From Vacation to Haiti

We are officially back from vacation and getting ready to head back down to Haiti.  It was a great week on the beach with just the 4 of us as we relaxed, played together, and just spent some time doing nothing.  Today’s blog is just a general update about what is going on with All Things New and what will be happening over the next few weeks as we get ready to go back.  Please continue to be in prayer for Haiti as there is still no Prime Minister and there is definitely some remaining uneasiness there.  Things have been calm since the last round of manifestations (click here to read a blog about the unrest there) but in this political climate things can change very quickly and we will remain on high alert.  Anyway, here is what the next couple of weeks will look like for us as we prepare to go back to Haiti…

• There will be a lot of packing and buying the things we need to take from here to spend the next 2.5 months in Haiti.
• We will make sure Ezekyal has enough formula, diapers, wipes, clothes, etc. and we will pray a lot that we are able to get him a Visa to come back to the states with us in November.
• I (Matt) will be going up to LaGrange this coming Saturday (August 11) until the following Monday.  I have a few meetings scheduled starting Saturday at noon and going until Monday at noon, so if you are in the LaGrange area and would like to meet up, let me know!
• We have our Pieology Fundraiser coming up on August 17-18.  Click Here to see the flyer and make sure to take it with you on those dates from noon – 8:00.  Also, this is move-in weekend at UNF and would be a great opportunity for any UNF student to pass out these flyers to all of their friends!
• I am going to start trying to make contact with some local churches and see if any would be interested in partnering with All Things New.  Let me know if you think your church would be interested!
• We are going to put the finishing touches on a couple of our job creation ideas that we will be starting while we are in Haiti this time.  I will definitely be blogging more about this in the near future, but we are still moving forward with this initiative.
• We are finishing up a couple of things here in the states that we cannot work on in Haiti.
• We will also try to relax and be together as a family as much as we can over the next couple of weeks knowing that it can be difficult to find time like this in Haiti.

Of course there are a lot of things and specifics that I did not get into, but the main reason for this post is to ask for your prayers as we head back to our home in Haiti.  We always look forward to getting there, but as you probably know, these trips bring their own difficulties.  This time, we are excited about getting back down to Ezekyal along with all of our other kids so there is more to look forward to, but adding a 4 month old to a 1 and 2 year old will have its difficulties.  Another reason we are really looking forward to this trip is because Sophie just keeps asking when we are going back to our Haiti house, when are we going to see the kids, and if we are going on an airplane.  The bottom line is that she is so excited about getting back down and seeing the kids that she loves and that love her right back.