Lenord loves to sing to Eva and she loves the sound of daddy's voice.
Altanise and Eva
Hanging out with grandma Bonnegre
Sunday, January 29, 2012
5 Months
My baby girl is 5 months old. Time just seems to slip by without waiting on anyone. It seems she was just a small, delicate bundle that we brought home from the clinic. Somehow they grow before you can blink twice. I want to enjoy my little girl to the fullest in every stage of life.
Lenord loves to sing to Eva and she loves the sound of daddy's voice.
Altanise and Eva
Hanging out with grandma Bonnegre
Lenord loves to sing to Eva and she loves the sound of daddy's voice.
Altanise and Eva
Hanging out with grandma Bonnegre
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Robbery
Robbery...It always happens to someone else. But not this time. Wed night we had a staff meeting to discuss the meeting we would have with a few of the employees the next day. It ended around 10 and I still needed to type up a few things. I went to bed right around 12. I had a hard time sleeping, which is usual right now being 8 months pregnant. I would doze off and then wake up again. I heard the dogs barking all night but thought nothing off it. They often bark at rats or cats. There was a time or two I thought of yelling out at them to be quiet but I was too tired. At 2:30 I woke up and had to go to the bathroom and like usual I slipped into my slippers and headed for the door. I had just opened up our bedroom door and stepped outside when I heard glass SHATTERING!!! I quickly rushed back into our room and closed the door. I woke up Doudou and frantically told him that something is in our house. He was sleeping deeply and said it's nothing until I shook him again and he jumped up and glanced out our bedroom window. We went out into the living room/kitchen and didn't see anything but I told him it sounded like it came from the spare room. He glanced in the bathroom first and then turned the light on in the spare room. What we saw next will forever be branded in my memory and still gives me goosebumps. There wasn't a window pane in the window and the screen was busted in. Two dresser drawers were hanging half open, a suitcoat and a pair of pants were strung over the open closet door, a backpack and a few items lay strewn on the floor, and several books lay on the bed. We stood there for a split second before we could move.
We rushed back into our room and Doudou called Don and told him and Dale to come down that someone is in the yard. I called the staff girls and told them come over right away. I think everyone thought I was in labor. We waited until we saw Don come out and then we ran out and told them what happened. The girls soon came out and we stood there in the middle of the yard. The men walked around the yard with flashlights to see if the robbers had left or if they were hiding somewhere. They searched everywhere and couldn't see anything. They discovered tho that he must have come over the back wall since some of the razor wire was pushed aside and some vines were hanging over the side. It also looked like a shoe print against the wall. That corner of the yard is very dark behind our house and made it easy for him to climb in unnoticed. Of course we were sleeping so we didn't notice.
The sound of me opening our bedroom door scared him and he seemed to have dove out the window. He had neatly taken out the bottom four window panes and crawled in but in his panic to get out he must have burst thru the remaining window. Outside we found broken glass as well as the four window panes he had laid aside, a box of batteries and a box with a baby carrier in it. There were also dirty hand prints on the wall underneath the window. After making sure noone was hiding inside the wall we went inside and sat there waiting for dawn. Elizabeth and Carrie sat with us until it was daylight out. We discovered he took money out of the mission pouch we had laying on the table which was approx. $250 US, he also took all the cash in Doudou's wallet wich equaled around $25 US. Doudou's backpack was missing plus our computer case. He must have been in the middle of filling my backpack with toothpaste and deoderant when he got scared off. I'm not sure why he didn't take more costly items like computers and cameras instead of cosmetics. We think he escaped over the front gate since we saw shoe prints going up over the gate and the razor wire was parted a bit.
Why this happened, we don't know but it seems there is an enemy trying to destroy the work here. It would be easy to pack up and go home or move somewhere else but are we giving in to fear then?
I have really been struggling with fear, even during the day. Please pray that God would take away that fear and replace it with PEACE.
