Here Safe~

Greetings, Here we are in Haiti wow, lots of emotions. It's quite the journey to get here 2 flights a night in Miami and another flight early in the morning. A wild ride from the airport and thank you God we are here. Reunited with a few familiar faces and thankful to God for bringing us back. Gabrielle was an amazing traveller and had a great first day exploring Haiti and loving all the animals every where. Feeling thankful tired and blessed. We will write more tomorrow and Lord willing get a few pictures on here for you. Blessings, Chris Rebecca Gaby Jen and Jon!

Returning together at last!

Time to resurrect our blog and tell you all that Chris and I are finally returning to Haiti this April. We've both gone back on 2 separate trips over the past couple years, but there's nothing like going together. What makes this trip even more special is bringing our sweet baby girl Gabrielle (she will be 18 months) with us. I know many of our Haitian friends will be delighted to meet her. We want to bring her to get a glimpse of what it would be like to be in Haiti with a child, as we consider long term missions in the future. We will be bringing friends of ours from our new church family in Innisfail, AB to come and see Haiti. And worship along side our Haitian brothers and sisters. We are going to be updating the Education Fund and participating in a youth conference. Plus many more adventures and times of reconnecting with old friends. My heart feels excited and happy as I think about this upcoming trip. Looking forward to telling our story as we get ready to go and while we are down there!

Haiti I missed you~

Greetings to anyone who's been checking for me to write a blog. I am sorry to report I've had no desire to write. Not sure why but it's like I am treasuring all the moments in my heart. So here I am back in Haiti the place where Chris and I lived for almost a year.
I found the piece of my heart that I left and it has been filled to over flowing with the love and reception I've received coming back.
I honestly am overwhelmed by the love of the people we worked so closely with.
Chris isn't here and everyone constantly asks about him. You never know the impact you have until you leave and come back. I know it was the Lord's doing as we sought him and asked to be led each day.
I am here to update the education fund for all the sponsors back in Canada. So far by the grace of God it is going well. Interesting timing though because the HAM students are on Spring/Easter Break but the Lord has provided a way for the children to come so for that I am thankful.
Next week we will be updating all the college, and high school students which I am looking forward to. It is great to see the improvement and growth in so many of the young students.
I am here with 2 teams from Med Hat and Calgary. They've been really busy helping build the homes and running VBS for the kids. We did a roof pour on the technical school that everyone was involved in that was awesome to witness again.
Today is Saturday and the ladies are planning an afternoon of blessing for the married women of the church. They will have a meal at the beach, go swimming, share testimonies, and do girly type things. I am looking forward to that for sure! We were blessed to be a part of that last year and now again this time. The men of the church are busy preparing the meal. What an encouraging time for the women to be blessed by the men.
Church services have been great and powerful. The prayers, songs and messages have blessed many hearts and you can feel the spirit moving among the people.
Weather has been very humid it has rained pretty much every night. Mangoes are ripe and falling so I've enjoyed munching a few everyday. There is much more to day but this is it for now.
Blessings to you all from Grand Goave.

Going Back!

So I don't know if anyone ever checks this blog to see if we've updated but if you are the lucky one reading this then thank you for taking the time. Sometimes I wonder if we should keep up a blog of our lives. Something Chris and I will talk about.

Well we've been living in Canada for 6 months now. It's been a mix of emotions, highs and lows being back.
But I am thrilled to report I will be headed back to Haiti on March 23rd - April 10th. (Lord willing :) I am going back to help update the education fund sponsor children. I've taken over looking after that part of HAs' ministry since being back here in Canada. It's been a huge blessing and I am a big supporter of Haiti using education to drive them forward. I believe HA is doing amazing things by providing 300 kids with education and Christian at that. So the goal will be to take as many new pictures and get letters written from each of the students who are sponsored and then send them to their sponsor here in Canada. But I hold this plan out with open hands because in Haiti you never know what will happen from one day to the next. My prayer is to be flexible and ready for that, just because I've been there before doesn't mean I won't forget or be anxious to get things done. I need a heart of service, so prayer for preparation would be appreciated if it comes to mind.

