Good Endings

Our last full day in Haiti has been a sweet one. We went to the boys home this morning just to play and hang out.  We spent the first 20 minutes sorting supplies for our Vacation Bible Schools this summer. Aside from that, we didn't have any agenda.

 

We gave the boys the fun things that we brought them this trip. We had lots of footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, marbles and frisbees. 

As soon as we brought them out, all chaos ensued! 

We also brought huge coloring pages and some snacks for each of the kids. Never underestimate the power of a coloring sheet, for anyone of ANY age! They all had a blast coloring, as did we. 

We also brought s'mores! Now if you wanna see 35 boys get excited, bring out some marshmallows and a fire! We had a blast and the boys really enjoyed them. We bring stuff about once a year to make s'mores and they are ALWAYS a hit!

Yesterday was our day to eat pumpkin soup, but today was the boys' turn. A few of us were able to help serve this special treat to the boys. 

All in all it was a great day.  We are currently huddled around a Superman movie at the Paul home. 

Tomorrow we will pack up and head to Agape, the church where we were for Bonne Anneè, to help setup for the Anniversary Celebration on Sunday.  We will help decorate and prepare a meal for about 1,500 people. Laurie Paul, our Pastor Jean Alix's daughter and two of her cousins will be baptized tomorrow! We will stay for that and then head to the airport to start our journey back home. 

Pray for us as we head out tomorrow. Pray that we would be able to be a blessing to the Agape church. Pray for a safe flight and layover in Fort Lauderdale and then on to Austin on Sunday morning.

Bonne Anneè! (Happy New Year!)

Today has been a day full of rest and relaxation.

After a four hour Bonne Anneè (Happy New Year) celebration, we finally went to sleep around 1:30am.  The celebration was so much fun! We didn't have any clue what was going on, but we ushered in the New Year by singing, dancing, and celebrating the Lord's goodness. 

Today, we have celebrated with the traditional Haitian customs. New Year's Day is a huge celebration here in Haiti... it is like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all at once. We ate pumpkin soup with the Paul family, which is pumpkin with meat, cabbage, potatoes and leeks. We also had hot chocolate (with cinnamon and Haitian chocolate) and a giant bowl of fruit salad.  Everything was so delicious! 

After lunch, we hung out at the house. We helped some of the girls practice a dance for the church anniversary celebration on Sunday. Jeff and Tucker were replacements for two of the missing girls.

We headed to the boys home around 3 and shared a delicious meal with about 45 of our closest friends. We had so many things... Chicken legs, several pasta dishes, vegetables and multiple salads. A huge meal is a part of the New Years tradition. 

When we got to the boys home, it was all decorated for us. We had signs and balloons! Our time together was filled with lots of food, hangout time, singing and playing games. 

We're not sure what tomorrow holds for us yet, but it will be our last full day in Haiti.

Thank you for all of your faithful prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we end our time here. Pray for our unknown day tomorrow.  Pray that we'll be able to love our Haitian brothers and sisters well.

Ou revoir 2014!

Work Day #3 was an easy one. We only worked half a day because we were finishing all of the rooms today. We put the final touches on what we could and now every room that was ready to be painted was! 

It was another day of spending time with our Haitian friends. Our older boys helped out a ton today. Some would even just come and take the brush out of our hand... I am so thankful that they have been around this week. It's been so positive to see them learning different "trades". They have been measuring and cutting cabinets, doing masonry, concrete and tile work, and of course painting.  

During these days, they have been able to see how what they're learning in school actually translates into real world settings. It has given them a taste of what life could look like after they finish school and see what fits them better if university isn't in the cards for them. 

Once we finished our painting work, we helped sift sand to mix into the concrete for the ceilings and walls. It is a lot of work but is an important job. 

When we filled up one of the wheelbarrows, they brought out another one that didn't have legs or wheels. It quickly became a "taxi" for everyone. 

After lunch, we headed to the Baptist Mission for some souvenir shopping and ice cream.  We've been hanging out at our Pastor's home since. 

