Week of August 14.

We spent most of this week getting into a routine of sorts.


Breakfast, then school starts.

 I generally get some cleaning done.

Cory heads over to the house site at least once during the day.

Lunch. More school.

Some exercise, reading time, other...

Before sunset the generator is put on as a lightnighing strike damaged the inverter last week and it was sent back to Port au Prince to see if it can be repaired.

With the evening generator time we can check internet, emails, do a bit of office work, enjoy having running water and lights.

Then bed. Repeat.

At the gravel pit this week there was more rock and dirt than gravel, but now there is another big seam of good gravel to dig and have ready for the next stage of cement and mortar mixing.

Cory is surprized to see how big and deep the the seems of rich, red soil are right next to the veins of gravel.


So the good dirt goes in a pile for later use in a garden or as nursery potting soil, the gravel to the gravel pile, and other's are moving rocks to save for retaining walls or road work.

We hope in time to turn this pit into a water hole for swiming and for irrigation during the dry season.

Next week we hope to purchase more supplies for the lower level of the house.

Meanwhile the collecting of rocks, gravel and excavation continues; the men clearing the area in front of the water cistern where the lower floor will go.

Cory and I went today and talked through the plans again.

The end of the driveway will need a bit of adjusting at a later time.

Many people from the area are asking to be on the work crew but we have plenty of workers for now.

The area corn crop looks like it is doing well.

 Most of the newly planted trees are also off to a good start but most plants grow slower here with the cool weather than they do in the hot lowlands.


Eli finished up his summer internship and will enjoy a couple weeks with family and prepareing for his Jr. year at Calvin.

No word on our adoption.

Some weather may be heading our way over the weekend as Harvey passes to the south of Haiti. Thank you for your prayers.

'Little Cory/Mysore' banana brought from Fauche.

Week of August 7th.

Visiting work team: Worked on team housing (plumbing, painting, trim), visited the Agape kids, organized supplies, walked to the fort/ruins of the coffie plantation and our house site.

Cory traveled down with the team when they left on Thursday to do some shopping and banking and returned on Friday.

Now the need to learn the stores and roads around Port-au-Prince again.

House construction: the water cistern is nearly finished. We met with the contractor we are using for the walls and cement work to work out a plan. We continue to look at where doors, windows, electrical outlets, plumbing need to go.

Some of the workers left for the weekend as more cement is needed to continue the work. Others continued to dig gravel and gather rocks for the walls.

A few of the people here are not feeling great so we have had a slower weeked...mostly down time with some cleaning and cooking.

Internet did not work for a day or so when we moved the dish, and now the inverter needs repair, most likely due to a close lighting strike last week. So we only have electric when we run a generator for now.

Adoption-no progress other than hearing that our adgency did contact the USA Embassy's adoption unit in Haiti to discuss our case. Keep praying.

Plan to start school this coming week. Start working on the rest of the lower floor which will mean that the workers first remove the rocks and gravel that they piled next to the water cistern.

New team houses

House Update: August 4

Cory's in Fauche packing up and checking out his gardens. The campus currently hold 150 youth for their week of conference. The new fence is helping with security.

Walked to the new house site yesterday. Work continuing on making the road more level now that vehicals will be driving on it.

During the walk saw several of the work crew carrying bags of cement to the site to continue the work on the walls of the water cistern.

The gravel crew contains one man digging, one throwing 5-gallon buckets up to the man who catches them and a fourth man dumps them out on the pile.

Makes me tired just thinking of it!

Cory plans to drive back down tomorrow morning early.

Thank you for the prayers.

No word on our adoption paperwork but we're told that the US Embassy vis counsel for the adoption unit mets with the children's services people on Fridays...so praying no one is on vacation and that our case can be talked about and progress made.

Délice July Progress.

A week ago we worked hard to pack up some of the house for the trip to Délice.

We will continue to rent the house and keep most of our furniture and the majority of our books at Fauche until our house is ready.

At that point we will use a large truck to get the rest of our belongings from Fauche to Délice.

Tuesday we traveled up the mountain....well up and down, up and down..... and up.


