Noise, bugs and dirt...

A good audience for clinic chat time on Monday morning had me looking forward to my afternoon class.

But walking down to the classroom I couldn't help but notice that the school's brass band and percussion group were practicing very loudly and close to the classroom used for my health talks.

Thankfully as I approached the class, one of the professors met me to note that because of the large number of adult literacy students they would like to move to the church, across campus.

Yes! That would be good, not only cooler and a larger area for the students, it moved us far enough away that the band practice no longer bothered us.

The hour passed quickly as I shared a bit about the immune system, how it defends the body and answered questions.

How does the body battle bugs, dirt and more...

Buildings also suffer from dirt and bugs!

Cory's guys spent the start of this week painting in the House of Hope guest house on campus. While we knew this should be done months ago we decided to wait until after the busy summer conference schedule.

Then one needs to find good paint to buy-not always easy.

Looking much nicer on the inside-which as most homeowners know leads to working on the now more dirty and dingy looking outside!

Termites have been feeding on some of the wooden furniture and trim of the house. We will be injecting boric acid solution where we can but it is only a partial cure. Always a battle with the bugs here.

Welcome Spring.

Actually we do not notice much difference here in 'Spring', other than warmer days.

Loaded and ready to go.

But I change our small flags that hang in the living room and school room to reflect the seasonal change in the North.

After a weekend of rainy weather Cory's eager to be planting and outside working in the dirt but needs to find time to work on accounting and taxes!

Yesterday he headed out after watering some nursery plants and trees.

Looks like they could use some edible landscaping. 

The truck already loaded the night before headed East to deliver some fruit trees to a local orphanage.

The guys traveled along with him and after finding good locations for the various trees around a new home they spent some time planting them before heading home.

Not sure of all the plants they brought but know they had banana plants, mulberry, chaya and more but my plant guy is not here to list them so..

Cory enjoy's sharing his trees and plants especially to goat-free locations.

Today their task required a much lighter touch as they transplanted very small Artemisia plants into separate sections.

Cory after starting Jenner and Evon on this project remembered a consultation request to check out Brother Benjamin's cabbage croup so they jumped in the truck to find out what's going on at his place.

Eli, Anna and I continue to work on our school year, week 15. 

Today we started late as usual on Wednesdays because of my chatting on-line with my folks.

Not even 5 minutes into the start of school we received the shocking news from Cory that the pastors would be meeting this afternoon in the House of Hope.

The same House of Hope we planned to clean next week, combining post- and pre- team cleaning into one event!

So rapidly we gathered cleaning supplies and went down for a quick organization, dusting, sweeping and bathroom cleaning.

Sad how fast good time management mutated to look into procrastination!

But we did a good job and still managed to fit in some quality school work before lunch.

School difficulty pushed up a bit this week and next by the sounds of our neighborhood children enjoying pre-Easter vacation!

No hot water. No clothes dryer. But how many people can enjoy orchids right next to their clothes line?

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Surprise visitors.

A sunny warmist Saturday afternoon. The truck driven by Pastor Denord just returned from an overnight trip to The Ortlip Center for meetings.

We enjoyed a few minute visit from some visiting Episcopalians from Maine.

The older smiling gentleman lived in our house 70 years ago as a child!

 Back then the compound was linked with natural rubber plantations with SHADA, a Haitian Corporation which worked with rubber and sisal production.

We gifted a Konsey book to both him and their Haitian driver.

Wonder if 50 or more years from now Eli or Anna will visit LaGonave or Fauche and point out the house they used to live in for a time?

The House of Hope stands clean with 7 beds made up with clean sheets and towels waiting for Monday's planned arrival of the Warsaw team.

The draft copy of the Book Herder's family library card needs to be proofed for mistakes before making 100 cards.

'Bankock Large guava', several times larger than the local guava's but picked green to beat the worms and children pickers.

Sweet center with mild taste.

Good Bye February.

Spring continues to creep into our lives with the hours of the day I spend in short sleeves with my hoodie off increasing. 

While I miss the spring flowers of my northern youth like daffodils and tulips I can enjoy tropical blossoms every month of the year. 

Cory showed me today our Malay apple tree blossoms which hid under the leaves but are worth stopping to take a look.
For this morning's school break Eli and Anna started cleaning the House of Hope in preparation for the Warsaw team visit while I read to them one of Anna's school books.




Last night we sat with John Pierre [Kid's club leader], Fre. Dieucel [director of the school] and Fre. Theodor who will be Eli's assistant with the Book Herder project.

Announcements will be made this weekend and next week families will start signing up for their family library card.

Once we see how many want cards we may need to divide into groups when they can borrow books because of the limited supply.

Eli and Theodor will loan out the books on Mondays. Theodor will receive the books back on Fridays and Eli will inspect them and arrange them on Saturdays for the following Monday.

This experiment's outcome remains unknown at this time but I'm sure we will all learn from it.

