Friday, November 23, 2012

A New Baby!

It's been a while since we've had a baby in our home.  This week we were so blessed to receive tiny little Rose Nirva.  In spite of the fact that she is 6 months old, she only weighs just over 2 pounds!  She is tiny, but so cute and so much fun to have a baby again.  As usual, she already has more mom's than she knows what to do with, but  Tati Da and Tati Jen always take precedence :). She is the 10th child born to her parents, and after her birth, her mom started having psychological problems.  She is not able to care for this child, and the father brought her to us asking for our help.  This we can do!

The other HOH kids are all busy with school and homework.  Exams are coming up, so studying is happening pretty much constantly.  When they do have some spare time, the kids who have been here a long time are taking the time to show the new kids all the Christmas songs, in preparation for the annual Christmas program.  Being so busy, they've not had time to decorate the house for Christmas yet, but I'm sure it won't be long before that happens.  Everyone loves Christmas around here, and the question on all the younger kids's lips is, "Is it almost Christmas?"  This year the question started a couple of weeks ago, when I still had to answer there was 7 weeks left.  Every box of supplies that comes into our home gets looked at and pondered.  The questions start to circulate...."looks like it's Christmas gifts!!".  It's going to be a long count down for them!

We were blessed once again with a shipment of food from our friends at Friends of Humanity in Miami.  What a help this is to us as our finances are still doing so poorly.   We are so grateful for our financial supporters, and for those of you who pray for and encourage us.  Please make this prayer request a priority, we really need more people who are willing to stand with us financially each month, to help us cover the daily needs we have as we care for those God has brought to our home.  We are blessed to have some supporters send us gifts from time to time.  These gifts help us make ends meet, but we really need to have some more partners come on board to help us with consistent monthly needs.  Thank you for helping us in this way.  And if you can, pass the need around on our behalf.

I will be away for the coming week, as I'll be traveling with a friend who has some government paperwork that she needs to do.  So, please pray for Linda and the other leader as they have a lot to keep up with around here.  Pray for wisdom in dealing with all the daily situations that come up.  Pray that others would see Christ in us as we interact with many others on a daily basis.

Many thanks for your support...Hope our American friends had a great Thanksgiving!  And a great weekend to all of you.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

In Memory of...

It seems somewhat ironic that I am posting this today.... here in Haiti it is the "Holiday for the dead".  We, as believers in Jesus do not celebrate this day as others around us do, we did however want to share a tribute with you all of a man who was a very dear partner with us in ministry, and who passed away on Monday.

Larry Bailly from Snohomish, WA has come to the HOH every year for as long as I can remember.  Every January, we could bank on him and his group coming and fixing whatever needed fixing at the HOH.  Taking care of our vehicles was his specialty.  And when he wasn't working, he was busy loving on our kids and others in our town here in Haiti.  He was a beautiful model of Christ, as he served others and shared his love to those around him. 

This past January, he came even though he wasn't feeling well.  He worked, as though everything was fine, but we all knew it wasn't.  We never would have dreamed where it would all end though.  His last words to our kids as he left them was, "See you in 2013".  It was his trade mark saying.... always, see you the next year.  But, this was to be his last visit.  We are saddened that we will no longer see Larry here in our home, see his smile light up the room, hear his laughter ringing out.  But we are so thankful that he no longer suffers, that he has gone to be with his Lord, whom he loved so faithfully; and that one day we will be reunited with him. 

We are grateful that God directed Larry our way, that he gave to the work here so faithfully, and that he loved our kids so much and made them feel special.  His favorite was Lovedine, she was his girl and loved it when he came down. The other younger kids here knew Larry as, "Papa Didine" (Lovedine's dad).
 
 He was loved an appreciated by kids of all ages though here at the HOH...

When he had time to spare from his work in the shop, "Boss Larry" would come over and inevitably the kids would play with his beard.  Beards of Larry's quality are a rare thing in our part of the world, and boy did they love to play with it.  And Larry was such a good sport about it.  He let them braid it, and occasionally let out an "ARRGGHH" or two. 
He spent many hours working with our youth and young adults.  He was always ready to teach them what he knew about cars, mechanics and whatever else he could teach them as they worked with him.  A favorite of his was Dukeman, our deaf, mute maintenance man.  Larry and Dukeman had a way to communicate between them that just worked.  Neither spoke the other's language but they communicated and Dukeman learned much from Larry. 
We send our sympathies to Larry's family, especially his wife Paula, and Rachel, his daughter who often came down with Larry to love on our kids while her dad worked on the cars!  We are praying for you as you face these difficult days.  We want everyone to know how much we appreciated Larry  and look forward to continuing our partnership with the many people he brought down over the years.  Blessings on you all...