Say a Prayer

Good Morning!  Just a quick note to ask you to pray for our young people and friends who are writing the difficult government exams to finish High School this week.  They have studied hard -- now it's time to write.  They have several difficult days ahead of them and I know they'd really appreciate your prayers.  Here's the list... Rosnel, Joseph, Stevenson, Dieujuste, Obed, Wilkens, Junior, Marie Claire, Dada and Manno.

Continue to pray for Lyse who is not doing well.  They took her to Port-au-Prince to have more tests done, but it doesn't look like anything can be done for her in Haiti.  They suggested that maybe in the US she could be helped.  I hope to find out more details on my trip down in a couple of weeks.

We appreciate your support in so many ways -- thank you for your prayers.  Have a great week!

Mother's day Appreciation Party

Mother's Day in Haiti is on the last Sunday of the month of May, and our kids just love putting on an appreciation party for all their "mom's".  Linda always works very hard teaching the kids songs and helping them prepare food. a program and gifts to make them feel special.  This year the kids made up some special T-shirts to give them...

 

 The "Mom's" of the HOH

These ladies all work in different capacities to assure that our children and young people are well taken care of.  From cooking, to laundry to child care they work have worked for many years to make the HOH a home for the kids.  Some of these ladies have been working at the HOH for over 30 years! We are very thankful for the work these ladies do; they are an important part of our team.

On days like today we are reminded of just how crucial the work of the HOH is and how essential it is to have all of the staff involved.  Early this morning an 11 year old boy named Simon was brought to us.  Once you see his picture, I know you are going to say to yourselves, Jenny has made a big typing error in the actual age of this child.  But Linda says he talks like an 11 year old and that is indeed the age given us by his family.

When we say family we mean his siblings.  They have lost both of their parents and are left to fend for themselves while living as extras at an uncle's house who barely gets by with his own family. This  picture is just a glimpse of what that has meant over the years.  Long-term malnutrition, stunted growth and now an amputated arm.  

A month ago, it was mango season in his area of Haiti and often during that season; mangoes are the only food children like Simon get to eat.  Sometimes you can wait for them to fall out of the tree -- but not most times.  Hunger drove Simon to decide to climb up to get a mango but he slipped and fell out of the tree.  In the fall, he broke his arm; having no money to take him to the hospital, his family wrapped it in banana leaves left it to heal on it's own.  

But it didn't.  Infection set in, and in the end had to be amputated to save his life.

The trauma has been very difficult for Simon and he is having a hard time accepting this most recent crisis in his life.  He begged the doctors to not cut off his arm.  He cried and said he knew how difficult life was with two hands, how could he survive with one.

Enter the HOH.  We've been here many times before.  At the HOH Simon can learn how to accept,  live with and even thrive in spit of his disabilities.  Here he can find hope, love, learn to smile again and hear the Good News of hope in Jesus.  Stay tuned for some dramatically different pictures in the weeks and months ahead.  

We know we are able to bring hope to kids like Simon only with the help of partners like you who help out in so many different ways.  Your financial and material donations together with your prayers on our behalf enable us to care for these children with whatever needs they might have.  

A big thank you to everyone who answered our call for some clothes, we look forward to getting them down to the kids and being used.  Please continue to pray for:

• Lyse, she is once again not doing well at all.  This long journey is taking a toll on her little body and on the spirits of her mom and dad.  Please keep them in your prayers.
• Our students will soon be writing their final exams and preparing for the government exams.  They'd really appreciate your prayers for them.
• Linda always has many things happening all at the same time.  She could use your prayers for wisdom and health for the everyday events that can bring her stress.  Lately, with major rains it's been difficult for her to find charcoal to make the food, food prices continue to rise as the rains make the roads difficult to travel on, and the boat that often brings in food donations from Miami has been in dry dock!  So she's had to be creative in keeping things going -- she does a great job and your prayers and encouragement would make a big difference.
• Finances as always are a big stress point for us.  Pray for this provision for us.
• I am working on the camp lessons, projects and activities for this coming summer.  I plan to head to Haiti in July and spend a couple of weeks at the HOH.  I'd love your prayers for all these little details to come together.

Thanks for the part you play in this special place!

A chance to help...

Thank you to everyone who held Linda and the HOH up in your prayers, we appreciate all the notes of encouragement as well.  After another tough week with a virus goinging through the house and making them sick one after another, they have had a much easier go at things this past week and are able to take a breath.

