Just so you know...we're not dead!

My dear, sweet friend, Stacey, (who is an avid and most interesting blogger!) kindly emailed to say if I didn't update my blog, people would think we are dead! In fact, even though she's seen me quite recently, she said she was beginning to think I was dead so I thought I better get crackin'!

Bud and I are not dead and in fact, are doing well. Yesterday, September 13, we celebrated one year since our arrival to Haiti. When I think back over the past year, there have been great days, good days, hard days, long days, amazing days, and many other days that fall in-between, but the thing that always holds steadfast in our minds is, "We are here because of God's calling and faithfulness in His timing and for His purpose". He continues to show His faithful hand in our lives every day in big and little things...for that we are so thankful.

Just last Saturday, Bud took a team to the airport. Had stopped at a store in town looking for materials on his way home and when he returned, he couldn't find one set of his keys - the "smallest" of the four sets he carries around that included our house key, the depot with all of his tools, and the key to the compound office. As we walked around the compound retracing his steps, I was praying, "Lord, help us find those keys!" Well, we returned home without the keys and just decided we'd have to "wait". A little later, Amos, one of our dearest friends here stopped by and we, through our broken Creole and his broken English, explained about the lost keys. He quickly offered to call the store to see if the keys were found there (a task that we couldn't have accomplished on our own!) No keys...hmmm...still waiting.

Praise God, Sunday afternoon one of the watchmen scrambled up to the truck when we returned from church with the keys in his hand! He'd found them lying on the ground. This might seem insignificant, but this is a 32-acre grass-covered compound and Bud walks all over it daily and had been all over it Saturday before he discovered the keys were missing. They might have never been found, or, might have ended up in the wrong hands, but thankfully God even took care of this little thing for us! What a relief and another reminder that we are never outside of His sight.

Thanks for the kick in the pants, Stacey! Next time, pictures I promise!

Love and prayers - miss you all!
Bud and Cindy