Oops....

Sorry about the long silence folks! We've (temporarily) lost our IT guy, Nate; and it's had a dramatic influence on our blogging world. Especially here at Haiti Life, where the posts have been sadly neglected... :( There HAS been some new material posted on the Clinic and Clinic Rebuild blogs however, so be sure to stay in touch with them.

Nate will be back in two weeks, Lord willing, and things should regain some sense of "normality" after that. (Yes that was tongue-in-cheek; after all, how normal are things at a mission in Haiti?) :)

God bless everyone, thanks for your continued support and prayers...

Steve

Every day life in Aleg...

Ajenal, an elderly man whom we thought was too weak to live much longer,

came to our gate the other day. He had walked for 4 hours, and said God gave him

strength to make it. He was in need of food and a blanket, so we supplied both for him.

He was very thankful, but admitted he wasn't doing well physically. 

But, he was trusting God!

Dolan and Andrew were cleaning out the shed yesterday...

It looked like a garage sale out there!

But after they got done, it was all organized and clean!

Andrew was taking a nice break up in the loft door when I came along for the photo...

:)

Lots of laundry, almost every day!!

Hannah, Ann, and Deborah have been doing a great job keeping the team's clothes clean!

Katie Jo was doctoring a young boy's scraped shins the other night.

This is a great opportunity to show the love of Christ to these young ones...

It's almost meal time!

Here, Shana is frying some sweet potatoes for a special afternoon meal treat!

Some red sauce simmers on the back burner as the rest of the meal is prepared...

We had a going away party for Mis Thea, since she will be leaving for the States on the 17th.

We invited all the Haitian clinic staff and several good friends to join us.

It was a very full house! 

There was singing and lots of blessings given to Mis Thea for her service here.

Church with the team...

We had a really nice treat yesterday at church: Rich McBain from Gospel Light Fellowship preached the second sermon in the service!

For us whites, it was a blessing to have some English preaching, and for the Haitians it was good for them to hear his heart for the church...

Washing clothes and working on a 4-wheeler!

The other day the girls had several good sized piles of laundry to do.

With the rain we've been getting, the jeans get extremely muddy and dirty.

Without a conventional washer, it can be very hard to get them clean!!

Andrew and Dolan were working on Pastor Levy's 4-wheeler.

It had some issues with the brake system:

the master cylinder was missing! :)

Instead of using a conventional cable system, it uses hydraulic assist...

One of the neighbor children that lives down the road from us.

She was out hauling water for her mother!

Uh oh...

Today the Haitian workers were working on a ditch which runs through the compound: its purpose being to house the power line going to the clinic.

They were working their way back to the shed when suddenly water started spurting out of the ground: they had hit a water line! We scrambled to find out which line had been hit, and discovered it was from the smaller cistern.

Michael jumped in there to plug the line, as Steven and Dolan fixed the broken pipe.

Thankfully we didn't loose too much water! Praise the Lord for that!!

A few "random" shots of a few "random" activities!

I walked up to David, Andrew, and Michael today, all working on the old ambulance...

They were cleaning out the radiator, using some, how should we say, unconventional methods?? :)

Yum, yum. It's almost lunch time! Beans and rice...

Some of our little friends carrying water to their home. 

See the little cup on the little girl's head? You have to start somewhere! :)

Photographs are a really big thing to the children down here.

They love having their picture taken, and then seeing it on the camera screen!

Steve, hard at work on his computer, coordinating transportation for the team that arrived yesterday.

Laundry happens every other day... 

Dolan, relaxing in the wheel chair...

We've hired some Haitians to dig the power line's trench from the clinic to the shop. 

They're doing a great job so far!

Daily chores!

Each day there's something going on around the mission... sometimes it's doing laundry, sometimes it's cooking, sometimes it's sorting medicine for the clinic, and sometimes it's working on a truck.

The men and ladies that are here work tirelessly to provide for the many needs present.

Their cheerful attitudes remind us of the scripture:

"And what soever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men..." 

(Colossians 3:23)

When we work together, bearing one another's burdens, it frees us up to minister to those around us...

Andrew working on a truck...

Katie Jo working on laundry...

Virginia sorting medicine for clinic...

Abigail preparing juice for lunch...

Shana cutting up some onions in preparation for lunch...

Cherie bringing joy to all of us :)

Sunday fun!

Yesterday we went up to the orphanage at Terre Rouge!

We had a great time fellowshipping, playing games, and eating supper together!

The three rigs, all in a row :) Left to right:

Grandpa's Bobcat, Steve's Bobcat, and Rhonda's Husky!

Steven Shankster organized the kick-ball game.

Here, he's dividing up the teams.

More and more people came to play... even Pastor Levy!

Grandpa and Michael checking out the new addition's roof...

And getting a bird's-eye view of the game!

The first team stands ready to start kicking!

The weather was a nice 65-70 degrees- a bit chilly for Haiti, but beautiful nonetheless!

Ready? Set?

Kick!

Abigail helps one of the little ones take her turn.

Now it's the next team's turn.

Even Grandpa got involved in the fun! 

He did great :)

Afterward we had some great fellowship time: 

Talking, singing, and just having a wonderful time!

The "Princess of the Mission" :)

Cherie Simmons is growing up so fast!