Don and Dale have been taking turns being night guard, sitting up and making sure noone sneaks in again. Bless their hearts for being willing to do that until we find someone else to for the job.
We find strength in your continued prayers!!!!
We rushed back into our room and Doudou called Don and told him and Dale to come down that someone is in the yard. I called the staff girls and told them come over right away. I think everyone thought I was in labor. We waited until we saw Don come out and then we ran out and told them what happened. The girls soon came out and we stood there in the middle of the yard. The men walked around the yard with flashlights to see if the robbers had left or if they were hiding somewhere. They searched everywhere and couldn't see anything. They discovered tho that he must have come over the back wall since some of the razor wire was pushed aside and some vines were hanging over the side. It also looked like a shoe print against the wall. That corner of the yard is very dark behind our house and made it easy for him to climb in unnoticed. Of course we were sleeping so we didn't notice.
The sound of me opening our bedroom door scared him and he seemed to have dove out the window. He had neatly taken out the bottom four window panes and crawled in but in his panic to get out he must have burst thru the remaining window. Outside we found broken glass as well as the four window panes he had laid aside, a box of batteries and a box with a baby carrier in it. There were also dirty hand prints on the wall underneath the window. After making sure noone was hiding inside the wall we went inside and sat there waiting for dawn. Elizabeth and Carrie sat with us until it was daylight out. We discovered he took money out of the mission pouch we had laying on the table which was approx. $250 US, he also took all the cash in Doudou's wallet wich equaled around $25 US. Doudou's backpack was missing plus our computer case. He must have been in the middle of filling my backpack with toothpaste and deoderant when he got scared off. I'm not sure why he didn't take more costly items like computers and cameras instead of cosmetics. We think he escaped over the front gate since we saw shoe prints going up over the gate and the razor wire was parted a bit.
Why this happened, we don't know but it seems there is an enemy trying to destroy the work here. It would be easy to pack up and go home or move somewhere else but are we giving in to fear then?
I have really been struggling with fear, even during the day. Please pray that God would take away that fear and replace it with PEACE.
Don and Dale have been taking turns being night guard, sitting up and making sure noone sneaks in again. Bless their hearts for being willing to do that until we find someone else to for the job.
We find strength in your continued prayers!!!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Life in the Caribbean
This was a church letter I wrote updating everyone on our work here in Leogane...
As I hear of the cold and snow you guys are “enjoying” I can’t help but thank God that I’m living in the Caribbean right now. :) Although when you think of living in the Caribbean you may think of white sandy beaches, pińa coladas, hammocks, glittering ocean waves, etc. But before you run to your nearest travel agency let me tell you a little bit more about my Caribbean life.
My Caribbean life consists of dirty dishes, laundry, buying diesel, dusty road trips to Port, sitting in traffic jams for hours on end, getting mobbed by knife-wielding gangsters (more on that later), and of course the “rubble pile”. It doesn’t sound glamorous but it has been worthwhile. God never gives us more then we can bear.
