A Birthday Celebration

Mama labored many hours and late through the night to get the birthday dress ready.

The final product! Very fitting, no pun intended :-)

Sophie is ready for the celebration too.

We thought it best to have Daniella's friends from Children's Church (Savanna-La-Mar Wesleyan Holiness) share in the occasion with her. Daniella enjoyed it very much. Here, Sis Arlyne Scott, one of the teachers, is giving direction to Daniella on how to cut the cake. Loydian, Daniella's best friend at church, is helping. Mama and Sophie are watching.

Babouchka Maria made the trip from Russia to share in the celebration.

The famous "blowing of the birthday candles."

About fifty children were in attendance for church. They made a great choir in singing "Happy Birthday to Daniella!"

Of course, Sophie shares the spotlight with big sister. It is ice cream time.

To the question: "How old are you now?" Daniella raised her hand and showed 4 fingers. School is working :-).

She is four dreaming sixteen. I am already dreading sixteen!

CWC Graduation in Pictures

Awarding of Diplomas.
CWC's choir sang under the direction of Maestro Guenson Charlot

Leadership Training Institute graduates with their teacher, Reverend Mavis Johnson.

Diploma in Theology graduates

Happy Birthday Daniella!!!!

June 7, 2005: Daniella Marie Joseph, Sleeping Beauty. A blessing to hold, a joy to behold.

2006: Already a seasoned traveler. By the time Daniella was one year old, she has seen Jamaica, Russia, Germany, Haiti, and USA.

2007: A new reality. Sophie's arrival changed things in many ways. She was in awe of Sophie from day one.

2008: Stability.

2009: Responsibility. I know, she is still too young for this big word. But Daniella has taken up the role of big sister and is playing it very well. In this picture, she and Sophie are on their way to Children's church.


It is very fitting that the 100th post of Josephs' Journal be devoted to wish Happy Birthday to Daniella.
Daniella and Sophie have been the greatest means through which we have witnessed and experienced God's faithfulness in our lives as a family. It seems like only yesterday Lara and I were walking around Wilmore praying and hoping that gravity would move the process along, and praying that God would grant Lara a safe delivery. Four years later, I am up, around the same time we drove to the hospital, reminiscing on God's goodness and keeping Lara company as she diligently labors on completing Daniella's birthday dress.
Daniella has made our joy and made our life complete. With Sophie, our cup runs over. God has been good to us.

April and May Highlights

Starting from bottom to top:
Highlight # 1: Daniella is happily displaying her 3rd place finish medal that she won at her school's Sports Day competition.
Highlight # 2: The college held a Seder celebration during the Easter season. Larisa led the liturgy. It was a wonderful time of worship and reflection.
Highlight # 3: It is promotion time! We have been going, going, going, and going this past semester in terms of promoting the college and getting CWC's name out there. This picture was taken at a Career's Day event held at the Petersfield High School.
Highlight # 4: May is synonymous with graduation. This year's graduating class had seven students. From left to right: Shakika Fraser (Valedictorian), Alton Stephenson, Carolyn Walters (Salutatorian), Dalton Mahbeir, Dwight Vernon, Jason Dixon, and Nakia Sergeon. We had a wonderful celebration. Of course this is always a time filled with mixed feelings. While we celebrated the achievements of the graduates it was sad to see them go. They have all touched our lives, and we consider ourselves blessed to have been able to contribute to their spiritual and academic development (among other things).
Highlight # 5: God granted us the privilege to have had two great neighbors this past semester. Guenson and Claudia were a great blessing to us. Guenson and I (Abson) have known each other since Haiti from the good old (High School) days of attending Music camp at the Universite Chretienne du Nord d'Haiti (Christian University of Northern Haiti). Guenson and Claudia got married in December 2008 and spent a semester teaching at CWC. They are both CWC alumni. Graduation night was their last one on campus, so we are left with no neighbors for a while. Friends are friends forever, so we will surely see them again.

Update in the making

It has been a long time since I last updated the blog. Life has been very busy. I will make some time soon to give you an idea of what has been happening in our lives in April and May. Please, come back and visit with us.

Sports Day in Pictures

It's lunch time! Sophie was with Daniella every step of the way :-).

K-1 race. I was filming with one hand, and trying to take this picture with my left hand. In the midst of it all, I cut Daniella out. She may never fogive me, but the video turned out to be perfect.

Everybody wins! The children are getting their prizes. The earlier you cross the finish line, the sooner you get to choose your toy.