Yesterday was Haiti's National Flag Day and was full of celebration.  Our elementary school kids were all involved in parades and dances put on by their schools for the local community, here are some pictures...

 Micah, Valandjina, Ivinsky & Dieula

Siliana

 They had a really fun time and now have the rest of the week off, so they are enjoying a nice break.

Linda asked me to pass on a need we have with you all and see if there are any of you out there who would be able to help us out in this way.  Keeping almost 100 children, young people and young adults clothed every day is a big challenge.  If we had to purchase clothing for all the kids, well, there's just no way we could do it with the kind of budget we work under.  

The big need we have is for clothing.  Our stock is dwindling down and we really could use an influx of clothing donations from our friends and supporters.   They do not need to be new clothes, we are happy with used clothes and shoes as long as they are not too badly worn out.  We need all sizes from baby to adult, and all types of clothes - everyday to dressy clothes as well as undergarments.

If this is something that interests you and you feel you could do a drive of some sort at your school, church, communities; or if you simply have extra clothes at your home that you wouldn't mind sharing with us, that would be really great.   

We have set up a way that you could just pack them up in a cardboard box and ship them off to an address in Miami.  Our friends there will receive the items and then pack them in a way that will enable them to arrive safely in Haiti.  Anyone wanting to help us in this way, just drop us a note at houseofhope1@hotmail.com ; I'll send you a more detailed idea of what we could use and detailed shipping information.  If collecting and sending clothing isn't your thing but you'd maybe like to help with the expense in getting them on the boat and over to Haiti then just let me know that too and I'll let you know how you could do that as well.

We know we couldn't do this ministry without the support of our partners.  We appreciate the part you all play.  Thank you so much!

Linda's Very Bad, No Good, Terrible Day(s)

Sometimes when you are having a really bad day, it is good to hear about someone else and suddenly yours doesn't seem so very bad.  I've been in touch with Linda over the past couple of days as these events have been unfolding.  The only reason I haven't written you about it all sooner was that it was constantly changing and now we feel like we can fill you in.  So, for those of you who pray for us regularly -- please keep it up, we need that.  We can't always fill you in as things are going on, but you can pretty much be sure there's always something going on in our lives -- we need your prayers!!

The start of her bad days was the arrival of a family at the HOH towards the end of last week.  You can see the mom and her 4 children here in this picture:

The arrival of this family was not a problem, it was the circumstances that brought them to us.  The little girl in the pink outfit has TB and needs extended treatment.  The mom had recently been through a terrible physical beating by the man they had been living with and needed care, and they were all in general poor health after having spent the previous couple of nights just living on the streets.  The entire family begs for a living except for the older boy who hangs out in the market and carries loads of merchandise for people making a pittance for his efforts.

In order to start the TB treatment for the little girl Linda let them all come to the HOH so the mom and child could get care.  It seemed like a win-win situation for everyone -- at least from our perspective.  We could care for all of them at once, they could catch their breath and have the chance to have a safe place to stay for a while.  But, we have learned long ago, our perspective often isn't in line with those who come to our home.  Everyday was a struggle for Linda to keep them at the HOH.  They were making no money being there, and the pull of begging on the streets was just too great.  After several days of arguing, Linda was finally able to convince the mom to leave the little girl who needed the treatment along with one of the older brothers to be with her.  With that the mom and other children returned to the streets.  

This arrangement didn't last long.  Sunday afternoon the kids ran away from the HOH. Linda sent our older boys out with the vehicle to try and find them, but they were not successful.  Monday, Linda sent them out again with no success.  As you can imagine, everyone was upset and worried - but none more than Linda, she felt so bad.  Finally, this morning when she sent the boys out again they found the children back out on the streets.  They also located the mom and made sure they were all reunited again.  The little girl will have to get her TB treatment on an out-patient basis which isn't ideal, but our only option at this point.

If this was the only thing to go wrong on Sunday/Monday for Linda that'd be bad enough, but in the midst of trying to locate the run away children.  Our young lady Stephanie who is expecting her first child got a terrible allergic reaction to something and was rushed to the hospital.  She has been really sick with elevated blood pressure since Sunday, and is just now this afternoon getting back to normal.

While this was going on, Jumalia came back with Lyse who was again pale and listless.  Her blood count was down to 4 and she needed transfusions.  Here she is:

It took most of the day yesterday to get the transfusions arranged and done.  The doctors suspect she also has an infection so they are watching her closely.

