Thanksgiving NEWSLETTER

                                                                                       

Momma Trisha 

           gets a new Kitchen!

          Well, when a big team shows up, ya gotta put 'em somewhere!  We emptied the chakoun, which was our temporary cookery, which was destined to be a baby and toddler playroom and moved into the new kitchen!

       Not quite done, but Trisha is happy to be in there. We'll keep working to make it a palace for her!

.....still have upper cabinets and tiling to do!

MORE PROGRESS!!!

"Tejas" is our little guest bungalow and is ready for occupancy.

Sleeps 3-4 comfortably.

The chakoun sleeps 8 people for teams and guests.
 It's a baby/toddler playroom the rest of the time.

Some day this will house our chapel and classroom.
It now houses 8 boys.

My office and storage.....(like I'll ever get to sit there!)

....finish the walls and windows and then hang 24 foot trusses and the roof and we'll be dry!
.... and we have more kids!

Thanksgiving NEWSLETTER!

This is Lovey with her "ti mamma", Nadia!  This is
usually her mood most of the time. Nadia is helpful
    and at times has to be made to go play, which she is 
doing more since Lovey has become very demanding!

Meet LOVEY! ....as sweet as she looks!      

         Lovey came and swept everyone's heart away!  She is a delightful little girl, who wakes at 6:00 in the morning singing and chattering her life away.  She came on board smiling and eating like a horse!

        She arrived here, September 10th by way of the malnutrition ward of Hospital Albert Schweitzer where she was recovering from neglect after losing her father a week before and her mother, three weeks before.  She is now 20 months old.

         She had not taken her AIDS meds for about eight months, which is very early but we've had a few starting at 4 months.  She had the red (malnutrition) hair and her skin had white spots on her neck and face, which usually indicate vitamin deficiency.  Both are subsiding.  She is gaining strength in her legs and will be walking in a short time!

Here's Kevin, the gang guy and Michael
wondering what he's doing! Kevin is
nine, Michael is four.

Here's Kevens!  

       Somewhat small, timid and quiet,  Kevens was found sleeping outside after having been abandoned by extended family.  We normally don't take kids this old (he's nine) because we've had big problems with street kids, but  his bravado wears thin.....so far he hasn't been a problem at all.  He has stopped wearing his pants down around his rear after Momma gave her opinion!....and if you look closely at the picture, he's doing that gangster thing with his hand, only his hand is in the wrong direction!

       Initially, he is reacting normal to discipline, hasn't really been "show-ey" with the kids and reacts to the love and attention shown him.  He is HIV+, which to us means he has AIDS with a healthy CD-4 count!  You have to be very sick before the CDC definition (Center for Disease Control) declares you have AIDS.

        Please pray that Kevens fits in here, we'll just love him 'til he does!!

Enter Denver and CONCRETE!

The team from Colorado!

          All these Colorado "big guys" (and girls) ascended on us and in three days we prepped and poured three pads of concrete to begin to complete our dining room and dish wash area.  By the end of day 1, they had tied the lion's share of steel for the pour, which we taught them.

They were extremely energetic and signed on to continue to help us.  It was our first big heavy work team in over eight years of being here in Haiti.  We made some friends last week and I know that we haven't seen the last of them.  God bless you all!

                 The gallery or porch that surrounds the house is one story with a
shed-type of roof, which attaches to the wall started on the second floor.
 The serving window has been built as well as a pass through for dirty dishes.
I will keep posting as we progress. After six years of construction, it's very
exciting for us

Arold gets his horn!

When he gets this thing going, I'll send along a song!

          Arold lives in Lachapelle and plays a fantastic trumpet......and he's always wanted a saxaphone.  I've been hunting for one for over two years now and a wonderful music director and friend from a church in Florida has now made that possible.

          It's an alto sax which is not as large as it seems here: Arold is small and in his 30's.  He is close to Nadia's size and she's ten.  We've seen a lot of people here, who are abnormally short, mostly due to lack of good nutrition when they were young.

           This guy is self taught and a very good musician.  He does a bunch of funerals and other events and teaches others to play.  He is also in high school looking to finish soon.  That is not abnormal at all......education is highly sought and valued.  As short as 20 years ago, there weren't a lot of people who could not afford an education here and a lot of folks are catching up!

An elevated floor pour!

This was a "sane" pour for a 11x 22 floor pad which we used 12 bodies to do. It is nothing here to see 30-40 guys doing a pour, especially if it is being mixed on the ground in stead of a machine.