On your mark... Get set... Go! I will be saying this many many times over the next few years.

Here is a cool story: The boy (orange team) leading the race in this picture fell at the turn. He was overtaken by two other runners (from the green team), but he managed to get up; he passed one, and edged the other to finish first.

Sports Day: An Early Start

Last summer, Jamaica, led by Ussain Bolt and co., took over the summer olympics in track and field. When they asked Bolt's father what was the secret behind his performance, he replied: Yams! Well, there may be some truths to that.... I do not know. Another answer to that could be: an early start. Jamaica takes very seriously their world dominance in track and field and does everything to maintain it.


Yesterday was Sports Day at Daniella's school--Paradise Preparatory School. It was amazing to see how everybody took to heart the display of speed (or lack thereof) the children put on. From K-1 up everybody had a chance to run! The student body was divided into three houses (teams), composed of students drafted across from all the grades. From 10:00am to 3:30pm there was a heated (no pun intended!) and friendly competition between students and teachers. One had a sense that there could easily be another one like Bolt, or a Powell, or a Walker in the making.


Daniella ran a 25m dash and came third. For a first start, that was a good finish. It earned her an extra helping of ice cream :-), because mama promised that if she ran fast, she would get ice cream. After the race, she went straight to Lara and said: I ran fast, I want ice cream!

Mrs. E. Street, the Principal is declaring Sports Day officially open. Let the races begin!

Daniella and teammate are warming up, while another friend is convincing Sophie that she can run too.

Green House. They won the team competition. Sophie felt right at home.

Red House. Daniella's teacher was the head of this team, so we had to root for them too. But they finish third overall.

Orange House: Daniella's team. They finished 2nd overall.

Hands to the Plow

During the CETA consultation I accepted two new responsibilities. I was elected as a member at large on the Executive Board, and was nominated as the Coordinator of the Theological Commission. As coordinator, I will be overseeing the publication of CETA's scholarly journal CJET: Caribbean Journal of Evangelical Theology. I will shoulder these responsibilities until the next Consultation which will be held in 2011 in Trinidad. At that time, CETA will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. Below are (1) a picture of the Executive Board of CETA and (2) a Press release reporting on the past consultation.

LEADERS IN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION MEET IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

PORT-OF-SPAIN — The Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) held its 19th biennial consultation March 16-20 at the Anapausis Community conference center in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Leaders of theological institutions gathered to reflect and interact around the theme of “Strengthening Theological Education in a Changing Environment.”

Comprised of more than 40 undergraduate and graduate institutions scattered throughout the three main language areas of the Caribbean region, CETA was founded in 1971 for the purposes of professional association and the development and promotion of standards of excellence in theological education.

Dr. Las Newman—president of the CETA-sponsored Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica—launched the event with a stirring opening ceremony address on “Understanding Today’s World.” Throughout the week, delegates heard presentations on timely topics such as Trends in Theological Education, Assessing Institutional Effectiveness, Strengthening Theological Education Through Partnerships, and Education in an Economically Challenging Environment. Workshops provided opportunities to focus on practical issues ranging from resource development and effective governance to mentoring for impact.

Presenters came from the Caribbean region and beyond, and included such names as Dr. Miriam Rodriguez (Puerto Rico), Dr. Pat Glasgow (Trinidad and Tobago), Dr. Randall Bell (USA), Dr. Dieumeme Noelliste (USA & Haiti), Dr. Phillip Gray (Guyana), and Dr. Paul Sanders (Lebanon).

During the weeklong consultation, the Association transacted several items of business including the election of officers for the next biennium. The newly elected leadership consists of Dr. Noelliste (President), Rev. Owen Gordon (Vice President, Jamaica), Dr. Kenneth Ragoonath (Chairman, Trinidad and Tobago), Dr. Errol Joseph (Secretary/Treasurer, Trinidad and Tobago), and members-at-large Dr. Rodriguez, Dr. Abson Joseph (Jamaica/Haiti), and Dr. Ramon Alvarado (Puerto Rico).

The next consultation is set for March 14-16, 2011, and will be held again in Trinidad and Tobago to commemorate the 40th anniversary of this influential association. More details and information about CETA are available online at www.cetaweb.info.

CETA Consultation Update

Group picture of the participants.

Dr. Miriam Rodriguez, President of Seminario Teologico Defensores de la Fe. She presented a paper on "Leadership for Institutional Effectiveness."

Dr Randall Bell, Director of the Commission on Accreditation, ABHE (Association for Higher Biblical Education, USA. He presented a paper on "Components and Process of Institutional Assessment."

