Sunday Pics

Church this morning- Guest Pastor from Michigan-

Beth and Britt and Peanut -- Beth is the reason that half the missionaries in Port au Prince have Mastiff's. (Beth is the friend I met on a marathon training group in June of last year, only to later learn she lived in Haiti. It was during the time we were praying about moving to Haiti.)

After lunch we hiked up to the cross -

Lisa, Beth, Tara & Noah

Rachel, Rosnalie, Baby, Hope & Rosemine (Friends that attend PAP Fellowship)

Don, Troy & John (John is the pastor of PAP Fellowship, they also operate a ministry that is called Maranatha Childrens Home) www.heartlinehaiti.org To know them is to love them.

Our tribe
Prayer time for the Buxman's as they prepare to return to Colorado. (Lisa and Don and four of their sons will head back to the states next week. We hope it is temporary.)

Britt's second first aid patient of the day brought a large support team with her.

This coming week is a big week for Lifeline some important decisions will be made. Please pray for the USA leadership as well as our family and the Hoppa family. We want our plans to line up squarely with God's plans. We ask that you pray to that end. God Bless you!

Rules of the Mission

There are a few thing that need to be understood before you decide to come and visit.
;-)

The rules include no complaining about the following realities:

Heat (This is the 7am temperature)

Bugs (This is one night's take)

Bad Hair (Every day is a bad hair day in Haiti)

Rodents (Rats and Mice)

When are you coming down????

Sunday Plans

We are so happy with our plans for today. We are attending Lifeline church here at home, the Hoppa's USA pastor is here and is our guest speaker.

After church we have a whole bunch of our friends from our Port-au-Prince church that are heading out here for a big lunch together. It is the first time we have had friends over so we are pretty excited. We are having a going away party for a missionary family that is returning home to Colorado.

Have a Blessed Sunday. Thank you for supporting our family.

~The Livesays~

Photos from the week

75% Happiness

Gardening Season in full-swing

Barbancourt feeding program





Paige's Tues/Thur English Class

Paige's Preschool Class at nap-time

Confusion

It is difficult to come to terms with things in this country at times. We listened today to a James McDonald sermon that talked about four types of confusion that we can all suffer from at times. Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Confusion.

When we are unable to connect the things around us, with who we know God to be, that is Spiritual confusion. I think we are suffering a bit of that these last few days.

Some of the things that happen don't make sense to us.

If you allow yourself to stay in confusion for too long, it will ultimately cause you to quit. That is why it is important to say grounded in God's word and important that we heard this Dr. McDonald sermon today. Our God is not a God of confusion.

The main points that stuck out for us were these:

• God always has a plan
• God's timing is not our timing, but it is always perfect
• God promises us that no matter what is happening, good or bad, our fault or not our fault, that His sovereignty will extend into the situation
• Our responsibility is to bring what we have and allow Him to fill in the empty places
  

Prayers before lunch yesterday

Entertainment for Noah & Problems for Ike

Finding rocks

thrilled about having found rocks

throwing rocks into puddles

In Haiti, there are not so many things vying for your attention. The boys don't have Disney Channel, PBS, Nickelodeon, video games, amusement parks, toy stores, parks, sports teams...

It is more like the kids in 1906 in some ways. Playing with rocks and water are huge, huge entertainment. As the photos show, Noah had a BIG time throwing rocks into the puddles while we waited for the propane tanks to be filled.

While Noah entertained himself, Ike danced around, he needed to go pee. Everyone here just goes outside, and he is a boy, so what else can you do but just tell him to go? There is only one problem. He does not know how to do it in a manly kind of way. He either wants to pull his shorts down around his ankles so his bare buns are exposed for all to see, OR he won't pull the front of his shorts down enough and it creates this fountain-like effect and also gets all over him. He only does it one of the two ways. He has not found the happy medium.

Troy and I had a brief conference in the lot of the gas place, where I made my expectations clear on this area of training in Isaac's life. I am not teaching the kid to pee outside. He needs some major mentoring in this area and Troy is the man for the job. The kid is four and a half. He is the size of a six year old. It is time he learns.

tired out from all the rock throwing fun

Much Love, and wishes for an entertaining weekend,

The Livesays

Bird Report

Maybe if 40 chickens did not run around the mission property all day long it would not SO disgust me, to prepare a whole one for consumption.

