingly dont see any culture shock.
We did specifically pray against that though. God is good. Will update more soon.
I am definitely in awe of God's goodness in being able to be here.
We still both feel like it is a dream.

A wonderful Thanksgiving

We had such a great time yesterday.
We started with a visit to Nixon's dad. Nixon's dad got married last year and has a new baby. That is pretty special since Nixon's dad was only married once (not to Nixon's mother)when he was young only to have his bride die a year later.
Nixon's dad is 65 years old. He has a beautiful 5 month old baby, healthiest Haitian baby I've ever seen.
We then went to visit our elderly group. I took them some coffee and pumpkin soft cookies. They really liked them.
We then went to visit our good friends, Larry and Michelle. Larry's parents were in town so it was a real treat. We ate A LOT!!!!
Then it was rehearsal time for Friday night worship.
And then it was off to Nick and Gwenns for our Joy In Hope Thanksgiving.
It was all delicious! We had great fellowship and Nixon discovered a toy.
He was zapping mosquitos for the LONGEST time! It was hilarious!
We had a wonderful day and now it is back to attacking my "before we leave" list.
Fun Fun. I would actually rather take a nap. :)
Of course I forgot my camera so I have no pictures to post. That really sucks!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

So much to do

Even though we had already finished the Creation Series for Junior church I decided to talk about how "it was good" is repeated over and over again after each day of Creation. I ended in telling the kids that when they don't rest properly, they won't see all that is "good". We had fun talking about this but the message was
convicting to me.
Now that we are getting ready to leave for 6-8 weeks, I am very busy preparing for our departure. I am not only figuring out what we need to take. I am also trying to leave everything ready so that the ministry can do what is normall on "our plate". This weekend was more cleaning out and clearly organizing so that out team is not lost when looking for Junior church stuff and the boy's supplies and all.
After Nixon and I arrive in El Paso, we have a presentation to do four days after that. So we are preparing for that as well. And of course I want to spend as much time with our boys as possible before we leave so I don't allow myself to skip out on movie watching, game playing, or devotions.
But yesterday I was dead tired. Even as I am writing this blog I feel exhausted.
This should be a time of excitement and joy and yet I find I am missing out cause I am trying to do to much. That is so strange isn't it? The way we tend to do that is unbelievable. Nixon ordered me, and I mean ordered me, to take a nap after we had a special prayer time with the boys yesterday afternoon. I think I will need one today as well.
What have I learned? God always knows what He is talking about. He really knows what He is talking about when He talks about rest. I don't want to miss anything, especially all the lessons He is trying to teach me. I don't want to miss any of the journey. Ultimately prayer is the only way things will get done and get done well. I love my God's ways. I love Him for all that He is. I especially love Him for teaching me so patiently. Blessed be His Name.

Finally-away we go!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Drink Water!!!!!!!!!!!

Nixon and I sat with Rick today, discussing possible basic health presentations that could be brought to Haiti through teams.
A couple of hours later one of my boys came up telling Nixon he wanted some Tylenol because of his headache. Nixon turns and tells me how he always seems to have a headahe. This is actually very true, except for the always(more like often).
When will my boys learn that they NEED TO DRINK WATER!!!!
I asked my boy if he had drank water. It was 3pm and he said, "of course".
"How much?", I asked. "Two whole glasses." "Ay Ay Ay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I gave him a Propel packet and told him to find a water bottle and fill it.
Geez Louis!!!

