Back into full swing

Hello and greetings from the HOH.  I am back in Haiti and slowly getting adjusted to the heat again.  It seems to be hotter than usual and often even the fans don't seem to do anything to help; they just blow hot air around.  At least the name of my apartment is "Windy Inn", so the breeze does help me a bit.  Imagine our kids though sitting in stifling cement school rooms with tiny or no windows! 

Yep, school has officially started, and while this week has been a bit hit or miss, we have been informed that Monday morning things will be going full steam.  The younger kids were excited for the school year to begin, but now that they have done the first week and seen their friends... the excitement seems to be waning a bit!  Oh, we can all remember those school days can't we?

I came back to several positive happenings, so I wanted to share them with you.

Our young leaders together with Linda and our Bible teacher David had put together some Baptismal classes over the summer.  After the studies, there were 9 of our young people who desired to be baptized; so they planned a day at the beach for the entire HOH family.  This would give them a place to have the baptismal service and have a day of fun and relaxation for the kids before school started up again.  As you can imagine I was thrilled that they had planned the baptism and desired to do it together as a HOH family.  Here are some pictures to help you see what the day was like:

All ready to go, and looking very cool!

.

Everyone got new outfits for the outing

Rose Nirva had no idea why everyone was so excited, but she broke out into her own little excited dance anyway.  It was her first trip to the beach, along with a number of our other little ones, and the day didn't disappoint!

Waiting in line to get in the truck

The Baptismal Service.  Brother David who led the service is on the Left.

The group that got baptized:  Back row from left:  Stevenson, Reginald, Herby.  Front row from left:  Oliana, Jumalia, Iverlande, Evelte, Jamesley, Chedlyn

Next came time to enjoy our new surroundings.  Carly enjoyed burying herself in sand.

Jamesly, Wetsen and Nani built sand castles.

Linda enjoyed a game of dominoes with the boys.

Others played a game of UNO.

But the beach was the all time favorite -- for those who could stand the sun that is!

Even the babies got to relax in the cool ocean breeze.  Manouchka on the right is doing so much better, we posted her picture on our last update right after she got here.  We enjoying having some babies again.

Next to the swimming in the beach the food brought the most joy of the day!  Here was a snack in the morning of bread, peanut butter and juice

 Then in the afternoon we had a big meal of rice and BBQ chicken

 

 All topped off with some lovely mangoes!

It really was a nice day and no one wanted to go back home...but as all things do, our lovely day came to and end and it was back to reality.

Reality for most was school starting on Monday but for Stephanie it was a little different this year.  After having finished nursing school last year and then doing her internship at our local hospital; Stephanie was hired with a full-time position at our partnering hospital the Beraca Medical Hospital.  We are proud of Stephanie and appreciate her initiative to find a job.  Please pray for her as she enters this new phase of life.

We appreciate your continued prayers for us as well.  We praise God for his provision of the tuition fees for this first semester of school.  Pray for our students as they start their studies again that they'd study hard and have a good school year.  Thanks so much for the various ways you support the work here at the HOH.