Christmas…!

 This Christmas was way different from past Christmases,
 in a good way.

This Christmas I wasn't in the States, I was here in Haiti.
In the States, everywhere you went there was Christmas,
in the mall, in the car, in your house, on the road, etc.
So this year it was only in our house and a couple ( not many)
of stores that you could actually see and feel Christmasy.

But it felt good not being flooded with Christmas everywhere,
and it really gave me a chance to think about the true meaning
of Christmas, Jesus's birth.

I wasn't spoiled with tons of presents this year because I didn't want to be.
I look around everyday and see poverty and sickness, then suddenly,
I'm not thinking of myself, I'm thinking of how I can help others.

And I was perfectly thankful and satisfied with the things I got for
Christmas, I wasn't groaning and complaining about the things I didn't
get.


We wanted to help others this Christmas, so we went with our friends the
Grosses and delivered presents to grateful children of an orphanage.

Then we went with the Grosses to a pastor's Christmas party that he held for
the kids in his community.
We sang songs, told jokes, helped pass the kids food that the pastor
prepared, and just loved on the kids.
I felt really good this Christmas for not making Christmas about me,
I made it about Him.

In my last blog I talked about how Ella, a dog here at the seminary,
died. Well the guard dog here, Boone, got depressed and sad when
Ella died because he had no one to play with.
I have a love for dogs and have always kinda wanted one.
We were already gonna buy another dog to be Boone's friend,
and we hoped that it would pull Boone out of depression.
My parents decided that instead of being a seminary dog, it could be
my dog.

They gave me a just weaned, four week-old puppy, that I decided to
name Pepper, due to the black speckles all over his back.

We had to bathe him right after I got him (which he
did not appreciate).

(Lily and Sofie Ayars, Hannah Gross, and I all had to work hard to get
Pepper clean!)


We made him a house out of a rubbermaid container and
a work towel.

At first he was shy, but eventually he started to trust us.

Pepper is so small he can sleep in my dad's hand!

Pepper only does things if he sees them happen.
I wanted to teach Pepper how to play fetch, so I grabbed a brand new
tennis ball out of a box in the closet.
Then I threw the ball, chased after it, picked it up with my mouth,
and brought it back to Pepper.
After that I threw the ball away from me, and Pepper did exactly what I did!
Ever since I have been playing fetch with Pepper!


Boone and Pepper have been getting along great so far,
and I'm hoping that they will continue being friends!

Pepper and I wrestle around and usually he wins.
He may be small, but his bite is sharp and strong, due
to his puppy teeth!


This has nothing to do with anything I just said, but I wanted
to know if you liked the picture I'm gonna put up.
I have been working on photography as my hobby lately.
I've been working on getting good shots with lighting and positioning things
to make a picture better. I've been meaning to put this picture up for about
two months, but I never got to it. Hope you enjoy it!

I hope you enjoyed this post even though it was short!



I am hoping to blog more often, it's just these past couple weeks
have been crazy with Christmas and everything!


Stayed tuned!

Sadness, joy, and memories...

Gosh, I just realized how long it's been since I last posted!


I should tell you about this past week. . .


Well, for starters, something really sad happened.
Ella, the Ayars puppy dog, died.
And she was pregnant, so her puppies died too.
We're not quite sure why, but we are assuming this:
 one of her puppies died inside her,and she experienced septic shock,
 she went into labor early and didn't make it, or she had preeclampsia.

   













I'm really missing that cute little mutt. :(


Now that I got the sad part out of the way, I can tell you the more fun parts!


Yesterday, we went to the beach with former missionaries, Martin and Sharon Mischler.
It was a little chilly, though (80-85 degrees).
You can never actually be sure what the waves will be like here in Haiti.
Like the first time I went to the beach, it was like a lake; not many waves.
The second or third time I went it had big waves; like boogie-boarding and surfing
kinda waves!
This last time I went the waves were powerful and big, but they broke too close to the shore,
so if you tried to ride a wave to the shore, you were scraping your stomach on the sand
before you even got there!
 
Yet it was still a fun day at the beach!



The first time I came to Haiti was in 2011.
As a side dish for breakfast every morning we had a fruit called  pomfig.
Pomfigs are a fruit related to the banana, and they look just like a banana,
except a lot smaller. . .

That's Stacey Ayars holding the stem of the pomfig plant...

This is the peel of a pomfig compared to my ipod.

Pomfig in Creole means "apple banana".
And it literally is an apple banana!
It has the peel of a banana, but the inside tastes just like an apple!
Even the consistency is different, it's a bit harder; like an apple almost!

Just eating it brings back memories of that short term trip I went on!





Well I hope you enjoyed this post!


Stay tuned for more stories about life Haiti, straight from me!

Thankfulness...

I am sorry I haven't posted in such a long time, I lost track of time!

This past week we had friends come visit us!
Eric and Martie are from Sharptown church, which is where we are from.

   That's Eric and Martie on the right!





                                             





 We had lot of fun when they were here!

 We even got to paint our house. . .



 First, mom and dad's room. . .

                                                   










Then the living room. . .

                                                           











  Next, my room. . .

I asked my mom to paint a lotus flower on a vine
to go on either side of my bed. . .  

I love the design so much!



We celebrated Thanksgiving here on the 18th of November,
so Eric and Martie got to celebrate with us!
The Ayars hosted the Thanksgiving party,
and Stacey did an AWESOME job decorating!

