Day 11

Another beautiful Sunday service with wonderful singing and a good message from Jim translated by Karen, to believe, repent and obey!

Ready for church

A favorite singing group

Karena with Sandra

We came home to take some group photos and what fun trying to get everyone looking at the same time.  After a while you just give up and take what you can get.  They are all beautiful whether they are looking or day dreaming or sleeping or rubbing eyes or pouting!

At least some are looking in the same direction

Back to more/different/same electrical problems today!  Never a dull moment!

Karen and I had great plans to accomplish lots this afternoon and we got off to a good start then the little generator boss came to fix it and she was needed, next we got all the stuff down to the children's home and started sorting when the barber came for haircuts for all the boys, then a group from the US who were at the Albert Switzer hospital came to visit and stayed a long time so not much was accomplished.  It is almost our regular bedtime and poor Ti Luc can't get in his bed yet, there is so much stuff piled all over it.  He will be tired tomorrow.

Jonathan and Jofky showing their new clothes

Modeling new clothes

Haircut time

The crew from HAS with their donations

Adriana from HAS with Jonathan

After a short visit and play time, saying good-bye

Dickie never stopped today from lunch time until a few minutes when he went to shower.  Jim tried to tell him it was a day of rest but Dickie can't rest when here there is always so much he wants to get done.

I made some "round and round chocolate balls" last night but they were round as we ran out of coconut and we sat in the galley and looked at some old photos of here and the children when they were just babies and reminisced and talked and laughed.

Cold again last night!  Hot again today!

We are anxious for Keith (Keif) and Joan to arrive.  We have been busy getting their house ready for them, getting the last of the students photos and letters done, kids we need for gifts, laundry and whatever else needs doing!

Preparing Keith and Joan's place for their arrival home

Dickie has been up to no good again! He (stuck with tape) a plastic cockroach to the wall in the kitchen and had both Karen and Germaine going after it with roach spray!

We had Haitian chicken today, we usually eat American chicken but we saw these chicken come home from market, get cleaned and de feathered and cooked.  They were little compared to ours but then the diet is not like ours but mostly cock roaches...yummy!

Poule

Our Haitian chicken

Jim, Karen and I spent time in the depot today and made a little headway there.  We found a dress up suitcase and then we quit working and took the suitcase to the devotion room and had all the kids big and little dress up and then march/dance around the compound visiting all the mommies and all the houses and the security.  Jonathan was not interested in anything more than a necklace and he decided to wear me instead and he is like a little hot water bottle. It was a lot of fun!

Checking the bins and organizing the depot

Dressup

Playing Dressup

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Keith and Joan whose flight was turned back to Miami after 20 minutes in the air.  They are enroute now.

Kieth and Joan arrive at last

Day 10

Ti Luc had a sleep over at the boys home last night and Karen had one with us on the roof!  It was cold during the night, I was cold and had 2 blankets on me and thought Karen would freeze because she only had one blanket although she was dressed like she was going to bed in an igloo instead of a mesh tent.

sleepover in boys home

We had an early morning walk along the canal and I had goose bumps on my arms at 6:30 AM and had sweat drops there upon our return home at 7:20 AM.  Once the sun is up the temperature rises quickly.  It is going to be a scorcher today.

Saturday morning walk

Almost back home

The dog house was enlarged today to include Dickie, maybe we should make it even bigger since Keith will arrive Monday and I am sure he will be in it too.

New larger design, sleeps 3

Jim, Dickie and Richard (security) have gone on an adventure today.  Dickie and Jim have a grocery list, 5 propane tanks tied in the back of the truck and a wad of Haitian goudes in their pockets.  They have gone to Saint Marc to get needed supplies.  Today is market day so it will be even more hectic than usual.

It has been an interesting morning here with Karen, we had hoped for a little quieter day so we could get some stuff done here in the house and in the depot after she finished an interview with the Nor'Wester of Springdale, NL.  Well, it is after lunch time and the interview is NOT finished and it feels like we have been in a tailspin since 8:00 AM with one problem after another.  I truly do not know how she handles it all, well yes I do...she isn't operating on her strength BUT on the Lord's.  It truly is amazing to see His hand at work here.  Just the other week when things were hard and busy and she felt like she was losing ground and all alone, this slip of paper slipped out of her Bible at her feet .  She picked it up and read it and sat and let the tears flow as she felt so blessed. Here is what it said : Karen, we have got your back.  We will cover you in prayer-your back is not left open, vulnerable and dangerous.  We have got your back!  It was dated September 21st, 2014 from 135 Main in Springdale.  She is so thankful for the support!

