Welcome!

Welcome to Soul Food!

I’m SO excited about taking down the “under construction” screen and finally being able to let you see what’s been going on here. For those of you that are coming over from Rollings In Haiti, thanks for following me over here. I hope that you like the change. I know I do! To read more about the name and all that jazz visit the About page.

For those of you that ARE following me here, you’re probably wondering why a new space?

Well, I think sometimes we just outgrow certain things. The longer I’ve been here in Haiti, the more it’s become home. Things that were crazy and outstanding are very much normal now. For example, one day I went to St. Marc and was doing errands. I almost go run over by a dump truck. It brushed my dress as I tried to pancake myself to my car. People yelled at the driver on my behalf. When I got home I almost forgot to tell Chris. Um, yeah. Normal has changed a bit over the years…

When I started writing my first blog, and then at Rollings In Haiti, it was with the intention of sharing all the weird and wonderful that is life here. Over time though, it became harder and harder to write. I think I felt like I was in a box of sorts. I worried too much about not writing about Haiti enough. Not sure if that makes sense, but that’s how I felt. The longer I’ve been here, the harder it’s become to write about certain aspects of life here, and sometimes I just feel like the stories aren’t mine to tell. Other times, I felt like talking about something that was fun for me, like building furniture or decorating our house, felt out of place on a blog that was about our life in Haiti. I know that might also seem strange, but it just felt restrictive to me.

And then life changed here and my workload changed with it. And suddenly I was looking at the fact that this person that we had been looking for to take over website stuff at the mission, was in fact, me. It was overwhelming. But, about two months ago in a moment of crazy clarity while drugged up on lots of Tylenol 3 and Ibuprofen post wisdom tooth removal, it all came together. All the confusing stuff that was making me a bit twitchy finally made sense. And I figured the best way to figure out what I was doing for the mission was to use my own website as a testing ground. In one fell swoop I bought a domain, I got a theme, and I started madly scribbling notes. In a Skype chat with one of our board members, who has been doing the website stuff and coaching me through the beginning stages, he may have suggested that the codeine was giving me some clarity. I may have muttered something about Tylenol 3 being my opium…

One of the other factors for me was that while the old blog was about “our” life here in Haiti, I was the only one that really wrote. Yes, Chris popped in occasionally, but it was really more my space. I would often get frustrated with not being able to customize things as much as I’d like. Problems of a creative person, I guess. Having my own domain means the space can grow and change, and I can customize it as much as I want. The creative process has been so liberating for me! And, I’ve realized that I can do this.

I know, if you’ve been a previous blog stalker, that you might be worried that things will be different here in this new place.

Well, the truth is, they will be different. But, I hope it’s a better kind of different.

I’ve been feeling more inspired since I started working on this site than I have in a very long time. I want to be writing again and I’ve been itching to get this thing launched so I can be doing more of it in a space that I love. This space feels more personal to me in a way that our old blog didn’t because it would only allow me to do so much. And, I know this space can grow and change over the years as I, and our family, grow and change.

Case in point, this kid has her front teeth back, her hair has been in dreads for almost a year, and she rarely stays still long enough for her Daddy to give her cheek smooches. A lot changes in less than a year!

You’re still going to get much of the same kind of stuff that you’ve gotten on the old blog, so have no fear! I’ve been able to set things up so you can more easily find posts in certain categories, and tags for others, so you can read about the things that interest you most.

I hope you love coming here. I hope that what I share is fun and interesting, and that maybe you learn a few things along the way. I hope you feel connected to our family, and in turn, this life that we live.

To get things rolling, and so that you could get a good feel for this new place, I’ve been writing a bunch in the past week to get some stuff set up. Click around, read, enjoy!

Edit: If you’ve been receiving email notifications about new posts you’ll have to sign up for those for this new site over on the right sidebar. It just takes a minute. And, if you’ve been reading through a feed reader don’t forget to add this new site to your blogs to follow so you get the new content there!

Again, welcome!

~Leslie