I learned what giblets are by the way, Ish. I could have gone forever without learning that.

I miss the days of Cub Foods and the boneless, skinless, nicely packaged chicken breasts.

And, yes ... I do know that most domesticated women have been cooking whole chickens for as long as they can remember. I recognize that I am a spoiled jerk.

I knew the medical gloves would come in handy.

Interesting Commentary:

Isaac: "OOOOOh, that is a DIFFERENT kind of chicken...it looks like a lobster." "Is this the kind of chicken that makes baby eggs?" "Why did you kill the chicken that makes baby eggs?" "Mom, why did you kill this?" "Daaaad, did mommy kill it?"

(Paige apparently told him it came from Lifeline property) (The kid has never seen a whole chicken before.)

PS- It tasted fine. We all were surprised at how little meat there is on a whole stinkin bird.

Safety First?!?

We went to get the propane tanks filled for the canteen.

This is the yard of EcoGaz.

We think this is an incredibly safe way to store this tank.

Clearly, OSHA had been by recently.

They probably recommended it as a great place to find shade as well.

Everyone Should Try It

It is very interesting being the "minority". I think it is something everyone could benefit from experiencing. It gives you a whole new perspective on things.

I now understand how it feels to Hope and Isaac at Target store in Elk River, MN and have people look too long at them.

Not that I blame them for wondering or checking them out, but it is an odd feeling to have someone look at you long enough to make you feel squirmy.

We are getting used to being the guy that stands out in a crowd. It is good to understand what it feels like to be different. Thank the Lord that He sees us all the same. Having experienced both sides, I think being the minority is more difficult. It makes you hyper-aware of yourself. It is easier being able to blend in with your surroundings.

Uncle Rick - Praise Report

Written by Rick's daughter- (our cousin)

Surgery was about as quick & clean as possible. The left kidney did have a large tumor in it and they removed the entire thing. There was no cancer anywhere else. There will be check ups for 2 years to be sure the cancer doesn't return, but the doctors believe it is gone and there will be no further problems, no chemo necessary. My mom said there were 3 or 4 doctors in the surgery including their good friend Dr. Webb (whom God seems to have given an awareness that my dad had something wrong with him over a month ago). Dr. Webb said the 2 main surgeons were the best of the best & were better than if my dad even went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He said they worked well together & smoothly - almost better than any other surgeons he had ever seen.

The surgery was over at about 9am in their time zone. And then the doctors talked to my mom & Nikki for nearly 1 hour describing the whole thing. Dr. Webb had taken my mom's digital camera in & took photos of the surgery & the tumor/kidney. My mom said the tumor was just ugly. They think it had been growing up to 4 years. When they reported the good news, my mom said her friend Kari Webb (Dr. Webb's wife) just wept. She had known that Dr. Webb had been concerned for dad for quite some time and she was relieved at the good news.

I sure thank God for all the good friends He brings my mom & dad wherever they are. Thank you so much for your prayers. We praise God for His answers to your/our prayers. Please pass this info on to anyone who would be concerned that I missed... Love, Vonda

Prayer Request

This is a 8 year old photo. (Rick, T & T)

Please pray for Tara's Uncle, Rick Porter today. Doctors found a mysterious lump on his kidney and his kidney will be removed on Thursday.

Rick is Tara's dad's older brother. He is the Pastor that did a bit of our pre-marriage counseling, he married us and he also dedicated Paige, Isaac and Hope to the Lord in private dedication services.

He means a lot to a lot of people. He is an great man of God. We are humbled to know and love him.

Please pray for him and his Doctors and his family. Thank you.
Tara and Troy

Miami is not part of the USA & a Good Song

We're doing good. Thanks for praying for us.

Whatever sort of cool breezes and mild temperatures there were, have now disappeared. It is thick with humidity today. Most days it is around 90 degrees. Eddie told me yesterday that "America, it is too cold. I don't like that. Miami, it is good, but not America." HA! ??????

