Leslie Rolling - Part 16

Icicles & Cobwebs

I feel like my toes are icicles this morning, and I’m sitting at my desk looking at the cobwebs that are clinging to the walls accross from me. Yeah, zero relationship there…

Yesterday a cold front moved in. I know that sounds crazy because it’s Haiti and you’re probably thinking about sunny, sandy beaches. Yeah, we have those, but we also have mountains, and it can get cold in them thar hills! Back when Olivia was only a year old we took a weekend and went up to Furcy, in the mountains above Petionville. It’s about 6000 ft above sea level, and I got a lesson in just how cold Haiti can get in the winter months in places like that. We were smart in that we took extra clothes for layers, and something made me think to bring my down vest that I would only typically pull out for trips back home at Christmas time. I wore that sucker for three days straight, it was so cold! So yes, Haiti has cold places in the winter :)

Yesterday we woke up to grey skies, and as the morning progressed I watched rain clouds gently roll over the hills into our little valley and I kept thinking about how different it is here from our previous home. And we’re only 6 or 7 minutes away. But, we are away from the ocean now, with a hill range in between us. If you stand in the yard and look around it’s like being in a big bowl. It’s beautiful and we love it so much. And yesterday we got a taste of rainy weather here. We’re about 300 feet above sea level, and it was enough yesterday to show a considerable change from what we’re used to. I bundled up in pants, a t-shirt and a long sleeved layer, and cuddled up on the couch with a book and a blanket for part of the morning.

It was a missionary meeting sunday, where a bunch of local missionaries come over in the afternoon to have a Bible study and fellowship time. We’ve started doing “Souper Sundays” where once a month I make up a pot of soup and anyone who wants to stay for food after is welcome. It was the perfect day for soup and hot coffee. I looked around during the meeting and one friend was bundled up in one of our blankets, another came wearing socks, pants and sweatshirt, and another had to run upstairs and raid my closet for an extra layer because we were all cold.

Last night after everyone left and we put the kids to bed, I went into our room. The door had blown closed in the wind earlier in the day, and I was shocked when I opened it. In our old house our room was the hottest in the house, all the time. In this house, our room is the coolest. We put a special insulating foam in the roof to help keep the house cooler, and we’d already noticed a difference when we touched the walls. They’re typically cool to the touch, which is going to be so much nicer during the hotter months. But last night, as I went into our room it felt like a meat locker. The floors were COLD. The room was COLD. I quickly jumped onto the floor mat next to my side of the bed and started thinking about how to keep warm. We’ve been sleeping with a blanket on our bed since we moved in, and I quickly scrounged in the storage room for another. None of us slept with fans on last night, Alex slept with long sleeved pjs, a hoodie and all his bedding. Olivia gets confused about layering and how it’s supposed to work so she had things off and on and we’re still not sure what was going on there. We literally slept with two blankets on our bed for the first time in the history of being here, and Chris has been here for 14 years! It’s amazing!!!

This morning the clouds moved on and it’s bright and sunny, but there’s still a cool breeze. I’m wearing jeans and still in layers and trying to keep warm. We haven’t turned a single fan on, and I might unthaw by dinner. Maybe. We’ll see.

One of the fun things about the first sentence that I wrote is the fact that I’m looking at cobwebs – from my desk.

This is not a make-shift desk made of plywood spread across random cupboard units. It’s a real desk. Attached to the wall. With drawers. And it’s AMAZING!

Two weeks ago (yeesh, has it been that long???) Johnny and I cleared the office and went to work. In 5 days we finished installing the cabinet boxes, put the counter top supports in, cut and installed the counters, trimmed the edges, stained, varnished, painted, finished and did all the details. The only thing that was left to do was install the drawers, which I did last Friday. We made chalkboards for the walls and hung them. The only thing left to do is make and install the drawer and cupboard fronts, which will happen this week. Then we have a completely finished office.

