Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Chicken Pox - School - Irene

So, if you were picking out what comes next for us here at the House of Hope, just what would you pick? Sometimes I wish we actually could have a choice on what came next -- sort of like a multiple choice, would you like this, this or this. But then again, perhaps that wouldn't be so fun after all, especially if all them were hard and difficult choices (remember the choices God gave David as his punishment for counting the people when he wasn't told to).

Well, if we had a choice, we probably wouldn't have chosen Chicken Pox so quickly after our run in with Cholera; but that's what we got. We always are looking for the positive in things, so here's the big positive at least up to today -- only one of the kids has it! Yep, that seems almost too good to be true in a house of over 80 kids; but that's where it stands. So, we'll see if it stays there or if more kids get it. So, anyone curious as to who was the lucky kid? None other than my own little Nani...yep, and I just don't need much of an excuse to put her picture on the blog...so, once again, here she is...not with the pox...I couldn't do that to her! But you can just imagine her with spots all over her little body. For her it has been a total adventure, she had to give us a running commentary of every spot that shows up. "Oh look, there's one...Oh! and here's another one". She almost made you feel like you were the one missing out on all these spots...

School was approaching rather quickly. We were starting to feel the rush of needing to organize and get uniforms and books in order, and of course the thought of paying for all the entrance fees was also in the forefront of our minds. This week the Haitian government decided to postpone school for another month. Yes, this is not an unusual event n Haiti Well, this for us was an excellent turn of events. Having another month to get all of our ducks lined up in a row -- or kids as it would be around here, is such a great relief for us. This year we have a special student going to school. Linda has decided to return to school to try and finish her High School diploma. She has several tough years of study ahead of her, but we are proud of her for taking this step. For being a model citizen and huge help to many in our community, she was offered a full scholarship at the local high school, and will be in the same class as some of our kids -- how's that for having your mom go to school with you!

This does have one small drawback to it...we now have to keep the kids occupied here at the house for an extra month. We have learned;

that you can only make kids take a nap for so long...
And sticking the remains of Tati Jen's labels on your face is actually very fun, but only for so long...

And while talent shows are extremely fun to prepare for and put on, you really only can stand on your head for so long as well.
So, we will continue to seek out other activities to keep the kids happy, healthy and growing in all areas of life.

As I am writing this, we are in the process of getting pummeled by rain from Hurricane Irene. It hasn't been too bad as far as wind goes, but we are getting a lot of rain, and the homes in our area which are closest to the ocean have received damage. I will try and get out and about tomorrow to see just how much damaged was caused. As always we appreciate your prayers for us as we face the different things that come our way.

We'd ask you to continue to pray for our needs. Donations have been low, and yet the prices of things (especially food) continues to rise with every crisis we face. Almost all of the main foods we can find to purchase in our area of Haiti come from Miami. By the time we get ahold of them down here they are at least 3 times the price one would pay in Miami. For being one of the poorest countries, it is unbelievably expensive to keep food on the table down here. One way a church in Miami has decided to help us with this is by purchasing food directly in Miami and shipping it down to us on the boats. They have been doing this since after the earthquake, and have continued up until now. They had been using their own donated funds to make these purchases up until now, but are now running low and are not able to purchase for us as they did before. I know there might be people who are interested in helping us directly with sending gifts to this church so they can purchase food to send directly to us. If this is of interest to you, please contact me directly at: jenny.reitz@crossworld.org and I will give you more information on how you can do this.

In any case, we appreciate you, our faithful supporters for your prayers, your financial help and your encouragement along the way. Life in Haiti is certainly a roller-coaster ride, and like any good roller-coaster it's so much more fun with a lot of friends to enjoy it with you. So thanks for being part of what's going on here...we appreciate you all.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Cholera? Where?

The difference between this week and last week is unbelievable. It's like we've been transported to an identical village some place else over night. As fast as the outbreak occurred; so it ended. Yesterday the hospital didn't have more than 20 people in the cholera wards, and we haven't had any more sick kids here at the HOH at all. We are so thankful that it is over, and we are able to catch up on our work, sleep and health.

Through this ordeal, the hospital was given a Cholera Treatment Center, I'm putting up some pictures so you can see it, it looks really good -- and the best thing about it at the moment is that it is empty!! But it is there in case another outbreak should occur.

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With life returning to normal, we've been able to allow the "Our Hope" kids to go back to their home communities and families for a short visit. Pray with us that these young people would be a light for the Lord to their families and friends as they spend some time with them.

Next week, Monday, I will be taking 4 people (3 of our kids and a friend from PAP) to the eye clinic being held in a neighboring town. They have many specialists coming from the US, and all 4 of these people have pretty serious eye conditions. Please pray that we'll be able to get each of them the help they need, and that all would work out well.

Again, many thanks for your prayers and giving over the past week and a bit. God bless you, and please continue to pray that we would point others to Christ as we minister to the needs around us.