Hey everyone!  I hope that you have enjoyed the last several pictures that I have posted of Micah.  We wanted to make sure that all of you got to see him as we do everyday, as a sweet and happy little boy.

Well like the title for this post suggests it is now officially the rainy season here in Port-de-Paix.  Lorraine and I know this for sure, because it has rained more here in the last two weeks than it did the entire four months we were here last spring.  Pretty much every day or night it rains at least a little bit.  The good thing about this is that it keeps the temperature down nice and cool and brings in a cool and refreshing breeze, but the bad thing is that everything is muddy and sopping wet.  I must admit, though, it is kind of nice to be experiencing this consistent rain.  As I said previously, last spring we didn’t get much rain here in Haiti, and then over our furlow time in Arizona we certainly didn’t get much rain either.  The rain now kind of breaks up the monotony of beautiful sunshining days.

As many of you know, this was our first official week back teaching.  Right, smack dab in the middle, of our week, though, we had a day off, because it was a Haitian Holiday.  On Tuesday, the Haitians celebrated the Battle of Vertieres.  This was the last major battle, which eventually led to Haiti claiming its’ independence from France.  When I asked all of my High School students what this Holiday was and what it was about, the only thing that they could really tell me was that it was “fighting day.”  I told them that this was a little too ambiguous, but that was all I could really get out of them.  I had to do a little digging myself to find out what Haitian Holiday happened every year on November 18th.

For our first week, I must say that everything went very well.  All of the students were happy to have us back, and we got adjusted into our classes and the new subjects extremely well.  My (Kyle) load is going to be pretty heavy as I suspected, but very workable; and in many ways, much more workable than I originally thought.  Lorraine’s classes went well too.  She decided to go ahead and get her feet into the Second Grade class, and she seems to really enjoy it.  It is big difference from High School literature and grammar, but the little kids are in many ways and in different ways easier to deal with.  My Bible College students have been so happy to see me back and to have classes with me, which certainly makes me feel good, and helps affirm that we are, at least for now, where God wants us to be.

The only issues that we are still dealing with are house issues.  We have mosquito and ant problems, which mostly everybody else here also has, but we also have some pretty serious bathroom issues.  The other main issue we have is what is going to happen in the next couple of weeks with a maid.  The maid we have right now is not ours to keep after this coming week, and so the search for a good one will be on after this week.  Plus, we are trying to figure out our schedules to see how logistically we are going to work things out with teaching and with Micah.  The next maid we hire may also have skills as being a nanny, and so that may be a viable option, or we may be able to give Micah to Emily whom watches two of the other little ones during the last periods of school.  I just ask that you pray for us and all of these above things.  These are issues that need to figured out and figured out effectively, and so we want to seek God for his guidance.

Well thats it for now!  Next week we will have several days off for Thanksgiving, and so we will look forward to using the time to get some other logistical things taken care of.  Blessings to you all!

Now for the final installment!  After finishing our stay in Virginia with my (Kyle) parents, we knew the last part of our journey back to Haiti may be just as crazy as every other part.  The reason for this was because we were going to have to stay a night in Port-au-Prince, which we had never done before.  But also because this would little Micah’s first flights in airplanes, and we just didn’t know he would react.

Our flight was to leave Reagan National at around 6am.  This is extremely early, especially for a young family with a two-month old, but nevertheless it was the time of our departure.  The nights leading up to this we tried to get more sleep than normal, but it just didn’t happen, because of how much time and energy it took to figure out our suitcase-packing scenario.  The scenario is that we had to get all of our stuff, plus all of Micah’s stuff, plus all the stuff we need for our new house, in four suitcases that weigh less than 51 pounds.  Yikes!  We had a tough enough time last spring when just Lorraine and I went for just 4 months, and this time all three of us are going to be there 2 years.  We had to go out and buy a scale to make sure everything would fit, and then were constantly in the process of taking stuff out or putting stuff in different suitcases; it was craziness I tell you.  We finally got our things in order and so we next just had to wait and see how things would be at the airport at check-in.  When we arrived everything was a bit crazy with so much luggage, but all of it ended being the right amount and our first worries were subsided.

