Thoughts on Blogging

Last weekend we said goodbye to Lagonav.  This Sunday we said goodbye to our brothers and sisters at the Port-au-Prince church.  And on Tuesday most of the family will say goodbye to Haiti.  For a while.  Heather and the kids head to Florida on Tuesday and Ben along with the dog will follow on Thursday.  The time has come.  We begin our 9-month furlough this week.

It has been fun to look back at some of the blog postings of our last four years in Haiti.  I am grateful for all I have learned and lived through.  It has not been easy but it has been good – because our God is good.  He has been faithful to us in preserving our lives and using us to build the church here in Haiti.  I know I need lots of reminders that God has been faithful to me in the past so I do not grow discouraged in the present.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

There have been lots of goodbyes in the last few weeks.  Saying goodbye is never easy, however, we do have the expectation of a return to Haiti next year.  Most of the people we say goodbye to have said something like, “Nine months, that is such a long time!  What will we do while you are gone!”  What we know from experience is that nine months goes very quickly.  Before we know it we will be packing up for our return.  Our great encouragement is that God will be with our friends in Haiti even when we cannot.  God provides like he did for Wideline and her son Woodley.  It was hard to say goodbye but they now have an apartment to live in and a job.  God is good.

Saying goodbye to Haiti does mean that technically we are no longer the Hopps in Haiti.  The blog is going to change somewhat for the next nine months.  As we become the Hopps traveling all over the place, the story of the blog will focus on our family visiting churches and transitioning back to life in North America.  We will continue to keep you up-to-date on happenings in Haiti.  But the blog postings will focus more on our kids, our travels and what God is doing while we are on furlough.  Thanks for reading.