Everyone has their job, loading the mixer, running the mixture,.
 running it up a ladder to the roof, dumping and troweling......
and if you live in the neighborhood, chances are you'd be here.

This is early in the day......by the end, these guys will be covered in slop from bailing up the ladder.

The guy in the blue shirt is Ti-YaYa and he's good at directing this stuff as well as finishing

String line preset for a level pour. 

That block pit rarely gets full because these guys have it flying up the ladder.

Three pours, $12K,  over 1400 square feet......about 900 sq ft more, hopefully done before Christmas!

The new ceiling/floor over the main entry......space above for bedrooms!

Rough coat on ceiling finished today in the chapel/classroom......smooth coat by Friday.......kids in very dry area for sleeping Saturday!  Praise God, we have finally got great shelter from the rain!
These guys are working hard and it's really looking good!

JULY newsletter!

We have lost Santi.....

                It will be a week tomorrow that Santi was taken by the Lord. ....and it's been a tough week for all of us.  Such a precious package with so much promise.  He was with us almost 5 months to the day and despite hospital care, drugs and all the love and prayer we could muster, we couldn't overcome the wasting of his little body to AIDS.

                 Our kids are not in tune to what we call "Haiti's culture of death", so we've been talking a lot to the kids. At times, it can seem everything dies here. He died on the changing table while Nadia was changing his diapers. I was very sick in bed and Momma had to pick up a guest at the airport.  Doretha, our guest is from Columbia, SC and has been a God-send through out this whole affair. So I got healed and sent Momma on her way, cause she desparately needed a break and she attended a 4th of July birthday party for her mom, who is 90! Then Doretha got sick and 4 other women arrived for a 2 day visit and were able to help.

                It's been a real heartbreaker.  As sick as he was, he always wanted to bump fists and he had a language all his own. He was fun to have and to hold........ All I can say is "Santi, we love you and we will be together again."

               

Progress marches on!

Fenan squaring up a window with the rough (primary) coat of mortar.

Mika plumbs up the rough coat on the front wall......finish coat begins tomorrow.
notice those new steel security windows and front door?

Here's the finish coat on the back wall, which is the chapel/classroom wall.

Yes, that is the beginnings of the second story exterior wall.

Second story floor (over classroom) done about 4 days ago.

This will be poured next week, which is some
 bedrooms over the entrance area of our home.

Kitchen is cleaning up quick and we will move in about the time
 Momma comes home, hopefully with some new appliances.

The way I feel

They say there is a reason,
They say that time will heal,
But neither time nor reason,
Will change the way I feel,

No-one knows the heartache,
That lies behind my smile,
No-one knows how many times,
I have broken down and cried,

I want to tell you something,
So there won't be any doubt,
You're so wonderful to think of,
But so hard to be without.

~Author Unknown

Prayer needed

          This is Marissa Rae Comfort and she is also in the hospital recovering from pneumonia. Marissa picks up colds and then does not get rid on them easily.  She is coming home tomorrow, but she will continue to battle.....she, like most of our others is an AIDS baby.....and she is as sweet as she looks!

PRAYER NEEDED

......for those of you who know Santiague, he has been admitted to a malnutrition ward at Hospital Albert Scweitzer in Desarmes, Haiti.  We picked up Santi from a hospital where he's been living for a year near the DR border over two months ago.  We have struggled to get him to eat in a consistent manner to put weight on this ever so tiny body.  He is 18 months old and wears 3-6 month old clothes.  Momma told me yesterday, that he is eating via tubes and is sleeping a lot.  Please lift him up in prayer.

MAY NEWSLETTER.

Momma singing with Babo, Marissa Rae and Mason.

Prayer does work.....

                     ...... and we need a bunch right now.  We're both pretty tired and
I had come to the states for some important banking business.  Momma has her hands full.    

Santi and I discussing the Yankees season up to now.

        First and foremost is Santiague.  He is not keeping food down and he's eating precious little of it.  He started off well after a month with us.  Now he has good days and bad.  He's happier and a little bit stronger, but is still has not gained much weight.

         We need you to ask for God's benevolent grace.  It is a behavioral thing as we have noticed that he vomits when he wants to.  He may need to go to a hospital soon and get on an IV, but this is hard as Momma would have to stay with him and that's really tough when you have 12 others.  It's alarming, but not critical and Momma handling him and the other 12 with precious little help.  It just doesn't need to become worse.  God will bring us through.  He always does.

