Last Day

Some school, some woodwork, some wash, some dishes, some cooking, some packing and some bumps.

The team spent the day packing and saying lots of good-byes, and doing some last minute visits on campus while wrapping up their stay.

Larry and Angie visited the school and visited the school cooks.

The tool shed was organized. Rested.

John Pierre noticed a small snake in our front door today. Waiting for him to leave now that night has fallen.

The adult literacy class made a point after their class to come up and sing and pray for the team.

One last bump, I felt the need to have one last IV secondary to GI problems and not wanting to dehydrate any more than I already am.

As they did for Gerda during her short illness the cooks came in to sing and pray and say good-bye.

I wonder how willing we would be to do the same if roles were reversed.

We appreciate your prayers as we leave tomorrow. For good travel and flights and as we say the final good-byes.

Some will likely never pass this way again.  Carol

Tomorrow the team will be on the road to the airport by 10 o'clock. Their flight to Fr. Lauderdale should leave Cap Haitian around 1:40 p.m.

Team's last Monday.

Monday began with our usual wash day.

 Right after breakfast, two loads of wash and out dancing on the line in the sun and the breeze.

 Then school began and Anna and I started with diagraming, time line..two lessons that she wants to be ahead in when we leave.

Anna and I ended our day with a cleaning of her cabinet and organization  of some of her things.

Angie helped with the wash and in the kitchen, making Fudge Cake and Gerda is still working hard making today Spring rolls for lunch.

 Gerda has already begun saying her good-byes to the Haitian cooks who work for the Thedes.

The fellows worked on a tables this morning and this afternoon, with their few remaining pieces of lumber, made a cabinet for Anna's volleyballs.

Sunday had been spent quietly.

Gene and Gerda attend part of children's church and part of the regular service…the children's service is run by Mme Danny one the the Thede's cooks.

The rest of us enjoyed the regular service which was run by the young people and included a thought provoking message on prayer.

 "Prayer is as essential to a Christian spiritually, as breathing is to the human body."

Most of us are starting to pack up things to be brought home and things to be left behind.

  It is part of the adjustment of our minds..that soon we will be back home.

There are always mixed feeling at this time of the trip.

Carol

When looking for the duffel bags to send back to Michigan with the folks Cory found our long lost Brazilian hammock!!

Now I can enjoy a happy place to study and read!

Team's Last Saturday.

Our last Saturday here was spent in a variety of ways.

Elijah, Kris and I did some house cleaning.

Anna played VB this morning and when she did return, she and I did some deep cleaning of her room.

Angie helped in the kitchen, one of our Haitian cook making banana bread under Angie teaching.  Gerda too worked in the kitchen.

For lunch we had beef stew. beets, banana bread, warm cinnamon rolls and cookies, a Haitian recipe made from manioc flour.

 They reminded Larry of animal crackers.

The fellow finished their two large cabinets for the school and then worked on two small tables.

Monday they will use some of the last of the lumber on a bench for outside the cholera building.


Our thoughts are beginning to turn more toward home.

Today we taped up some vanilla bottles for the trip back.

Larry sharpened knives.

 At his request tonight along with our rice & beans and veggie sauce we will be having chicken feet.

Mme. Danny arranged and cooked them.

 He fondly remembers these from our time on LaGonave.

Also, some of the sorting of clothing has begun…some to be used for rags, some to be given away, some for Larry and I to be packed away to await our next visit.

Cory said today that the spring in back of mission campus had dried up.

This has not happened before.                                              

Reports also of people digging  holes down in the river bed to try to find water.


We are still praying for rain and can't imagine the hardships that happen here if no good rains come.

Kris continues to study some each day, Cory working in the gardens or on the computer and they are starting to prepare for the Warsaw team.


He also showed Gerda and Angie how to harvest a banana bunch today.

We will be leaving some work for that team.

Happy 13th Birthday Anna!!!

The big day has arrived.

Anna turned 13 today.

 Anna started her day by getting up prior to 6am and making her bed and having her room arranged.

We are hopping that this trend continues!

 Breakfast was a yummy Baked Oatmeal casserole.

There was a drawing of slips of paper..identifying the various gift bags and presents.

Anna has been drawing out slips of paper all day…and have been delighted with her gifts.

Eli and Anna both enjoyed a day without school work, as did Grandma.

Anna read some of her birthday letters in the morning, thank you from this Grandma for all of you who took the time to write them.

 I know that the letters made Anna feel very special.

[Still time if you want to send a message to be added to her birthday folder!]

Angie and I hung out the wash and did some breakfast dishes.

Gerda started on Anna's birthday request of lasagna and cooked carrots with a sugar glaze.

Angie and Anna made the brownies,  Anna's choice for her birthday cake.

 Later she and I spread some light yellow frosting on top of brownies topped with flowers and candles.