Our beloved Seniors

Ti Ya Yan's always been Nixon's girl:)

Thanks to our Director, despite the fact that we have only one working vehicle, we were given the truck so we could go visit our Seniors last Tuesday.
Yeah, I am behind on my blog.
Anyway, we had a good visit. A short term mission team had come through and they told me all about their new hats. Although I don't know where they would ever wear them. I am glad they were happy though.
Madam Oraben told us she was not doing good, as she always tells us. Her achy body will continue to be achy for the rest of her life. Ti Ya Yan told us she has heartburn, as she always does. We took her some more pepcid for that though.
Senor Benoz was proud of himself for cutting his own hair. I think he gets tired of waiting for Nixon to have the time to do it. He was happy for his new gillete.
Madam Vilbren was as giddy as usual. They are all too cute.
They were in good spirits since Senor Benoz had led them in their usual church service. The six of them come out on the balcony and Senor Benoz shares Psalms and other verses of scripture he has memorized, they then sing together, interrupting only to pray. When we were at the Village, their services were usually about 3 hours long. I imagine they are the same.
As we were getting ready to leave Ti Ya Yan told Nixon she had been saving something for him. She pulled out about 6 eggs (Haitian and so they were special). She proudly told Nixon she had been saving them for like a month. YIKES!!!
Nixon brought them home and told me not to throw them out since it was so sweet of Ti Ya Yan to save them for him. And I completely agree with him on her sweetness, and thoughtfulness.
I did not throw them out, just gave them away(with a warning that they might not be good). :)
We do love our Seniors. We will always remember how we lived with them and were able to love them on a daily basis. We miss them.

A pleasant Sunday

Nixon and I started the day with some ample and wonderful time with the Lord.
We had leftovers for lunch and dinner(no cooking necessary).
I downloaded some "podcasts" onto our ipod.
Nixon watched some soccer.
We played a Yahtzee game, I got a triple Yahtzee(Nixon figured there was no point to keep playing after that) LOL!
We watched down below as people filled the street, marching for the day of the dead. (The group has obviously been marching for a while since we could feel the heat ascending from the group below along with malodorous armpit odors.)
We watched Planet Earth with our boys(the boys kept saying, "we don't have that in Haiti" and plenty of "Me Zami!!!". It was pretty funny to watch.
Then I went off to take a shower and head to my cozy bed(where I am presently), as my husband washes the dishes.
(last week he told me he would start washing the dishes on Sunday so I would not have to lift a finger in the kitchen. ISN'T HE WONDERFUL?? Of course he is.)
It has been a pleasant Sunday.
God is good.

Another one of those "where am I?" moments

I was looking out my window, people watching, a couple of days ago. I actually was looking down as the spinner wrang my load of laundry.
I watched the neighbor's rat run around the yard for a while. I thought the neighbors had finally managed to kill it but with the yard empty, Kiko, decided to come out and sniff around. He is a very healthy looking rat. I watched him run around, wash himself, watched the different holes he climbs in. Don't get me wrong, rats are not my kind of animal, pet, whatever. It is just that I can watch him without worrying since I am watching him from the 3rd story and he is out there while I am in here. That is exactly how it is going to stay. LOL!
Then the neighbors came back and Kiko returned to one of hiding places. I watched the 3 year old boy run around the yard and play with whatever hazardous object he could find. The woman that I think is the child's mother did not pay the child any attention other than to occasionally yell at him. She was preparing the wash tub to wash her "whites". As usual, Haitian women use a white soap to do laundry. It ussually comes in long sticks and they use a knife to cut it into pieces so that it dissolves in the tub of water as they wash the clothes. The little boy picked up the knife as the woman set it down. This knife was "huge". Who knows if it was sharp at all but it did make me cringe. I've worked with children for a long time now and we know that that kind of thing is a NO NO! The mother watched him as he ran around the yard with the giant knife. He set it in the little bench just as the mother sat down. If the knife would of still been pointing up, she would have learned why children should not play with knives.
Yep, it is definitely a different world here. Ay ay ay.

Happy Birthday Elira!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Watching Joseph

I've been begging to show a movie for Friday night Church service. We finally did.
The pluses(+):
* It brought in a lot of people. (if you wanna pack the house, in Haiti, show a movie)
*The first half of the movie had some pretty good subjects that every one of us struggle with(jeolousy, anger, hate, temptation)
*I believe people are really looking forward to finishing the movie next week.

