This past month-and-a-half marked some anniversaries for us. August 15th was our 6th wedding anniversary! Falling on a Saturday this year, we had the chance to dine out in style on the actual day. It's fun to remember that for our 5th wedding anniversary we were in our countryside home stay, focusing on language learning and cultural immersion.

The rooftop lounge at the hotel we went to for dinner was snazzy, and here's a feel for the views at sunset!

We followed up our celebration the next weekend with a night in a tree-house and a fun pool day (more on this later.)

The month prior to our anniversary marked another important date for us: on July 15th it was exactly one year since we moved to Haiti! Very appropriately, we were at our annual all-staff retreat in Jacmel, getting to stroll the boardwalk together and visit the beach. 

This year has been filled with memories, and I don't dare try to recount them all. However, I will say that this year has been one marked profoundly by:

Grace: being in a new place, and at first hardly understanding any of the dialogue and customs, we needed and experienced a ton of grace. Grace for ourselves, to accept that we don't know much, and if we mess up it's okay. This kind of grace opens up your world in an entirely new way that I hadn't quite experienced before.

Joy: in discovering. New phrases in Kreyòl, delicious fruits, beautiful colors, a new mountain trail to hike. Friends and co-workers have been our teachers through and through (some gentle, some abrupt), helping us to carve out a life here in Haiti. 

Confrontation: as your experiences expand, so does your worldview. New realities, ideologies, press up against your own. It can clash with what you hold to be true, and lead to some inner dissonance and at times total confusion. But the wrestling process is a good thing, a toning and stretching of how you think about and process the world. This is one thing I am sure is going to continue into the next years; I hope it does, because this feels to me like a trademark of the active spiritual life.

Thankfulness: there has seriously been so much to be thankful for. The prayers of others, our home, the small beauties in each day. Grace. Recognizing the big and small things as the workings of God makes me a lot more thankful for each thing as it comes. 

Love. I claimed Ephesians 3:14-21 as a prayer for myself during our term here in Haiti, and as I'm writing these reflections I'm realizing how much God has revealed and is revealing about new aspects of His deep love for me. Wow, amazing!

One major gift and bonus of this past year has been two great visits from friends. Katie, dear friend for over 13 years now, came to see us in May. We had a beautiful, adventure-filled week! Katie is great with a camera, among other things, and did this impromptu photo shoot of Ted and me around our house and neighborhood. I thought sharing these photos now would be a great way to commemorate this ''anniversaries'' edition blog post. :) Cheers!

Photos compliments of Katie at Hope Photographie (Fullerton, CA).

Justice and Peace in Hispaniola

You can take a quick action to promote justice and peace on the island of Hispaniola, and to support our work.

Head here to sign an MCC petition to Secretary of State John Kerry, asking for the US Government to support diplomacy and protection for the vulnerable in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The easy link, to share this petition with others, is: bit.ly/JusticeHaitiDR, if you are into that sort of thing :)

Thank you for your love, your encouragement and prayers through this very powerful Days of Prayer for the Displaced campaign.

A funny 'tie story' for the books

We posted this to Facebook a couple days ago, and people have been getting a big kick out of it. So here is our brief recount of Mennonite resourcefulness, and two very relieved travelers.

At Mennonite World Conference, each of the 7,000 attendees received registration materials in this very nifty, handmade bag. 10,000 of these bags were sewn by MCC volunteers this past year, using donated ties as the strap. Very clever! At the end of conference, I decided to keep mine as a souvenir. (The colors were pretty snazzy, after all.)

Fast forward to two days later, in New York City, while Ted and I are getting ready for our first day of meetings at the UN. Ted - all suited up and starting to look pretty sharp - realizes that his ties have gone missing! Sure he packed them in Port-au-Prince, they are now nowhere to be found. The anxiety level starts rising. At first, we consider the 'no tie' option. The UN can handle something less formal, right? Well, that thought did not put Ted at ease. First impressions can mean a lot, after all. By some miracle, we snatched my quirky souvenir bag out of my suitcase and inspected its strap, appreciating that its former use and original purpose in life could still suit Ted's need quite well!

Some scissors, snip, snip, and we found our solution.

Sure, lime green and blue are not Ted's colors of choice, but I think they served him quite well! Just look at that fine chap, mugging alongside me in front of the famous UN statue after our morning meeting.

Thankful to not be worrying about our clothes during our first UN advocacy meeting, we were able to put our minds towards more substantive things. :) Thanks to resourcefulness; thanks to the Mennonites!

New York

Here are ten more photos from our two and a half days in New York. We walked a ton, Ted was under the weather, I was (maybe) a little cranky at times. But boy did we get a taste of the city! A few fun restaurants, scenic squares, speedy clothes shopping, and a Trader Joe's run. :) And all set in the quiet, quaint Gramercy neighborhood at the Mennonite Guest House. To top it all - wonderful chances to connect with MCC colleagues across from the United Nations.