How to care for books will be written on bookmarks to be given to the families at the opening and will serve as reminders.

Folks who mistreat books will have their cards confiscated for a time.

Cory also picked grapefruit in preparation for the team. We try to vary the diet and allow the visitors to experience many different types of local fruits and foods.

Editing of the Konsey book continues well but will be interrupted by the team. But by not having 3 French classes maybe our teacher will have time to finish with his editing. 

The good, the bad and the large, in-between group.

 Spent most of my morning sorting sheets and towels from the House of Hope.

All our linens for the guest house arrived by donation so periodically they need to be sorted through.

Guests leave behind new donations while other linens finally succumb to the stress of life.

Roof for high school classroom.

Pile 'A',  the good ones include those without stains or holes.

This pile then divided into 'sets'.

Each set including a set of twin sheets and a full set of towels placed in a pillow case [as close to matching in color as we can].

Pile 'B' the mostly good linens which show the passage of time by small stains [including various colors of paint] or small holes or tears. These too spit into 'sets'.

Pile 'C' demoted from linen category to the rag bag.

Whew!! Sounds easy but this job took three hours-including labeling.

Young People's Meeting on Campus today.

Living more intentionally means taking time to judge, sort and evaluate one's life. How am I honestly doing: physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally, financially, and spiritually? What tasks skills do I keep vs. those I need to improve or remove from my life?

I'm very thankful that the Lord loves me unconditionally. He does not sort people into groups before loving us. His love depends not on how well I'm doing or how many people I'm influencing.

As life leaves scars, tears, hurts, pain and stains on my life, He still loves me the same.

He loves ME! Totally. Unconditionally. WOW!

Awake at 5 so that breakfast could be ready for the team at 5:30 a.m.

Truck arrived on campus about 20 after 6 to pick up the team as well as Cory and Anna who traveled to the airport to see the team off.

Eli and I to be honest planned to return to bed for a bit of rest before really starting out day but as the truck prepared to leave the compound we learned that the Northern District pastor's meeting would be held on campus today.



Oh! Well because of the extra projects yesterday those who would of helped clean up remained busy.


 Not knowing about today's meeting I assured the team that we could wait until next week to clean, sort and put the House of Hope in order.WRONG!

 Eli and I spent the next 1 1/2 hours getting the HOH into shape for the pastor's meeting.

They will enjoy the extra Cokes left over from the team and have a change to look at some of the donated clothes.

Eli and then continued our organization and cleaning  in our house along with laundry.

Cory and Anna will shop a bit in Cap Haitian before the return trip in the big truck.

Wonderful team.

Very pleased with the balance of projects, time with Haitian people and the site seeing.

But late nights, busy days, translating, enjoying fellowship and getting to know the team members better leaves each of us weary.



Plan for tomorrow: Fun day. Games, reading, maybe a movie, music...... No cleaning or school work.


I hope you enjoyed reading about the team.


 Next week we will start to settle back into our 'normal' routine of school and ministry.

The blog will also slow down to 3-4 posts a week.

Remember on the side bar you can set it up to received E-mail notifications of any new posts on this blog.

Not sure if the puppets expressions show happiness on staying, surprise or shock!

The guy on the right does not look happy to me.

 If all goes according to Plan A both halves of the team should arrive home late tonight.

They split up in Ft. Lauderdale this afternoon.

Praying all goes well during their travels today.

Thankful everyone left healthy.

Thank you for those who supported us and the team with your prayers.

Enjoy your weekend.

29 March Update [Caution disturbing picture]

Passion week. Yesterday we attended Palm Day services at Pastor Immanuel's church so we could be present for the dedication of his grandson Thed.

In the afternoon we attended a celebration of Praise at the House of Hope also put on by Pastor Immanuel's family to give the Lord praise and honor that Mme. Onyx [Thed's mom] is much better having struggled with physical and mental illness for 5 months. Onyx is on the left and Mme. Onyx on the right.

Last week we said good by to the Bailey's after a very enjoyable 3 month visit. One thing that Bill helped Cory with was planting bamboo down by the river to help keep the erosion held back.

On that walk they passed by a Voodoo location-may this remind you to pray for Haiti and her people. On Friday many Voodoo services will take place celebrating Jesus's death.

Please continue to pray for the many new Christians-that they will find churches, friends, Christian literature, radio to help them grow in Christ.

7 Jan. 2010 Another cool and rainy day.

The plus of cool and rainy days is that Cory gets office stuff done. Today he is working on getting the kids back on the computer for French classes and working on an Thede Update for all the folks on our support team.

Here is a picture of the Baileys. They are fixing up the House of Hope-with most of the work being in the kitchen--which hasn't been used as a kitchen for over 20 years. They like the Sloans share lunch with us as we have the only oven on the campus.