Life in Haiti seems so uncertain at times. Lenord, Kristi (my sister), and I were on our way back from a trip out to our home in the country one afternoon in November when we came across a road block. It was about a week before elections so of course we figured it had something to do with politics. We thought we’d just wait it out and parked under a shade tree beside the road back far enough that we figured we could turn around quickly if we needed to. One of the other staff girls and a few of our employees had been out in another part of the country and happened to be ahead of us and also got caught in the block, so we called them and told them to turn around if possible and wait with us. Well within 10 minutes we noticed a group of young men with long knives talking to a vehicle several hundred feet in front of us commanding him to park his truck across the road or they would slice his tires. I didn’t realize what they were doing till they had surrounded us demanding that we park our truck across the road too. Each had some kind of knife in hand and threatened that if we don’t park where they want us to they will slice all our tires. In a daze, I angled the truck across the road. They commanded that everyone get out, lock our doors and hold on to our keys. My sister, not understanding Creole, was a bit uncertain as to what we were doing since there was guy at her door with a knife waiting to open it up. I told her just to get out of the vehicle and lock her door. She wondered if she could atleast bring her computer. I was like “no” let’s just get out of here. So with shaking knees we managed to climb out and stood beside the road and waited. The other staff girl wasn’t sure if they should make a run for it and see if they could escape or if they should wait. She decided to make a run for it which created an instant pursuit with the men yelling and running after her. They threw a few rocks which hit the vehicle but didn’t do much damage. She was able to get away and went and waited at a friend’s house several miles down the road. By then the police came and were inching their way around the vehicles, looking for the group of guys. A few feet down the road they stopped and 2 policemen stepped out of their truck, guns drawn. We decided this may be a good time to go hide since we didn’t think it would be enjoyable to get caught in the middle of a gun fight. There were a few bystanders there and they all agreed we should quickly move our vehicle off the road while the guys were down the road quite a ways. So I hurriedly backed the truck into an alley as far as I could which was only about 50’ off the road. We checked to see if we had a tarp to cover the front so that they wouldn’t notice that our vehicle was moved off the road. Unfortunately we didn’t have one so we just locked the doors and Kristi and I hid behind a small tin shack that was close by the truck. When you’re white you never blend in real well so we opted to stay out of sight. Lenord changed into another shirt since they seemed to be able to pick out his bright orange shirt every time they marched past. God must have been watching over us cuz when they first noticed that we moved our vehicle all they said was “Hummm….you guys moved your vehicle. If we’d have taken your keys you wouldn’t have” and kept walking. There were vehicles of all sizes parked all over the road. We heard they sliced 10 big vehicles’ tires on the other side of the block. This all started around 1:00 p.m. It was now around 3:00. We heard helicopters overhead and then fade in the distance. Soon we heard that the UN was there with their big tankers but they were just sitting there watching. We then heard some gunfire not too far away. Kristi and I looked around trying to decide where we could hide if the men headed back our little alley. There was an old outhouse…I peered in just see if we could both hide in it. There was a barbed wire fence that stretched out either way behind the outhouse. So it was either the outhouse or jump the fence and run. We continued to wait while Lenord kept watch out by the road and occasionally came back with a new report. We thought of trying to leave while most of the action was going on further up the road out of sight but there were 2 ladies that were sitting at the end of the alley who were with the “group”. We were scared they would alert the men and then we’d really be history. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally another vehicle came and parked right in front of the alley where we were parked. So that eliminated our plan of escape. We discovered the guy in the vehicle was a *Magistrate from Port-au-Prince. He was on his way in to Port and got stuck just like we did. (To this day he has kept contact with us and even invited us to his house for a meal.) So here we were, feeling like prisoners and not sure when this would all be over. The story we heard that caused the whole road block was that there was a group of men that had gone out and torn up some of the candidates posters one night. They arrested two of the men and this was the third day they were being tried in court. The judge told them that he would release them if they agreed to vote for a certain candidate (obviously the one the judge was going to vote for). This, of course, caused some unrest and the gang on the street decided to take to the streets in protest. They threw a large tree over the road and that’s where it all started. They said they were willing to stay out all night if the judge doesn’t release them. This was not sounding hopeful. Finally we heard the news that they released one guy. Now how long would we continue to wait? We discussed the option of following the magistrate in his vehicle to see if they would let us through. One of his “friends” was one of the gangsters and so he thought he could possibly talk him into letting us thru. Then we thought of the other staff girl who was waiting back at a friend’s house. We wanted to try and stay together to travel home so we decided to wait. Around 5:30 we finally got the news that they released the second guy. Thank God!! Soon we heard vehicles revving their motors so we knew they were opening the road. We called the ones who were waiting and told them to quickly rush down here before the men decide to change their mind. They were there within 15 minutes but it took probably 30 minutes to an hour before traffic started flowing smoothly and we were actually on our way home. We thanked God over and over for His protection that afternoon.