On top of all of this, Oliana (our diabetic/siliac young lady) is once again sick and unable to get out of bed.  This time she has come down with malaria and is receiving treatment which is a really tough thing in and of itself never mind having malaria with it!

And the glue holding everyone sane at this moment is Linda and boy could she use your prayers!!

Thank you for supporting us in this way and please continue to pray for our financial needs as we bring hope in it's many forms to the children, youth and sometimes even families who come to our home.

Prayer needed again

Good Morning!  We hope you are doing well and enjoyed a wonderful Easter season.  At the HOH it was a great week, it is always one of our favorites during the year.  

This year as usual we put on a week long conference with meetings each evening.  Various pastors, speakers and singing groups from our local community churches came and participated in the services.  Each night we had a packed yard as hundreds of children, young people and even adults from our community came to sing, and hear God's Word.  

Here are some pictures:

 The musicians

 The Praise and Worship team

 Those who came

A young boy's singing group from a local church

We are so pleased for the privilege of sharing the Good News of Jesus with those in our local community and so thankful for all of our young people who worked so hard to put this on.  Linda had nothing but praise for all of the HOH youth as they really helped her out to pull this off.

Now it is back to school and life as normal! But as life gets back to normal we need to once again ask you for prayer for little Lyse and her parents.  She did fairly well these past couple of weeks but she is now starting to fail again.  Her blood count has gotten dangerously low.  She received one blood transfusion this past week and one again yesterday.  They think she will need more today.  This is such a difficult time for Jumalia, her husband Andly and the HOH family.  Please keep them in your prayers during these difficult days.

We appreciate you all for your prayers, financial support and the many other ways you lift up this ministry.  Blessings on each one of you!

Rejoice!!!

We wanted to let you know that Lyse is doing so well, the doctors sent her home this week.  It never ceases to amaze us when our kids defy the odds and the rejoicing never gets old.  It's especially neat to be able to rejoice with one of our "kids" as our "grand-kid" defied the odds this time.  And we wanted to invite you to share in our joy.  Here is Jumalia and Lyse.

Mom and Daughter back at home

We don't know what the future holds for her, if this is just a temporary improvement or the path to full healing, but we are thankful for every day we have her with us.  Thank you for holding them up in your prayers.

Loss of a friend

We received some sad news this week that a good friend of the HOH passed away.  Roger See has been part of HOH history longer than any of us who are there.  His father was the one who originally built the HOH back when it started in 1956.  Then, when we needed to add an addition to it early in the 2000's Roger came back to Haiti with another good friend Tom Sykes to build it for us.  Now both of these special men are together in Heaven! 

We just wanted to express our appreciation for all Roger has done for us over the years.  He was always concerned for our kids and what was going on at the HOH.  He continually sought after new supporters to help us out financially as well as worked to match up people who could help us out in other ways as well.  He will be missed.

We would also like to convey our condolences to the See family and let you know that you are in our prayers at this difficult time.  We'd ask you to please pray for his wife, children and grandchildren as well.

Lyse Angie is laughing!

Lyse Angie seemed to blossom last night and it continued into this morning.   She is alert, playing and laughing.  She is definitely better.  Thanks for your prayers and please continue!

Update....

Several have been asking for an update on Lyse Angie.  Linda told me this morning she feels that she has seen improvement since they've returned from Port-au-Prince.  She is not suffering and isn't in as much pain.  Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement.  If you'd like to send some words of encouragement to Jumalia, the mom or to Linda please just send me an e-mail and I'll pass it along to them.  Hope you have a great week...

Prayer & News

Greetings to you all from the HOH.  We have a special prayer request we'd like you to pray for tonight, and also have a new Prayer/News letter that we've just put out that we'll post here as well.

First of all, the prayer request.  You might remember the former HOH young lady who got married this past year.  Her name is Jumalia.  She recently had a baby, but it was born with an infection that damaged her liver and spleen.  They have spent the past couple of weeks in Port-au-Prince trying to find out if there is anything that can be done for her, but unfortunately the hospital in PAP sent her back to the HOH yesterday saying nothing can be done. 

Her name is Lyse Angie and unless God does a miracle there is not much hope of this precious one living for very long.  As you can imagine, it is a very difficult time for Jumalia and her husband; and and also for Linda and the HOH family a they support them through this.  Please be in prayer for everyone involved.