I can’t tell you how amazing this space is. I will share pictures once we get the drawer fronts on, so untill then you’ll just have to take my word for it. It’s so amazing that last week after Chris moved back into the space, he just kept wandering around in the room one day saying, “This office is so beautiful. It’s really amazing!” :)

The room is 15×15, intentionally. It’s big. Right from the first day I started putting pencil to paper I knew I wanted a really efficient work space, and to get the most bang for our buck I knew I wanted to build a wrap around work space. It would mean we could have lots of work space, and 4 desk areas for ourselves and other staff to use. After literally having a 3 foot space to work in for the last 10 years, anything would be better.

One thing that I love about DIYing is that you have a certain amount of flexibility. You can change plans as you go to better suit your needs. One big change I made, literally in minutes on the morning we were starting the work two weeks ago, was the desk configuration. I’ll be able to better explain when I share pictures, but basically it comes down to making the office accessible.

One thing that is really important to Chris and I is that the office is a place where our staff feel comfortable coming. We wanted it to be approachable. While my original design was great, when I placed the last cabinet piece and thought about that goal, as well as how we’d been using the space in the past month I quickly realized that it was going to set up a divide that would defeat our goal. I consulted Chris, and we were on the same page, so I changed the plan. We still have 4 desk spaces, but the space is open and comfortable. That decision was such a good one now that we’ve been using the office for the past week.

I love having a work space! I think it’s natural that we put a lot of emphasis on Directors and their roles with the organization, and then want to give them special things or facilities to match their title. In some situations that’s spot on. However, sometimes the workforce behind the organization is one of the people in the background. In our case, Chris and I work very closely to lead and direct the mission. He’s the Executive Director and carries the full weight and responsibility of leading the organization, but I’m right next to him helping to shoulder that. When I started working with the organization we knew I’d be doing a lot of admin work, but it was really fuzzy and it’s a role that has developed over time as I’ve seen needs and taken new things on. A few years ago I gave myself the title of Administration Director, because that’s really what I am. Chris had zero objections because he knows how much I do around here. My role can carry everything from answering emails, to planning training classes, graphic design, website work, writing stuff, social media, internal admin work, working with our board… it’s a long list. A missionary friend once called me an administrative ninja.

All that to say that when we/I was planning this office space I decided that since it was a blank slate the most logical thing to do was to look at the day to day work that Chris and I each did, and build it according to how much space we each needed to do that well. Our needs are entirely different.

In Chris’ case he spends more time emailing people, but doesn’t have a huge amount of desk work with the exception of his data entry for the filter forms. When I planned his area I made sure the built in filing cabinet was in arms reach and all of his stuff for his system was right next to him. He’s so happy about having it all right there. He literally needs to move his chair over a foot, open the filing cabinet and either take forms out to prepare for follow up visits, or put files in after they’ve been entered. He doesn’t need a ton of room to spread out, but he does have space to work on stuff if he needs to.

In my case, I often have several projects on the go, and often those require the space to spread papers out so I can be working through details. That was space I didn’t ever have and it drove me crazy. I would often move to the kitchen table, then it was a case of having to get up and get this or that as I needed it. I decided that it was finally time to give myself a work space that matched the job I did for the mission. I now call it my kingdom… bwa ha ha ha!!!!

I have this amazing “arm” that goes out from the wall and my computer has a permanent place to live. Drawers to my left with stuff in easy access, and then when I have projects that need more room I can just turn my chair and I’ve another 4+ feet of desk space to spread out. In one week I feel like I have a level of sanity that I’ve never experienced here. It’s amazing!!!

I’m excited to share the final pictures with you because a) it’ll mean a room is finally done to the point of getting pictures, and b) it looks amazing! It feels like such a huge blessing to us to have these amazing facilities.

Speaking of work related stuff, after a year of having a Mac, I’m finally downloading some apps/programs to make my life a bit easier. I’m trying out a new blogging software to see if it makes it easier to blog when we don’t have a great internet connection. One thing that is still bugging me though, is desktop publishing software. I was using Publisher for a long time, then switched over to Serif, which is only for Windows. I do have Photoshop, but it doesn’t work quite the same way. I still haven’t found something that I love to replace Publisher, though I’ve tried several different programs (iStudtio, Scribus, and another one…). If you’re on a Mac and you have suggestions, I would LOVE them.

