Here we are….only 5 days until Christmas! It’s hard to believe because things have been so busy and this is a far cry from the white Christmases we are used to! We are back at Canaan after a week in Jacmel with our girls and our family from BC. We had a wonderful week and thought we might get a little bored just hanging out but felt quite busy the whole time. It was just right! I guess 5 kids is a pretty full time job on its own! The kids spent a lot of time swimming in the ocean and the pool. Mom spent a lot of time trying to wash the sand out of every nook and cranny!

Lauren was happy to be with us right off the bat. Melainey took a couple days to warm up to us but after she did we spent a lot of time laughing at her very sweet personality. She is a little character! She scrunches up her nose and grins and then hides behind her hands! She likes to laugh and be silly. She wanted to be held most of the time and towards the end of the week we made a point to put her down and encourage her to explore her surroundings. Pete and Michelle and the kids had a good time I think. We were so happy to see some familiar faces! We picked them up at the airport Tues. afternoon, gave everyone gravol for the ride and headed out on the 3 hour trip through the windy mountain road. We ran into a broken down semi on the way and has to wait a while for that to clear but otherwise arrived without incident.

We went to see ‘Faith and Love’s compound and said Hi to everyone and saw where our kids stayed. Henri took Sheldon and I to town on motorcycle taxis! We had to flag three down and all hop on one because I needed to make a diaper run (two babies go thought em fast!) and get Advil for Dawson. He had quite a headache for a few days. He was determined not to let that slow him down though. Too much fun to be had with the cousins!! I wonder if her didn’t have a bit of what Melissa had. Lauren was sick the last two nights too. In fact, we took her to a clinic that sent us to a lab to test her for Malaria. That was not pleasant, as they had to take some blood from her finger. She cried! She was so feverish at night and would wake up screaming and holding her head but was not coherent until morning. During the day you could tell she wasn’t quite as chipper as normal too. She told us her stomach hurt. Anyway, malaria came back negative but they gave me 5 different medications for her (including malaria meds???) and we gave her the first dosages and made sure Henri would make sure she got the rest. All the kids had a bit of a cold.

We went to church at the home as well on Sunday and that was neat. We saw the little ones who sit at the front on their little chairs. We had a good laugh at Fania who, after a little ‘disagreement’ over the little one next to her being in her personal space, started nodding off! It was the cutest thing and she kept falling and catching herself and I just wanted to scoop her up and let her sleep but couldn’t have without disrupting the whole service. Jesse also was wondering around and came to say hi. He looked a little lost and he laid down on the floor to take a break! By the time I passed off the two babies I was holding to give him some cuddles, another girl had grabbed him and taken him out. I did get some good pictures and will try post more yet.

Monday night Henri came and got the kids because we had to leave early Tuesday. It was so hard to say goodbye! Our friend, Pastor Henri, from Montrouis, sat down with us and explained to the girls (not that the baby understood) that we were leaving but would be back soon and what did they want us to bring them? Lauren was sad but said she would like a dolly. She was happy too, that we put a box of corn flakes in her backpack along with some powdered milk.

We have found a house in Jacmel!! We are planning to go back in January and live with our girls until we can bring them home in April. Keep praying about this with us. Our lawyer is sounding very positive that that will work out. He figures in two more weeks he will pick up our dossiers from IBESR and then do passports and stuff. I told him that we didn’t know for sure if we would live with them for three months if we had to leave them because we are worried about the damage it would do to Lauren. He said again it shouldn’t be a problem. So we are seeking the Lords guidance and to this point are feeling pretty positive about going. We had given up on living there but suddenly this opportunity comes out of the blue and it seems to be a God thing. I am trying to find the balance between being optimistic and believing in faith they will come home with us and being realistic ( “yeah…I’ll believe that when I see it”). God knows. Why would he open this door to go to Jacmel? Even if things don’t work how we hope, we will trust that he will meet the need our girls have when we can’t.

So, it looks as thought the new year will hold a lot of new adjustments once again. We are surprised at how sad we are to leave Canaan as we have developed heart strings to the people and even the place. Just when you start to settle in! Here goes the comfort zone again! Oh well… keeps life interesting! At this point it looks like Melissa and Jaimee want to stay in Canaan and continue in the ministries they have been doing. Carl and Stephanie are thinking they will come with us. We will rent the bottom floor of the YWAM base. We met the guy heading it up. His name is Lubens and he has a 2 year old and an 8 month old. His family will live upstairs along with Bonnie, a lady form Canada who has been teaching at Faith and Love. He said they may even had a vehicle for us that we only need to put gas in! Priase God! Our rent will include the food (prepared even!) and we’ll pay a little extra for a lady to wash our clothes along with theirs.
OK….think I’m boring you by now! I’ll post this and write again soon. I’ll try put a bunch more pictures. Have a great evening and thanks for your prayers! Love in Christ, Sheldon, Kim and crew.