Please Excuse the Lack of Blogging.

My lack of blogging this week has not been due to lack of things to blog about!  ......on the contrary, I don't know where to start!

We had a team of youth from CCC in Midland, MI serving with us this last week.  What an amazing group of students!  Ready to serve the Lord in any capacity!  I was so thankful for their sweat, dedication, and compassionate hearts.  They were able to accomplish SO much for us, both here and HOPE House and at our other ministry sites.  They cleaned all of our windows, bleached down the containers, made hundreds of servings of baby food, built walls for the orphanage showers, set up gazebos for shade, planted palm trees, and constructed a shaded area for the laundry ladies to wash under.  And all of that was just for HOPE House!  They also put together a VBS for our Les Bours students, and teamed up with our medical director, Gail Mcgee, to host a clinic that served over 2,000 people!

Clinic weeks are always full of highs and lows.  People suffer with serious infections and illnesses that can go untreated for long amounts of time.  Skin fungi taking over their scalps, children suffering from severe malnutrition, babies collapsed in their mother's arms from dehydration.  (Not to mention worms and vaginal infections) After a little TLC from our loving nurses, medications to help their conditions, and the healing touch of our Father, their health and lively hood are greatly improved.  We love and are thankful for our medical care providers!

Our HOPE House kids all had their physicals last week.  They are a strong, happy, and healthy group of kids.  We are looking forward to adding to our numbers as soon as we have commitments from financial sponsors!  (For more information on our financial needs email: information@haitipoverty.org)  Our kids just LOVE their new home.  I took a few pictures of them eating lunch today, and one of the boys bedroom with the curtains hung.  Kim and I are finishing the decorations in the nursery this week!  So thankful for her art and painting skills!  (Mine are lacking, to say the least!)

Our God is good, all the time.  We have been so thankful for this season of blessing, but it has not come without stress, pain, and trials.  We have so much to be thankful for, like the food we eat each day, running water, electricity, beds to sleep on, and the comfort of our little oasis amidst the chaos.  God is working in mighty ways!  Please pray that we will keep our eyes and hearts focused on this, and not on all of the distractions, frustrations, and worry that His enemy throws our way.  We have been feeling our fair share these past few weeks.  But above all, God is good.  All the time.  And all the time.  God is good. 

As Kim just painted above the door or our home,
"In life and in death we belong to the Lord."

New Nannies

Last  week was a busy one!  I had an awesome time training our new nannies alongside an amazing group of ladies from the states.  We prepared our current and new staff by teaching everything from bathing and diaper changing to feeding and nutrition.  We have hired a really intelligent, fun, Jesus lovin' group of women!  (You can see a few of their pictures below.)  Everyone's first day of work will be Monday.  I can hardly wait!

We have been doing a lot of organizing and sorting.  Some of my favorite things to do!  Life is so much easier when you know where things are!  The orphanage is looking awesome!  The kids' closets and the storage closet are now functioning in an organized manner.  Praise the Lord!  Our next HH projects will be decorating the nursery, hanging the bathroom shower curtains, and painting murals and scripture on the walls.

Some of you have probably heard by now that Frentz was in a car accident yesterday.  We are praising the Lord that he is unharmed.  It could have been very ugly.  He was traveling on Airport Road when a bus came flying by.  It swerved over into our vehicle causing Frentz to make a quick decision to either get run over by the bus, or hit the vehicles driving on his right side.  He slammed into a large taxi bus, severely damaging our big Ford truck.  The hood is crunched, bumper split, lights broken, and more.  He was able to drive it to a mechanic shop and we are hoping our next few teams will be able to bring the parts we need since we cannot find them here in Haiti.  As hard as it is to be short a vehicle (especially the week of a 25 person team), we are praising God that no one was injured in the accident.  Our truck can be repaired and we are trusting God will provide the funds and skills to make it happen!

I am looking forward to this next week.  It is going to be a BIG week!  Our new staff all starts work Monday, a large youth/medical team arrives Tuesday, we will be hosting clinics and VBS all week, AND best of all, we will be taking in new babies!  Can't wait to see who God adds to our beautiful HOPE House family.