As promised and regretfully very late indeed.... here is our latest newsletter.  Please take a few minutes to read it over, pray for us and know you are appreciated for the part you play in this ministry!  Blessings...

Winter 2016

Into the New Year we go...

Where on earth does time go by?  December and this part of January have just been a whirlwind for us all.  Thank you for your patience in hearing from us.  The month of December saw our kids writing exams and then getting off for Christmas break.  In the midst of all of that came many drums, totes and boxes from the US with all kinds of goodies in them. 

These supplies are such a huge blessing to us.  Finding and affording these things for as many people as we have in our house would be so much harder if our friends and partners didn't help us out with these things.  Thank you to everyone involved.

Among those things that arrived were the Christmas presents.  While they didn't make it here in time for Christmas, they did arrive before the kids had to go back to school.  The extra days of waiting only made everyone more excited to get the gift bags and dig in to find out what they got...

As you can see... smiles all around, it was a fun evening for everyone and they were thrilled with their gifts.  A great big thanks to our friends at Grace Baptist Church for once again sending down gifts for each of the kids.  There were others who sent in some items as well; from chocolate to toys and food.  We appreciated all the efforts made to make it a special time for the kids.  Thank you!

The New Year seemed to bring with it a new virus that hit the HOH in early January and is still making the rounds.  It is called Zika and while perhaps not as bad as some of the viruses we've faced, it is annoying and makes you feel pretty bad.  This week Linda is among the fallen and she'd appreciate your prayers as she tries to get over it.

Here's a quick up date on Jamesley.  He received the medicine he needed to treat his Hemophilia.  So far, we have seen marked improvement, his leg has healed up nicely and he's even able to take a few steps around the house. 

To help him and the other kids we have who are wheelchair bound, we received a gift of some snazzy new wheelchairs.  These chairs enable them to get around at the HOH and also to go out into the community for school each day.  We are very grateful to everyone who played a part in getting these for us.

We hope you all have had a good start to this new year and we look forward to continuing to bring the Hope of Jesus to the children and young people in our care.  Please continue to pray for our students as they work hard to have a successful year.  Pray for our continuing financial needs.  Pray for wisdom for Linda, Jenny and the young leaders.  Be on the watch for terribly overdue HOH Newsletter to come out in the weeks ahead that tells you more about these leaders...

Getting ready for Christmas

Christmas is a special time at the HOH.  For some of the kids, they've never celebrated it before and they get all kinds of stories from the kids who have experienced it already.  We love to make it a big and exciting time!  It's the time of year we get the chance to give them all kinds of new experiences from decorating the house to giving each one gifts to call their own and special meals all together as a family with our staff.  But even more exciting is the chance tell them the great news of Jesus through the Christmas story.  They learn the songs and story and have the chance to put together a program to share with the local community.  As you can imagine these are busy days at the HOH!

This week we were able to purchase some paint to give the house a nice face-lift.  It's been a while since we've been able to paint the entire building and it was really starting to look run down.  Thanks to some special gifts from supporters we are able to do it this year.  No sooner did we get the paint then the boys started on the work...

 Rosnel helps with scraping off the peeling paint

 Evelte's job was washing walls and doors

Junior (and others in the background) sanded down the walls.

Today the actual painting was supposed to get started.  Meanwhile those with a more creative talent went to work on some wall art...

 Dieunel (pink shirt) & Reginald (blue shorts) supervise the creative corner

The final product is the name House of Hope on the right and a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. on the left.  The quote says, "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."  Then there is the verse, Mathew 5:9.

Once the painting project is finished the Christmas decorations will start to go up.  But the kids don't have to wait for the decorations to start getting a twinge of excitement for what is to come.  The gifts and other things for the season have started to arrive.  Our friends in Miami completed a shopping list with many items on it that we will need for the special party and meals.  Among those items were some nice new hand-sewn clothes from some ladies in Indiana.  As you can see by the smiles on their faces -- they loved the new clothes and with them the anticipation for what is to come is just building.

Once again Grace Baptist Church in York, PA has put together Christmas bags for each of our kids as well as our staff.  The totes filled with these gifts arrived in Miami last week and will be on their way to Haiti soon.  A big thank you to everyone who put so much work into helping us make Christmas a special time for the kids.  For some of them, this might be the only one they ever celebrate, we want it to be filled with happy memories.