 

Sadly, they had to leave this past Tuesday,
though I am so thankful they got to visit us!

Well, I hope to see you next time!

Stay tuned for more stories about life here in Haiti!

Time Flies!

I can't believe I have been living here in Haiti for 75 days already!
They say time flies when you're having fun, right?
Even though I miss family and friends like crazy,
I am definitely having fun!




Lately it been getting chilly here at night.
(You have to understand that my version of chilly is 75 degrees,
which I know most of you would probably kill for right now!)
Anyway, since its anywhere from 90 degrees-100 degrees here during the day,
75 at night makes me want to wrap up in my comforter!




With fall comes Halloween, and we had the privilege of hosting
a Halloween party at our house!

I was a puppy dog...

And Ethan (his costume was way cooler than mine)
was Tony Stark from Iron man…

 

Here's everyone in their costumes…

I looked on line for some cute halloween decorations,
which turned out pretty good…


I made pumpkins…

out of paper, which we hung from the ceiling.

And bats…

   
       










out of egg cartons, which were dotted on the tables.

We took some of our fall decorations from other rooms…

My Mom and I put together crafts like black kitty cats that the
kids pieced together.

 



















[the picture above]  That's Azi being silly.


We also had to come up with games, so we cut out 55 little pumpkins
and had the kids look for them…

We also did a game called pin-the-face-on-the-pumpkin.
Its a game where you're blindfolded and given a piece of
a face (eyes, nose, mouth, or leaf), and spun around,
then you try to put the face in the right spot on the pumpkin...

Of course there was also trick-or-treating at the party…

And lots of candy…

Mom and I  baked cupcakes too…

We had lots of fun during the party!





The other day my dad got out the motorcycle (motosikle in Creole)
and he gave Ethan and I rides on it…

I had never ridden on a motorcycle before so I
really enjoyed it!




You know how I have that hermit crab?
Well he moved into a new shell that a visiting professor gave to me.
The shell is absolutely gorgeous, and it was very nice of him to give it to me.
As soon as the crab moved into the new shell, he tested it out then decided it was
too big, and moved into his old shell again.


Tune in for more crazy stories about life in Haiti!


Hope to see you next time!

a long wait... a great surprise!

 Before I begin I want to thank you guys so much for praying
 for my toe! Your prayers helped a LOT.
 My toe is now completely healed!

 
  


 










I am SO sorry about the HUGE amount of time there is from now and since I last posted.
The internet wasn't working for over a month, but thanks to some
 hardworking people, we got it back!
One day mom told me that she was skyping with my Nana.
Of course, I became overjoyed because I got to talk to my Nana,
and I could update my blog!




Yesterday I went to a little village called Kompech ( I might have spelled that wrong).
Cami and my mom evangelized, while I watched the kids (several Haitian kids,
Azi, Biga, and Gideon).
They talked to a man that had never heard the true Gospel.
After a while, he decided to invite them to his house on Sunday to come and share more about this loving God with his whole family.

As all of this was all happening, I was playing
with the various assortment
of adorable animals that were kept in Kompech.
They had puppies of all shapes and sizes...

I wish I could have gotten a picture of each of the little puppies, but they were so playful,
and always moving, I couldn't get a picture that wasn't blurry!

There were also goats that were only a couple months old..

I didn't play with this animal, but there were so many of them, I just had to take a picture!

You may or may not be able to see it, but they're are
letters imprinted on it's back.
In America, they brand animals by pressing heated letters or symbols
on part of the cow. I'm not quite sure how they do it here though.


Once the little Haitian children saw my camera they kept
begging me to take pictures of them!
"Fe foto, fe foto, fe foto!" they all pleaded.
Fe foto means: "take a picture" in Creole.
Here are some of the kids making funny faces...

Here is them pretending to be angry...

















I wish you could have heard the laughter that came after
I showed them the pictures!


The other day, I went around and took pictures of some of the beauties
in Haiti. Flowers are one of my favorite gifts from God.
I guess I inherited my love for plants from my dad, who was, and still is,
a landscaper. And, no, these pictures were not color enhanced or modified in any way.

 

























My dad ordered rooting hormone from Amazon for the plant
nursery he has started.
He goes around taking clippings of plants, and then he dips the ends
of the plants in the hormone, which allows the plant to sprout new roots.
After that, he plants the clippings in homemade pots made out of plastic bottles cut in half,
and some real plant holders that he brought with him.

Today we went to a beach with the Ayars, that we have never been to before.
It was beautiful and I remembered to take lots of pictures this time!
The new beach had a ledge on a mountain, from where we jumped off of , and into the ocean.
Don't worry, it wasn't very high.

Here are some pictures of the place we stayed at for the day….

                                                           

  The picture above is the area where we had lunch.

This is a furry friend that ate lunch with us.

Below are pictures of our lunches...

BBQ chicken, fried plantains, carrots and militon, and rice...

Fish, carrots and militon…

Here are some pictures of the time on the beach…

This was a very adventurous trip with cliff jumping, path finding,

lots of swimming, short hikes, picture taking, relaxing, fishing, kayaking, etc…

I got a few good pictures of the beaches...

On the ride home we passed a few houses…

One of my favorite things about Haiti is the colorful

 buildings like the one above.

One of Haiti's major crops is rice. 

Here is a picture of a rice patty...

I know that this post was mostly pictures, but I hope you enjoyed it!

Tune in for more cool stories about life in Haiti!