Graduations and Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads! It occurs to me that while we honor dads today, many of us are honored regularly by those very same men. Take a look at Proverbs 17:6, “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.” Notice that last part, “…the glory of children are their fathers.” I think all little children look up to their fathers, but there comes a time when the child is old enough to understand who their father is. Some of us had amazing fathers that we spend our lives trying to emulate, but unfortunately, others realize that they do not want to be like their fathers.

I’d like to encourage all of you dads to consider the kind of reputation you are developing for yourself and how it will affect your children. Let the fruit of the Spirit of God come forth from you: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” (Galatians 5) These are the qualities that will keep your children looking up to you during their teen years and even long after you’re gone. I have been so blessed in my life to know many, many men who exercise these qualities day in and day out, and I am so grateful that my children are proud to call Pastor Lex their dad.

I hope all of you dads received the attention and gratitude today that you deserve. Thank you for leading, protecting and loving the children that God has entrusted to you.

Along with Father’s Day, comes graduations. This past week we held graduation events at both the Thozin and St. Etienne campuses. Our friends, Revs. Paul and Cheryl Minor, rectors at the Parish of All Saints Church (Belmont, MA), made the trip to Haiti, to be a special part of these celebrations. They blessed the kindergarten classes with little purple caps and gowns. They were so cute and proud of their accomplishments. Here are some pictures from these special days:

There was lots of work to be done to prepare for graduation in Thozin.

Revs. Paul & Cheryl Minor don’t believe in all work and no play!

Len Gengel delivered a timely and motivating speech to the graduating seniors.

Graduation in Thozin

St Etienne Graduation

The preschool teachers made themselves uniforms.

Chrislove graduated from Kindergarten!

Leah had her hands full again this week, serving our students and neighbors who were not feeling well. The Chikungunya virus has attacked so many over the past 6 weeks that I feel I am in the minority, having not experienced it myself. We are so grateful to the Minors for carrying lots of Tylenol for us. That is the main way of helping with the terrible joint pain these ChikV sufferers have been dealing with, as well as helping to reduce their feverish temperatures.

We are expecting our former board member, Karen Page to arrive this week to set up the computers she has been storing for us. At this point the computers have not yet arrived. Would you pray that they arrive on time? Thanks.

In the meantime, our elementary students have been enjoying their beginner steps into the world of technology, using the XO laptops.

Please remember our students in prayer, as they take their final exams this week. Our 6th, 9th, 12th and 13th grade students will be taking national exams over the next month or so, as well. This is a really big deal for them and we’re trusting that they’ll not be nervous or confused, but recall all the details they will need to pass these tests.

I was not at church today to give you an update, although I can tell you that Pastor Lex was there. He missed last week, due to ChikV, but he is able to function – still with pain, but no fever. A. Jay and I stayed home today, as A. Jay has been having very high fevers, as well as terrible pain from the same virus. As always, if you would join us in prayer, we would really appreciate it. Thank you.

We’re looking forward to a wonderful week. I hope you have a great week, too!