Home Sweet Home!

Our New Home

Finally! It is with great joy and relief that I can say we are in our house! For us it has been a long time coming and we are thrilled to have a place to officially call home. We have been very busy over the last couple of months with teams from the D.C. area, Virginia, Missouri, Iowa and new friends from Indiana and Ohio. It has been so much fun getting to meet different people from all over the U. S. and getting to see old friends from home.

Groups have been very busy this fall! One group in particular is responsible for where we find ourselves tonight, in our own home with power 24/7. (Ok, so there is a little problem with our inverter system, but we should have a solution to it within the next week. The inverter is what allows us to have power all the time.) In one week in early November this group of men and women made all the screens for our house, which was an absolute must for me to move in, finished most of the tiling, finished nearly all of the painting, finished enough plumbing for a working toilet and sinks, built bookshelves, a table, shelves in the kitchen and hung kitchen cabinets! Oh yes, and I can’t forget to mention that they painted nearly all the gates for our windows and doors with very little complaining. It was a shame that they didn’t get to be the ones to move us in! But, we know they are happy just to know we are living here now. Having our house finished really put the “thanks” in Thanksgiving!

Another blessing to us was the arrival of some family. Two of Jared’s sisters, Beth and Tiffany, and Tiff’s husband Steve were here a couple of weeks ago. They had the honor of helping us move in on November 16. I told them I feel guilty because of the number of times they have helped us move. I was fully expecting to be in the house long before they got here. As with everything in Haiti, it is a slow process. It was great to have them here and the kids couldn’t get enough of their aunts. I am sure if it had been an option they would have easily let themselves be packed away in suitcases. But, as it is said, all good things come to an end. Seeing them off has been one of the hardest things we’ve had to do.

A Family Photo before saying goodbye at the Pignon Airport

Speaking of Thanksgiving and blessings, I am sure some of you are curious as to how we spent the holiday last week. I have to admit I was surprised by how much I am missing the holiday season in Iowa. We were invited along with other Americans from the area to a barbeque for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so awesome to us! There was a feast laid before us like nothing I’ve seen before. We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, potato salad, cooked veggies, BBQ pork, corn and mac, fresh bread, rolls, brownies, pies, ice cream and, lest I forget, Krispy Kreme donuts! I can tell you this much: it took a lot of planning to get some of those things here to Pignon.

The weather here is still very warm, and we spend much of our days sweating it out, literally. We are still in shorts (or skirts) and t-shirts and can’t even begin to sing songs like “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas!” Jared got his guitar out the other day and was playing Jingle Bells until he realized it was a totally absurd song for Haiti. I also don’t anticipate that we’ll be roasting any chestnuts over an open fire either. I did manage to get out our Christmas CD’s, but it still doesn’t sink in that Christmas is only three weeks from Friday!

I am attempting to get my holiday shopping done via internet, and I am getting somewhat annoyed. This is the first year I haven’t participated in at least some form of Black Friday shopping in years. So I am cyber-shopping, and I stink at it about as much as store shopping. I tried twice to get the Amazon.com lightning deals, and both times my connection was so slow that by the time I got to checkout I lost the deal! I took that as a sign that I am supposed to give up and shop a lot less for this year’s gifts. Fortunately our kids don’t have any major requests! Besides, I think between grandparents and aunts and uncles the kids will not suffer at all. Did I mention Grandma and Grandpa Nikkel are coming in just over a week?

More to come….sooner than last time, I promise!