Hello Friends!

Can you believe it’s been over two months since my last email? Hope you’re all doing well as the summer comes to an end and fall routines settle in.

Great news! Adonijah and I made it safely back to Haiti after a wonderfully relaxing trip to the States. We were able to visit with family and some friends and overall just enjoy some relaxation. We didn’t get to as many people and places as we would have liked. As you know my husband wasn’t with us; due to traveling with a toddler AND being pregnant, I laid pretty low. It’s a lot different pace of life but it was exactly what we needed. My highlights were reuniting Nijah with his Grandparents, family, and friends after more than a year AND eating ice cream everyday 🙂 Nijah’s highlights were eating sweet corn and meeting all the dogs and my mom’s chickens!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement during this time, especially while I was in Kansas City. This was such a productive time of solitude with the Lord. I highly recommend this type of activity to all of you. Put yourself on a short Sabbatical and take some time with just Jesus in whatever capacity you can. I promise, it will be worth it.

As most of you know, we are expecting baby number #2 in October! Since finding out I was pregnant, I told my husband I wanted to find a way for us to be together for the birth. For those that remember, I delivered Nijah in the States. When it was all said and done, our family was apart for 5 1/2 months. Not ideal.

Before my Sabbatical started (and before we knew we were expecting) we were already making plans to get out of Haiti for some respite and relaxation. My husband can’t travel anywhere outside of Haiti without a visa so after some investigating it was determined the Dominican Republic would be the easiest place for us to go. We were promised the Dominican visa within 1 week and then we officially found out we had another bun in the oven! We began to imagine how the Dominican Republic could fulfill our dreams of being together for the birth of baby #2.

Long story short, after 4 months the visa still hadn’t come. We became discouraged, especially my husband. It was then that I decided to go to Iowa for a few weeks, specifically for my nephew’s graduation party. While in the States, I spent a couple of days alone at IHOP (International House of Prayer) in Kansas City. During my time there, I laid a fleece before the Lord. Psalm 3:5-6 was my theme verse. If Odelin’s visa didn’t come through I would stay in the States to have the baby. This was obviously NOT what I wanted as I didn’t want my family to be separated, however, it was Odelin’s wish for me not to deliver in Haiti and it made sense. God gave me an incredible peace about the whole thing and I was able to just rest in my decision and enjoy the rest of my visit. Then sadly, one day in early August, realizing the visa still hadn’t come, I did what I did not want to have to do. I called MFI and extended my travel dates, telling them that I wasn’t sure when I would actually be back to Haiti.

Not 2 hours later I got a call from Haiti…Odelin’s visa had COME! Clearly we were ecstatic!

Nijah and I arrived safely back in Haiti on August 18th and today makes 15 days that our whole little family has been snug in the Dominican Republic! God provided a very comfortable apartment for us to rent and months ago I made connection with an English speaking midwife who will help me deliver in a hospital. I met her face to face at my doctor’s appointment on Friday and we all get along fabulously. With 4 weeks until my due date, I hope to send out a quick weekly update! Looking forward to sharing our journey with you all!