News from Loveson

Hi! My name is Loveson, and I am 6 years old. I just recently showed up here at the House of Hope, but this is my 3rd trip here in my lifetime, so I'm pretty up on how things run around here. Let me let you in on a few things I've learned over the years and some other news...

It's very important to know who these two ladies are. They are "Tati Da" and "Tati Jen", it doesn't really matter which is which. Some of the children here can't ever keep it straight, so they just respond to both names. I've never had a problem telling them apart though, Tati Da wears glasses and Tati Jen doesn't. It can't get much easier than that. Anyway, these are the people to know around here, they have all kinds of ways to make you feel loved and wanted. For instance, they love to hear me sing and they ask me to do it all the time. I have learned though, that if I hesitate for a few minutes and don't sing right away when they ask me, they are likely to offer me something, like a piece of candy if I sing...so I usually hold out for as long as I can. But it is difficult, because I just love to sing. And every song that comes out of my mouth is a song of praise to God. I just love singing for Him. You should stop by sometime to hear me!

There are so many things to do here at the HOH, some days I just don't know what to do with myself. For instance, they have this really fun animal farm out back we love to go and watch the different animals. They have chickens, turkeys, ducks, and now they've added...

Yep, two rabbits have joined our family (and from what I understand we will likely have more before too long). Do you have any idea how fun it is to watch rabbits hop around? Some of the other kids here (not me, I would never do this) love to do things to make them hop, like throwing little stones and things...but they are learning this is not a good thing to do.

Another very fun thing to do is swim in the swimming pool. It is really starting to get hot during the days, and it is so nice to swim in the cool water. They put in soap, and it makes all these bubbles, and then we just all end up getting a bath at the same time. It is so much more fun than just taking a bath. I wish we could do it everyday, but we are having some trouble with our water system, so we can only do it occasionally. This is Daphno enjoying himself, and as you can see....
everyone gets a chance. I do need to mention to Tati Da/Jen that it might be a good thing to get a slightly bigger pool next time, because I have trouble doing my flips underwater when it's so crowded.
Two weeks ago the house got very quiet as a number of the older kids and Tati Jen went to Port-de-Paix for the "Capping" ceremony of three of the girls. I have no idea what a capping ceremony is, but all I know is that when the three girls left here; they didn't have anything on their heads, and when they came back they all three had these white caps on their heads. So I think that means they they are nurses now, or something like that; and I think that is really neat, because we always need nurses around here to take care of the sick kids like me.

We received a bunch of boxes at the HOH these past few weeks. And some of the boxes had soccer uniforms and balls in them! Because the kids here were off school for Easter vacation they had so much fun with all that stuff. I didn't get to play because I'm still a bit too sick for that rough stuff, but it was a lot of fun watching them. Some of the older kids even got to play in a tournament with their schools. For the finals it ended up being between two of the schools the HOH kids attend. Boy did they every fight with each other over who was going to win. It didn't really matter to me who won, I just had a lot of fun shouting and dancing with the winners when it was all over.
The older kids here held a concert over Easter weekend. It was a really great time. They opened it up for kids and young people in the community to come and sing for Jesus. I just sat and enjoyed all the songs. When this boy sang it was really special because his randmother (who is the one who takes care of him) is dying of cancer. She is in this little room not too far from the HOH. We all go to see her during the days and sing for her; and Tati Da likes to read the Bible to her. Well, this little boy sang a song called "Jesus is Alive". It meant a lot for him to sing like that knowing how hard things are for him right now.

Well, that's about all I have to tell you except for this; we pray for you all very often. Every time we have our family devotions we pray for you and ask God to protect you, to guide you and to provide for you. We really appreciate the way you give to the HOH so kids like me can be in a great place like this. I learn so many things here, especially about God and how He loved us so much to send His Son to die for us. Thank you for making it possible for me to be here; now if you'll excuse me I need to go for a very important meeting...