The negtives(-)
*Getting the sound to work was a bit tricky so i am glad Nixon started to set up 45 minutes
before church started.
*Some of the film is a bit, YIKES! Remember Potiphar's wife, let's just say this movie really

captures her. Nixon was quick to fast forward Potiphar's wife's naughty behaviour. Though it was a bit heated, i hope that Joseph refusing to sin against the Lord impacted the youth in the audience(everyone, for that matter).

The movie is 180 minutes long, so we only watched the first half (although I am glad we didn't even go a full 2 hours since some of the church was having an all night prayer vigil and I am sure they were ready to get started.)

I think it went very well, I pray the Lord was glorified last night. The movie we saw was Ted Turner's Joseph. It is very well done, if you haven't seen it. Amazon has good prices on this particular Bible Collection. Nixon loves them so we've started collecting them.
So far we have Esther, Joseph, Jeremiah, and Moses.

Time Away

Our cozy room

Wha a gorgeous setup on the roof

this is a hammock chair and I sat there as I read my book,

sooo comfy!!!


seriously though, what a gorgeous roof!!!!!!

Nixon and I went away for the weekend. Since we need to watch our finances we stayed at a missionary guesthouse. It might not have been the Ritz but it was certainly comfortable and was just what the Doctor ordered.

Nixon and I arrived after having left another beloved team. We then assisted in the picking up of our dear friend Denise, who follows our blog(kisses and hugs to you!). She is here to visit with her family and her dear community(I suspect).

Anyway, we arrived about 3pm Saturday and we took a shower then Nixon had to go out while I took a nap. At dinner we had wonderful conversation with Fritz and Paul from Santa Barbara California, not far from home at all. That was definitely nice. After dinner, Nixon went to sleep early while I watched some tv and read a good book. Saturday afternoon was uneventful but wonderful. Sunday after visiting with some new friends we were invited to a home church. We enjoyed it so much, the people, the message, and the style. One thing I really liked is that the church is made up of missionaries but they do not allow themselves to talk about their work on that day. They don't even allow themselves to ask questions regarding anything about their mission. I think we need that sometimes. Afterwards we had some good conversation with Kathy and Greg regarding the sermon on Judgement and then took a nap. Actually, Nixon watched a movie. I took a nap.

We then walked up to Delma and had a late Haitian lunch at a nice Haitian place followed by Epi Dor ice cream(cookies and cream). I counted my points but went I am sorry to say that I went overboard. We then watched some tv and turned in early.

Monday Nixon left early in order to tend to some business while I slept in a little, had breakfast, did some computer work and then devoured a book I had had my eye on. The book was a civil war diary and extremely interesting. I spent all day up on the roof of the guesthouse. I even took a nap in the hammock. At about 1pm, Nixon came back and then we were on our way back to Jacmel.

As I write about our weekend you would think it all sounds pretty boring. I gotta say that it was a WONDERFUL WEEKEND! (even though I missed our boys, just a little)

David Sang

"David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him form the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.1

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;"

How many times have I read this verse? It is funny how scripture means different things
during different times in our lives. This verse meant so much to me today. Lately I have been remembering George Muller and how he would face some terribly busy days. He would say something like, "I have so much today, I need to pray 3 hours instead of my 2 hours".
And so I have been making it a point to not miss my quiet time with the Lord. I am so glad I had read David's words of praise. They were brought to my heart today just when I needed them.
Father, thank you for being there for me.
I pray David's words would remind all of you of God's presence in a very special way.

I am so thankful!