Anna spent time with Eli and watched some movies and played some computer games.

Now she is off to volleyball practice..I think it has been a good day for her.


Tonight we  will enjoy pizza for supper..a Thede tradition on Fridays.

Tonight is usually also movie night…don't know what we will be watching.

The fellows worked on their cabinets for the school today.

Mom's blood work returned better today, praise the Lord!

Return flight confirmed for Wednesday out of Cap Haitian.

Heard from Michigan today that they still are having winter.  SIGH……..

E-mail newsletters were sent out today so if you would like to be added to the list let us know.

Anticipation for Anna

Today Anna is making plans for her special day tomorrow.  She has lots of plans.  

But we did manage to have a good day of school. 

 We doesn’t plan to go to school tomorrow.  When asked what she would like to do..she told me that we could just hang out together.

  Sounds to me like an adventure.                                                                          

Angie did wash and helped in the kitchen, Gerda worked in the kitchen also. 

 The fellows did get the door hung at the clinic and also began cutting some plywood for some cabinets for the school.  

Cory put up the arbor cross bars for the dragon fruit and gave most of the team a garden tour.

The other night, when we had a small shower I was lying in bed listening to the rain fall.  

We have been praying for rain and I thanked the Lord for it, when suddenly a thought came to me. 

 I wondered which rain drops were mine...which ones I had actually prayed would fall. 

 I thought how some people probably had prayer with much more intensity and spent much more time in prayer for the rain. 

 How their rain was a much larger area than mine. 

 I thought how much it could change my prayers...if I would be able to think of the real impact that the prayer would have.  

How much of a difference my prayer for rains would make. 

 I think I would become a much better prayer warrior if I keep in mine the words from the Bible that tell us that the affective, heartfelt prayers of a righteous person has a big impact.  

What a privilege it is to pray.

It is again clouding up...keep up the prayers for rain.

Wed. Feb. 19th

Another sunny day filled with our regular routine.


Angie and Gerda did wash and then hung it on the line.  Then they helped the cooks prepare lunch for us.   This noon we had a meat/potato dish.

Tonight we are having a Haitian meal..fried chicken, rice/beans with an American dessert, oatmeal cake...all to celebrate the fact that the Ter Avest family has been working, visiting this country for 40 years.

I can’t tell you all the many things we have experienced here.

We have been through difficult health problems, government problems, been here when we have been happy and sad, in forty years so many memories.

Pictures from only 38 isn years ago. Do not have a family picture from that first trip.

But there has been a strong, constant fact through all the years...God is God, God is in complete control, God is Faithful and in Him we can trust and fine peace.

We are so thankful for all that the Lord has done in our lives.  We cannot even imagine what our lives and those of our children and grandchildren would have been like without that decision to visit Haiti for two weeks.

 To sit here today and think about having soon, we hope, Haitian grandchildren in our family is overwhelming.

When I think of many Haitian people we know or have know who have inspired us with their faith I am humbled.

 Praise be to God.

The fellows continue to work from their wood shop...today making shelves for the cholera building and also fitting a new door for the same.

They still have a number of projects that they have been asked to build.  I always have to smile a bit when people ask what we find to do here...there is always it seems more than enough work for us to do.

I continue to teach Anna and so far our grandmother/granddaughter relationship is in good condition.

This afternoon Kris called Mme Felician, our dear friend on LaGonave and Gerda and I also talked to her.

We are having some Internet problems..so no emails presently are being sent or received..maybe tomorrow or tonight.

 It is cloudy again this even, so perhaps after our 1/4 inch of rain last evening, there is more of the way.

Carol

Anna turns 13 on Friday. Feel free to E-mail or put your greetings to her in comments and I'll print them out and give them to her during our celebration. Kris

Tuesday-

Anna finished her 'yurt' today for school and received an 'A' for the project.

 School continues to move forward along with my studies.

The guys made 5 more church benches and worked on the dragon fruit arbor.

The dragon fruit plants continue to grow despite the drought so glad that the arbor will be built in time.

Sweet potato stew with chicken and bananas for lunch and some jello and coconut candy.

Supper was fried potatoes and onions with beef vegetable stew. Great tasting pumpkin bread.

More newsletters printed, folded, stuffed and sealed.

The printer decided no longer to print in color so sorry to folks who get the black and white version.

Colored copies can be sent on E-mail if you let us know what address.

Mom's test results yesterday while improved, indicated that she still needed additional blood drawn.

So this time we tried to improve the event by remaining in the house and having a nurse come and start an IV here.

After the IV fluids hydrated her up we tried to reverse the flow and take out the blood.

After a few additional needle sticks by me [mom reports I did better than the nurse] we called it a day after removing over 300 cc.

We enjoyed a couple minutes of rain showers tonight that cooled down the temperatures but much more rain is needed for the gardens, trees and crops.

