After Jess and Sophie left for the states on Sunday, it was time to prepare for Hurricane Matthew. Beginning Sunday, I tried to convince our employees that a huge category 4 hurricane was about to hit Haiti and that it was very important that they find shelter and a place to stay. I told each […]
The first in a series of fairly difficult decisions was the decision to have Jess and Sophie go back to the states without me. I say this was difficult, but the difficulty was not in knowing that the right decision was to send them home. The difficulty was not having them with me. On top […]
I am going to try and capture some of what happened over the past few days as Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti. The hurricane has really dominated our thoughts, the news, and our lives over the past few days and I want to give you an idea of what it was like here. First […]
Have you ever taken the time to really sit and think about how rain changes things? I remember, when I was little, the worst possible thing that could happen in the summer was rain. If it ever rained, everything was ruined. Chances were, on any given day, we were either going to the pool, going […]
I want to start off this blog with a little honesty. While we (Jess and I) are in Haiti, Facebook has become a lifeline to America for us. We cannot keep up with every one of our friends and it is very difficult to talk with people, so a lot of times we get on […]
Today I’m going to talk about some of the unique challenges of raising 12 teenagers together. In writing this blog, I am not going to give any pointers, I do not consider myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination, and the real truth is that I have never attempted to raise teenagers in […]
Many of you know the kids started school last Monday. If you kept up with any of our blogs this time last year, you know that getting the kids all ready for school is no small thing (click here to read about it). There is specific fabric to be bought for each uniform, a seamstress […]
I have been reflecting on our life here since we have been back in Haiti, and I wanted to share some thoughts that I’ve had about being a missionary in Haiti. To some people, moving to Haiti was brave and there is an almost romanticized view of what being a missionary is. To others, moving […]
You may be wondering why we haven’t given you any updates on the kids yet, and I promise they are coming. We have some great pictures of Sophie with the kids (I even got one of Sophie holding Dinna’s face and kissing her right on the lips), our first day of school was yesterday, we have […]
When All Things New first started, we had a few specific goals that we were out to achieve. Goals are and should be something that each of us as individuals, as families, as churches, and as organizations should set for ourselves and strive to achieve. When we do not have goals and dreams we tend […]
As you probably know, we returned to Haiti this past Wednesday so we have not even been back for a week yet and things, of course, are already pretty crazy. Just over the past couple of days there are updates and blogs just waiting to be written, but I am still trying to digest everything […]
If you have spent any time volunteering with a nonprofit, working for an organization that had to raise funds to survive, or if you support a ministry or charity then you know that fundraising is and will always be necessary. I sometimes wonder if people see us coming and want to run the other way […]
