God is kind and His timing is always perfect. Sometimes I disagree with how He does things, but in moments like that, I am fully aware that it is ME who needs the adjustment… not Him. God is perfect, good, all-knowing, ever-present, kind, just, completely holy and that never needs adjusting.
Our plans for a September 2023 return to Haiti were derailed, BUT our Cornerstone School of Truth team victoriously began another school year without us present. God was pushing our capacity to let go and pushing our teams’ capacity to lead. It was uncomfortable and messy, but God was in the middle of it all encouraging us one day at a time.
December came and it was time to reevaluate what God’s next steps were for us. From our knowledge the boarder was open and allowing Americans through, but we felt that we should finish out the school year in Florida. Through a lot of discussion, we felt the best rhythm to try for our family was summers in Haiti and school years in Florida with Jesse continuing to take solo trips every few months. Enter *sigh of relief* - I was thrilled that we finally had a plan that would help us settle in Florida, but still gave room for being present in Haiti. We knew what to expect after so many months of trying to figure it all out. I really should have held those plans juuuuuust a bit more loosely than I was.
“The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
I think I was heavily leaning on the “plans his way” rather than “establishes his steps.” Again… God’s timing for everything is perfect. We do the adjusting… not Him.
So we had our plan. Jesse took a spring trip to our Haiti home and the team was thrilled to have him and even more thrilled to hear that the entire Lancour crew was coming back for the summer! We were even planning to make it in time for the class field trip and our very first 6th grade class graduation! After almost a year and a half of me and the kids not being with our Haitian family it was going to be a wonderful reunion!
We planned, prepared and packed. Our family of six flew to the Dominican Republic with six checked bags, six carry-ons and six backpacks filled with school supplies, gifts and things for the summer. We packed a small pick-up truck to overflowing with even more supplies from Santo Domingo to take over the boarder into Haiti. Such excitement and anticipation… our summer plans were well on their way.
We make it to the boarder full of faith and ready to cross for a long awaited reunion for our team, but what met us was what felt like a giant punch in the gut.
“You cannot cross.”
What?!? Why?!?
“The Dominican boarder is closed to American citizens and you cannot cross the land border into Haiti… unless you have special permission.”
We were stunned… this was not the report we were getting from others we knew.
I won’t go into all the details, but Jesse asked a whole lot of questions via our boarder contact, with no one offering any real help. We went back to the capital and spent four days trying to find out information from several government agencies as to where we could obtain the special permission to cross.
No one could help.
We cried out to the Lord to make the way, to open the door. We made the eight-hour journey from the capital back to the boarder to try one more time. Surely a miracle would take place. Surely our plans would come to fruition! Didn’t God know how important it was to our family, to our team to be in Haiti for the summer? We had so many plans, so much purpose surrounding this trip!
But the answer was “no.”
A big, giant, firm “NO.”
Deeply grieved and confused we left all the supplies we were supposed to deliver… someone else would get that privilege… and returned to Florida. Our team grappled with the news trying to understand why and making suggestions of other not so legal ways to get across, but we knew that was a “no”… especially with our kids.
We were severely disoriented. We had thought God was giving a ‘yes’ to our plans… so many confirmations happened within the months before. We were grieved and angry and had quite a bit to process.
God is kind. In those moments of our anger, disappointment and grief… He is so patient and so present if we let Him be.
Through that summer experience we finally came to the understanding that our season of living in Haiti as a family was over. Our focus needed to shift from “when can we get back?” to “what are we establishing here?” We needed to let go and surrender even more than we thought. The work of Cornerstone Haiti doesn’t belong to us and it shouldn’t depend on us. God was the one who began this good work and God is the one who is sustaining it and He will finish it. Do we play a role? Absolutely! But our role is shifting. Our role is now stepping back a bit more so that other leaders on our team can step up even more. This was already happening, but our mindset needed to change. We needed God to open our eyes even wider to what He was doing in our team and in our family. His timing for all things… beginning of seasons and the ending of them… is perfect.
Our kids were getting older and their growing hearts needed deeper community and more opportunities than what we had in our beautiful mountains. Our CH community in Haiti needed to see that they could truly own this mission and didn’t have to be so dependent upon Jesse for everything. These experiences were part of growing pains… perfectly timed growing pains.
It is the summer of 2026 as I write this, and the kids and I still haven’t been able to make it back to our Haiti home. It’ll be four years in September, but we keep in step with the Spirit and follow His lead. The kids have been asking more frequently when we can go back to visit which both fills and breaks my heart… depending on the day.
Jesse continues to travel back to Gwo Cheval several times a year and leads our team weekly through the computer screen. But we praise God that the work of Cornerstone Haiti continues with our team of nationals. Though there are still some days that feel like we are still in a transitional period, the truth is that we are secure in God’s leadership. Leading Cornerstone Haiti is still our main passion and we continue training up national team members to take on more responsibility all while leaning into life here in Florida.
From the beginning years through the transitional years of Cornerstone Haiti one thing has remained true… Jesus has our ‘yes’ whatever it looks like because He is worthy.