Yesterday Cory and Chris harvested a bunch of Gro Michal [Big Mike] bananas. They taste good. The banana ladies will be sad to learn that they have at least temporarily lost a good customer. Will see if Cory can keep up with the demand when the teams are here. Fresh bananas taste so much better than those you can buy in the store in Michigan.

You have to be carefully when working with banana plants as the sap can make nice black permanent stains on your clothes. The bunch weighted close to 35 pounds so a two person job.

Lots of drumming and chanting last night as the local Voodoo followers celebrated some event. Last year around Epiphany they carried on for 3 days. We're praying that the event is shorter this year and that everyone would met the Savior this year so that no such event is even held next year.

25 Nov. Happy American Thanksgiving

A good day. School in the morning-yes I know that in the USA some kids were on break but here school continues even at the International School they have a full week. Will do some tomorrow but limited.

Chris and Kath painted the House of Hope's shower and back door. Both places needed it. Cleaning started at the House as well today. We have visitor's coming on Friday for the weekend.

A bit of yard work done. Laundry-like curtains and shower curtains that the moist weather have discolored. Sunny day so everything dried well.

Cory went shopping to market in Port Margot. My sandals were wearing out so he bought glue for the one pair and a couple pair of 'Crocs' for Anna and I. They are thicker than my previous house pair and more comfortable- less than $4 US so not bad.

This afternoon Cory and I dropped in to see Mme. Onix whom we had asked you to pray for. She is the young wife and mother who had a psychotic break following her C-section for their first born. The last time I saw her she was very pregnant and glowing with happiness and good health. Today while she knew who Cory and I were-she had no facial expression or emotion in her manner or voice. [Not sure if it is the illness, the medications or combination of the two.] She said a few things but mostly sat. Please continue to pray.

This afternoon I supervised while Eli and Anna made pies. Anna made the pumpkin and Eli the baked coconut. I made a Haitian version of 'Chex mix' last night-with no Chex or cereal of any type. Pieces of cassava bread, old stale pretzels, peanuts, saltines, homemade corn chips-not the same but OK.

4 April, 2009

Painting jobs are done for now. Here is the newly repainted room in the House of Hope. Cory and the guys are also hauling rice hulls to put around the trees and flowers.

Right now Cory's project is to help Eli build a bat house. We know there are bats around but will have to see if they like the guys design. I'm told it is slanted a bit to provide room for heavy and thin bats.

Anna and Rose were watching and advising.

Met with the nurses yesterday to discuss how we can better impact the community by our care of expecting moms. We are hoping to start this summer with one/two days a month focusing on Obstetrics. We would like to not only have short educational classes for the pregnant women but to include classes for the local mid-wives. Many Haitians never deliver in a hospital but remain in their homes.

25th March 09

A different kind of box day for us-we filled boxes of books today. When the group came up from Port-au-Prince last week they brought a truck load of donated Creole literature. Bibles, new testaments, song books, other books both for adults and children. Today we divided them up into boxes for the churches.

Tomorrow the pastors of the Northern District are to meet here at Fauche. There was enough of the literature for each church to receive 1-10 of the different books or pamphlets. We also have some left over for the clinic patients, the House of Hope and the Dearest house.

It is wonderful to have good Christian literature to assist the ministry in the North. Many thanks to everyone who had a part of writing, translating, printing, transporting, packaging and paying for these materials. We know that the Lord is going to use this material to educate and encourage the Christians here. May the kingdom grow because of your help.

We continue to have rain-over 19 inches for the month. But the rain does bring on some nice flowers. Not so good for the mango trees on the compound that are in full bloom.

We have heard that at least one local house was damaged by a mud slide.

The rain does make it easier for Cory to stay inside and complete office work. He printed newsletters and envelopes to go in the mail tomorrow when he drives to Cap to pick up the third order of banana plants at the airport. He has also worked on our taxes this week.

March 7- first week gone already!

Time is getting away from me-sorry about a couple days with a blog for those who check daily.

We have been busy with school. Our next set of books have arrived in Florida and should be on Thursday's MFI flight along with a second batch of banana pups.

Here you see the kids doing school with Flat Stanley and Flat Patty. I'm assembled to admit that they arrived for a 'one month visit' late last year but were miss placed in a pile of mail and paperwork. We took some photos this week and wrote up letter about their visit. They're scheduled to be mailed back to the USA with their letter this week.

Last year when they cut down the trees for lumber on the compound we rescued some orchid plants and put them on our lime tree by Cory's shed. This week he brought this one into the house for us to enjoy. Cory thinks it is dry enough today to have 4-5 guys help him improve the drainage of the compound by digging ditches.

Gener's job this week was to work on the front room of the House of Hope. This room had been newly plastered when the November team arrived. So having people to paint-it was painted. But the paint leaked oil and remained sticky. It is being scrapped and then the walls washed down. Once we are sure that the walls remain dry will try again.

See the oil drips in the close up?