After leaving DC, we knew had over a 5 hour layover in Miami.  Long layovers are never fun no matter what airport you are in, and especially for us in the Miami international terminal.  We waited and waited and finally after some delays our plane left for Port-au-Prince.  For me, arriving in Port-au-Prince is the craziest part, because you have to find all of your luggage, go through customs, and then run through gauntlet outside the airport exit to your taxi service.  This process actually went better than the last time, because the Haitian that we were meeting was inside the door waiting for us to take us to our Hotel.  Our Hotel was pretty nice as well, and so we had a nice meal and went to bed early.

The next morning we were set to be flown away to our city of Port-de-Paix.  Everything went as planned with our taxi and our flight, and so we ended up in Port-de-Paix just in time to have lunch with some of our fellow teachers.  I must say, though, that Lorraine was very worried about how Micah would do on the flight from Port-au-Prince to Port-de-Paix, because the plane was a lot smaller, hotter, stinkier, and slightly less pressurized.  The first time Lorraine flew on this small plane she had terrible ear problems, and so she was mostly worried that Micah would have the same; but the good news is that he didn’t.

So we are back in Haiti!  Being back, at first felt a little surreal; not much has changed, except for some of our staff.  It also felt very refreshing in some ways and very normal.  We have both been waiting to get back, even though it always seemed so far off in the distance.  It was just a little surreal that the time had come so fast.

Since we have been here we have been mostly focusing on getting our home (apartment) set-up, which has not been easy.  We have not been able to find stuff we left here or sent to the boat, and so there have been some minor frustrations, but ultimately we are excited about being here and starting to work again next week.  Next week I really hit the ground running with all of my Bible College classes and one of my high school classes.  Lorraine is picking up a grammar class that she taught last spring, but that will be all that she teaches until January.

Please continue to pray for us!  Pray for safety and especially health for all three of us.  Pray for Micah adjusting to a new home.  Pray that we are able to meet all of our financial support.  Pray that we can make an impact on our students.  Just pray for us!  Thanks and many blessings for all of you!

Kyle and Lorraine

I must start off this post by picking up where I left off in the previous post.  Well after all the excitement that we had in our last few weeks in Arizona, the excitement was only to increase, but so also was the stress factor.  Especially since we were about to embark on a cross-country journey with a six week old boy, whom up until this point really didn’t like riding in his car seat.  The prospect of a cross-country journey for any of the three of us really didn’t sound to appealing, however, it was something we knew that we needed to do, and that we still had a small level of excitement for.  Our excitement and main motivating force was all the family that would be able to meet Micah for the first time, and that is something that Lorraine, I, and Micah were all looking forward to.

So we packed up the car as tightly as possible and we headed east with Springfield Virginia being our ultimate end.  We ended up leaving Arizona on Monday morning at around 7:30, and our goal for the day was to drive to Amarillo Texas.  Now, I must honestly say that there are two main reasons for this: 1) Amarillo gets us close enough to our next destination of Oklahoma, that our driving on Tuesday would be minimal, and 2) At the last minute I found out that our favorite band Sleeping At Last was playing in Amarillo on Monday night.  My thought was that if we got a good day of driving in and made good time we may be able to make it to the show.  The only real variable was Micah: we didn’t know how well he would ride.  He ended up riding like a champ and we were able to not only hear the last three songs, but we were able to go get Denny’s with the band.  It was a great day of traveling I must say!

The next day we got up late and then drove to Oklahoma City where we were scheduled to meet my brother and his new fiance Julianna for dinner.  This was exciting, because Lorraine had never met Julianna and neither my brother nor Julianna had ever met Micah.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with them even though our time was short, but we had to keep on trucking and drive up to Ponca City to see my grandparents.  Now, we were unable to see them that night, but the next day we did see them and spend time with them, and they were able to meet their first great-grandson!  Hooray!

From there we drove to Indiana where we were planning to see Grandparents, three aunts, three uncles and lots of cousins.  We had a great time with all of them and were able to visit one of our supporting churches, First Christian Church of Brazil Indiana for a Sunday morning service.  Sunday evening we left Indiana and began our trek to North Carolina where we would see friends and most of Lorraine’s family.

Before getting to North Carolina, Lorraine and I decided to make a side trip: we stopped at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky to spend a couple hours in spiritual retreat and prayer.  Although our time here was short it was a truly refreshing time that we could dedicate wholly to the Lord.