Above: Dr Philip Gray, Pator of New River Wesleyan Church, Fort Lauderdale, Fl.; and Vice President for Institutional Development, Wesleyan Bible College, Guyana. Dr Gray presented a paper on "Sustaning Theological Education in an Economically Challenging Environment."

Below: I am introducing [or finished introducing :-)] Dr Gray to the consultation.

Learning Curve

When it comes to teething, Sophie has suprised us. Of course, we could only compare her teething process to that of Daniella and she outperformed Daniella in that department. She had eight teeth by the time she was one, and had 20 teeth before she was 18 months old.
We have been teaching her to brush her teeth and she is managing to hold the brush but it is more a case of her eating the training toothpaste and chewing on the toothbrush. However, last week, she decided that it was time to learn to floss and we thought that it was a moment worth capturing.

Oh... she spends her down time "reading" Russian books, and I have not no clue what the story is about :-).

Safe and Sound

I arrive in Trinidad last night after long, very long trip. I left the CWC campus around 7:00am for a three and a half hour drive to Kingston where I took the plane for Trinidad. We left Kingston at 2:00pm, flew along the coast of Haiti -- I got very nostalgic. It has been more than a year since I was home --, over Puerto Rico toward St. Maarten where we stopped for some time. Then left St. Maarten for Barbados, and from Barbados we went to Trinidad. I did not need to change planes, so it was not bad. The flight was nice, actually. We made it to Port of Spain ahead of schedule (8:00pm), but I did not reach my final destination until 10:30pm because there were other participants arriving on later flights who were supposed to take the same means of transportation to the hotel.

The consultation is on the way. I have already submitted my report for CWC during the morning report session, and we have had two workshops:

Selected Trends in Theological Education, presented by Dr. Paul Sanders.

Mentoring for Impact, presented by Dr. Pat Glasgow.

The time has been productive so far.

Dr. Dieumene Noeliste, CETA president, is introducing Dr. Paul Sanders. Dr Noeliste is originally from Haiti, he is the former president of the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Jamaica and is now teaching at Denver Seminary, Colorado.

Dr. Paul Sanders is the Director of Institutional Development at Arab-Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, Lebanon; Director of ICETE (International Council for Evangelical Theological Education).

Dr. Pat Glasgow is the President of West Indies School of Theology in Trinidad.

Prayer Request

I am leaving today to go to Trinidad to attend a CETA consultation on theological education. CETA (Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association) is the accrediting body CWC is currently registered with. This consultation is held every two years. This year, the topic is: "Strengthening Theological Education in a Changing Environment." Several reknown theologians/educators will be presenting papers, each school will be submiting their report to the association, and there will be seminars, workshops, networking, and other activities regarding the advancement of the Association.
I will be traveling from Monday to Saturday. So, please pray for safe journey, for peace of mind for Lara as this is the first time she will be left in Jamaica by herself, and for a productive time at the consultation.

CWC Promotion/Recruitment Sunday

One of the ways that CWC recruits students is through what is traditionally called: Bible School Sundays. On a Bible School Sunday, the college sends a group of students and staff to a church and the institution is in charge of the worship service. Last week 3/8, we visited the Water Works Holiness Christian Church. It was the first church we visited this semester, and it was a great blessing. On Monday morning, I got a call from a prospective student. God is good!

Alton Stephenson, a graduating senior, shared God's word from Isaiah 6.

The Church choir gave an item.

One of the purposes of the Bible School Sunday is to tell people about CWC, who we are, the programs we offer, and try to encourage those whom God is calling to answer the call to ministry. That's a part of what I do :-).

A group of students offered an item as well.

The group was being introduced to the church. From left to right: Clauvette Hessing (visiting her sister Claudia); Guenson Charlot (faculty member, Haiti) and his wife Claudia (Jamaica); Nakia Sergeon (Graduating Senior, Jamaica); Leonie Barnes (1st year, Jamaica); Shakika Frazer (G. S., St Vincent & the Grenadines); Jason Dixon (G. S., Jamaica); Sherion McDonald (2nd year, Jamaica); Josanna Lockhart (1st year, Dominica); Nadira Burke (1st year, St Vincent & the Grenadines); Andre Maurice Joseph (2nd year, Haiti); Philip Hylton (2nd year, Jamaica); Cynthia Reid (1st year, Jamaica). On the platform are, Carolyn Walters (G. S., Jamaica), and Alton Stephenson (G. S., Jamaica)... and Daniella :-).