About Us

 

Chris:

A graduate of Western Washington University (Industrial Technology), he came to Haiti because he wanted to help people in a practical way. He started working with Clean Water for Haiti in January 2003 and the following year took over as full time director. He never thought he would find a wife that would want to stay in Haiti with him. Good thing God had other plans. He’s good at what he does, is a great husband and a fabulous dad.

Chris is the technical brain in the family. He likes to tinker with things, especially cars, and especially Volkswagens. He has recently started “farming” papayas (as in planted way more than we will ever be able to physically consume) and taken on some chickens.

After so many years in the country Chris has lots of stories to tell and a very different perspective than me. He’s finally started writing some of that down on the blog.

Leslie:

Being a missionary was the last thing on the “to do” list. As in never. gonna. happen. Even after graduating from Prairie Bible College missions work just wasn’t on the radar. While working as a Student Ministries pastor at Vernon Alliance Church I came to Haiti with a group of my students to work with Clean Water for Haiti for a couple weeks.

God had other plans for me and after two years of trying to figure out what those were I moved to Haiti (Oct. 2005) “long term” which I would have said was 3-4 years. I didn’t ever think I would be a “lifer”. Chris and I got married in July of 2006 and now here we are. We’ve been described as “anything but normal” and we like that. Missionary, wife, mom. It could be worse.

I love to cook so having guests in is nice for me. I love photography too and just need to work on getting better at it. I come from a family of sewers (people who sew, not the place where you toilet waste goes). Gardening is also up there on the list. You’ll hear about all of these things on the blog.

I started writing the blog in my first year, mostly as a way to write down some of the things I was experiencing. I didn’t even tell people about it for the first several months. Now we have a regular stalker base that like to let me know how long it’s been since our last post. You know who you are. I’m the main blogger in the family.

 

Olivia:

Olivia is our “ti syklon” as they say in Creole. We brought her home and into our family on February 4, 2008. She was 15 days old and 5 lbs, 4 oz. She has grown like crazy and is now a walking, talking little person. She has non-stop energy. Just watching her will wear a person out. She’s also very charming and hasn’t met a person yet that she hasn’t been able to wrap around her little finger.

She’s a great kid and we often find ourselves wondering how we got so lucky. Our adoption finalized in September of 2010 and we took a much needed sabbatical in Canada. She loved all things Canadian. But, she also loves home in Haiti and after another extended break she said, “Mom, I’m glad to be here,” which is good because as parents with kids overseas we sometimes wonder if our kids will hate us later in life when they understand this life we’re living. We figured Olivia was cut out for this when we saw how well she travels. The kid is a serious rock star on airplanes. And by rock star, we mean the good kind.

 

Alex:

Alexander Michael Rolling joined our family in July of this year. He weighed in at 9lbs 13 oz and toppled the growth charts at 23 inches long. He’s a sweet little man so far and only seems to cry when he’s hungry, sleepy or wet. Can’t complain about that, can we? We can’t wait to see who he becomes as he grows up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it, we are the Rollings. In Haiti.