Wednesday we organized our room a bit and in the afternoon all of us walked over to the house site, walking along the new access road which ends at the house.

Crew digging water cistern. 

We saw the work being done to dig out the area for the water cistern which will be under one side of the house.

We praised the Lord for putting good gravel right next to the house!

Orginially we thought that gravel would need to be trasported from the other side of the ridge and over our entire driveway.

This means that we save the labor putting it on and off the truck and the transport time.

Gravel Pit. 

We walked around a bit and discussed where it would be good to put a foot path. We also talked to the guys about no longer allowing cows or horses on the land.

Worship time. 

The rest of our week consisted of working on house plans, school work for Anna, checking out the trees and plants, office work, and housework.

New plant nursery location. 

We enjoyed joining the Agape house kids, teachers, and some staff for worship on Sunday afternoon.

Kodie continues to adjust as well..starting to let him out of our bedroom. He's only explored the hallway and Anna's room on his own.

Today Cory worked to put some of his small plants under shade cloth for protection from the wind, at times intense sun, and wandering chickens.

He also talked with the boss in charge of construction of the cistern, cement floors, and rock walls.

Plant protection.

The beginning of this week will look much like the end of last week.

Cory will catch a ride down mid-week, to travel up to Cap Haitian for some business and pick up some more of our stuff and plants.

 A TWC team comes in on Thursday for a week.

Please be praying for our transition, adoption paperwork, house build: funding, timing, crew, professional help.

To show how close the gravel is to the house site!
Anna is thinking in time the pit can become a small swimming pool / water for the trees. 

Anna's Travel Post: Part 2

Suffice to say Kodie was terrified, compounded by a Haitian lady running toward us talking loudly and noisy traffic. Cats don't freeze when scared, they bite and try to squirm away.  I was afraid that he would wriggle out of his harness, run away, and be lost forever. Because of this I at first held him tightly, hoping after looking around he would chill and just look around calmly. My cat has spent most of his life very close to our house, and he was having none of it. He doesn't usually bite, but in his terrified state, he gently nipped me on the neck. (It now looks like I have a double vampire bite☺) I went to put him down (with a good grip on his harness) and he bit me on the hand, right on the knuckle. 

By now, I had had enough too, so I brought him back to the car and gave him to my mother, while I rinsed my scratches and put hand sanitizer on them. Mom took the carrier, and Kodie stayed up front in her lap. It wasn't until later that I realized I had succeeded in one part of the goal; he had peed...right on my shirt. After grabbing some fried food at the next town from a street vender, we snacked, and leaving town behind I borrowed one of Dad's shirts. Kodie remained relatively calm all the way to Ortlip center. 

There we stopped and I washed all my scratches, and then sat in the cab for a bit with Kodie loose. This time rather than try and let him out we put his kitty litter inside the truck, though he didn't end up needing it, apparently my shirt was enough.

I switched seats with mother and took a turn riding in front with the cat, and we began the last half-hour of smooth roads. Then we commenced two hours of bumpy, rocky roads. Kodie did very well through  this, and as we gained altitude and it got colder he snuggled in one corner and stayed there the rest of the trip. Toward the end it began to rain and lighting, luckly he wasn't afraid of it. When we pulled in, Mom and dad locked up the dogs, and I carried Kodie into mom and dad's room, where he stayed quietly for some time. We had lots of fun unpacking in the light rain, carrying everything over the mud. 

Overall everything went well; the rain didn't ruin anything, and Kodie made it. He spent last night and today exploring mom and dad's room and getting used to what will be his home for the next few months. Thankfully, he is acting pretty normal, though he hasn't met any of the large dogs yet, we probably won't let him into the rest of the house for a few days, and at first only when Maya (the German Sheppard) is outside. It is nice to escape the warm summer days, even if the showers are freezing. 

Mom's Note: We praise the Lord that Anna's hand shows no signs of infection and is healing well. Kodie will be allowed to start to explore outside our bedroom today. We walked to house site yesterday on a nice new access road.  In the above picture the fort and coffee plantation ruins are on the left, on the far right you can just see the top of the sand pile.