It's Official

This is a memorable day for our Haiti family and Robinson. The orphanage is now open with children in it's beds! They arrived last night, were fed, and tucked happily into bed. They awoke this morning to a story, devotions, singing, and a meeting with the director! He shared with them at the table a few rules, one being the boys are not allowed in the girls room and the girls are not allowed in the boys room. No exceptions! Funny, some things are the same in every culture. The kids are doing really well, and we are very excited for them. Robinson said they are very happy to be at the orphanage which means a lot to him. When he was six and dropped at the orphanage, he was not given a chance to discuss whether he would be happy there, while he went to the bathroom, his uncle left, and when he came out, his life was immediately and totally changed. I think he feels it is important not exactly that the children have full say in what happens to them, but that they at least have time to process the changes coming, after all, most of them have already undergone more tragedy than any child should have to face, and have had no chance to deal with the pain and loss that has been dealt them. We are thrilled tonight to be able to report this tremendous event. God has been very good, and many have come alongside to bring this amazing dream to fruition from one orphaned generation to the next! What incredible potential, what great accomplishments will flow from this wonderful work. Blessings tonight from grateful hearts!

Happines is cont.

And more pictures. Robinson's smile in the last picture says the most of all. What a moment caught on camera. Getting a Haitian to smile for a picture is hard enough, but actually to be caught like this, well, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Enough said for now! Blessings.

Happiness Is

Here are some more pictures.

Lighter Fluid

I promised more stories and pictures, well here's a start. Beth was wondering what the rave about the purchase of this piece of wood was about when the ladies returned from shopping Saturday. She kept inquiring, and finally received her answer. The normal method of cooking in Haiti is over charcoal for every meal. With a knife they shave slivers off this block of wood to light the coal. This piece of wood will last a month. I always like to bring perspective into my life, and here is another great example of how good we have it here in this country. Remember this block of wood every time you to go to the kitchen to turn on a burner or the oven. A menial flick of the wrist here converts to a chore there to light charcoal using wood for lighter fluid! Cooking can be a pretty big job, in Haiti cooking is a gruesome task. A campfire cookout is fun for a few nights, then its back to real life! The stove, the microwave, the convection oven, a burner and we are baking and cooking in a matter seconds or mere minutes. In Haiti, it's smoke, and heat, and slow going. Fanning the coal, or cooling by removing the pot, there are no easy heat adjustments.
How about the leaf funnel, any of you guys used one of them recently. Talk about innovation. I know, I know, just make a paper funnel, it's a piece of cake... unless you don't have paper! I wonder how this works with the going green principle. Again this country with its deprivation and devastation challenge my status quo. Matter of fact they take me so outside of my box, I often wonder how these two realities can co-exist.
We are so grateful for the accomplishments of this trip. Is was wonderfully productive. There are several great stories to share, it has been a chatterbox of delight since Beth arrived home yesterday. She captured many great pictures and I will work to get them up for you ASAP. As I spoke with Robinson this evening, he again expressed his gratitude for all the help in getting this orphanage up and running. He misses Beth and Deloris and was happy we shared them with him for a few days. The orphanage will be open within the next week or so. Blessings until next post!

Homeward Bound

Our ladies have been on the road since 7:00 this morning. They leave PAP airport at 12:10. They are in very good spirits this morning, very delighted with the accomplishments of the week. Pray for their safety as they travel toward home today. They will not actually arrive at home until tomorrow around noon. They get into Detroit tonight around 11:00 and will spend the night at a motel there and make the final leg of the journey in the morning. We are grateful as we go into service this morning for all the prayers and help along the journey to this point. Blessings until later.

Special

Beth and Deloris just left this as a comment under my last blog. I thought I would share it as a post because some will not see it under comments. Here it is.

"Good evening! We are sitting at the internet all by ourselves....Wow! Robinson must really trust us!!! He plugged the fan in and we have been sitting here reading the blog and getting cooled down. He had to go put gas in the truck to get us back to Port au Prince in the morning. (He said we are going to leave at 6:30 - 7:00 am.) It is wonderful to be able to get on here to still feel in touch with our loved ones at home. Don't worry baby, I am coming home! It is hard to leave these children here but I know they are in good hands and feel very confident God is doing a great thing. Deloris and I have been sharing a lot and both of us feel that this was the right time to come. It wasn't something we tried to make happen, He has worked out every detail and it has been amazing to be on this journey together! Deloris sends her love to Ray and her family. Hugs to Kelly, Krystle and my Sweetie! We will be home to all of you soon! I know you are all proud of us that we could get on the blog in Haiti and send a message by ourselves! :) We have to go home to pack and get our cold showers so we'll be ready for morning. By the way, we were able to get everything done on our list for the day.....thanks to the prayers of all of you! Blessings to you tonight from Beth and Deloris in Haiti!"

Blessings!

Market

It's morning right? Sorry, my day didn't go quite according to plan, so here it is a few hours late today.
The women finally made it back from shopping for the rest of the needs for the orphanage. Beth and Deloris weren't allowed to go because the people all felt it would have been too much. It took the ladies six or seven hours to get the list of stuff Beth, Deloris and the ladies put together. Except for the bigger charcoal stove, everything is ready to go. There is food, utensils, pots and pans, tubs and soap, buckets and barrels, lamps and much more. We are ready for the orphans.
The orphanage has been a bustling happening place for the last couple of days. The people are so taken with the endeavor, they are so happy. Beth said you can read it in their faces when they walk through the door. She said the atmosphere inside the orphanage is so warm and inviting. Today many young people came through and are amazed. They are telling our ladies how thankful they are we are doing this for these children. Several said they would like to stay. Many of them want to help. I think this is going to prove to be a great asset to Robinson's church ministry. While it is not a church ministry as such, it is a ministry of the church to care for the orphans. And I think our church family in Haiti is going to get much joy out of being able to serve their community through the orphanage. It is a wonderful thing.
Beth said the ladies were exhausted when they walked in tonight with all the purchases of the day. Meckson went with them and stood guard all day in the hot sun over the purchases for the ladies. One by one the purchases were made. Then they loaded everything into a bus and brought it back from the countryside. They went to the countryside because that is the place to get the best deals. They are a frugal people,and know how to stretch what they have. We are so thankful to be working alongside of them. We are blessed with air conditioned/heated malls, out of the wind, the rain, and the hot sun. Today it was very, very hot in Haiti, and the girls shopped in that heat, not for themselves, but for the continuing vision and dream that is coming to fruition, the 'Orphan Dream Ministry'. My hat is off to them and my heart is humbled by their service. It makes the ministry all that much more special when you know the commitment of the hearts behind it. Deloris said she sweated more today than in her lifetime combined! That's hot! I'm sure they are looking forward to a reprieve as they travel home, they probably won't be delirious about our northern cold front that awaits them though!
Beth got all the stuff organized for the school children for Robinson today. With everyone's help on the local level here in Traverse City, we are putting over 55 kids in school this year! It is incredible. These lives are being changed right in front of us, and what an opportunity for us to exercise God's gifts to each of us by helping a child get an education that can change a Country's future!
Our ladies hit the road in the morning to catch a 12:10 p.m. flight out of Port Au Prince. Pray for safety as they journey home over the next two days. We will stay active on the blog with pictures and stories as they arrive home. Blessings again.