Praises!

Following last week, which was one of our most difficult yet, this week so far has been one full of praises!

• Hugues had malaria last week :( But, he visited the doctor yesterday and came away with a clean bill of health. Praise the Lord! He is still a bit weak and tired but feeling much, much better. The vitamins the doctor gave him make him extra hungry so hopefully that will pack the pounds lost back on! Thank you to all of you for your prayers on his behalf this past week.
• On the tails of malaria...we were informed last week that a letter had been sent to Hugues from the U.S. Consulate regarding our case. It was mailed August 28, so we are hoping either he or I will receive it this week sometimes. From here, hopefully we will have an interview scheduled shortly and be on our way...will keep you posted!
• Hugues was able to purchase uniforms, books, and tuition for 10 children yesterday! It looks like we will likely have funding to add 2 more to that list this week...THANK YOU to everyone who has so willingly donated. The children are so excited, as are we! School starts on Monday for most of the children so we expect many to stop by and say hello to Hugues on their way down the mountain. I will post pictures as he gets them to me.
• Jovan turns 1 on Monday, the 14th! We can't believe our baby is not really a baby any more and are so excited to celebrate his #1! Daddy will join us via webcam for the cake-eating fiasco, to be held Sunday. Again, pictures to follow :)

We feel like the light is beginning to shine at the end of the tunnel for so many reasons. This journey has had its ups and downs and ins and outs and, while not over yet, we are seeing that it never will be. And that is a GOOD thing! Hugues will come home, and we will rejoice and celebrate, and then we will continue doing what we are doing now. God has placed our hearts in Haiti permanently. We are beginning to see the blessings that have come from what we would call the greatest struggle of our lives and God's incredible provision for our family and those around us. I was just looking through wedding photos selecting ones to put in an album to take to our interview and thinking how 2 years ago we never in a million years would have guessed that this is where we would be right now. We had a vision in our minds of what our life would look like, and we expected that God would do it just that way. One thing we are learning is that His ways really are SO MUCH BETTER. Things we only talked about a couple of years ago have been put right in our laps and the guidance of God has been apparent in every detail. We never actually would have had the courage to do the things we talked about, so God put us right in the middle of it, and we are so excited to see how this awesome adventure progresses over the next few months and years. Thank you so much for joining with us and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!