Saturday 7 January 2017

Christmas and New Year

I haven't been very good at staying up to date so here is the last month.....

We had a good week with Bill's parents the week after class finished.  The boys both really enjoyed having them here and Grandma had to read Sam's bedtime story every night.




The day after they left we headed to the Dominican for a few days break, its so nice to have somewhere to go just next door.  We had a great time....... mostly, I ended up with a GI infection so spent one of the days in bed! I think Bill's highlight was not having do dishes to do.  One of the worst things about cooking everything from scratch is the mountain of dishes.  It was nice to have a rest and come back feeling refreshed (sort of!).











We got home a couple of days before Christmas and enjoyed Christmas eve and Christmas day dinner with the Heckmans and the Ayars who live next door.  It was strange being in Haiti at Christmas, it is one of the only times in my life I have missed being cold.  We didn't have any of the normal Christmas things, turkey, ham, gravy, Christmas carols, Christmas parties....etc.  It really made us think about what we were celebrating especially because it didn't really feel like Christmas. Even on Christmas day Sam wasn't sure what Christmas was, he kept asking if we were going to drive to Christmas!!However he did enjoy getting presents!!Thank you to everyone who sent the boys presents....they were spoilt!

You know you live in Haiti when you wrap Christmas presents in Haitian shiny congratulations paper!!





Now starts a really busy time at EBS, this year is the 50th anniversary and there are lots of events planned throughout this year starting with a big celebration at the Vaudrieul church on Sunday morning from 8- 10.30 (ish!!).  Pam, one of our regular VP's who has been coming to Haiti for 11 years arrived in yesterday.  Bill was at the airport today for 3 more visitors and then throughout  the rest of January we have visitors coming and going.  Our intensives and masters courses start on Monday along with a special anniversary service here at EBS.  Lots of visitors means lots of cooking over the next month or so but with sharing the load between 3 of us its not too bad!!

Bill has been back in his office and is thankful he is only teaching one course this semester so he will have time to really focus on his Creole. Last semester he marked all his papers and exams in Creole and French so this semester he is going to start teaching in Creole.  His first class will be the first week in February. The next month for him will be spent preparing for class and doing his powerpoints in Creole. 

My work in the clinic has been busy, I am seeing more and more strokes and starting to do a few house calls for people who can't get to the clinic.  I have had a couple of babies come who probably have cerebral palsy, their mums have been to many doctors and no one can explain what is wrong and what to do about it.  So that ends up being my job, which is one aspect of the work here that I really don't like. However this does provide good opportunity to then share the Gospel with those mums.

I     I have also been trying to do more publicity for the clinic, updating our fb page, www.facebook.com/BethesdaMedicalCenterHaiti  making flyers and response cards for teams and working on the content for the website.  Yesterday Dr Rodney, Vedane and their son Dahendjy flew to the states for a month of fundraising and speaking events for the clinic.  Please pray for them, they have 15 flights to take and are staying in many different houses.  Pray for the trip to be fruitful and that people will come alongside Bethesda and support the work in the clinic.



      Sam started back to school on Wednesday and is going Monday, Wednesday and Friday this year.  He was so excited on Wednesday morning when he woke up, he loves his teacher and loves going to school.  We were having a hard time with tempers with Sam and going to school has really helped, he is a lot more settled at home now.  He was starting to go a bit stir crazy at the end of the school holidays so its good for him to be back.  Moving to Haiti has really been a big adjustment for Sam, he was so used to going out everyday, to mums & toddlers, the park, granny's house and for walks.  To move somewhere where there is none of that has been hard on him. So we are really thankful for somewhere for him to go to school even if it means I have to drive to Vaudrieul EVERY day.....the road is not exactly what you would call smooth...

The road outside Sam's school.....except there is no water in the 'potholes' now!
      Meantime Joel is as happy as ever, he is 11 months and just starting to talk.  I really want him to walk (he weighs almost 25lbs!!) but he is not interested because he can crawl so fast.  He has FINALLY started 'sleeping in' and he now up between 5.30 and 6 am.  He has had his first haircut already and now looks about 18 months old!


      One more exciting piece of news, we are travelling this summer with our task being to raise funds for both the seminary and the clinic.  So we will be in Northern Ireland the month of June and Canada for the month of July before we head back to Haiti in early August.  We are in the process of planning meetings and events so if  we could share at your church, your home or you could hold a fundraising event please get in touch  (julieedler@hotmail.co.uk) .  In Northern Ireland we can go anywhere and in Canada we will based  at Bill's parents farm in Youngstown.   We are excited to be able to visit both places and see friends and family as well as help the ministries we are involved in here in Haiti.




















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