Hi guys.....sorry we haven't been able to put much on here.  To be totally honest, we are so exhausted by the time we get home and eat dinner, that we fall asleep.  We are working so hard......we love it....but are working hard !  I think tonight Ian said...."All the muscles I didn't even know I had hurt".  That describes most of us.  At this point, we are getting ready to come home, so I guess I am safe in letting the cat out of the bag about a few things since there is no need to worry anymore! Lets start with bug bites....so many we can not even count anymore!  We have had not blood...well not really, no broken bones.....and no one passing out! Sunburn....well....a little.....  We have had a someone with a fever for a few days most likely due to the not letting up and almost having sunstroke.  No one wants to stop so it is a constant reminder to everyone to drink more and more water and don't try to be superman!! Besides that.....we are doing wonderful!!  Everyone has been a trooper in this heat!!  God is so good and we have built not only a school...finished working on the clinic, but also made some amazing relationships with the Haitian people.  Again, everyone is already talking about the next trip.

Let me take a step back....I think we skipped a day!!  I just want to touch base a little about the team that went to do the clinic yesterday.  This was a highlight of their trip.  Many have not ever experienced this before so it was an entirely different perspective on what we do here.  Let me set the scene for you.....small village but has a compound that has an orphanage, a school and a hospital on the property.  The hospital is used for many different things and on Monday our team was doing an eye clinic there.  Another team was doing a medical clinic as well.  The team in the eye clinic had the opportunity to help with exams and learn about their history and their medical issues.  The setup of the clinic is in one room....but the same room is shared with the operation room.  You walk in and see operation table there...the instruments laid out on the try....unwrapped and definetly not sterile.....benodine open and sitting there....I think you can get the picture!  Not exactly were any of us would even want to be seen let alone have surgery.  There was a women who came into the clinic that really took the heart of our team.  She was in her early 40's and had cancer in her eye.  It apparently  was so severe that it not only was taking over her eye, but her brain as well. It will eventually result in her death it was so severe.  The team was shocked at the response of the young lady.  She was completely calm and okay with her condition.  Thats the thing about Haiti.....in the midst of the horrible living conditions and poverty...the people are content and are still filled with glory of God.  They are praising him openly in the midst of their storms. It really put a new perspective on our team. 

Before the team left, an image that they will never forget came in.....a lifeless infant.  The child was near death....and at times our team were saying to themselves...."she is gone." She was so dehydrated and weak that they really thought they lost her.  They had the opportunity to pray and even consol the mother during the ordeal.  The barrier in language did not matter.  The baby was given an IV and her lifeless body started to come back.  The mother got up on the bed with the baby and lay with her.  Kari was able to go over and even with out the language, offer her that mother to mother touch and she blessed her tremendously in their hour of need.  Needless to say, an emotional day for all.  Highlight.......hearing the baby crying as they left!!!

Okay....lets jump to today....sorry if I am rambling....it is 1 am and just trying to update everyone while I have a minute. 

Today was our last on the work site....so we knew it would be alot of work.  I want to give a big round of applause to everyone...but especially the women on the worksite.  They worked extremely hard.  The haitian people were definetly impressed and wanted to know if all american women were so strong and independent!!! Our men, worked non stop...only to stop to drink water from early morning to lunch...and then until we left in the evening.  I will speak for everyone.....WE ARE TIRED TONIGHT!!!!  I think everyone will need at least a day off to recoup when they get home!!!Wish we had a few more days to knock out some more.  But we accomplished WAY more than we expected and the roof is almost ready to go on!!!  Can't wait to see the finished project and can't wait to get back home to plan the trip for the next phase!!!  I have the dates for the next 3 trips tentatively on my calendar so my mind is already spinning about those trips!! We have a list of needs from the village and the school that we are going to work on ideas to come up with to accomplish those goals as well!!! 

Half of our team went to the Liberty School today!  They blessed them tremendously by organizing and helping out with the much needed projects there.  The afternoon was filled with water play!!!!  The girls had the chance to teach the kindergarten class and the kids are already asking when will they be back!!!!

