{Friday Favorites} - One Year - June 1st

It's my last Friday in Haiti for a month, and tomorrow will also be my anniversary of arriving in Haiti. One year ago, I moved to Haiti. It's been life changing, to say the least. In honor of the anniversary, I will be most my favorite picture from each month in Haiti...I hope you enjoy!!!

June 2011 - This is a little girl from the Tree of Life orphanage!!! Love the smile!!

July 2011 - So I couldn't pick...The first one is of Kelsey and I at OLTCH...I love these moments with the girls...with them playing with my hair, etc....One of my favorites things.

Roselyn...I love her..I love her smile and our energetic spirit. She is no longer at OLTCH, but my heart will not forget her!!

August 2011 - We went and played soccer in the village...you can see here that they love white peoples hair!!!

September 2011 - A team from Brazil came and visited us. A couple of evenings they put on a soccer tournament in Bellvue. A lot of these children are also students at Maxo's school!! I love them!!! 

October 2011 - I love this picture of Billy and Zicot. They came with us to the beach after a hard week of work. They helped build 2 houses!

November 2011 - We helped put on an Olympics day at OLTCH...This is after Laura and Vinette painted 50 faces :) Love these two women dearly!!

December 2011 - Family Time!! I love my family!! We all enjoy each other. I love this picture of my dad!! It brings back many memories of when I was a small child....Love!!

January 2012 - We get engaged!!!!!!!!! I said yes!!!!! Also Cory and Shannon and family came to visit!! What a great time and great memories!!

February 2012 - Compass Church came...this is of Kayla (she's great) with the kids at Maxo's school. I love Maxo's school, so it is always fun for me when people come and spend time there!!

March 2012 - Ella Grace & Lauren....Ella stole my heart (and Lauren's too). She is with the Lord now, but she touched many lives in her short 18 months here on Earth!!! (Lauren - I love you too!)

April 2012 - Maxita...I love Maxo's family...when I first maxita, she cried and cried...she was so scared of me!! Now I think she loves me back!!

May 2012 - Spending more time at Maxo's school. I love the older girls...Please pray, we are trying to start a Bible study with them next year :) 

 So...in 21 days I become a Mrs...to a Haitian...I need to learn to become more Haitian...which means carrying things on your head!! Here is one of my first attempts!!

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for your love and support!!!

{Friday Favorites} - May 18th

 1. Helping Teach at OLTCH: Last week, I didn't have any groups and wasn't able to schedule my own teacher training, so I joined Laura in her classroom. We had fun teaching English and making Mother's Day cards!!

2. New Coffee Maker: Ok, this is definitely a 1st world girl problem, I know. However, 3 weeks ago my Keriug coffee maker died. I've resorted to drinking expired instant coffee. I found out my friend Katie was coming to Haiti and I shipped one to her and she so kindly brought it to Haiti for me!! It has been so nice having it back :)










3. New Apartment: Maybe not new...I'm still living in the same house, but since Claudy and I are getting married, we not have two rooms and a little division set up for a little more privacy and space for us. I've been trying to be crafty and with the help of Sally, a NP staying with us for 2 months, I have some new rugs and lamps!!

Entry Way

Entry Way/ Hall Way...With New IKEA red rug, New IKEA lamp and my made sign...I painted some plywood black, painted a quote, crocheted some flowers and then stapled on the ribbon...now I"m waiting for some new black and white pictures!!

We have an office with a sitting area, a new gray IKEA rug, and IKEA lamp...notice the Keruig

I moved my desk and photo wall to the "office"

I added some quotes to the wall and eliminated the mosquito net. 

Our Closet...I even made room for Claudy's clothes :) 

Claudy's dresser and then my created frames that have chicken wire and then my You & Me painting

It's been fun, preparing a new "home". I was definitely struggling with giving up some of my marriage expectations of preparing a home for our family and this definitely helped!.

4. This summer I have 4 additional staff members. Jane (on the right) arrived yesterday and she is our intern mentor and handling a lot of the communication pieces while I am away. Matt, is an intern mentor will be arriving tomorrow. Chelsey, an intern will be arriving next week. Christine, who lived her for a year is coming back for the summer. I'm very excited about having more people here to help. Katie (on the left), works in New Orleans with Touch Global and is in charge of the internship program. She came to Haiti this week and we have been working hard, to structure the program and prepare for their arrivals!!