And, just so you don’t think we’re slobs who don’t clean our house – the cobwebs are an ongoing, weekly battle. New location = new bugs. We hardly ever had spiders in Pierre Payen. Here, they’re everywhere. Because the house was open for months on end, we’re still trying to get rid of all of them. It amazes me how fast things can go from clean after running a broom around the top corners in the room, to having colonies again. Literally days here. Yonese has her work cut out for her! And, the stuccoed walls make it easy for them to cling on. Don’t even get me started on the dust here. It’s amazing and out of this world. #weneedtoplantgrass

Hope you have a great week!
~Leslie

January 25, 2016 1 Comment

Our Happy Place

As I’m sitting here on our bed I’m listening to our kids play down in the yard with the neighbour kids. It’s a new sound for our family. At our old place the kids had to stay inside the fenced yard, and because of security issues that were rooted with our immediate area, they weren’t allowed to play outside the fence. They talked with kids through the gate and fence, but their social network was based out of school, not home.

In the past two weeks since we moved in here our kids have had more adventures than they have in the past 5 years. Every day they’ve woken up early, and typically by just after 7 am they’re begging to go off and play with their friends. It still seems ridiculously early to me, but everyone here is up with the sun, so their friends are ready to go too. And off they run. They come back home through the day, trailing their friends behind them. They’ll spend time playing in our yard, then off they run again to have their adventures. Each night they come home, telling us about the mountains they’ve climbed and the things they’ve been doing. Alex has been learning to use a sling shot, and Olivia’s friends have been trying to teach her how to cook Haitian food. This is of course after they’ve spent a couple of hours visiting all the nearby fields and neighbours looking for things like okra to cook with.

This feeling of being completely comfortable with their running off for hours, is somewhat strange, but good. It takes me back to my own childhood where the neighbours were all friends of our family and watched out for us kids. We knew everyone on our street, and around the corners. The neighbourhood was our playground. We rode our bikes all over the street, and the cars would slow for us. We had paths beaten through the lawn going next door to our friends house. In the winter we slid down the hill in front of our house, across the street, and down the neighbours hill too, if we’d gotten enough momentum. In the summers, after it was dark, our parents would let us stay out and play kick the can with all our neighbourhood friends.

For Chris and I, being able to give our kids the same freedom with this move, has made life more complete. We’ve been here for two weeks, and they’re so much happier. They come home exhausted, dirty and hungry, but filled up with stories to tell. I hear them down in the yard yabbering away in Creole with the other kids and my heart swells. Alex hates wearing shoes, but he’s decided that shoes are better for climbing mountains, so he’s put on his flip flops every morning. Some of his new friends have been teaching him how to use a sling shot. The other day he was complaining that his leg hurt, and then Olivia said, “It’s because you got kicked by a donkey!” and we heard about how he learned that walking behind a donkey and touching it’s butt is not something that donkeys like. Life lessons, right? They then told us about their friends riding the same donkey and falling off, and that they were laughing but also thankful that they had decided to keep their little feet firmly on the ground – this time.

I feel like our family has been given a huge gift. Our kids are so much happier, and the relationships they’re building will be life giving. I wondered what it would be like for them here, and how long it would take for them to settle in, and honestly, it’s happened much faster than I expected. We love that this place is safe and has a priority of looking out for each other.

This morning after the kids left, Chris and I decided to go for a walk to visit the neighbours before we got busy doing other things. We’d been saying we would do it all break, and just kept putting it off. We wandered over to chat, and visited then walked up to the road and visited with people along the way. It felt good to go out on foot where we had the time to stop and chat with people, rather than always driving and being on the way to some place. I got to find out where people make food to sell, where the bread that we see made in a big clay oven gets sold, and where to find other things in the area. We stopped and chatted with the dad of one of our construction workers, and I now know where Akins gets his smile and his sweet personality from.