That will have to be it for now....its super late..  We will try to post some more pics and another blog or two in the morning.  Thanks for your continued pray

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

Today was the birthday at the orphanage!! We celebrated each and every childs birthday and had them blow out candles and open their gifts!  They were excited but really didn't know how to react to all the attention and people watching! We got there in the morning with the kids anxiously waiting our arrival.  They have been told for days that Saturday would be the party.  A waterslide had been donated to the mission and they had it set up and were playing in the water when we arrived.  While they played in the water, we decorated with streamers and balloons and made it really festive for them.  We made a homemade pinata the night before out of an empty coffee maker box and scrapes of paper left over....you learn to be creative while in Haiti!! They knew there was candy inside so they quickly lined up to start taking turns with the stick.  When it was time for cake, we had an individual cupcake for each with a candle for them to blow out.  They then had a pile of presents to open.  It was fun to watch them get excited about all the attention.  After the party, the kids did a fashion show for us with all their new clothes.  Everytime we turned around, they had on another outfit...jewelry and all wanting us to take their pictures.  It will be fun to set the same date each year and celebrate with them.

After the party and having lunch with the kids, we headed back out into the village.  We have been telling the kids and adults both that we were going to have a concert at the clinic.  So off to Kalalun we go!  The concert was so fun.  We ended up with about 175 people!  We sang both in english and creole.  We even took request and had a little girl about the age of 5 get up on stage and belt out a song!      One of the teenage boys got up to sing, and had the entire crowd shocked and surprised to see how phenomenal he was at singing.  He had the crowd engaged and dancing and singing along.  It was such a great God moment to have everyone singing praise songs in their own language! The crowd wants us to come back this week before we go home and do it again......so we are shooting for double the crowd!!!

Well, sorry to cut this short, but it is 1 am and I have just made 5 others stay up with me to write this! So we will start again with some more in the morning!



Ba mwen

1. Went to a concert and saw the Justin Bieber of Haiti!
2. Fans have multiple uses.....including "Floobie" (google yourself)
3. "get" has another meaning in Haiti.....please don't say it!
4. All bug bites do not itch (one, two, skip a few.....99, 100)
5. Sometimes.....you just don't ask
6. Day 6....finally master the toilet......
7. When all else fails.....use spanish
8. Freezer doubles nice as a shoe rack
9. Coolest bedroom with the best air conditioning is the one on the roof!
10. If you can ride on top of the bus....why not ride
 

So we made it through another really hot day today.  I think the hard work and heat has helped all of us really appreciate the simple things in life.....WATER!!!  Let me rephrase that.....WATER IN A BAG!  The school building project is going great.  We are further along than expected.  The walls are already going up.  We didn't think they would be going up until early next week.  But they are half way up on all sides.....and we added more rebar so the rest can go up tomorrow.  So we now can add Masonry to our resume.  Sydney S. at age 12 even was able to use the trowel and add brick today.....she is a bit more meticulous than the Haitian workers and was going back and fixing everyone's workmanship!!

So a few of us walked through part of the village today to try to find an "American Toilet".  lol....yeah right.  We had the opportunity to experience the haitian style instead!!  But while out walking around we come upon Kedna.  Kedna is one of the women who works for New Vision Ministries in the feeding program.  The feeding program consist of 13 women who basically lived on the water front in old tatered tents.  Everytime there were rain storms, the women and their small children would have their home (tent....palm leave homes) washed away.  Dr. Kerry has taken these women and given them new homes in exchange for them cooking and feeding the elderly and homebound in the community.  So......Kedna sees us walking around the village and comes seeking us out!  Kedna has a little one named Tiana!!  She would love the opportunity to GIVE us her baby......yes, I mean give us her baby....not just for the day...but indefinetly. Dr. Kerry is really working on helping her be a good mom and I have to say I do see the changes in her!  However....today, she knew that the Blanc women would not pass up the opportunity to take the baby with us for the day!!! And how can you pass that up......a baby so stinking cute.....a break from construction....great photo ops!!! So she handed us Tiana and we headed out back to the work site with the baby!! It was a great stopping point for everyone working.  Great excuse to take a break and come hold the little 4 month out with the great big eyes!!!  We took turns sitting and holding her for probably several more hours.  We decided maybe we should eventually we should give her back since none of us really had the capability to feed her!!