Some things to keep in your prayers in the midst of all this activity at the HOH are:

• Davens once again got sick with some disturbing symptoms (he's in the above picture on the far right).  Our pediatrician referred him to Port-au-Prince for some tests to see if they can figure out what's wrong with him. His mom took him to PAP to see a doctor a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately we have not heard back from them since then.  We are waiting and hoping to hear something soon.
• Jamesley's medicine should arrive in Haiti this week.  We are so excited for him to start his treatment.  Wouldn't it be so great if he could be healing and even walking in time for Christmas?  Keep him in your prayers.
• The kids will all have exams soon to finish out this trimester of school.  Linda tells me they are working hard and hope to come out with some good marks.  Pray for them as they study over these next few weeks.
• In the middle of all of this activity is Linda.  She's incredible at keeping things running.  Pray for her health and strength.  Also pray for the young leaders helping her:  Jn Daniel (finances), Junior (communications), Iverlande (Kitchen), Mirlène and Agate (child-care). 

As we head into December we hope you are all doing well in your respective places.  We want you to know how much we appreciate your support in so many different ways.  Thank you for the part you play in this special place of hope!

Here we are!!

It is my Achilles Heel of updating the blog.  So much is going on and I always think, I should wait until this is figured out before I write.  Then something else comes up and I wait again.  Then eventually I realize if I don't just write I'll never get around to it because life just keeps on moving.

The past few months have been extremely busy for us on both sides of the ocean.  Linda has been busy keeping things going on the Haiti side, and I have been busy working things out on this side.  Together with some incredible longtime partners and some brand new ones we've managed to  achieve a lot.

First of all, some news on Davens.  Since that day he stopped having seizures, he's been fine.  There's no medical explanation, we are just so thankful for your prayers on his behalf.  Linda says he's back to the energetic and fun little boy he was.  Thank you all for your prayers and concerns for him.

Here he is on the right with his best buddy Wendjy

Another big medical issue we've been dealing with is figuring out what is wrong with Jamesley's leg and getting him the help he needs.  Our friends in Miami were extremely instrumental in helping us find a diagnosis and solution for his needs.  While in Haiti, we were pretty sure the initial diagnosis of bone cancer was false.  A radiologist in Miami looked at his x-rays for us and confirmed what we thought, it was not cancer, but rather a result of his hemophilia.  Had it just been Linda and I, we might have stopped at this point and just allowed his treatment to continue as it has been in the past. 

But one of the ladies in Miami continued to search for help for him.  We knew what new treatment he needed, but the cost was huge and there was no way we could handle that.  She searched until she found and got in contact with LA Kelley Communications, a group that works with educating people about Hemophilia and helping people with the necessary treatments.  They've already provided treatment for another child in Haiti with hemophilia, and they quickly told us they'd help us with Jamesley as long as we could get him tested to find out what type of hemophilia he had.

This might not sound too complicated.  But.... there is not lab in Haiti that can do the test!  This meant either Jamesley had to travel somewhere to get this done, or we had to get a sample of his blood to a lab that could do it.  Each option had so many logistics it was hard to see how they could be worked out.  And if we had to do it on our own, there was no way it could have happened.

One funny thing about Haiti is that when you are there sometimes 5 miles down the road can seem like it is as far away as Africa.  But, when you start working together with others it's amazing how much can be accomplished.  The LA Kelley people started by contacting a medical network they had connections with in Haiti, they contacted some others who contacted others who ended up communicating with a mission just 5 miles up the road from us.  We've known them for a long time and worked with them before but weren't aware they could help us at this moment and wouldn't have thought to bring them in on it.

In the end, after many e-mails back and forth they enabled us to get his blood sample to Miami where it was tested.  The results -- while bad in the sense that it confirmed he does indeed have hemophilia, were good in that we are able to treat it to improve his health and hopefully heal his leg and allow him to walk again.  We are now in the process of getting the medicines to another group traveling to Haiti in early December, and then we look forward to posting pictures of him walking and participating in things he can only sit and watch for now! 

Linda tells me Jamesley is doing incredibly well.  You can just imagine being told you had cancer and were going to die soon, to finding out so many people are putting their resources together to figure out that you don't.  And then going even further to hear that they are also helping you receive an expensive treatment you never could afford on you own.  He is one happy boy!

And so our days pass by taking care of issues like this that arise.  The encouraging thing to both Linda and myself is the incredible team of people we have helping us with everything from figuring out logistics for medical needs, to purchasing and shipping in items we need, to giving financial help, to praying for everything we need to make all this happen.  We are so blessed to have this team of people helping us bring hope to the children and youth in our care.  Thank you so much for your part.

