Only 4 More Days!!!!

Only four more days until Michael and Elijah come home.  It's been the longest 5 weeks of my life!  Elijah got to fly over with a team on Monday and Michael was so happy to see him.  Turns out it was a good week for Elijah to be gone with all the snow days. No make up work at school!

Several things have happened since I last blogged. None of it, of course, adding to the progress on our house, but all good stuff.  Several teams have come and gone, served the people of Haiti and brought glory to God in the process.  The team that is there now is a group of good friends who have donated their time, money and resources to improving life at the orphanage.  They are now working on the electrical system.

Snowing here, but 90 degrees in Haiti!

I know that moving to a third world country will bring lots of new experiences, but I think the funniest thing I have heard was when Michael called to say he had been waiting for hours for Yves to meet him in PAP. When Yves finally arrived they had had a wreck on the way when the chicken truck in front of them lost a box of chickens and it hit the windshield of their car.  Luckily everyone was ok, except probably the chickens. Only in a third world country!

Elijah is very happy about this purchase! Every boy should have his own machete, right?

These sweet girls have taken to calling Elijah bubba.

And these are a whole lotta grapefruit that they picked and brought back to the orphanage.

This is the final product!  It only took 5 weeks, but we now have a pad!! I think the house is going to go in that slot and sort of be built into the side. It's supposed to help keep us cool. 

                                      

Elijah standing on the pad looking toward the orphanage.  

Just want to say thanks to all of you who have prayed for us, checked in on us, called etc. It has made all the difference to us without Michael for so long! 

One Step Closer

As part of the adoption process, the kiddos have to have physicals in Port au Prince.  Today Michael and Markes got to take our girls and the Brownlee's kiddos to a clinic for their exams. Actually, several clinics. It seems that each test needed to be done a different clinic which also meant drawing blood more than once!  First of all, as far as we know, it was the FIRST time any of the kids had been out of Mirebelais and probably the first time to ride in a car that far.  Needless to say, my girls were very scared of the doctor. Especially after watching Jimmy have his blood drawn! 

All cleaned up and ready to go!

Fedloumie (sp?) Lovelie, Jeff-Taline and Jimmy

Fed & Jimmy are being adopted by another family, The Brownlee's

At the Clinic

Pretty Fedloumie & nervous Tilly! 

Big Crocodile Tears from Lovelie. Good thing "Pappa" Markes was there.

Showing off their band-aids

 Michael decided all this deserved pizza and ice cream!!

Fedloumie enjoying her fries!

But not enjoying having her picture made!

Sweet little Jimmy

Michael said Lovelie ate like a little piggy! But Jeff wouldn't eat because she was still mad about the whole needle thing!! ;-)

That doesn't look like any Haitian food I've had!!

Of course we are praying for good test results for all the kids.  Also that God will protect their hearts. Not knowing exactly what they are thinking, I worry about getting their hopes up about the adoptions. It is still a very risky process.

Thanks for reading...

Thank you to everyone who tells me they are following our blog. It means so much to me that you care and I also know that means you are praying for us.  I wish I had more information to add but I can update you a little.  Michael escorted a team to the airport Friday.  It's the last team for a couple of weeks so, Lord willing,  he can get a lot done on our house.  Before the earthquake, teams typically spent the last night of their trip at a resort close to the airport.  It's good for debriefing and reflecting on how God has used them.  Michael got to go with them this time and I am always amazed at the beautiful pictures he sends.  These places are truly a refuge, as most of Haiti looks absolutely nothing like this.

This is Jude, a house "Pappa" who cares for the children at the orphanage and helps manage the operations there.  He is precious! So glad he got to go for a much needed break I'm sure!

A tree like this is a rare sight in Haiti.  I'm guessing this one was preserved because it is on the resort.  You don't see trees like this anywhere else because the have all been chopped down to make charcoal.  One reason there are few natural resources in Haiti.

That's a lobster, but it sure doesn't look like anything I've seen at Red Lobster!

This is the view of the orphanage from our land.  Notice how much work has been done on the wall.  It is almost complete!  The wall is a project that has been a long time coming and very necessary for the safety of the kiddos!  The orphanage is a haven (and a target) of sorts to the people in the area, and right now it is very easy for people to walk on campus looking for any resource possible.  (food, clothes, stuff to steal and sell)  As much as our hearts want to help the villagers, we don't need them to have "free reign" of the campus.  We have always had a security guard on campus, who carries a sawed off shot gun around!  He lives in a shack that is barely standing, so the guys built this guard shack with living quarters on top for him.  

This is Bob, always smiling, drooling, and willing to help! 

 Today we decided that Elijah will fly over on the 30th with a team of men who are going to help Michael.  He is so excited to go and help with the house and of course see his daddy! I'm glad he will get this experience. Thank you God for all you allow us to do!

Haitian Reason # 1001 Why We Can't Work On The House....

The heavy equipment operator was arrested on his way to the orphanage.  LOL! God is preparing us for this new life in Haiti. Will require a lot of patience.  Since I can't show you pics of the progress on the house, I'll just post more cute pics of my cute little girls!!!

Haiti update....

I'm a little concerned about what to do with all this hair!!  Too Funny!! Guess I will have plenty of time to learn.  I can definitely say Michael has fallen head over heels for them! :)

I got to skype with the girls tonight.  They are too cute!  So thankful for the FREE skype!!

I would explain these pics if I knew how to!  I'm guessing this is a road to our house.

Every once in a while the orphanage slaughters a cow to eat.  It is quite an event and most of the kids watch. Yuck!

I'm guessing this cow is already dead, or else that's a pretty good trick he's doing...

Gotta do something for entertainment!!

Wooooo Hooooo!!

I had decided that I would no longer ask Michael what progress had been done on our house because I didn't want to be disappointed when he told me what "haitian mishap" had caused further delay. That way when it did start happening,  I would just be excited! We excited I AM!! Here are the pics of the first groundbreaking on our house!  Praying that all goes smoothly from here!

This is the operator, I'd kiss him if I could!