{Wedding Wednesday} - Getting Ready

I have been struggling to blog lately, and needed something to help me get the juices flowing. For the next couple weeks, I will be sharing our wedding with you. Especially for those of you from out of town and those that couldn't make it!

Getting Ready:
Hair: Sheryl Anderson @ Visible Changes
Makeup: Kalee Nuest
Pictures: Kelly Schmidgall

 More to come next week :)

It's a boy!!!

No Claudy and I are not having a baby yet. However, many of you who have visited or have followed the blog were wanting to know what Madame Christian had. It's a boy... Sean Jeff-Erik Samuel Christian Jean. No I'm not kidding, that is his whole name. While she told me, she laughed, because she had to say it 4 times before getting it correct :) Anyways he is healthy and they are doing well. Here are some pictures.

I took some other pics of the kids as well!!! 

I'm no sure why he was so sad!!! But it was a rough day :) 

We are planning on fixing their house so soon the kids will be inside :) It's great to be back in Haiti :) I'll post some wedding things Friday :) 

A little problem...

Hey all!

My name is Jane and I am helping out at the Haitian Queen while Ashlee heads to the states to get married.  I wanted to keep you all up to date on the happenings here in Haiti while she is away.  

Well Ashlee left this morning.  I've been a little nervous trying to learn everything I needed to know about  the house before she left.  I finally was feeling confidant that I had it all figured out, and that's precisely when God likes to give us a little test isn't it?  So I'm driving to the gas station and those of you who read about the parking ticket that was my fault on Memorial Day know that I already don't have the best luck with driving in Haiti. So,there is the normal pointing and staring from Haitians so I think nothing of it.  As our tank is being filled a man knocks on the window and lets me know we have a flat tire! So after a few phone calls, and Matt and a Haitian man coming to my rescue we got it taken care of. All I can think is, "Well at least now I know what to do if it happens again!"

So prayers would be appreciated for a smooth transition to Ashlee not being here!

{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!!!

Holidays

It's always a little bit different being outside the US, when you know that everyone back home is off of work, relaxing, and spending time together. Today was no different. This morning I saw many posts of thanks to our wonderful troops, which later turned into many posts of friends by the water (lake, pool and ocean). I commented to Jane (staff member here for 2 months), that we should make our own Memorial Day celebration. While, that didn't happen, we did have an interesting day!

The last week and a half I have been trying to teach Jane and Matt, all they will need to know to run the house for a month while I am gone. Jane decided she needed one more training session with me at the supermarket! We decided to make a day of it and we stopped to eat in Petionville, before getting our groceries. I decided to take them to the Funky Monkey (a latte sounded good). Jane parked, we went in and ate and returned outside...only to find that our truck was not there. Jane comments to me "I promised I locked it." I searched around the corner, like an idiot, like somehow it moved itself. As we were searching, there were 3 men across the street laughing at us. The proceeded to tell me the police took our car. So we walked the half mile or so to the police station. I guess I didn't really know what to say, I hadn't really practiced any of the words for a police station, it isn't something I use often. I finally muttered enough words, that the police officer outside, pointed me inside. Again, I explained that someone, I think the police, took our car. Finally we found the car. We were told that Jane was parked improperly...(I'm not sure how the other 4 weren't) and we needed to pay a fine to get our vehicle back! I paid the fine and 20 minutes later we were on the road to the market! Thank goodness it was nothing more or a stolen vehicle.

We did have some Memorial Day celebrations. We sat on the roof in the sun for an hour. Then it was back to work, only to find out we are losing 100v of power, from our pole to our electrical box...Looks like we get to run a new wire underground!! Should be fun to fix!!

{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!!!!