The river by the campus dried up last week and is now only flowing underground in some areas leaving dry riverbeds.


Plans continue for our celebration on Friday as Anna will turn 13!

Hard to believe that next week at this time the team will be preparing to leave the next morning.

Team's Third Monday

Monday..Today was wash day again.

The weather continues to be sunny, without rain.

While the sun is nice to get the loads of wash, it is so hard to think about what this is doing to the food crops here.

Sunday we did attend church on campus.

Dr. Wineck and his wife and baby boy were all dressed up for the meaningful ceremony of dedicating their little one to the Lord.

A visiting leader of the Wesleyan men in the north, gave an urgent sermon on how the judgement of God is coming and that it will start in the church.

Anna's old curtains get new life.

Angie worked on some more curtains today and on the Thede's newsletter.

Gerda worked in the kitchen, making white pizza for lunch.  It was very good.


 This afternoon, she cracked some coconuts, took the coconut pieces, put them in the food processor and drained off some coconut milk for rice/beans.

A coconut dessert is being made for supper.

Gene and Gerda delivered the meds that a neighbor of theirs had donated for the hospital/clinic.

 They were so thankful for the medication.



I again helped Anna..think we are gaining some.  SIGH

Teaching Anna is a bit like trying to calm the wind.

 I love her dearly, but am just amazed at her energy.

THANK YOU!!!! 

The fellow built benches again today…5 more were completed.

Seems our days here are getting short..and still much to do.

Carol

Old curtains once again being eaten by time. 

Mom did go to lab again and while her results improved they remain high prompting us to E-mail her doctor in Michigan for advice. 

Cory continued to print out newsletters while I study. 

Eli did school this morning, helped the guys and hung my curtains this afternoon.

Pastor Jonus expressed his and the congregation's appreciation of the team's visit and their work 'at their age'.

Feb. 15th

Saturday.  A quiet day for most of us.

Remains very dry.

 Gene, Larry and Eli worked on church benches in the morning.

 I helped wash some dishes and also read to Anna for a bit this morning.

 Anna had gone to volleyball practice at 6:30am and returned home around 9 or so.

 Then she was suppose to be ready to go down and get her uniform and instructions at 11:30am.

She finally left for the game around 2pm.

Gene, Larry and Cory went down to watch her play, but missed a couple of games.  The report was that Anna had played well.

I am feeling much better today and am only a bit more tired, than usual.

Angie said she had slept well and Gerda seems to be feeling well also.  Today we did some wash and also did some general cleaning of our rooms.

Tomorrow we will likely go to church here on campus.

The young dentist, who Eli works with..Dr. Wineck, and his wife will be dedicating their baby son.

I plan to share tonight at devotions an article named The Great Creator-Healer, based on Psalm 139 1-16.

It means so much that our God knows all about our human limitations.

Carol.

Anna's hair in a bun as she was told if her ponytail hit the net it would be a foul.

The Fauche teams won all their games.

Valentine's Day. The good and the bad.

Good news…..

Old

• Very thankful that Gerda improved with the IV's and feels better today.

• Angie feels better as well.

• The guys put the kitchen sink back in and after a slight plumbing mishap [Cory hooked up the old leaky hot water pipe that we have not used for years and panicked a bit when water started to gush out near the foundation.] everything works!

New

• The guys started making church benches. The brown table will move into the cholera treatment area so that the patient's belongings no longer need to sit on the floor and get in the way of mopping.

• Anna made good Valentine's cookies and plans to share the true story of St. Valentine this evening for devotions before family night fun. Her new bedroom curtains brighten her room thanks to Angie's sewing skills.

• Our friend Rhoda visited today planning with Cory for a visit during June's agricultural conference in Limbèe for a few hours of garden tours as well as talking about medicinal plants and first aid. 

• Newsletter envelopes printed and the letters almost ready to print.

• The team continues to contribute to the finances of the clinic…see below.

• Dad remains in the running for the best medically behaving team member!

Bad news…..

• Still no rain-our brown crunchy grass reminds us to pray for the local gardens and fruit trees that the people depend on for food and income.

• New patient. Mom because of producing to much blood regularly needs labs and blood draws to keep her numbers low. 

• Today's high labs would normally have sent her to her local lab for 'blood letting' but we had to make do. I'll spare you the messy details- at the end we completed the draw and called for the truck to pick us up as Mom became lightheaded. She's resting comfortably now. Plan on repeating the lab work on Monday and ordered big needles just in case.

Thanks for praying and following along with our team and family. May you remember God's love for you on this Valentine's Day. 

How thankful I am that the Lord allows us to touch and bless people with His love. He provides us with the wisdom, strength and knowledge. 

Stop here if not medical!

One picture for the medical folks.

Thank you Lord!