I talked to Linda today and asked her for some prayer requests to post for you, here's her list...

• Give thanks and praise for the spiritual growth and maturity happening among those at the HOH.  She says they continue to grow closer together and grow in unity as they help each other make things work.  It has taken away so much of the daily stress for her, and she's happy to be able to focus on the things she needs to take care of.
• Pray for our students studying this school year.  They just finished mid-term exams and will write again in mid-December.  Some of the young adults:  Dieuny, Obed, Fafane, Dada and Manno will be re-writing their grade 13 exams that they failed to pass last summer.  This will happen in December as well. 
• We continue to have financial needs in the funds we owe our partnering hospital.  Our monthly support has increased this year and we are so thankful for that, we have slowly been able to pay back some of our debt, but still have a long way to go.  Pray for God's provision in this area.
• A couple of our other kids have some medical issues that have come up.  John-Wisly has always had trouble with his foot since losing part of it as a small child.  Lately it has become infected again and is requiring a lot of care.  Iverlande has sickle cell anemia and has struggled with a bone infection in her leg for many years.  It had healed and wasn't causing trouble for quite some time now, but has recently flared up again and she is having to receive treatment as well.   We've also had numerous new children come in with severe malnutrition.  Pray for wisdom for our nurses and doctors as they treat all of our kids.
• Haiti has just been through elections and are awaiting the results.  These tend to be very uncertain days as far as security goes in the country, so she asked for pray for protection our kids who are out and about over the next few days and weeks as the results are announced and then a run-off election is held.

Once again, thank you for the many ways you help us bring hope to the children of Haiti.

Update on Davens

Hi Everyone, just wanted to give you a quick update on Davens.  Thank you so much for praying for him today.  Late this morning the seizures stopped and he fell asleep.  He slept for the rest of the day and then woke up this evening, hungry.  Last I talked to Linda today he was busy eating!!  The doctors are not sure what caused the seizures and what happens next, but we appreciate your prayers for him very much.  We'll be watching him closely and trust God for whatever is ahead for him.

The rains have slowed down as have the winds and things seemed much better this evening than this morning.  They are busy having a small going away party for Ernst who will be leaving the HOH to study in a place outside of Port-au-Prince.

Thanks again -- we appreciate your support very much.

Prayer Needed

Just a quick post to ask for prayer for one thing that is weighing heavy on everyone at the HOH at this time, and one other thing that is just making life harder....

Davens is an incredible 5 year old little boy who has been at the HOH for quite some time now.  He has so much energy and is so much fun.  He loves to make people laugh, and you just can't be around him and not be affected by his joyful spirit. You can see him here in the blue shirt.  The other little boy is Wendjy his best buddy at the HOH.  They are pictured here with Samantha and Heather two of the young ladies who were at the HOH this past summer.

Davens has not been feeling well for the past few days, and this morning started having seizures and our Pediatrician, Dr. Vilton, cannot get them to stop no matter what she does.  As you can imagine the entire house is affected by this, especially Linda who is doing all she can to assist the medical staff and take care of him.  Here's the picture Linda sent me this morning:

With the numbers of kids who go through the HOH each year, these kinds of situations happen all too often, but they never get easier, especially on Linda.  Please hold them up in your prayers this morning:

• Pray for wisdom for the doctors, they have such limited resources to work with, much depends on their training and just common sense medical skills.
• Pray for strength, courage and wisdom for Linda and the other kids and staff at the HOH who care for Davens and hurt as he is hurting.
• Pray for healing for his little body and that the doctors would be able to figure out what is wrong and what to do.

All this is happening while the hurricanes are going through the area.  Since yesterday the heavy hard tropical rains have not stopped, along with heavy winds.  Since life is mostly lived outside at the HOH, and our buildings are quite open -- it makes for tough living and working conditions.  Pray for patience and strength as they deal with this inconvenience along with the tough situation with Davens.  Linda has requested your prayers, and I know it will mean a lot to her. Thanks so much.

Catching up through pictures

Greetings to you all after a long period of silence!!  It's crazy how the weeks fly by and I just don't seem to get to everything that I have on my "to do" list.  I want to share a bit of our time in Haiti with you.  We had just a wonderful time at the HOH and I was so excited to see how well things are going there.  Linda and the young leaders are just doing a great job and it was evident that God is working in the hearts of these children and youth.  The thing that touched my heart the most was their eagerness to hear God's Word and learn from the lessons we had prepared.

