A Few Snapshots….

 

Don and Dale were busy this morning working on the wall of the girl’s shower house..

 

While I was out taking pictures today, I decided to visit the native ladies’ kitchen.

On this picture you can see their kitchen sink.. and beyond that is the cook shack.

 

Inside the shack was Ronie, our cook! She is a very friendly and loveable person. Since I do not talk Creole fluently and she talks very little English, we have a hard time communicating! (But I am learning!) At least a smile means the same thing in any language… so we exchange smiles and say a few words!

I want to show you a picture of our grapefruit tree… the grapefruit from this tree makes delicious juice!

We have a hanger of bananas that is almost ready to be picked… and another one hanging on our porch with some ripe bananas on it! These fresh “home grown” bananas are delicious!!

 

Today was my turn to cook lunch and I decided to do hotdogs and baked beans. Since I cannot run to the grocery store for rolls..I made homemade ones! “First time for everything”!

On Wednesday of this week was a holiday for Haitians. It was flag day. People were celebrating with loud music etc. For a better view of the road and the activity outside the walls of our compound, I crawled up on the “bomb truck” to take some pictures.

  Notice the huge speakers on the back of this truck…

 

This razor wire fence is the top of our wall and beyond that, sad to say, you can see the ditch full of yucky water and trash. This is a very common sight for this part of Haiti… (Much, much worse some places.)

I will close this post with a pretty picture! I will choose to focus on the beauty of Haiti for it has much beauty. I love living here… even though I miss some of the comforts of home…

Good night and God Bless!

~ Karole

Babysitting Claudsie

 

 

Suffer the little children to come unto us and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God!!

Our family is very happy to be able to babysit little Claudsie while his '”parents” are home on furlough for a month. Claudsie is the little, 4 month old baby that was brought out of the mountains, with the need of a home, while we were in Haiti in June of 2010. Along with him came the confirmation that God wanted us to move to Haiti to care for children. Since we were not able to give Claudsie a home in June, Steve and Shana Simmons consented to keep him for awhile. Not surprisingly, they became attached to the little fellow. Therefore we decided to give them first chance at keeping and adopting him. We well remember taking care of little ones and then having to give them up. In recognition to that pain we wanted to give the Simmons our blessing in adopting Claudsie.

There are many, many needy children in Haiti and we are thankful to God and count it a privilege that He has opened the door for us to minister to a portion of those needs.. Presently we are blessed to be at the girl’s home  in Leogane. With six girls, ranging from the ages of 10-14, there are needs here that need attention!!

Having a baby here is something new and different for the girls… as well as the staff! Rest assured, Claudsie receives lots of attention!

We went along with his parents to Port-Au-Prince on the 8th of May. They were planning to spend the night at BRIC in Port and fly home the next day. Little Claudsie cried and cried when we departed for home and left his mommy behind. I cuddled him and sang to him but he kept crying. He finally cried himself to sleep.

He had some adjustments the next several days but thankfully he “came around”!

Don tried really hard to win his heart.. (we all did for that fact!) Don changed Claudsie’s diapers, fed him, dressed him, “rocked” him to sleep.. all in hopes of gaining his love!! All his efforts are “paying off”. He now reaches for Don and doesn’t cry like he did at first when Don picked him up!

Claudsie is now happy and content with us and loves to laugh and play! When bedtime comes he likes to carry on awhile!! We love to hear his giggles and laughter..

He also loves his bath! This morning, I think he splashed half the water out of his '”bath tub”!

 

We have fallen in love with this little guy!!!!!

Thanks for your interest in our lives and for the prayers you pray in our behalf!

Our lives for God’s glory~ Karole

Happy is the Man With His “Machine” Full of Children!

 

There is hardly a quiet moment in a house that holds 17 people. But when the man of the house decides to take 13 of the 17 people for  a ride, the house becomes strangely quiet! This forenoon, I did not mind being left behind to enjoy that quietness, while they went on their little  excursion. 

The children have been wishing to go for a ride on the “machine” and today that wish came true.

 

Don has done a good job babysitting the last several days…and I appreciate him very much for helping out!

This evening, as I sit here working at this blog the sound of children’s laughter is floating  through the air. Yes, I will admit that sometimes “noise” sounds good too.. I would not want to live in a world that was forever quiet!

Erik has been doing a wonderful job entertaining the children… I don’t think he could do any better with keeping them happy! They sing, talk, laugh, and pretend… It is about their bedtime and I am reluctant to disturb their happiness! (I think they will sleep well tonight!)

Earlier I walked out and took some pictures of them happily playing together….

They took the time to pose for me. However, it is hard to capture all the fun that they were having.

 

Several Random Photos of our Day :

 

 

God Bless you all and have a good night!

A Busy Monday

What a beautiful, beautiful morning it has been so far. My morning started early because I had a mountain of laundry to conquer! I started it around 5:00 AM and by 8:45 AM the lines were full and I had only about 1/2 of it out! And believe it or not.. I was enjoying it immensely! Not only did I have the beauty of nature all around me, I was also enjoying the fresh air and the warm breezes that were beginning my laundry’s drying process.

I was very thankful for Rhonda’s two big washers that I was using! Around 11:50 AM, I took load number 13 out of the washer! ( If I counted correctly!) The next challenge was drying it all…Since the lines were full,  we decided to dry some of the laundry the typical Haitian way! We laid three blankets up on the roof of the home and laid some of the wet laundry on them…

The children remembered that I had made them pancakes for breakfast during one of our previous visits and wondered if I would do it again! I decided to do one special breakfast meal, and make pancakes,  much to their delight!

Don had the job of smearing the pancakes with peanut butter and syrup. And he did a good job of it!

The girls enjoyed helping with the children, especially Baby Weston! Weston is such an easy going little fellow and a pleasure to take care of.

Jonathan was so happy to be able to play with this little match box vehicle.. a reward for good performance! ;)

This evening… guess what!?… I am tired! I worked like a “horse” today! The maid did not show up so I had to some of her work.. plus mine! However, It’s a good tired feeling!

The Scout’s First Trip to the Mountains of Haiti

 

Rhonda, from New Horizons Children’s Home, asked us to babysit her sweet little children for several days while she takes care of some business in Port, giving us the perfect opportunity to give the Scout its first trial run. We left Leogane this afternoon and headed to Ti Goave where the Scout is kept. Today was sunny and warm such as has been the story the last while! But by the time we arrived at our destination we were cold and I was wearing my jacket! The temperature difference just amazes me!

In Leogane, we have been getting quite a bit of rain and it was obvious that the mountains we were traveling through had been getting rain as well. The road was rather treacherous….

Hey.. don’t leave me standing here…. :)

Back up.. back up… that’s a good idea!

The scenery was spectacular!

We had a damp ride up the mountains…the clouds were abundant and  a few stray sprinkles found us.. but the air smelled fresh and clean in comparison to where we had come from!

The children were impressed with the “machine” and used it as a jungle gym for awhile! We had a good evening.. I made breadsticks and juice for all of us and Rose made popcorn..

Our children did a great job helping get the children ready for bed… (what a lot of teeth to brush and PJs to put on…:) ) The children are all settled in bed and Don is rocking baby Weston!

I am looking forward to tomorrow morning and hoping for some sunshine to dry the laundry. With 17 people in one house there is a lot of laundry!!

Good night! Sleep tight!