Afternoon was spent with Karen holed up in her office trying to get some important work done and I was running interference for her.  It was a full time job as a million requests came for her.  It was good for JJ because he is reluctant to speak English to us this trip BUT when he couldn't get to mama he had to speak to me so I kept him talking as long as I could.  He has good English and understands everything you say to him or anyone else.

Karen, Jim and I sat outside this afternoon and ate a mango.  I am wearing a lot of it!  Jim is wearing some and Karen has more practice than we do and she is still clean.

The five oldest cleaned the church for tomorrow.  It is used every school morning for devotions so needs to be cleaned every Saturday.  Then came a game of train with the 4 kids who were wound up and giddy today. I am heading to the shower!  Can't wait!
Sandra

Kids cleaning church

Dickie here.
Jim, Security and I went to St. Marc to pick up some supplies for HATS this morning. Our first stop was on the PaP side of St. Marc to refill propane bottles. We had six good bottles and two with damaged valves. They had no new valves so the worker took his bike and my money and went into St.Marc to buy two valves. He came back in an hour with two valves and me owing him 40$ more.
He then proceeded to change the two valves. All he had was an adjustable wrench and a persuader to take a valve out of a propane bottle made in 1988. To his credit and before my patience wore out he got the job done and we were on our way.

Securing the propane

Next stop was a short distance away where we had to pick up a replacement Inverter, the one we returned two days ago.

We then went to the Grocery Store to fill an order with three lines of the order being something chocolate. (Wonder who wrote that grocery list.) We did pretty good and got most things but could not find flour. Turns out the flour was in bags marked sugar. We also did get the chocolate.
We were also to pick up a case of frozen chicken in Liancourt but the place seems closed more than open.

The trip to St. Marc keeps one on their toes. Everyone passes everyone else, on a blind corner, with oncoming traffic, on a crest of a hill or where there is not much possibility of a good outcome. Having said that, I find Haitian drivers to be courteous and polite. They will stop to let you out of a side street, they will warn you not to pass, and move over so you can get by when five vehicles occupy a space for three.

Karen here.
Dickie left out something important about the trip to St. Marc.  Several phone calls were necessary between Richard, the security who went with them and Dickie and I, or Jim and I.  At one point Richard spoke to me and said he was going to pass his phone to Dickie as  Dickie needed me. I said Hello a few times but no response. I could hear Dickie talking but not clearly so asked him to speak up. I was saying "Dickie, I am here.  Speak to me". I heard him say "I don't speak English'. Excuse me.  What did you just say? You don't speak English! I told him I do speak English so talk to me. I thought he was pulling my leg like Dickie likes to do.  Eventually he spoke clearly - to me - and imagine that - in English. He informed me that a policeman was talking to him and he was responding to him when I was trying to get his attention.  The policeman was trying to talk to Dickie and he responded to him in English "I don't speak English." Too funny! Dickie is not going to live that one down for awhile folks.

Keith and Joan are soon to return home and the nuttiness is going to get worse, I mean going to get better.  A couple of days of the six of us silly blan yo together will be great.  Now if I could keep the other three longer as well it would be really good.

Blessings everyone.

Day 9

 Went to bed last night and Dickie and I decided to move our beds out from under the roof so we could star gaze.  I fell asleep quickly despite the LOUD music from a night club in Deschapelles.  I was awakened by Dickie shining the flashlight in my tent saying "Sandra wake up."  I was startled and thought something had happened to Karen when I heard him say 'it is raining, get up" and I could feel the rain on my face and arms. We had to move the tents back under cover again and by then I was awake and the music kept me awake for a while.

Jim is in the doghouse today, at one point Dickie thought about building him a dog house when he was putting backs on the stools. He and I had a good laugh!

Dickies version of a doghouse for Jim

It is Friday and the kids are all glad to be off for the weekend.  They were only at school 3 days but are glad to be off again!  We were NEVER like that were we?

Excited because it ie Friday

We went to devotions at the school this morning and it was great.  They hold them in the new church and there is room for everyone from PS1 to grade 6.  I got caught in a song where I was supposed to shout out someone's name, and I didn't understand, so was supposed to pay a penalty of going up front to sing a song, recite a poem or tell a story!  They had mercy on me and didn't make me go although Claudy said I had to.