While we were out we met a guy that harvests honey from bees, and later this morning he came by with fresh, raw honey to sell. Some friends of ours recently had a hive that they needed to get rid of, and got about a gallon of honey from it and shared a bit with us. Raw honey is so different from the commercial honey you buy, and it’s so delish. We were later talking about how we want to build up relationships with the local farmers and let them know that if they have produce they can come by the gate to sell to us. We already have a milk man, so we’re well on our way!

We love our new community so far, and I’m looking forward to sharing more adventures and stories as time goes by.

~Leslie

January 2, 2016 No Comments

Reflecting on 2015

2015. Wow, where did you go?

I remember talking with Chris at the beginning of 2014 and listening to him share his discouragement at the fact that we’d owned the property for over a year, and he felt like we weren’t in a position to make any progress on it in the foreseeable future. What was bubbling up in me, though, was different. It was hope. Nonsensical hope. The mission didn’t have the funds to do much of anything, and yet I knew deep in my heart that we would be breaking ground by year end. When I shared that with him, he got a bit exasperated with me, may have even thrown his hands up in the air, and said, “Well, you’re entitled to feel however you want, but I just don’t see how it’s going to happen.”

And yet, here I sit at my make shift desk in our new house, that we moved into less than two years from that conversation. December is a pivotal, significant time in our story, I guess. It was the month we finalized the paper work to purchase the land for the organization, and it was the month last year when we broke ground on the first building. I remember taking pictures of that early work, the foundation trenches in the ground, and feeling so giddy. My sense of hope from the beginning of the year had been spot on. God was doing this thing. And, this December we moved in.

2015 has been a very full year. But full of so many good things. We’ve had hard years here, but this year has been everything but hard. It’s been busy, but the kind of busy where you know you’re pushing toward a wonderful goal. It’s been full of helping more families get access to clean water – 1319 filters installed, to be exact. That equates to over 13,000 people getting access to clean water in 2015 – on top of doing a major building project.

We’ve seen so many wonderful things from our staff this year as well. We’ve gone through a lot of hard years in the staff department, but this year was so full of blessings. Blessings in seeing their ownership and hard work with what we’re doing. Blessings in seeing them gain new skills and pride in their work. Blessings in seeing our staff become more of a family, one that we felt wrapped up in and part of. And, the blessing of seeing them fully embrace this new journey and chapter for the mission, with enthusiasm and excitement. We’re 4 days away from the first day of work for 2016, and I’m so excited to see how everything comes together with the rest of our work yard facilities, and how much that blesses our staff in the hard work they do every day. God has truly given us a spirit of joy in the past year and I wish you could hear the laughter and joking around that we get to hear all day long as the guys work away to help us continue to build this thing.

As a family I see how we’ve gotten more settled in 2015. Our kids are getting older, and we’re loving the stage that they’re in. I do look at Alex almost every day, and my heart breaks a bit to see our baby getting so big and growing up, but when I’m completely honest, I don’t love the baby stage. I don’t love being needed all the time and being completely relied on to meet someones needs. I start to feel worn out and like there just isn’t enough of me to go around. This year has been a very pleasant step back into my “old” self, the person that existed before we had kids. As our kids get more independent, we’re enjoying being able to do more with them, to have more conversations with them, and just having fun as a family. Our summer vacation this year was the best one so far. We were able to move at our own pace, our kids had a blast with everything that we did, they were old enough to leave with each set of parents for a few days while we got some time away, and there wasn’t a diaper or sippy cup in sight.

With the start of school this year, we saw Alex take a step into a different world when he started Kindergarten. It’s been an adjustment for him, but a good one. Does he love school? Yes and no. Depends on the day. He misses his teachers, and out of the two kids, he’s the one that’s eager to get back next week. He likes his routine. He does better with it. Olivia does love school, but this year was an adjustment for her as she moved up to the middle building, which meant less play time, and more serious work time. She’s doing great and excelling as always, but it’s been a year of growing up for her. For Chris and I, both kids being in school opened our days up to focus on other things again, like before we had kids. I know some parents have a very hard time with the first day of school for their last child at home, but for me that lasted about 15 minutes and then I realized all the things I could get done in a day, and slowly this part of me started to emerge that had been dormant for a long time. So, 2015 marks the year that I started to feel like myself again.

