Happy Valentines Day!

We thought to start todays blog we would share the Vanentine we sent our wives to celebrate the day.


Irene,Cheryl, Sandra and Lila

Although we are in Haiti far away,
Our hearts are still with you on Valentine's Day,
You know that we would never forget,
No matter how many cute Haitians we have met.

No flowers, chocolates, dinners, so what?!
Our thoughts of you are still red hot!
You know we'd go through rain, sleet or hail,
But, here are our hugs and kisses by email.


                        - Jim, Ken, Dickie and Don

We met for church this morning as is usual on Sunday but were a very small group. We had a great team leading the worship and praise and had a wonderful time of song and prayer.

After church we had all the children change and took them to the river for a swim. All but Dickie that is. We left him behind as the token Blan on the compound (and he and Don just can't get along without causing the rest of us getting side-aches from the laughter). The scene at the river was typical for the area, the kids were swimming right upstream of some women doing laundry and downstream from then another group were washing their truck.

People continue to come to the gate asking for help and Karen goes to talk to them then provide some food and a little cash to help them out. The need is so great and the resources here are small but always some help is provided if at all possible.

This afternoon we met down at the childrens home for a brief time of prayer and singing in memory of Serlande. Then we all passed hugs around and those of us who remained behind gathered for a group photo. All of us who met Serlande miss her very much and some of the children, especially Josie who almost considered Serlande as another mother or at least her big sister, are very affected by the loss.

Later this afternoon we took a drive over to Luckners for a visit and to admire the work on his house. It is progressing nicely. While there Karen and Luckner had a meeting over HATS business so Ken, Dickie and Jim decided to walk back to the mission. We enjoyed a pleasant 2k stroll in late afternoon heat. I might add that we drew a lot of looks from the locals but encountered no problems along the way.

Yesterday, we rolled three days of reporting into one issue.  We had been so busy, and fun busy,  that the Blog got unattended, and it can take a lot of time sometimes.  However, when it was finally done, I think I got too much credit  -  the title made reference to Don's record breaking Blog.  I did do the Thursday and Friday portions, but theSaturday references re the trip to St. Marc was done by Jim, the prayer vigil upstairs here and the information re the valuable bag having nightly trips to Security Guard Ti Luc's tent was done by Karen.  And, the photo layouts there were done by Jim.  Some of my photos may have been used at times, but Jim and Karen usually do Blog photo arrangements.    Don.