New Beginnings

God's favor and grace was once again evident to me all week long. I'm so grateful.

This week we had the pleasure of seeing our son, AJay, marry the girl of his dreams - Cherie Engman.

With the situation with COVID-19, we had to find a new venue and "settle for" a Monday wedding. The event was beautiful!

AJay and Cherie managed their own wedding, with a lot of support from both families. The bride's family turned the hall into a fairy tale wedding venue. The groom, along with family and friends, put on an amazing spread for the guests.

While Lex officiated the wedding, he was assisted by many of our friends in ministry: Revs. Paul & Cheryl Minor, Rev. David Tralango, Rev. Kevin Groder, and the bride's grandfather, Rev. Lenard Engman.

Matron of Honor, Hanna (Engman) Thomas and Best Man, Kervince "Gama" Parayson, shared inspiring stories about the bride and groom, blessed their marriage, and offered toasts.

After a very hectic time of obtaining an emergency passport on the day of our flight out of Boston, Lex and I headed to Haiti - where w were joined by our children, grandchildren, and many other family members.

Today we celebrated the life of Lex's mom, Lexida Augustin Edme, mom/grandma/great-grandma to 98 "children."

It was a very touching service, with 7 of her 8 children in attendance (one is living in France and was unable to travel due to the pandemic restrictions), along with several hundred family members and friends of the family.

We were also blessed by the presence of several police departments, judges, many pastors, church members, Grand-Goave's professional soccer team, and so many other colleagues.

Pastor Lex shared a message about victory over death, his mom being a hero of faith to him and their family, as well as many others who considered her a "mom" figure in their lives. He was grateful, too, that the occasion of her death also brought the family together with more unity than ever.

Below, left to right are Gama (grandson), Daniel (son), Raymond (son), Junya (daughter), Lenai (nephew, squatting), Edgard (son), Lee (son), Yaya (daughter), and Lexidan (son) - Lexida's namesake.

Lexida (aka Madame Thermeus) was buried in Macomb - which happens to be where Lex and I first met. The walk to the burial spot was quite spirited.

On the mission front, we were excited to see the Toyota Tacoma, with the bus engine in the back arrived at the port in Miami this week.

Please continue to pray for our students and staff and the reopening of school for some of the classes this week.

I'm praying for you tonight, that the Lord would touch you with Life like you've never known and lead you in the direction HE has for your life. Blessings to you!!!