Hope you all have a great week...In case you are wondering... 17 days until I arrive in MN and 35 days until I become MRS.FRANCOIS!!!!

{Friday Favorites} - April 13

1. Time Away - For the last couple weeks, I have had some much needed time away. I have spent quality time with my Fiance and my family; and I did a lot of wedding planning :)  I feel reprieved and refreshed. On Sunday, I leave for Haiti and will be leaving my fiance with my family for 6 weeks!!

2. Family - I seriously have the best family ever! I am so thankful for them!! I have enjoyed spending time with them and some time playing with my nieces and nephews.

3. New Lense - I am in love...Thank you Kelly for the recommendation. This isn't a great picture, but I was testing out with the lens could do...It has a 1.8 ap...awww..I'm in love :) Can't wait to use it in Haiti.

 4. Play time: Who doesn't love it... I love their laughs and giggles, their little voices!!! I am so blessed.

Photo by Kelly Schmidgall

 5. My Fiance: I love him so much! He has been so good to me. I love that he is continually pointing me to Christ!! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!! June 22nd, hurry up!!!

{Friday Favorites} - March 16

Well....maybe Saturday favorites :) You could say that we have been quite busy here and I haven't been able to blog or give an update like I would like to!

1. Cross of Glory

Last week a team from Cross of Glory in Minnesota came to visit and help work. Boy did they work hard. They were able to finish a SECOND school building for Maxo's School! Now the kids won't have to be in the horrible concrete building that looks like it could fall at any moment!! The team members were rockstars!! 

2. Les Cayes - Centre Lumiere - I didn't take a picture of the center, however Claudy, Bethany, Lindsay, Steve and I were able to travel to Les Cayes for a day. We visited the Center that our good friend and his wife run :) They teach women how to sew, crochet, cook, clean, etc. so that they are more skilled for a job, all the while teaching biblical principals. I was able to purchase some wonderful items to sell here at the house. 

3. No trip to Les Cayes is complete without the beach and cost...Here are some great pics I got. 

4. Willna - Now named ELLA GRACE: I wanted to give an update on how she is doing. She is growing :) Smiling, etc...she really is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. Thank you Lauren for taking such good care of here!! Here are some pics of her. (In the one picture she is next to Elijah, Laura's son, he is 4 months :)

5. Pre-Marital Counseling: Ok..I love it :) I love Dave and Cherie and there testimony and their love for each other. What a great example to us! The counseling has been so great and given us so many great things to talk about and discuss :) 

6. VISA!!!!!!! If you don't follow facebook, I have good news. Claudy was given a 5 year visa :) I'm so excited for him!!! I can't wait to travel together :) (I posted this picture because he is so cute in it :)

Hope you have a great Friday!!

{Friday Favorites} - February 17

1. Engagement Pictures: As some of you saw a sneak peak on Facebook; Claudy and I, with the help of our friends Lauren and Laura, took engagement pictures. We found some cool spots and took some ideas from Pinterest. I must admit, they turned out great (or maybe I'm just biased). Here's a look. I'll put some more on Facebook.

This is just for fun...I only added it because Claudy loves it!!

  2. Lauren: One of my very good friends from Fort Myers (she lives in Indiana now) came to visit this week.  Thanks Lauren for taking the time to serve along side us, for being a great friend, for encouraging me and always being a friend that sharpens me!! You are doing amazing things!

3. New Horizons: Lauren is pictured with some of the kids at New Horizons Orphanage. We stopped to hang out with them. Madam Christian, who runs the orphanage with her husband, is pregnant and should be on bed rest. Please pray for them, she is only 5 months a long and needs to be laying, they have more kids than they can take care for. Pray that she will have a healthy baby, that she will stay healthy, and pray for the kids in the orphanage that they are impacting. 

4. Valentine's Day: I must say, I didn't know that they would celebrate Valentine's Day in Haiti. Claudy and I had the opportunity to spend the day together, he took me to a coffee shop, grocery shopping, bought me flowers, and then we came home, watched a movie and I cooked dinner and made his favorite Banana Pie. We had a great day!!

4. PASSION 2012: During Passion 2012, I purchased the all access pass. I have loved this, since I was unable to attend and don't get to hear many sermons in my language. One of the videos that came out this week was Chris Tomlin and others, singing "How Great is Our God" it was so moving, so I wanted to share it with you! I hope you are blessed and encouraged by the amazing God we serve, that connects us all together!

Hope you all have a blessed week!!!