A warm hello and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the Caribbean!
We try to take time here and there to remind ourselves of the beauty in Haiti and not to just take it for granted. As the USA has dealt with some very cold weather already, we are thankful for a little break from the heat and not seeing many temperatures above 90 F. 
In this season of Thanksgiving, we want to reflect on other things that we’re thankful for….and it starts with the amazing donors, supporters and friends that are all essential to making this journey possible! Thanks for all your prayers, financial assistance, encouragement, conversations, care packages, and sharing our social media posts. We can’t do this without you and really appreciate each and every one of you.
We’re thankful for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner we had with local friends old and new. It was great to get together and enjoy a turkey dinner with a variety of other foods and people! There was an amazing spread of dinner and dessert items!
We’re thankful for power! As I sit and write, we are enjoying power from the local electric company. We have endured 14 weeks of ongoing protests about government corruption and the many side effects of money not being spent where it would best help the people and the country.
We’re also thankful that roads in our area have been open for 2 weeks now! The protests result in roads being blocked, and we never know when that will happen. Sometimes road blocks can be circumvented via dirt side roads and paths, but not always. Sometimes the side roads and trails are blocked as well. There are many times when we just don’t go anywhere because we never know if the roads will be open to get back to our campus where we live.
After 3 months of shortages and empty store shelves, we’re thankful that supplies are getting through to Jacmel. We’ve found adequate food and supplies for our kids and us, but we’ve had to make some adjustments or search harder for things we need, especially as prices continue to rise for many things.
Do you remember being totally bored by the end of summer vacation and ready for school to start? What do you recall about trying to keep kids busy during those last several weeks of summer before the school routine kicked back in? Can you imagine kids ready to start school, but then they have another 2 months of time with no school? That’s what we’ve had here. The protests have kept schools, businesses, government office, hospitals, doctor’s offices, banks and even the public market closed. We’re so thankful that our kids have handled this change so well!! 
We’ve added extra activity time to give them things to do, and we’ve had some extra soccer games, movie time, and even some volleyball and basketball. We also brought in a special guest for an afternoon…the ice cream man on his little 3-wheeled motorcycle! In the last few weeks our tutors have been able to come to keep pouring into the kids. We’re also thankful that some schools were open part time, and there’s talk about other schools opening next week if things remain calm. 
We’re also thankful for health. We both had birthdays and we celebrated our anniversary recently, and while we’ve faced some recent health challenges, we’re thankful for medications and knowledgeable people to help guide us towards how to address our issues and the Great Healer to go to with our prayers. We’ve had bouts of sickness among our kids and staff, and random injuries from playing soccer, but we’re so thankful for the health and safety that God covers us with here.
We’ve had a longing for our kids to grow more in their faith, and we’re thankful for the fresh people and fresh ideas that God has blessed us and the kids with for our weekly devotion time. There’s new energy that’s contributing to more interest and deeper understanding of God and the Bible.
Please keep our health in your prayers, especially for Denise as she battles some really bad side effects from some medication she’s taking. The country of Haiti continues to need your prayers as the protests continue to shut down parts of the country and to put many people at risk from violence, starvation and malnutrition. Despite the current semi-calm, there are calls for protests to pick back up this week. We’re praying that those calls are ignored and that our kids can all get to school, things return to normal, and that we can all travel around the country freely again.
Happy Thanksgiving.