From Gethsemani, we left to Asheville, North Carolina; to Boone, North Carolina; to Taylorsville, North Carolina; and to Statesville, North Carolina.  This was awesome all the way around except for it being bitterly cold and even a little snowy the first two days.  Micah, I am sure, didn’t know what to think going from 90 degree weather in Phoenix to 10 degree windchills in Boone.  Craziness!  Mostly all of Lorraine’s family were able to meet Micah and spend some time with him, which made Lorraine, I, and especially Micah, very happy!

Finally, we completed our cross-country journey (hence journeyingjoneses) by driving to my parent’s new home in Springfield, Virginia.  We stayed with my parents for about a week, and were able to share our mission and ministry with three different groups from my Dad’s new church, and we were truly blessed by all of them.

All in all, we were truly blessed with our trip: Micah did great; the car did great; everything went as planned; we were able to see family; and we were abundantly provided for the entire way.  The Lord has always been good to Lorraine and I, and we know that His goodness to us, is often a reflection of all of your prayers.  Thanks!

Well this concludes the second part of our Back to Haiti trip, please look for the final update on our journey back to Haiti tomorrow or Thursday!

Kyle and Lorraine

Hey everyone!  Well it has been a little over a month since my last update, and let me tell you that time sure does fly by fast.  At the time of my last post, coming to Haiti still seemed like it was a prospect that was in the distant (or at least somewhat distant) future, and so it is very surreal for us to be here right now.  The last month, though, has flown by for good reason: we have been very busy!

Shortly after the last post, I (Kyle) was asked to preach at the Christian Church of Casa Grande.  They have three services, and so this mean I would have to preach the same sermon three different times.  Now that’s daunting task to put it mildly!  I don’t know how pastor’s do it week and week out, because preaching one sermon is time-consuming, exhausting, and challenging in itself.  From what I could tell the sermon went great, and hopefully it really spoke to people, but that is one thing that one can never truly know.  The comforting thing is that any fruit that comes from any preaching and presenting of the gospel is ultimately brought forth by God and not merely by the presenter.  God knows what he is doing, and so I trust that the seeds that I scattered may be used for bearing fruit when he is ready.

The whole preaching process was one of the last major things that I need to do before we left Arizona, but it was not the last thing.  The week after the sermon Lorraine and I spent getting all of the stuff organized and packed up from our townhome.  We needed to know which stuff needed to go with us to Haiti, which stuff needed to be left with my family in Virginia, and which stuff would actually fit in our little Honda Accord (especially considering our new addition, and all the stuff he needs).  This process actually took a long time and was quite stressful, because we had a lot of stuff to go through, and we ended up having to leave a lot of things behind.  To make this a little more complicated I had to also spend some time preparing for a wedding that I was asked to officiate.

Some friends from CCCG, Brent and Veronica Pons, had asked me to marry them after they found out that my Dad was moving to Virginia.  I,  having not done many weddings nor being officially ordained, agreed to do their wedding for them, because they are good friends.  The wedding turned out great, although I will say that it had its stressful moments.  The wedding, though, was the last major thing on Lorraine and I’s schedule that we needed to accomplish before we left Arizona for our cross-country track to Virginia.

The last small thing (from a responsibility stand-point at least, certainly not a priority stand-point) that we needed to do before we left Arizona was say goodbye to our House Church friends at Parea House community in South Phoenix.  The folks in this community did so much for us while we lived with them that it would take me many more posts to tell you all they did and meant to us (the same could be said of the folks at CCCG).  On our last Sunday with the Parea, they through a going-away party and send-off for us that was truly beautiful and touching.  They cooked a Mediterranean feast with at least 7 different types of Mediterranean themed pizzas with veggies and coucous.  Following dinner, everyone in the community took turns washing Lorraine and I’s feet (which if you would have smelled my feet that night you would know what kind of humility and commitment that took from them).  It was a truly beautiful way to be sent off and to say goodbye to some dear friends.

After saying goodbye to everyone in Arizona, we got up early Monday morning the 20th of October and began our long drive that would eventually take us to Springfield Virginia.  Well there is plenty of other gaps to fill in, so keep your eye out for the next parts!  Blessings!