Our "Better late then Never" Christmas Party

That's right, we finally had it! The kids spent a lot of time debating as to call it a late Christmas party, or an early Easter party. In the end it was a late Christmas, they sang carols, had a great time, and finally received their gifts. They have been a patient bunch, and were all very excited about the toys and gifts that had been sent to them. Phanor's smile pretty much tells it all, there were a lot of smiles around here on Thursday night!

I'm sure you've figured it out by now, Linda and I had a safe trip to and from Port au Prince. We thank God that she received a Visa to visit the US that's good for the next 5 years, so we don't have to go through that hassle again for a while! We had a really nice time staying with our friends the Boucher family, and even had the chance to rest a bit the Saturday we were there. We needed that!

The kids faired well without us, but you can imagine, they were very happy to have us come home on Sunday afternoon. They always say the house is so quiet when we are gone...we can't figure that one out, because they are the ones who make all the noise when we are here!

This round of exams are finished, and the kids have a short vacation from school for Easter. We started our seminar on the Peacemaker series last night, and we'll be studying these principles from the Bible over the next five days. We could really use your prayers: for me as I teach them, and for the 50 or so people here taking the seminar. Pray that God would use His Word to really speak to our hearts, and to help us learn how to resolve conflict in our lives in a Biblical way.

It might be a little while until our next update, as I leave Haiti as soon as the seminar is finished (next Thursday). I'll be in the US for several weeks. I know Linda would appreciate your prayers as she holds the fort down here while I'm gone. She also will be traveling the end of April to attend her cousin's wedding back in her home town. She will be receiving a team of dentist while I am away from March 29-April 6, please pray for her as she will be working hard translating for them, and generally running the clinic.

For those of you who know our kids specifically, Ronel (he was our oldest boy until he moved out on his own 2 years ago, he remains close to the HOH, and continues to help us take care of our maintenance needs), will be getting married on April 12. He is marrying a very nice girl named Wilmide, and would appreciate your prayers for him during this preparation time, and also for his new life together with his wife.

Thank you for praying for Aline, she is doing much better, please continue to pray for her, as well as three other young children who have recently been admitted with severe malnutrition. Their moms are staying here with them.

Here are just a few more pictures of the Christmas party smiles for you to enjoy. Thank you so much for your prayers...

Real Quick

Linda and I are heading out the door to the airport in Port-de-Paix heading for Port-au-Prince. It's been a while since I've written so I wanted to just put out a really quick update. Here are some things that have been keeping us busy these past weeks...

• We enjoyed having a team here from Calvary Bible church in E. Stroudsburg, PA. They were such a help in doing many jobs here at the HOH and at the hospital. They also had a number of young people on the team this year, and it was great for our young people to spend time with them. Everyone had a great time, and it was a blessing to have them here.
• After that team left, we were happy to have Jeb and Gail Bland here for several days. It's always a great encouragement for us all to have them visit. They brought us a special gift of a very nice printer, which will be a huge help. Especially as I'll need to print out the student work books for our upcoming Peacemaker lessons.
• The boat came in, and while they are still having lots of trouble, we are slowly receiving boxes of things that were sent to us months ago. Some of the Christmas gifts have arrived! So perhaps next week we'll get some time to have a small party and pass out the gifts. One gift that was sent was a beautiful red wagon, you can see in this picture the kids are enjoying it immensely. Please pray that we'd be able to receive the rest of the things on the boat without too much difficulty.
• Praise the Lord! I managed to finish everything on the translation and putting together of the Young Peacemaker lessons, and now I'll spend some time studying it all and getting ready to have the seminar on March 14-19.
• We were able to get a prayer letter written and put together thanks to many people who put their hands together to help us. Those of you who receive them via snail mail should get them soon, those who get them via e-mail, they'll be on the way as soon as it gets posted on the internet.
• Aline the little girl we asked you to pray for last time is slowly starting to improve. She got really bad there for a little while, but I think we are at last heading in the right direction. Please continue to pray for her, and for the staff taking care of her, she has special diets and health care needs that require a lot of extra time and attention.
• Our students are right in the middle of exams. Everyone is studying hard trying to improve their marks, so we would really appreciate your prayers on their behalf.
  
• As I mentioned before Linda and I are heading to PAP for the weekend. Linda has an appointment at the US Embassy to renew her US visa so she can travel. We are slowly working through all the steps we need to take in order for her and I to be able to travel this coming summer. We'd appreciate your prayers as we travel, and that all would go well at the appointment. Pray too for the HOH in our absence.

Well, that about sums up our lives lately. It has been hectic, but we have accomplished a lot. We appreciate your prayers for us...