The one year anniversary (1/12/10) of the quake brought back so many memories but we are so grateful to God for his mercy in protecting us. There is a not a day that goes by that we don’t remember that horrible day. There are so many reminders…cracks in the wall, tremors (just last week we had another tremor), sounds of rebuilding, and piles of rubble. Every night I go to bed wondering if I’ll wake up underneath a pile of rubble. Tremors make our heart rate speed up and send us running out of our houses only to laugh together at how scared we all are…and then a door slams and we all jump again. Daily I need to give my fear to God. I know He holds the universe in His hands.
We have hosted quite a few groups who have come to clean up rubble here in Leogane. Lenord and I are in charge of picking them up at the airport, scheduling cleanup jobs, and translating, along with many other things that come up. We plan to be here in Leogane until April. Hopefully we’ll be able to come to the states this summer sometime.
We are in the process of building a 2 room house out in PasBwadom (where Lenord is from). The front room will be used for the “communications center” that we are operating right now. The back room will be used to store our things and also a room to stay in while we are in PasBwadom allowing his mother to move back into her house. We are ready to put the roof on and cement the floor. God has been good and provided our needs in His own timing.
Well I see this letter has become longer than I expected so I need to sign off. Thank you all so much for praying for us here in Haiti!!! We would love to see you all again.
Because of His mercy,
Trish (and Lenord)
(PS. There is a blog site that you can visit for the Girl’s Home where we are at right now tifiyo4jesus.blogspot.com)
As I hear of the cold and snow you guys are “enjoying” I can’t help but thank God that I’m living in the Caribbean right now. :) Although when you think of living in the Caribbean you may think of white sandy beaches, pińa coladas, hammocks, glittering ocean waves, etc. But before you run to your nearest travel agency let me tell you a little bit more about my Caribbean life.
My Caribbean life consists of dirty dishes, laundry, buying diesel, dusty road trips to Port, sitting in traffic jams for hours on end, getting mobbed by knife-wielding gangsters (more on that later), and of course the “rubble pile”. It doesn’t sound glamorous but it has been worthwhile. God never gives us more then we can bear.
Life in Haiti seems so uncertain at times. Lenord, Kristi (my sister), and I were on our way back from a trip out to our home in the country one afternoon in November when we came across a road block. It was about a week before elections so of course we figured it had something to do with politics. We thought we’d just wait it out and parked under a shade tree beside the road back far enough that we figured we could turn around quickly if we needed to. One of the other staff girls and a few of our employees had been out in another part of the country and happened to be ahead of us and also got caught in the block, so we called them and told them to turn around if possible and wait with us. Well within 10 minutes we noticed a group of young men with long knives talking to a vehicle several hundred feet in front of us commanding him to park his truck across the road or they would slice his tires. I didn’t realize what they were doing till they had surrounded us demanding that we park our truck across the road too. Each had some kind of knife in hand and threatened that if we don’t park where they want us to they will slice all our tires. In a daze, I angled the truck across the road. They commanded that everyone get out, lock our doors and hold on to our keys. My sister, not understanding Creole, was a bit uncertain as to what we were doing since there was guy at her door with a knife waiting to open it up. I told her just to get out of the vehicle and lock her door. She wondered if she could atleast bring her computer. I was like “no” let’s just get out of here. So with shaking knees we managed to climb out and stood beside the road and waited. The other staff girl wasn’t sure if they should make a run for it and see if they could escape or if they should wait. She decided to make a run for it which created an instant pursuit with the men yelling and running after her. They threw a few rocks which hit the vehicle but didn’t do much damage. She was able to get away and went and waited at a friend’s house several miles down the road. By then the police came and were inching their way around the vehicles, looking for the group of guys. A few feet down the road they stopped and 2 policemen stepped out of their truck, guns drawn. We decided this may be a good time to go hide since we didn’t think it would be enjoyable to get caught in the middle of a gun fight. There were a few bystanders there and they all agreed we should quickly move our vehicle off the road while the guys were down the road quite