I wasn't really gonna say much about it until at least a significant amount of weight was lost.
I am finishing up my 5th week of Weight Watchers and have finally reached the 10 pound mark.
I weighed myself this morning. I am soooooo happpyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!
I have gained weight pretty steadily since I got married. I gained 2/3 of the 30 pounds in the last year. I was really feeling miserable about the weight gain. Not only could I see it but it also was making me feel weary. And Gwenn and I insist that chubber people feel the heat more and the heat can be UNBEARABLE here in Haiti. Wanting to get pregnant gave me that very last push I needed.
Like I think I said before, I am going into WW for the long haul this time. I don't want to have the mentality that after 30 lbs I can quit or after 50lbs or whatever. I want to keep going and when I stop losing weight then I keep monitoring my points and maintaining.
I used to get so upset thinking why some people have that challenge and some can stuff their little skinny faces and not gain an ounce. Well, not all people have the same cross to carry. That is just the way it is.
Anyway, I am so thankful. Some of you know how hard it is to lose weight. I know I could not do it without the Lord's strength.
Yey, I am now 10 lbs lighter. Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My newest cake creation

About 6 months ago I learned to make flowers

I love flowers! I premade all these roses and just froze

them. This was my first time basket weaving.

I don't really have patterns down, must have missed it

in kindergarten. It was really hard for me.

When I was a teenager I just loved the thought of queens

princesses. I really iked making this cake. And I loved the little

flowers surrounding the dress. I think all the Pye girls really

loved this one.

For Leann, of course. This was the easiest cake ever!

I actually really liked making this Haiti Air plane. It

took a while and kind of ended up looking like Thomas

the train's cousin. I liked it though.

This one has been my most creative cake-for Elinda

This was one of my first ones-for Slandia

This was also one of my beginner cakes, off of

the Family Fun website, good directions

This was also one of the first cakes, it started

getting more elaborate after this one.

This might have been my first or second cake, for Lovely

I kind of thought it was a bit scarry, an Ariel nightmare.

a homemade chocolate cake for the main guitar piece

Mini pound cakes for the longer piece.

I never thought it would turn out this good. "Mi Madre"

Dum Dums for the tuner knobs, brads for the blue and green dots

you see, and icing strings.

I actually don't think I have blogged my cakes before, at least I don't remember doing it.

I guess I started my cake making about a year ago when we were staying at the Pye's after Hurricane Gustav had wiped us out. I don't quite remember what my first cake was. I think I striked a deal that I would make a cake for Leann's kids birthdays. I have missed a few since then but I really enjoy making cakes for them. I also make cakes for some Joy In Hope employees and their kids. It is kind of like a ministry for me. Actually, I make them for short term mission trip team members with a birthday or special occassion. It is fun and I've learned a lot since I started.

Actually, I think I have been making cakes for near 2 years now since I know I have made two birthday cakes for some of the Pye kids already.

Today I made a guitar cake for Mackenson and Mackendy, twin teenage boys at the Pye's.

It took me about 8 hours to complete, including baking time. The result was incredible.

I think I have a new favorite.

And during my many cake decorating hours I started to realize that I could make some money making cakes one day. LOL! Here are some of my cakes I've made in the past and my newest creation.

Since I started I've had many friends give me "tips", "pans", "colors", and other supplies.

Thanks so much guys.

The things that thrill me.

I was thinking about how amazing it is that our boys have changed so much over the course of 1 year.
Then I started thinking about how much I have changed over the course of 3 years. I have lived in Haiti for near 3 years now. I remember that I had a boring weekend every now and then when I was back home in Texas. I would plan a day with my mom or Norma would plan a day of Mall, Movie, and a Meal. Still, I was rather dissatisfied at the end of the day.
Lately, Nixon and I have run out of movies to watch. So this weekend I decided that we were gonna play games. Plus we had a sick kid and a very bored one, so we needed to keep an eye on him and at the same time entertain him. Actually, that is rather complicated.
Anyway, Nixon played this dorky little Bible Memory game with one of our boys then it turned into pretty much all the boys wanted to play. I can imagine noses turning up to our rinky dink Memory game back home. LOL. We also played Go Fish with another Bible card set.
Then we all played Sequence. I actually had some things to do but Nixon played for an endless amount of time with the boys. Then I discovered Yahtzee, always have wanted to learn to play this one. I made Nixon play about 3 times on Sunday. I was just happy as a clam. It doesn't take very much to make me happy as a clam since I moved to Haiti.
This morning I needed to run some errands, which Nixon ussually does, so I asked to borrow a car and went to the Pye house, money exchange shop, downtown and then to drop Lucette off at home so she could take care of her sick son. I came back feeling refreshed, kind of like I had been to the Mall or something. Ok, maybe not like that but it was nice. I was "happy as a clam". LOL!