As I look to the new year, I feel a sense of contentment. Content. That would be the word I would use to brand 2016. The year that all the pieces came together and we saw things completed. The year that we feel that we’re making strides forward. The year that we continue to settle into all this newness, and see the plans that God has had in the works unfolding before us.

I know that might sound a bit lofty, especially because we’re still hours away from flipping over to the new calendar year, but that’s how I feel going into it. For all I know, 2016 could be a ridiculously hard year, but I don’t sense that right now. And, if it is a hard year, I know that with the things that we’ve gone through up until now, that we’ll walk through those times and deal with them as they come. I feel confident of that.

I’m looking forward to this New Year. 366 days where anything could happen (yes, February has 29 days this year). We’re already excited about some big things. Chris’ parents are coming to visit in February, for one. We’re going to finish off our work facilities, and we’re building a guest house so we can get back to teaching classes and hosting visitors again by the end of the year. We’re looking forward to getting to know our community more. Summer vacation is coming up, and we might get a few other trips in as well. All good things.

As you move into 2016 I hope it comes with excitement and enthusiasm. Maybe it means breaking free from some heavy stuff that hung around you this year. Maybe it means building on something great that started this year. Maybe you have no idea what it’ll hold and are just open to whatever comes. Whatever it is, I pray that 2016 will be a good year for you and yours.

We have a few more days of vacation left, then Monday we’re back to school, and back to work. The rest has been much needed, but I find myself starting to get a bit twitchy and needing to get into some kind of routine, especially now. November and December saw most of our family and life routine go out the door with trying to get the house done and me working long days. I’m looking forward to being able to be the one to get our kids ready for school in the morning, and to go and pick them up. To having a meal plan and cooking dinner because we’ll be quitting work at a normal time every day. I’m looking forward to getting the rest of my house list done in the next month, then getting back into my admin work. I’ve missed it.

I’m not normally in a hurry to get our Christmas decorations taken down, but I know that will happen this weekend to make space for the work that needs to be done starting next week. I find myself already switching into work mode and thinking through the work I have left to do, and deciding what I should start with. I think it’ll be the office, so we can be fully functioning in a few weeks. I’m seeing the lists I’d written and taped on the wall slowly coming down, which feels good. After the office is done, the work left in the house isn’t a lot, and will mostly be cutting, screwing together, and then installing because it’s all closets and cabinet fronts. I did get all the left over work done in the bathroom over the holidays, which feels good. Just little things like caulking and hanging up hooks and things like that.

Our makeshift office, or at least my corner of it. When all is finished I’ll be in a different corner :)

I’m looking forward to having Yonese back at work regularly. She came back from her vacation 5 days before we moved, so not only have I missed her over our vacation, but for the last three months too. I know it might seem weird to have household help in 5 days per week, but the truth is it’s a lot more work to keep house here. Because everything is open all the time we have a ton more dust and dirt that comes in the house. That and kids that run around bare foot and sandals that drag dirt in, we’re constantly sweeping. I can sweep twice a day and end up with big piles each time. I look at what got wiped down and dusted after we moved in, and then again last week, and there’s a layer of dust on it again. Yonese is also like a kind of glue that just helps hold us together better. She helps take care of the little things around the house so Chris and I can focus on our family and running the parts of the mission that truly benefit from our skills and gifts. She’s also kind of like a Haitian grandma to our kids. We’ve all missed her being here regularly, and I’m looking forward to us all learning the new quirks and routines of this house and property, and settling back into what is familiar for all of us.