Morning devotions in the church PS1- Grade 6

We have been sorting clothes, shoes and toys today and getting to distribute them here at HATS and into the community.  Dickie and Jim have been painting chairs that Dickie made out of stools for Ti Luc.  He finds it hard to get up from the little Haitian chairs now that he has grown so much.  I made a big pot of tapioca this morning for Karen and that is what she had for lunch today.

New chairs for Ti Luc

That tapioca didn't last long

We had a couple more students come for gifts today, two real little ones and they were soooo cute!  We also had 2 families get their food today.

Student receiving sponsor gift

Student with sponsor gifts

Karen has been busy since she got up this morning and is now in a meeting with the house mothers.  When she is done we are going to Project Help to see and talk to people connected with Clean Water for Haiti. We did go and it was so very interesting and the couple who run it are very nice and informative. Jim has been following their work by blog and facebook. Karen met someone she hadn't seen in almost 20 years ( when she lived on that compound) and they were glad to see each other and when she told him I was her sister he said "but she is so much bigger than you!"

One thing off Jim's bucket list, visiting WPH and meeting Bim and Tim

We came home to no water, no electricity, boys home showers and toilets backed up BUT all is well again now.  We have water, the boys showers etc have drained, we are hooked temporarily to power and the man will come to fix the problem tomorrow.  We ate and did dishes by flashlight.  It is all a wonderful adventure!

Jim and I travelled in the back of the truck today and we loved it.  We thought of you Jess, we know how much you loved it too.  We stopped at Luckner's and Jim opened the tail gate to take out a bag and I decided to jump out...usually I climb over the tailgate.  Bad idea!  I jumped and when my feet hit the gravel my foot turned and I landed flat on my back.  Dickie came around the truck and looked at me and asked if I was alright then he took out his camera and took a photo before he helped me up.

How not to exit the back of a pick-up truck gracefully

The funny thing was there was a group of teenagers playing games on the side of the road and they witnessed the whole thing and I could hear the word "photo".  When we left and Jim and I climbed in the back again the boys started laughing and one of them fell back on his back on the road and the other stood over him and pretended to take a photo.  We were all laughing as we pulled away.

Good night.

We have been here a week already...

...time flies when you are having fun!  The down side of that is there is only one week left and it will pass all too quickly.

We played Train again last night and will continue the game this afternoon before supper.  They are good and enjoy it a lot Dana, a great choice for a gift!  (too much fun was being had outside and the game was postponed to tomorrow.)

Last night was a long night for me..asleep at 9:00  and awake at 11:00 then back to sleep until 1:30 and no more sleep since.  I heard all the regular Haitian night noises and watched the stars and flights pass overhead.  It was a treat to get up this morning.  Jim was waiting for me to get out of the shower last night and fell asleep down stairs and Dickie woke up and realized the generator was still on so got up to go down and awaken Jim so he could go to bed! He said I was talking in my sleep...how could I argue with him?

I have a very handsome admirer, he arrives early morning with a handful of flowers for me and then a couple more times a day with one.  It really is so special as he comes beaming until he gets close to me and then gets very shy as he gives them to me.  I try to wear one in my hair every day and I have a big bowl of them on my desk and I bring him in there to see them.  I want him to know I appreciate him.  He prayed yesterday morning before school and he prayed only for me, then today he prayed only for Dickie!

Sandra with her adorable admirer

Jonathan getting a thank you kiss from Sandra for yet another flower gift

Karen is always busy and now that school is open she spends most of the mornings there.  We are all back and forth several times to see kids, get something  or look for someone.  Got 2 more photos and letters today, Liette.

Today is payday so that is one of my more pleasant chores....everyone is happy on payday!

Contemplation or prayer?? Or???

Moise and JJ have just won Mama over and have gone down to Papa's to watch soccer on his television. Chauffeur Dickie and security Jim drove them down.
The little kids are all playing outside the door and what a commotion!  It is all in fun BUT what a noise!  They do play well together and have wonderful imaginations!

Fun time before dinner

TiFi enjoys being with Sandra

Please Leica I want a cookie

Lots of odd jobs and a lot of food for the school moved today.  We had 12 students come after school today to receive gifts from their sponsors.  It is always fun to give out the gifts and watch their faces.