        If that isn't enough, the washer bit the dust, but we have a new one people gave us a year ago.    However, it take dad to get it going......construction is at a standstill and lastly the VCR/DVD player is out of action!  I've been gone for two weeks, but we both know how important rest from the grind is important.  Trisha is in bad need of a rest and I'll go solo in a few weeks and we will both be better for it.

This is a personal story, 

                                  ......but interesting none the less.  I knew all along through life that I was adopted, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  Two years ago, I found out that there were five kids (I'm the youngest) and at the onset of my birth and near about then, we were separated 4 different ways.  Well, three days ago, I met the first of that family, Michael (Sonny) and we've had a wonderful time getting to know each other.  All five of us had the same mother and father and the question is: Do we look like brothers?  It's an interesting chapter in my life and I hope to meet the other three.  Sonny is 1 yr/5days older than me, is blessed with a very sweet wife and lives near Ocala. FL.

Life is a little difficult......

Isaiah 41:10

'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

We can persevere through the worst that life can bring if only we keep our eyes on the prize.
 Thank you Jesus for caring for me.

All that is Elda!

Elda was so very precious as a baby and just a whole bunch of fun.  She was born in prison to a mother with AIDS and escaped without contracting the disease, most likely due to not being breast fed.  When we got her, she was three months old and HIV+ due to the mother having AIDS and the bodies natural response to protect itself.  In subsequent tests at 18 months, she was found to never getting the virus. 

As many folks will testify, Elda took the "terrible two's" to pretty extensive heights!  Never have we had such a difficult time with such obstinate behavior!  A lot has changed since we moved to our new home a year ago.  She is coming around and getting enough attention for the good that she does, as well as being a great worker around the house with chores asked of her and chores that are not.  She can be very good about keeping her footlocker clean/orderly and bed made, without much prompting.  She can be a big help with the three yr olds and often helps us in the kitchen.

                   As we get deeper into school, she's becoming more serious, especially when Dado doesn't buy "ditsy"!  Only Roodline has been with us longer and Christian came the same day.  She's a beautiful, loving and sensitive child (and still mischievous)

APRIL newsletter!

....good friends!

          It's always nice to have good friends around, like John!  He came to spend a week with us playing with kids and slugging cement!  He and his wife were good friends of ours from Edisto.  His wife, Aubie recently left us for God's kingdom and we miss her.

       We really do enjoy seeing people from back in the states because they lift our spirits and in turn, this growing family lifts theirs.  You are invited to join us anytime for however long you want to stay and help us.  Lori and her daughter, Becky will join us for three weeks in June to help teach school.  The guest house is going to get new windows and a porch in the next few weeks and it will be complete. You have an open invitation!

.....Santi!

        Well, the boy with the appetite has arrived!  It's only within the last week that Santiag has really impressed us with his new habit of eating and what a joy it is!  He also has begun to push his walker around. 

        As always, Momma Trisha is besieged for attention in most waking hours, but we're (the kids and I) are beginning to relieve her.  He still bellows for Momma at night, when he wakes, but even that is subsiding.  He requires a lot of sleep, but will go on with little, if we are not attentive. 

        He still as light as a feather, but his strength grows daily evidenced by his ability to stand longer......and he's so very beautiful with a smile that takes up his whole face!

....racing against the rain

       It's here and still pretty gentle, but the rainy season is starting.  We have been tying a lot of steel for subsequent pours in the coming weeks.  We've installed rebar for the kitchen counters, the living room entertainment center and two more roofs.

This is Ray's office/lots of storage room! We are packing this room right now
and getting breathing space in the sleeping area.

Kitchen has tons of counter space.....the hole at the end is where the kids will put their dishes.

      

Windows and doors are now being made for the house and soon it will really be secure and hopefully this summer, we can start to address the finish coat on the exterior walls.

We've got two large areas which will be poured in a month,
adding 600 more square ft of dry, (keyword) living area!

This is an entertainment center being started in the living room.
Cabinets will be made and slid under the long counter to hold all
 the music and films that we have.

     A lot is happening right now thanks to my retirement checks starting to come as well as some contributions from God's people!  Last year was a brutally uncomfortable with all the rain and temporary roofs.  We are really busting our butts to make life more comfortable.

Sticking to His plan, as it unfolds.

I have set Jehovah always before me: Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.    Psalm 16:8

He sees me through uncharted waters and cements my belief
that He alone is Lord.