a ways. So I hurriedly backed the truck into an alley as far as I could which was only about 50’ off the road. We checked to see if we had a tarp to cover the front so that they wouldn’t notice that our vehicle was moved off the road. Unfortunately we didn’t have one so we just locked the doors and Kristi and I hid behind a small tin shack that was close by the truck. When you’re white you never blend in real well so we opted to stay out of sight. Lenord changed into another shirt since they seemed to be able to pick out his bright orange shirt every time they marched past. God must have been watching over us cuz when they first noticed that we moved our vehicle all they said was “Hummm….you guys moved your vehicle. If we’d have taken your keys you wouldn’t have” and kept walking. There were vehicles of all sizes parked all over the road. We heard they sliced 10 big vehicles’ tires on the other side of the block. This all started around 1:00 p.m. It was now around 3:00. We heard helicopters overhead and then fade in the distance. Soon we heard that the UN was there with their big tankers but they were just sitting there watching. We then heard some gunfire not too far away. Kristi and I looked around trying to decide where we could hide if the men headed back our little alley. There was an old outhouse…I peered in just see if we could both hide in it. There was a barbed wire fence that stretched out either way behind the outhouse. So it was either the outhouse or jump the fence and run. We continued to wait while Lenord kept watch out by the road and occasionally came back with a new report. We thought of trying to leave while most of the action was going on further up the road out of sight but there were 2 ladies that were sitting at the end of the alley who were with the “group”. We were scared they would alert the men and then we’d really be history. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally another vehicle came and parked right in front of the alley where we were parked. So that eliminated our plan of escape. We discovered the guy in the vehicle was a *Magistrate from Port-au-Prince. He was on his way in to Port and got stuck just like we did. (To this day he has kept contact with us and even invited us to his house for a meal.) So here we were, feeling like prisoners and not sure when this would all be over. The story we heard that caused the whole road block was that there was a group of men that had gone out and torn up some of the candidates posters one night. They arrested two of the men and this was the third day they were being tried in court. The judge told them that he would release them if they agreed to vote for a certain candidate (obviously the one the judge was going to vote for). This, of course, caused some unrest and the gang on the street decided to take to the streets in protest. They threw a large tree over the road and that’s where it all started. They said they were willing to stay out all night if the judge doesn’t release them. This was not sounding hopeful. Finally we heard the news that they released one guy. Now how long would we continue to wait? We discussed the option of following the magistrate in his vehicle to see if they would let us through. One of his “friends” was one of the gangsters and so he thought he could possibly talk him into letting us thru. Then we thought of the other staff girl who was waiting back at a friend’s house. We wanted to try and stay together to travel home so we decided to wait. Around 5:30 we finally got the news that they released the second guy. Thank God!! Soon we heard vehicles revving their motors so we knew they were opening the road. We called the ones who were waiting and told them to quickly rush down here before the men decide to change their mind. They were there within 15 minutes but it took probably 30 minutes to an hour before traffic started flowing smoothly and we were actually on our way home. We thanked God over and over for His protection that afternoon.
The one year anniversary (1/12/10) of the quake brought back so many memories but we are so grateful to God for his mercy in protecting us. There is a not a day that goes by that we don’t remember that horrible day. There are so many reminders…cracks in the wall, tremors (just last week we had another tremor), sounds of rebuilding, and piles of rubble. Every night I go to bed wondering if I’ll wake up underneath a pile of rubble. Tremors make our heart rate speed up and send us running out of our houses only to laugh together at how scared we all are…and then a door slams and we all jump again. Daily I need to give my fear to God. I know He holds the universe in His hands.
We have hosted quite a few groups who have come to clean up rubble here in Leogane. Lenord and I are in charge of picking them up at the airport, scheduling cleanup jobs, and translating, along with many other things that come up. We plan to be here in Leogane until April. Hopefully we’ll be able to come to the states this summer sometime.