As an aside, one thing that we’re adjusting to is the different wildlife out here, as in bugs. Because the old mission site was much more developed, and we had a yard full of grass, we had less critters coming in our house. The new house was completely open until the day we moved in and Chris went around and put all the screens in. We’ve been dealing with spiders and other bugs since then. Especially ants. Oh, the ants! We had friends over the other day, and asked their kids to catch us a few lizards that we could release in the house. Yes, we intentionally released lizards in the house. Why? Because they eat the bugs. We didn’t even think about it when we moved in, but this house is sealed up with no spaces where they can get in, unlike our old place where they could come in as little guys under the door, then take up residence and have a happy life. We have different doors with tight thresholds, so no lizards. The kids released a couple downstairs, and that same night Chris and I were in the office and I squealed with excitement when I saw a baby lizard on the office wall, because it had crept in from outside. I don’t know if it was from the doors being opened more during the day with the kids running in and out, or if he managed to eek through the small space between the wall and the door frame where we had to take the door out to get the fridge in, but he was there. Our friends also brought us some good ant poison, and in three days we’ve gone from having to spray the dickens out of our kitchen 5-6 times per day to doing it maybe once. Take that ant colonies! Hiya!

And, miracle of all miracles, the internet is working okay today, so here are some pictures from the last few weeks :)

Some friends of ours hosted a Christmas karaoke party before everyone left for the holidays. I thought Chris was really into karaoke, but apparently he’s found his brother from a different mother in our friend Robert. We had to drag this guy away when it was time to go home. My stomach and face hurt from laughing so hard. They were SO into it! Our friends mentioned they were thinking about getting a different karaoke system and would be selling theirs, and both Robert and Chris looked at me for approval at the same time… lol!

Our new furry family members…

Chris wrote their initials on their foreheads the first day they were here so he could tell them apart. Anna, Elsa & Kristoff. The previous family were Frozen fans :) The puppies have all settled in well and we’re having fun with them. They’re really funny and very energetic. Elsa is the run and still small enough to squeeze through the gate, so she gets out at least 2-3 times per day. Anna is always quick behind, and Kristoff is a perpetual good boy and will stay in the pen, even though he’s smaller than Anna and could get out, and whine and bark to let us know that the other two have escaped. Anna is the alpha dog and the one who has the most energy. She’s the one that attacks the others just for fun. They have BIG personalities and I can’t wait to see what they’re like when they get bigger and we can let them out more.

Christmas house pictures! I promise to do a more thorough run through in January/February after we get more stuff finished.

Chris got me that rocking chair for Christmas in 2008, and I may have cried. It’s very unique with hand painting all over it. I love it. It’s been in the kids room all these years, and I’m excited that we can finally have it where we can use it more and people can see it.

Alex wrote his own gift tags this year :)

In the past few years it’s become tradition to go down to Moulin Sur Mer one evening before Christmas because they light everything up and it feels festive, so on the 23rd we went down for drinks, then bought “Montrouis Chicken” – this delish bbq chicken you get from street vendors – and took it home for dinner. It was a fun evening.

Christmas!

I’m not sure where those kids came from. Mine are smaller…

Opening stockings. It was SO early…

Apparently Alex was still hungry after we finished our Christmas dinner…

Well, I have milk waiting to be made into ricotta, and some banana bread to bake. Fun thing – now that we’re living in an agricultural area, we have people we can buy milk from every day, so Chris wanted to get into making cheese. He’s been accumulating his tools and yesterday he made a big batch of mozzarella. I’ve been making ricotta for a while because it’s really easy, so tonight we’re having lasagna with homemade mozzarella and ricotta. :)

Happy New Year from Haiti!!

~Leslie

December 31, 2015 No Comments

I’m Leslie. I started my blog back in 2005 when I was fresh off the plane in Haiti. I lived in Haiti for over 17 years as a missionary, wife, and eventually mom. My husband and I ran Clean Water for Haiti together, day in and day out. We carved out a life we loved doing something important to us. Sadly, in the fall of 2022 we had to make the difficult decision to leave Haiti because of the insecurity. We’re now settling into life in the US. I’m thankful that I get to continue my work with CWH as the Executive Director for Canada and the US.

Icicles & Cobwebs

Our Happy Place

Reflecting on 2015

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Icicles & Cobwebs

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Our Happy Place

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Reflecting on 2015

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See What You’ve Missed

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