Excitement for the day.....the fisherman made an unexpected catch today.......2 dolphins.  So we all hiked down to the water front to check them out and take some pics.  While down at the water, the children of the village played with us in the water a bit and helped us find some sea shells.  Kenzie found one of those HUGE conch shells just sitting along the edge of the water.....It is so beautiful here on the water front......if you didn't look behind you, you would still think you were in paradise!!

Tonight for dinner we all had a nice surprise!!! Who would of thought.....goat can be pretty good!! Our cook has been amazing and makes Tons of food for us.  She cooks all day from scratch grinding spices and sorting beans for us.  We definetly have not gone hungry on this trip.  Bean sauce has become a favorite of many!! Tonights meal was actually many of our favorites so far!!  After dinner we made cupcakes for the birthday party at the mission tomorrow....always a good way to end a night with a cupcake and icing!!!

After dinner and baking, we all sat around with Stephen and Autumn (the missionaries we are staying with) and just talked and laughed....and let me add....and laughed some more for hours.  They are an amazing couple and have such a heart for God and serving the Haitian people.  They would fit right in the Celebration staff with the pranks they like to play.....we now know that we will never travel here on April fools day!!!!!

Well we are SOOOOOOO tired, we miss and love all of you.  We are having a problem getting pics on, but we try daily.......

We will try again later today!! We are blessed to have internet....so we really can't complain about how slow it is!!!

Nou renmen Ayiti!!!

What a great day!! We started out early after a great breakfast.  We were at the job site by 7:30 am.  With such a large team, we were able to really knock out some hard work today.  I think that many of us worked harder than we have ever worked before...and oh yeah add the haitian heat to that and the bugs.  We worked along side the Haitian construction workers laying concrete for the new school.  The concrete was mixed in a pile on the ground....scooped into buckets and then sent down the assembly line of about 10 people until it was finally dumped into the area we were trying to complete.  We manually poured about 1500 square feet of concrete......do you realize how many buckets of concrete that is!?!?!?  I know I don't need to go to the gym for a while!!  The team really bonded with the Haitian  workers and the people of the village today.  Brandon and Ian started playing music and playing with the kids at the school and quickly every child from the village was sticking their heads thru the fence wanting to join in.  The laughter and music spread through out the village quickly!  The kids from the orphanage came down to hang out with us too.  They really liked being able to join us.....I think it made them feel special that we were with them and they all stuck to us like glue....kind of staking their claim in a way!  We had lunch with the kids at the school today.  We experienced the way they are served and what they eat.  Most of these kids only get that one meal a day when at school.  And its hard to think that only 1 in 4 kids actually go to school.....so think of all those children who may not even have a meal a week because of the poverty they live in here.  Makes you really think about what we have back home.

After our long days work, we were so dirty we couldn't even walk into the house.  Stephen wanted to just hose us all off.  You see....if you didn't have enough dirt or concrete on you...you were looked at as not working very hard.  So, a few took it upon themselves to make sure EVERYONE shared in our dirty experience today!! So we ended up in the ocean across the street from our home.....in our work clothes.....and shoes.....washing off before we could come in.  Literally dirt from head to toe. 

I am thankful for such a hard working team.  Everyone has really stepped up and given 110% today to finish what we needed to do.  Everyone has bonded together already and God is in the midst of all we are doing.  Not only are we able to minister to the Haitian people around us, but to each other as well.  It is just one big family.  I even had one of my Haitian friends ask me today if we were all family.....and my answer was YES!!!

Please continue to pray for everyone's safety.  For the healing of the wrist....and oh yeah, the healing of the few jelly fish stings from today!  We lift all of you up daily and you are in our thoughts.  God is so good, and who knows.....you may be with us on the next trip.  We have great plans for the coming months and I can't wait to share them with everyone!  Those of you who could not return with us this trip, our Haitian friends have asked about each and every one of you and said to tell you hello!!

Sorry no pics yet.....but working on it.  Maybe a little later!!!