Junior Church-More on the Creation Series

Nixon says we cant help loving kids

Colored sand fish plate

Solar system mobile, then the kids got to

make their own (simplified version)

We made the cutest eagle craft out of leftover

bags from VBS. They are too cute!

The kids loved this project. I cut enough for

90 children. I will admit that I got sick of cutting:(

It was soooo worth it though.

I just had to take a picture of this little girl.

No, she wasn't going to a wedding. This was

just her church outfit.

Of course Nixon thought she was the most

beautiful little girl and hopes to dress our

daughter in the same type of outfits for church.

You've got to be kidding me!

Our Junior church program is up to about 90

children per Sunday!

I am so excited about the Creation series that we are still working on with the kids.

It is going really well and the children are learning so much about God's amazing world.

We've talked about the sun and the earth, that the earth spins on it's axis, that it orbits the sun.

The kids found this really interesting and it is exciting to see them "get it".

Nixon explained to me that although they learn so many facts in school, there is not alot of really understanding. And there is no "hands-on" either.

I made a Solar System mobile to give the kids understanding of our solar system. Then we took it a step farther and used children, naming them the sun, earth, jupiter, etc, placed them in different locations and then moved the sun around in order to demonstrate night and day. It was really really cool. We also have been playing a find your planet partner game.

When we talked about plants and trees we worked on a banana tree craft, and had a banana bread snack. The week before last we talked about fish and how amazing it is that God colors the fish with so many vibrant colors. We had fruit rings for a snack, to remind them the colors God uses. We've also begun to have a classroom for watching Planet Earth. I love this! The kids are actually watching incredible footage about God' powerful and Awesome works. Actually, last week the power kept going out so Nixon was incredibly frustrated, having to restart the projector and film way too often (actually like every 5 minutes) (It was terrible but that is how things often go in this country.)

That is actually not the only challenge we've been facing. Since school has now started, the program has grown to 90 children a week, on average. Yikes!!

Anyway, I have really enjoyed working on this series. And I am so glad that I am excited about Junior church. For a while there, I was just feeling really blah about it. God has used this series to also refresh and renew me. Thanks be to God! I cannot say just how much I needed a breath of fresh air. We will be talking about reptiles next week. Yey!

Let me know if anyone has any ideas.:)

Mackenson's Birthday:)

Jn Robert yelled, "wait", as I was gonna take the picture.

He wanted to be a part of the cake eating group too.

Left: Here are the shoes that they all

decided they should wear in honor of

Mackenson's birthday.

Mackenson had a wonderful birthday.

We ussually celebrate here in the home with cake and a small gift. There was marching and singing as they came up. What in the world!? The boys were wearing their "good" shoes in honor of the birthday. It was hilarious! These boys are so crazy but so wonderful. We had a great time.

I made Mackenson a nice cake. He was so funny making kind of a story out of his cake. He said it was the beach and that he was playing soccer on the beach and he had just head butted the ball. He was really tickled. And I was tickled too, remembering that Mackenson is 20 and still got a kick out of his cake.

"Madam Nixon made it just for me", he boasted.

Happy Birthday Mackenson! Elira's birthday is just around the corner. I think I will stick with the little men for their cakes since they really liked Mackenson's.

:) May God continue to Bless our boys.

CLICK ON THE BOY'S HOME LINK TO THE LEFT TO SEE WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON IN THE JOY IN HOPE BOY'S HOME. WE ARE OFF TO A GOOD START:)