The Gang

One thing's for sure around here, the best hang out on the mission is the new community playground.  We get groups from orphanages, other ministries, missionary kids, and tons of people from the Fermathe community.  But if you're my kids and you play on the playground everyday, there are a handful of children that become your pals.  These special kiddos whom I'll refer to by their first initials, R, N, and S (along with my own kiddos) are the group I simply call, "The Gang."  We see them everyday and my children LOVE them!  We are getting to know about their families and their favorite things, their birthdays, their games and traditions. . .and it is SO much fun.

The monkey bars are where it's at, folks.

R is a natural born leader.  Watch out world! :)

Kilee's girls - S, R, and B

Josiah always seems to find the bigger guys to play with.  They're the only ones who can keep up with him!

An intense game of Haitian Tic-Tac-Toe, "Ti-ta-to"

This crazy boy is so much fun!  N is S's big brother.

S is so gorgeous and such a sweetheart.

Kilee is showing those monkey bars who's boss.

This playground can even wear Josiah out!

And who wouldn't love playing in this gorgeous setting?  Ahh, Haiti.

Life in Haiti and a Guy Named Gunnar

For the past 5 weeks or so, we have had a special guest in our home.  The son of friends of ours, Gunnar is a 16-year-old young man who loves Jesus, works hard and is full of energy.  We have been so blessed to spend time with him!

Gunnar came to Haiti for a sort of internship/international living/missions experience and has been working with Scott at Baptist Haiti Mission and Mountain Maid.  He has been doing office work with Scott, much-needed grunt work around the Mountain Maid greenhouses, and experiencing international living. 

We have a few new agricultural projects coming to Mountain Maid and one of Gunnar's jobs has been to pressure wash the greenhouse floor so that we can begin the projects in clean new areas.  This was a huge job, but he has done it well.  Here are some before and after shots of the greenhouse floor.

Greenhouse floor before:  12+ years of mud and moss

Greenhouse floor after: Clean and ready for new projects

Gunnar with Joel, brothers in the greenhouse arts

Gunnar's Creole language skills have really blossomed while he has been here and it is such a treat to see him speaking and interacting with new Haitian friends around the mission.  He is quite popular on the children's playground, too!  Every time he has taken Kilee and Josiah to play there, I walk by and he has about 5 or 6 Haitian kiddos hanging off of him while he's talking to their older family members.  He seems to enjoy life and missionary work in Haiti!  A few years from now, it would not surprise us at all to hear that he is working overseas.

Aside from being a tremendous help in the day-to-day business of running the mission, he has been a huge blessing to our family personally.  Our kiddos think he must have hung the moon and are always vying for the attention of "Mister Gunnar" (or if you're Josiah, it's "Mista Gunna").  Yesterday, Kilee drew a picture of our family and it had an extra person in it.  I think they've enjoyed having a big brother of sorts!

Thanks, Randy and Danna for letting us have him for a few weeks!  We do promise to send him back, but he will be greatly missed here in Haiti!

Haitian Homemaking 101

Have I mentioned in previous posts how much I love our sweet Madam Ruth?  For those of you who haven't "met" her yet, Madam Ruth is the sweet Haitian woman who works part-time in our home.  She is an incredible homemaker and regularly shares her expertise with us.  Thanks to her culinary instruction, I can now make a Haitian pate (meat pie) with bannann peze and akra on the side!

And it's not just her mad-cooking-skills she shares with us either!  With our upcoming trip to the States, she was worried that the kids would get cold because she has heard us talk about snow and ice in the winter months in Kentucky.  So, in only 3 hours, she whipped-out 2 adorable crocheted hats from some craft yarn in our closet!  The kids love them and Kilee and I are now learning how to crochet with "Madam" (as the kids call her).  Kilee and she have since made a matching hat for Kilee's favorite doll.

But most importantly, Madam Ruth shares fellowship and love with our family.  She loves the Lord and it is a joy to have her in our home each week.  Sure, she's an awesome homemaker.  But she's also a sweet sister in Christ.