Joanne (cousin of ours and sister to Jim) had a recipe for Amish bread on her facebook last week and Karen said she would love to have a slice.  After several days of looking for yeast we have bread in the oven as I write this.  Germaine was watching me closely as I made it, I hope it turns out okay.  The yeast is different from what I use at home and comes in a giant package....I would have to make bread several times a day while I am here to make a dent in it.

We spent some time going through files, folders and emails today looking for info to once again try
for Ti Luc's orginal paper work so she can apply for a visitor's visa for him to go to Canada and to apply for his Canadian citizenship.

Germaine and Roselene made us a big jug of mango juice today.  You haven't lived life to the full until you have had some!  It is the last mangoes of the season and there won't be any for another few months so we are enjoying these to the max!  If we slow down and savor them we should have enough to last until  Sunday!

the last of the mango juice

Sandra

Monday night we had a great rainfall,

it cooled the air and gave us a damp night, but it was wonderful!  Our tents were all out in the open when the rain started so Dickie quickly got them back under the roof and we expected it to be hard and quick but it lasted a long time and was still raining lightly when we made our way to the roof for bed.  Jim's suitcase was soaked and everything in it, so he laid it all out to dry overnight.  We usually don't get rain in January.

Tuesday was a busy day: yummy Haitian oatmeal gave us the stamina for all that had to be done.  Propane tanks were removed and leaks fixed, doors were fixed at office in school, Dickie spent hours in the tool room tidying and arranging.  We weighed and bagged all the food for distribution to hungry families and when time came to do the blog we decided we would teach Leica, Djemima, Moise and JJ to play Train instead of doing the blog.  We had a lot of fun and we will try to play with them each day while we are here so they will be good at it when we leave.

Measuring food for hungry families

The guys and Martha also involved in measuring food

Kids are loving playing the game of train

Karen and I spent a bit of time in the depot getting new runners, socks and underwear for the children. It is a lot of fun looking through socks and underwear to fit feet and bums for age 2 to age 19!  She has everything marked and organized so one can easily find it BUT with everything removed when they were rat hunting it has all been just put back in any and everywhere so our job was a little harder than usual.  Karen was called away and I thought I am fine here by myself, I don't mind a rat.  I kept looking until I heard a sound and my heart rate picked up and I wondered how long I would last before I found an excuse to go in the house.  After a minute the door moved and started to close and I moved so fast I startled myself.  If that door closed it would be totally black in there and I didn't want to be there in the dark with a rat.  I had to jump over 3 big plastic tubs to get to the door and all was well, I caught the door before it closed.

School re opened today after the Christmas break.  Haitians won't go back to school until after the anniversary of the earthquake. Our HATS kids were all dressed in uniforms and hair beautifully done and up here for prayer by 7:15 AM, before they all left for school.  JJ and Djemima were already at school as their classes start at 7:00 AM. There was lots of activity and energetic children on the grounds today and not all of them showed up.  Papa Luckner was back in the office and the HATS children hadn't seen him in a while as he has been going to school (for his Masters) in Port Au Prince with Canadian Professors.  At recess they all came to the office to see him and he sat them on his lap and gave them all a mini chocolate bar.....I saw that and knew what I should do but there were parents there waiting to see him and I thought it might embarrass him if I did.  Darn, I really wanted a chocolate!

We are trying to finish off the students photos and letters for their sponsors and today we caught 7 of them, we will try for more tomorrow Liette.

We had some new construction started today, a new house was being built.  Hopefully we have a photo to show the construction workers and the foundation.

House construction.

Ti Luc, Dieunel, Judel and Karena building a house

We just sent Jim and Dickie to Saint Marc with an inverter to return to the store and to go to the grocery store to get peanut butter and some chocolate.  Karen and I have laughed so hard at them trying to figure out the money (Jim thinks in goudes and Dickie Haitian dollars) and just what they were looking for (jars of peanut butter without hot peppers....Jim loves hot peppers so they may come back with a jar of that too) that we are useless.  Truck wouldn't start so Karen and I had to lift the hood and adjust the battery to get them going.  We are a comedy routine today.  Laughter is good!  We have had our share for a year!

Dickie taking a photo of the money so he will know how much he is going with

Can't let these two go to St. Marc without security.  They might never return.

Dear God please bring them back to us safe and sound

The guys have returned safely with the peanut butter and Jim has one with hot peppers...should make for a great breakfast.

We had another game of train and got the blog in too!
Sandra