Snapshots from our day...

Rachel "ironing" with a toy car :)

Loretta & Michael doing school on the roof

                            

 Jared & Michael enjoying a ride with Daryl

Janelle & Elaine

The boys playing with their friend Alex.

Degaje Builders...

'

 Unloading block...

 My brother Lee, taking a break with his wife, Fern...

 Putting the first truss up...

 "Degaje" means "make do with what you have, which was really what they were doing... improvising every step of the way...

 We all were wondering how the GB's manage when they build the churches way out in the sticks...

 And then they got a little smarter... 

Bolt it together on the ground...  

and then put it up with the help of a rope...

 ...and plenty of manpower...

Much easier!!!

We really appreciated Steve, Jonathan, and Donovan's help for a few hours...

Building Project...

Here's what's happening with the shop around here...

Unloading the steel shop frame...

The bosses working on the foundation...

And I couldn't resist adding this picture of some of my brothers taking a break from the building project! :)

PJ Party...

A dear friend of mine and her mom sewed pj's for all the children... They are so cute and the children were so excited about them! They just love 'em... Now that's the highlight of going to bed - being able to put on their pretty pj's!!! :)

My friend brings a friend...

Ok, I'll try not to post too many pictures of lizards, but I do get a kick out them... The dark one is the one that was here first... Looks quite a bit bigger than his friend, doesn't he?!

The beginnings of the shop...

Ready to begin the building!

Here's our faithful gardener, Maxo... it took him a week to dig out the foundation.

How's this for a hand dug ditch? I'm so impressed with how straight it is!

The bosses are here now and we're starting in earnest. Hopefully we'll have the building up in another 2 weeks! But it's Haiti... so we'll see...

Baking Lessons...

The children love watching Mom bake!!!

Jonathan stayed there the whole time through the bread making process...

My Friend in the Window...

I have this little friend who lives around the window in my room... One morning I discovered him and was ready to chase him out when I realized that he was catching all the flies and bugs that like to congregate there... So I left him go and he does well at keeping up his end of the deal... Flies don't last long when they perch there... I often see other lizards on the outside, looking in... I think they're jealous!! :)

Happy Birthday, Rachel!!

Rachel was so excited about her 5th birthday! Since I can't do birthday gifts very easily here, I try to make their birthdays as special as I can in other ways... Rachel's happened to be in the form of a little tea party... Lor took them out of the room for a bit and Rose and I had fun decorating a table... We had made finger jello shapes, cut little sandwiches out with cookie cutters, and made spiced cider. We scattered some candy on the table, and don't forget the cake and lots of candles!!! Then we called the children over...

I know the pictures aren't the greatest, but I loved the look on her face - she was SO excited when she saw "her table"!!! :)

She had one request... she wanted to serve the cake... I wish that I had pictures of that, because that was definitely a highlight for her and she loved every minute of it!!! But I was giving her a hand with the cake cutting process!

Elaine...

Elaine is 2 1/2 and talks very well even though it isn't always clear... This morning our neighbors were here and then Maxo's wife left... Elaine said to no one in particular, "Oh, the wife left and I didn't get to see her..." real mournful like... Then she said to Maxo, "Your wife left and I didn't get to see her...!" What they don't come up with... she keeps us entertained!

A bit of humor...

My children think in terms of little  boys and little girls, so no matter what age or size a stranger is they're either a "little boy" or a "little girl"... This past week we enjoyed a visit from my Aunt Karen, Uncle Mark and cousin, Juanita who was a former nurse at Allegre. The last time they were here was 3 years ago, so my children barely remember them or not at all... Different times I  heard them refer to Uncle Mark as "the little boy" but didn't think a whole lot about it... We were really amused this morning to hear Rachel (5) asking Uncle Mark where his wife was by saying, "Uncle Mark, where is your little girl?" :)

15 weeks...

                        

15 weeks ago today, this is the little fellow that showed up at our door step... He was a 5 day old preemie and weighed 4 lbs. 3 oz. He couldn't keep his own body temperature up, and could only drink a quarter of an ounce at a time... Many prayers went up on his behalf...

                          
                             


                                                 

God answered our prayers, and today, 15 weeks later...

Here he is!!!

...our jolly, chubby Weston...

...it's hard to believe he really looked so bad...

... now he weighs 14lbs 4 oz...

...and he brings SO much joy to us!!!

We love you, Weston!!! :)