Moving In

**view from our balcony**

We have arrived! After several weeks of working through the details of rental agreements, hauling a million-ton generator as well as inverter and bank of batteries, going shoping for such home necessities as a bed, pots and pans, we are finally settled into our new apartment.

From my perch in our office, I look out a big window, over a tall coconut palm tree to the mountains. The chimes I brought from home (managed to pack chimes, but forgot the tool box), color the wind with song as it blows in the open door to the balcony. Our space is roomy and simple, comfortable and quiet. We are in a third story apartment, so enjoy being a bit removed from the dust and heat from the street.

Felix told us that when we move to Haiti, our home will be our refuge, our sanctuary to collect ourself after long, hard days. And I know exactly what he means.

The guesthouse offered a beautiful beginning. It introduced us to our first community, we met so many people and learned about amazing projects going on around the country.

But today, sipping a cup of coffee in the lesiurly hours of morning, listening to the roosters outside my window and the song of the chimes carried on the morning breeze, padding around the apartment in my pajamas for a while before getting ready for work, I am thankful for the luxury of privacy, the beauty of a peaceful place to call your own.

I am thankful for the apartment knowing to so many people here don’t have the indulgence of such a place, of privacy, of electricity and running water, of tiled floors and a room with a view. So I am grateful for the luxuries afforded to us, the privileges we are graced with. May we use our gifts to work even harder for those without.