They were so excited about the studies, they encouraged their friends to come as well.  Our group of 60 HOH kids grew to almost double that number by the time the week was over. 

We had a great time of learning during our camp week and we all look forward to learning more together throughout the year.  Our theme this year was "Jesus, My Only Hope" and Hebrews 6:19-20 was our theme verse.

As you'll remember I was going down to the HOH with 3 young ladies from Canada, here we are at the start of our trip.

 They were a great group of girls, they put up with a lot of inconveniences along the way; yet their attitudes were so positive.  They went willing to do whatever to help and they certainly achieved this.  Here are some of the activities they helped out with...

Jenna worked extremely hard on decorating wedding cakes the very day we arrived.  The results were incredible!  Everyone at the wedding was surprised and asked where they could get such nice looking cakes!

Heather spent many hours trying to determine just how many children she could hold at any one given time.  She's very talented at this..

Meanwhile Samantha showed of her one-on-one skills giving incredibly fun swing rides...

 All three of these young ladies joined into Camp week by each joining one of the three teams who were competing against each other during the week.  They did many things I'm sure seemed crazy to them, like dressing up in weird costumes and outfits for no apparent reason...

They were great sports though and had a lot of fun and laughs along the way.  One of their main goals was to build meaningful relationships with the kids there and this time was a great way for them to do that.

 We were happy to meet up with two other groups of people while we were at the HOH.  The Lewis family was there from England.  They are great friends and we had such a wonderful time with them.  Then we also had our friends from Miami Shores Presbyterian Church down for the week of camp as well.  They were a great help, same as last year.  They brought down the  colorful and much loved t-shirts and helped with various crafts as well.  They also were great at holding the little ones during our sessions and making sure they were loved and cared for!

Here are some of the activities we did…

Decorating and styling the t-shirts is always a hit with our kids.

We also had the kids make up anchors out of wire to remind them of Jesus the firm anchor in our lives.  Then they made bracelets and attached the anchors to them. 

 Here is Jamesley working on his anchor…

Rose Nirva and Kateleen show off their finished product…

Fridson works on his coloring pages…

Every afternoon we played games with the kids as well. 

This day was the wild and crazy game  of pop the balloon…

Together with singing, learning Bible verses, studying God’s Word together, skits, programs and many other things we had a wonderful Camp 2015 and are already looking forward to next year!

For me, it was just a great time to be back home, I had so much fun with my girls Lala & Nanni; who, by the way, are almost as tall as I am now.

They were also flower girls in Estephanie’s wedding and they were beautiful!

Meanwhile, Linda and I were the proud moms…

Here are some other things we were able to accomplish while there:

·         Linda and I were able to spend quite a bit of time talking and planning for the future of the HOH. We are both pleased with the way things are progressing and we are excited to see what God will continue to do in the lives of our kids and at the HOH. 

·         I was able to meet with our pediatrician about a number of difficult cases we have at the HOH right now.  We talked a lot about Jamesley and his diagnosis of bone cancer.  After much debating with numerous doctors in Haiti we are not sure that the diagnosis was correct.  With help from our friends in Miami, we are trying to get a better diagnosis.  Haiti is a complex place at the best of times, and something like this makes it even more so.  Your prayers are greatly appreciated for wisdom for all involved and we’d just love it if he really doesn’t have cancer!

Here are a few other prayer requests to keep in mind:

• School starts up next week and Linda and the other leaders have much to do to prepare our 40 + students for the new school year. 
• Three of our adult “kids” have finished their schooling and will be leaving the HOH by the end of this month.  Ricardo will be living with his brother in La Pointe while helping work at his shop.  He will also continue to help Linda by running errands for her as she needs it.  Rosemène is making plans on where she will live, but will continue to work as a Nurse’s Aide at the HOH.   Dada also will work for the HOH as an aide, and will move to live with family. Please pray for these three as they take the next steps in their lives.
• Ernst, one of our young leaders has been accepted into a University outside of Port-au-Prince.  We are excited to see where God is taking him into his future – but we will miss him greatly at the HOH.
• Finances are still and always a need – please pray for more resources to help the children who come into our home. 
• We recently received 4 extremely malnourished babies; pray for them and their moms as they receive care together.

We appreciate each of you and the part you play in this ministry.  We are blessed to have such a great team working with us to bring the Hope of Jesus to the Children of Haiti.