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.:)