In case some of you are wondering what Chris and I are up too this is a little tidbit of info.
We live in Red Deer AB, I am working at a Christian school as a admin assistant. (also coaching jr. girls bball)
Chris is working for an oil field company cleaning equipment. This is definitely a temporary place for us as we look at
ministry positions in AB. Waiting patiently for the next step. God is faithful and we are seeing that and believing in it.

Thanks for reading, I hope to be posting at least once a week with thoughts and preparation for Haiti.
Blessings~

For Claire

So we attended the Annual General Meeting for Haiti Arise in Calgary this past weekend. It was a great time, Chris and I got to connect with a lot of people we met in Haiti this past year. One of those people is a dear lady named Claire. (Hi!) She said she misses reading our blog so I decided to write one. I have no idea how many people will read it but that doesn't matter.
It's sad to not be writing from Haiti though. I definitely miss the warm/hot weather and people. Well lots of things really.~
Being back in Canada is a hard thing. Reverse culture shock or re-entry back into your own country is interesting and tough.
We spent a lot of time prepping to be in Haiti and to be ready for anything and I wish I would have done that in getting ready to come back here.
I forgot how 'go go' and fast Canadian culture is. It's a rat race and I don't want to join in or get caught up in the next 'thing.'
I want so badly to not forget what I learned in Haiti and live in a way that glorifies God and not myself.
Part of reverse culture shock is a feeling that you just don't fit or belong. That is probably my biggest struggle, whether it is going into a store, conversations with people or even my job.
May God give me the grace and strength I need.
I know Chris and I will be back to Haiti in the future so that is exciting. We definitely left pieces of our hearts there.
I am now helping with the administration of the Education Fund for Haiti Arise. So if any one has any questions about sponsoring students please send them my way.

Blessings, Rebecca

Farewell Haiti~

Here we are already in our hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale. We left Haiti yesterday afternoon at 3. There are no words really to say how I feel about leaving it is all quite surreal. Driving through PAP one last time I just kept thinking to myself I have to come back, I have to come back. A piece of our hearts is definitely in Haiti with the people. This good bye was probably the most difficult I've ever had.

We had a goodbye party on Friday night it was really great. Even though it was raining a lot of people came. We were so blessed with kind words, prayers and songs.
I am so grateful that God brought us to Haiti. In church last Sunday that's all I could do was over and over again thank Him for bringing us to Haiti.
In the days to come we are going to reflect and remember all the experiences and try to figure out what we learned and how our outlook on life has changed.
So hopefully in a week I can write again with some more insight into our time in Grand Goave Haiti.
Thanks for taking the journey with us this past year.
Rebecca and Chris

Rainy last days~

Well here we are 3 more sleeps till we leave. It's a mix of emotions that we can't really express. Saying goodbye is hard, everyone wants to know when you are coming back and we don't know. All we can say is if God wills it. Chris is having his last English class with the young guys right now. Like I said in the previous blog it's lots of lasts. The weather has been really strange, so overcast and lots of rain showers. We haven't seen the sun in a few days. Very different because I've seen the sun pretty much everyday since we got here.
The medical team left today. I posted their blog site on the right it's called HFL Blog. If you read that you will find out what they all experienced and the patients and different cases they dealt with. I think the most difficult case for everyone was a woman who was brought in having seizures. I guess she had pre-eclampsia with her baby and was now very sick. Her baby however was very healthy. They had to take her to the hospital right away or else there would have been no hope. She survived and came back about 5 days later with the baby, who was now sick. I will let the team tell it from here:
She (the baby) was dehydrated with a sunken fontanel eyes wide open and too weak even to cry. Her breathing was such a struggle for her as if she could barely have the strength to take air in. Angela was able to get 60 mls of formula in to babe but it was so hard to understand how this could have happened. A thriving babe last Friday and now so ill. Mum left with babe to go to a midwife who she said would remove a blood vessel from under her heart which was causing the problem. We only can pray for this little one and keep her and her mum in our hearts. There were tears shed over this babe and shock at how changed the situation was.


Chris and I haven't been doing too much, we shared our goodbyes with the church on Sunday and I also went and shared at Tapion church for the last time. Such a joy to see all the children come to church even in the rain. We've just been taking walks, packing and spending time with all the Haiti Arise staff. It's a bit awkward but I am beginning to like awkward more and more. :)
I hope I have more to say tomorrow or Friday. Until then.....