WELCOME 2013 Newsletter!

 It was really kinda good for Momma and I this  Christmas,  It really can be quite the load on top of everything else we do.........Chantal and Sharon showed up for a few days and set up the tree and decorated it!  Then in January, the Texas team showed up and took it down.....THANKS GUYS!

                      Right out in the open, kinda!  They did a super job on the tree.  We bought a few gifts, had a few given, and opened all the stuff we've collected in the last year and it made for a great Christmas.  This was Christmas morning and we locked them up in the chakoun while we prepared for this........just maybe next year, we'll have our family room and the kids will have bedrooms and Christmas will be like your house.......bright and early Christmas morning!

Rosy is pictured here swinging at the La Pinata, 

but it was Roodline who cracked it apart!

It was really fun!  This was Christmas Eve and they got all sugared up !

Lindsay, the Texas Bookend (she'll explain that) with Lovey and crew doing crafts.

TEXAS TEAM! 

...did their usual playing with the kids and teaching about Jesus and singing  BUT this year.....THIS YEAR>>>> we had a movie night with about 100 locals, a few of which are voudou practioners. 

Paige (daughter) and father (Tommy)getting acquainted over dirty dishes.
Their were 30 folks here to feed and the dish piles were enormous......
these Texans love to eat!

and 14 people from Texas prayed over several of these folks and it was a most blessed affair.  James, a local missionary that produces these life scenario films and Tommy, the head of the team and I decided that we will give big thoughts to a three day revival next year and some VBS for the local kids!

We also laid some forms and got our sidewalk project well underway! When it's close to completion, we'll send along some flicks

With the advent of the dry season, foliage is just bloomin' like crazy and blowing out of the ground!

 

For those that wax nostalgic, here's a look at the first three on our first Christmas! Neat, huh?

.....just to keep you in the loop, we are again scratching for dollars.  We've been blessed with Ray's retirement funds kicking in, but that's $1600/month and that is the safeguard that keeps us fed.  It does little else.  We have 16 mouths to feed now and a lot of equipment that gets no maintenance and a lot of stuff breaking or broke. TV is going, Roodline dropped it, but it's over 15 yrs old.  We've been doing laundry by hand for well over three months now and truck just had a head gasket replaced, but all the tires are bald......van doesn't run. A mechanic that was supposed to fix it, took the money and we got nothing but a very big mess of an engine.  I'm having an alternator brought in from the states for our generator, which fried two very expensive 12 volt batteries.  William is due up for cataract surgery this month = $800.  Ray has few teeth because of the lack of care for 8 years= $4500.  I just wish the list would get shorter, but some of you know how old some of these problems are. The only construction going on here lately is what teams bring in and we work on.....kids are always oblivious to our situation and their days are good and happy as they should be.  As for Momma and I, we're kinda tired of camping, but we don't stop......the Lord blesses us with love, but we need money more than stuff. We both come back loaded down with clothes and goods from the good folks we meet and now we are a part of the donor force with nearly $20K a year.  I've got a whole lot of folks from South Carolina that need to hear "we haven't left, probably won't and we need your gifts to continue"  I know times are hard, so if you can't give, please pray.  Prayers outstretch money anyday!  We will be coming soon to ask for support to conclude this building as God has other chores than construction for us.