We are in the process of building a 2 room house out in PasBwadom (where Lenord is from). The front room will be used for the “communications center” that we are operating right now. The back room will be used to store our things and also a room to stay in while we are in PasBwadom allowing his mother to move back into her house. We are ready to put the roof on and cement the floor. God has been good and provided our needs in His own timing.
Well I see this letter has become longer than I expected so I need to sign off. Thank you all so much for praying for us here in Haiti!!! We would love to see you all again.
Because of His mercy,
Trish (and Lenord)
(PS. There is a blog site that you can visit for the Girl’s Home where we are at right now tifiyo4jesus.blogspot.com)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Update
Well it's been awhile since I've updated. Seems we've been so busy the last few months. Lenord and I got married May 1. I will try and upload some pics soon. We spent a month out in Pas Boi domme then came to Leogane to help with earthquake cleanup. My parents and younger brother are here to coordinate the clean up project. Since they don't know the language we are here helping with translating and also helping in the kitchen.
Please continue to pray for us. The work here is enormous and sometimes we feel like we are being stretched to the limit. But God's grace is sufficient.
Have a good day of worship.
Please continue to pray for us. The work here is enormous and sometimes we feel like we are being stretched to the limit. But God's grace is sufficient.
Have a good day of worship.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Clean-Up in Leogane
Life in Leogane stays interesting with many visitors coming and going. There are still 3 doctors that come and stay here every week. They continue to work here in the community. They've started leaving on Friday giving us a weekend break. Clay and Omi came yesterday and are filling in for Dwayne and Heidi while they're at home. Water for Life has been here several nights since they are drilling wells here in the area. Emily is back as well after being gone for 2 months.
Clean-up seems to have started here in Leogane. Some of the schools and government places have been cleaned away. The UN is working every day at removing the debris as well as other groups. People have been dumping lots of debris in the street so that the governmnet comes to pick it up. For awhile there we had only a one way street here on the main road in Leogane. There are still many, many houses that need to be cleared away or torn down.
Yesterday we had another LOUD tremor. Normally we hear them before we feel them. This one came roaring in sending us scurrying out of the houses. It was hard enough that we could hear people in the street yelling out of fear. It brings back so many dark memories and makes the heart beat ten times faster. When will the tremors be over??? Most of us sleep inside except for the little girls and our Haitian yard ladies. They slept inside for several weeks and then decided they'd rather sleep outside again. I'm sure there are many people that will live in tents for several years. Either because of fear or because they have no means to reconstruct another house.
Please breathe a prayer for Haiti as you read this blog...
Clean-up seems to have started here in Leogane. Some of the schools and government places have been cleaned away. The UN is working every day at removing the debris as well as other groups. People have been dumping lots of debris in the street so that the governmnet comes to pick it up. For awhile there we had only a one way street here on the main road in Leogane. There are still many, many houses that need to be cleared away or torn down.
Yesterday we had another LOUD tremor. Normally we hear them before we feel them. This one came roaring in sending us scurrying out of the houses. It was hard enough that we could hear people in the street yelling out of fear. It brings back so many dark memories and makes the heart beat ten times faster. When will the tremors be over??? Most of us sleep inside except for the little girls and our Haitian yard ladies. They slept inside for several weeks and then decided they'd rather sleep outside again. I'm sure there are many people that will live in tents for several years. Either because of fear or because they have no means to reconstruct another house.
Please breathe a prayer for Haiti as you read this blog...
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Rice Project
Thank you to the ones that contributed to the rice project.I was able to buy ten small bags of rice and a case of cooking oil.
I gave 4 bags of rice and the oil to this pastor who's church was destroyed in the quake only a mile or so down the road.
I gave 4 bags of rice and the oil to this pastor who's church was destroyed in the quake only a mile or so down the road.
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