I will let you know how the chicken turns out. It is nap-time now so it is important that I move on from the computer and use my time wisely.

Troy was on the worship team at our church in MN. It was the highlight of his week. If there were one single thing that he misses most, that would be it. Even more than milk.

Here are some lyrics to one of his favorite songs, In Christ Alone:

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life’s first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

‘til He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Isaiah 58:11, "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." (NIV)

You are giving me too much credit

I am being instructed to remove the giblets. What is that and where can I find it/them? To remove it, won't I be forced to touch the bird? I have medical rubber gloves. Maybe that is my answer. Giblets? Help.

Random Photos from Mon/Tues

The orangeish hair is a sign of extended malnutrition.




This orange hair is just orange hair.

What Now?

Anyone who has been reading this for any amount of time, has learned that I abhor cooking.

Clearly, as menu planner and meal captain for mission teams, I have been forced to swallow my hatred and buck up and figure it out.

I have five menus that I can use easily here. That works for most of the mission teams and allows for two nights of Haitian cooking.

My five menus are ground beef or no meat. They have been well received.

These menus get repeated on my family over and over and over and ... only, we also have lots of nights of scrambled eggs, pancakes or cereal for dinner. For special occasions, I pull out a special little trick I like to call "PB & J" ----- the crowd goes crazy.

Anyway, to the point of this post.

At the grocery store today, I bought a whole chicken. I am 33, I have never done this before in my life. I have been given a whole bird by my in-laws, (who read this and now know the truth) but I just left it in the freezer. I have never cooked one by myself.

So, for $6.00 U.S. I bought this whole chicken. Now I need to know what to do with it. I would like to have the recipe that requires the least amount of touching of the bird. Who can help?

~Tara

Another day of nonsense

(Noah and Ti pap)



Early this morning some friends from church came out to visit us, pray with us, show us some love and support. Then we (Troy, Tara and Ike) hitched a ride in with them and went into Port to pick up the broken down truck. (That was supposedly all fixed.) We needed to get it back for a small team that Jason and Rhonda have coming tomorrow.

We planned to be in Port for about two hours tops between getting the truck and a few groceries. We needed to get home, there are all sorts of things to take care of here right now.

Wrong.

We were in Port almost 6 hours. Why? Because there is no such thing as being in a hurry in this country. We met with Eddie and that basically means your plans are out the window. If you say you are in a hurry, he will sit down and order some food and put his feet up on a stool.

He takes about ten minutes to say what could be said in 30 seconds. It is maddening. Yes, yes, I know it is cultural, but lets just say I am not appreciating that part of the culture.

Then, while Troy was arguing about the price for the truck repair the truck blew some hose and black smoke started pouring out of the hood. The price went down right about that time. :-(

So, we had to take it over to the "shop" which was a yard with a bunch of cars and an old house. We had to sit in the yard of this auto shop and wait ... and wait and wait and wait. After about 90 minutes Isaac said "Mom, you forgot to bring me some toys."

(Above, Troy negotiating for the truck to be finished before 2008, below Isaac and I in the waiting room of the repair shop.)


After the inconceivable wait in the hot sun, we ran to get groceries as fast as we could and headed home. That is all we accomplished while in Port.

I was so annoyed with the whole day that I justified buying a gallon of vanilla ice cream for the bargain price of $12.19. Lisa, you said anytime we wanted to buy something foolish and over-priced to just say that you covered it. So, thanks for the ice cream. You're the best.

More later.
Tara

Monday Night News

Our internet is working correctly. The telephone has been working, I conversed with my mom and sister, and friend for the first time in two weeks. This is good news.

Mme Bozor, one of the teachers came up to hug Paige when she got to work today. She was happy to see her again.

Britt had six first aid patients throughout the day today.


Rainy season is a crazy force to be reckoned with. There is no messing around with light sprinkles. It pours and pours and then stops all of a sudden. Each evening it has been happening.


Sometimes we forget in the midst of a busy day to lean on the one we came here to serve. Please pray for us, that we keep remembering that He put us here and that His plans for us are perfect.

Jeremiah 29:11