baby goats!

Only about a month after I got here, I noticed how fat all the female goats were getting.
I asked my dad if they were pregnant and he told me goats ate a lot and that they were probably just fat.
But he didn't look at them. One day I asked him to come visit the goats with me, and when he got there he said these words: "Wow, these goats are definitely pregnant."

We waited and waited and waited for baby goats-for what felt forever!- and finally, one of the least
expected goats, had her kids a couple weeks ago!

But not only one goat had babies…

(These pictures are two hours after the birth!)

But, again, not only two goats had kids…

(These pictures were taken two days after birth)

The white one came right up to me, so close I could reach out and pick it up!

And again, not only three goats had kids…

(These pictures are from the point of birth till ten minutes after!)

This time I actually got to witness the birth!

Within fifteen minutes from the birth, the mom had licked the babies clean, the babies had started
walking, and the mom was walking around like nothing ever even happened! I think its amazing how God designed nature to take care of it's self so well!


I'm sure you want to hear how Pepper is doing, right? Well he is doing great! He and Boone are best friends now too! The Grosses even brought their new puppy, Buddy, over to my house to play,
and the whole time, Buddy and Pepper were wrestling and chasing each other! Even though Pepper loves to play he still sleeps a lot…

Under the bed...

In my lap...




















Even in dirty laundry…




















Pepper is a very funny dog…
Every time I get out my camera Pepper always poses…

Whenever I look up I see birds flying overhead. But I never actually realized what kind of birds were flying above me. One day I looked up and saw a flock of what looked like plain blackbirds, but when they swooped down towards me, I realized they were parrots! Their bodies were a beautiful green color with bright red wings! And again yesterday I looked out from the porch and saw this beautiful bird…

I don't know if you can tell but the bird's head and belly are bright orange, his neck has a ring of light grey feathers, and the rest of his body is denim blue!

I love how I have so many opportunities to experience nature here in Haiti!

Well I hope you enjoyed this post, and maybe next time I can take a picture
of those beautiful parrots!

Time with Family and Man's Best Friend...

This past week we had family come and visit us for New Year's week! My Nana, Papa, Aunt Amanda and Mom-Mom came and stayed with us for eight whole days! We took them everywhere we could possibly think of. . .


The beach. . .

To the Christoff, which is a beautiful restaurant/hotel. . .

We took them on a tour of the OMS campus in Vaudreuil, which unfortunately I didn't get pictures of.  The Grosses also invited us over for a great pizza lunch!

They visited a whole bunch of different places with us, and overall, it was the best time with them I have ever had!

The only down side is that they had to leave . . .

It all happened so fast that when the time came for them to leave I couldn't believe it sneaked up on me so fast! I guess time does fly when you're having fun! When they left it was emotional. I told myself I wasn't going to cry but when they went into the airport I found a tear slipping down my cheek.
But I'm not going to let that ruin everything. . .

 I am so happy they got to visit and I hope it happens again soon!

















I guess this is where the part of the title "man's best friend" comes in!

Pepper is doing great and his ribs and hips no longer show! When we first got Pepper, his fur wasn't exactly fur, it was more rough feeling and he had spots on him that weren't covered in fur at all.
Now his fur is soft and he is completely covered in fur! He used to be a grayish color, with a black strip of fur that went from head to tail. But now, his fur is reddish brown, almost like a fox, and the strip
of black fur on his back is now a light brown. . . you barely even notice it!
















He is becoming more playful and less shy. He even is starting to be a security dog by barking at anyone who steps foot on our yard! I feel safe with him too. He my be small, but his bite is very painful!

He is growing bigger and bigger and doing exceptional!

He is very playful but he also likes to sleep. . .  on shoes!

Can you find him?

Everything is going great here in Haiti and I hope to blog again soon!


Stay tuned!

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!