I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration and are anticipating a new year filled with love, joy, health and prosperity. May you be blessed (in all ways) to be a blessing!

While I didn’t take the week off from work, I did take it off from my office. I spent many hours cooking and baking for Christmas and also for Angelise’s wedding. While I was available to hang out with my daughter during her short break from school in Tulsa, the reality is that we didn’t get too much time together. I was quickly reminded of why it was so difficult for her to focus on school here. She spent her week at rehearsals, at the beach with the Hands and Feet Project, doing hair, helping the Be Like Brit kids prepare for their Christmas Eve presentation and generally visiting with most everyone in the city! Nevertheless, I have been so enjoying having her home for a little bit.

AJay, Alexis & Esther

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After raising two American children in Haiti, Lex and I have quite the repertoire of things that families living in Haiti are likely to miss from America – especially at Christmas time. We are blessed with so many American missionaries that we are able to fellowship with. Three of these families stayed in Haiti for Christmas, along with their children. These families are all making apparent sacrifices to live here and serve the people of Haiti. It was a blessing to be able to invite them over for Christmas dinner and enjoy watching the kids open their gifts.

Missionary Christmas

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Angelise’s wedding was absolutely beautiful and we are so happy for her and Ary (aka “Harry”). As is customary in Haiti, we will now call Angelise Madame Ary. Here are some pictures from their special day.

One of the groups that sang at the wedding

My favorite pic from the wedding – the vows

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In Haiti, the kiss is by far the favorite part of the wedding ceremony. The anticipation of the guests are visibly and audibly apparent as the moment approaches. Lex will often add to the fun by having the groom move down the isle and begin his approach to his bride, culminating in the kiss. He then has the bride do the same. I have to say, Angelise’s approach and kiss were markedly better than Ary’s.

The Kiss – es!

The spread

Some of the wedding party

The Happy Couple

The Happy Bride

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Christmas Eve day we were able to show our support of our students that live at the Be Like Brit orphanage. They put on a special program with singing, dancing and skits.

Christmas Eve at BLB

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Work continued this week at the missionary compound at Cayes Mirliton. This is where we house so many teams coming in to serve in Haiti.

Going from plywood to concrete at the missionary compound

Flooring in the choukoun

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School is on Christmas break, but the medical clinic operated all week with people from our communities receiving medical consultations and medicines for all that ailed them.

Medical Clinic

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We are always so grateful to John Armour for his support. John created the amazing water filtration system that we use at the mission to produce pure water for drinking. He also worked with our Haitian crews to form up the footings for our school construction (among many other things). John is back at MOHI for a few days, specifically to re-route our plumbing and re-install the water system in a new location at the missionary compound. An added benefit is that we were blessed by his preaching ministry this morning in the church service in Thozin.

Welcome back to Haiti John Armour!

This morning at the church in Thozin

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Please join us in praying for a New Year filled with blessings for the people of Haiti. Happy New Year to you all. May your days be filled with love, joy and peace.