We are about to be on our way to a New Years Celebration service at the Agape church in Petionville. This is a 4 hour service that ends at midnight tonight, so we will be singing and dancing in the New Year! 

That being said:

Bonne Anne!! (HAPPY NEW YEAR!)

Green and Yellow and Orange OH MY!

Work Day #2 went very well today. We spent all of our day painting four rooms. We painted the two that we primed yesterday and primed and painted another two. They are starting to look really nice. The rooms are yellow, green and orange. They are all very bright, vibrant colors but they bring a lot of life to the place!

There were a lot of people around today. There are two Haitian teams working in the rooms adjacent to us doing the ceilings and cabinetry work. Because school is out on Christmas Break we have had lots of extra help. The older boys helped us paint and carried concrete for the ceilings. There were lots of little boys playing inside with Jude so there were also marbles and little cars everywhere! 

There were always kids coming in and out of the rooms we were in inspecting the progress. By the looks on their faces, you knew exactly who was going to be living in the room as they walked through. There was so much pride as they checked out their new bedroom. It's gonna be so great when it's finished! 

After our work was done for the day, we went down to the well with some of the younger boys to get some water for the home. Each of our people had some form of container from an empty 5 gallon water bottle to an old vinegar canister. We got to see and experience first hand what it's like to pump long enough to fill a small container.

 It's hard to imagine having to do that for every drop of water you use whether it's for drinking, cooking, showering, washing dishes or clothes, or small things like washing out paint brushes. It really made us think about how wasteful we are with this precious commodity.

We're exhausted after a full day that ended with a pretty great dance party. Looking forward to another full day tomorrow.

Here are some ways for you to pray for us:

- to have a productive work day

- safety while we work and travel

- continued conversations with our friends

- flexibility as we figure out the rest of our week with the new year holiday (Wed-Fri) break

 

Change is coming!

Work Day #1 was a great start to our week. All we knew when we got here was that we were going to be doing some construction on the boys home. Little did we know the entire boys home is being completely remodeled. Every room is changing... Needless to say, there is a lot to be done and lots of ways for us to serve this week.

When we first got to the home, we took a tour of the property and checked out all that has been done in the past few months. Oh my goodness, they have been busy! 

There has been so much progress made on both the mission home and the apartment. They are just about ready for people!  The school has also had a major overhaul. Each of the classrooms are painted and there is a beautiful mural on the front of the school. It looks so nice!

As I mentioned, the boys home is undergoing a huge overhaul. Each of the rooms are changing in some capacity. The total structure of the home is transforming to more of a small group set up. Currently, our boys are in three bedrooms. The new setup will have them broken down even more by age and will have an additional living space for a "house parent" for each of the rooms. 

Today, we jumped right in and started priming two of the existing rooms. They used to be a study/lunch room and the older boys bedroom, but now they will house more boys. They have also built an additional room out the back of the space. After the painting was done, the guys helped with some of the concrete work and passed buckets to the back. 

When we finished all we could for the day, we took a much needed break and got to play with the kiddos who were hanging around. Some played basketball, others played on the playground, and others were sitting and sharing pictures. 

We left for the day excited to return tomorrow. There is a lot of work to be done and we are excited to see how much progress we make this week.

Here are some ways you can pray for us.

- safety while we work

- productive days that will truly make an impact 

- good and fruitful conversations with those we are working with

- pray for the home leadership as they implement the living transition over the next several weeks

We're back!!

It took us two days to get here, but we have made it to Haiti! After a night's sleep in Miami, we woke at 4am this morning to catch our early flight here.  Although we didn't make it in time for church, we have been able to get some much needed rest to prepare for the week ahead.

This is gonna be a fun and unique trip for us. We will be doing some work on the boys home to update the arrangement of the boys rooms. We will have a fun celebration for the New Year and will get to spend a lot of time with the boys because they are all still on Christmas break. 

Ways to pray:

- safety for our week of work

- flexibility with our tasks 

- fruitful conversations with our boys

- a good nights rest for all of us