Thank you!

We appreciate the response we've had from you our supporters to our call for help.  We have had numerous donations made, as well as some promises of help and continued prayers for which we are so thankful.  We will be able to make a payment on our debt and hopefully continue to pay off more in the months to come.  Please continue to keep our projects in your prayers.

Before I give you a bit more of an update on my trip down to Haiti -- which I promised but haven't had a chance to do yet -- I wanted to give you a bit of an update on our "grand" babies.  Fafane and Jeremiah are doing really well.  Unfortunately Fafane's father-in-law passed away last week, so with the rejoicing of a new baby in the family came a time of mourning the passing of the child's grandfather.  You could keep that family in your prayers as well.

Lyse continues to hang in there.  She continues to have her blood count monitored and receives transfusions as necessary.  We heard back from one set of doctors in Miami that they were not able to help us with her case at this time.  We are not sure if that means, nothing can be done to help her, or that they are just not able to get involved in her case.  Our friends in Miami are still checking into this, so we remain hopeful and ask for your continued prayers for her as well.

Now, for some more pictures from my trip down to the HOH... VBS (we call it camp in Haiti) as always was a special time for all of us.  We had the 60 HOH kids there and before we knew it, they were joined by about 100 of their friends and fellow students from our local community.  We were glad to have them come, but it did get a bit crowded and chaotic as we just don't have enough space for that many people.  But everyone just moved over a little bit and it really was a great time to be together and studying God's Word and how it applies to our lives today.   The theme this year was Jesus makes me a 10 out of 10.  Here are some pictures...

The three different "teams" sitting in the shade during lesson times.

This team used construction paper to make hats for their team members one day.

 This team shows off their handy work after taking part in the craft session.

 Games are always a fun time -- this is a rousing game of dodge ball

Not even the pouring rain could squelch the enthusiasm during a balloon popping game.

Unfortunately, the T-shirts didn't arrive until after camp was over and we all went home, so we weren't able to get a picture of everyone in their shirts, but this is a group of them.

The girls show off their theme based shirts.

But, as with all things -- summer holidays has come to an end, and now the kids are into the school year.  This is the first year for Kateleen and Davidson... They were excited on their first day.

Here are some others on their way...

And here is a picture of the two girls who were adopted by the Haitian family in Port-au-Prince as they head off for their start in school as well...

Once again, we thank you for the part you play in changing the lives and futures of these precious ones in our care.  We appreciate your continued prayers and support in whatever way you are able to help us out.  We hope you all have a great week... until next time....

We need your help...

When you are involved in a work such as the House of Hope there are several things that become very clear as time goes by.  Two of these things stood out for us these past couple of weeks.  First of all, we are more convinced than ever of the necessity of the work we are doing.  Just this past week two sets of twin boys have come to our home extremely malnourished.  These and every new story of lives being changed brings new excitement and understanding that what we are doing is the most important thing for us.

The second thing that has stood out for us is how dependent we are on others to accomplish this ministry.   We are totally dependent on God to provide everything we need to love, care and provide hope for these children.  But we are also dependent on our partners to help us out in the ways that they can.  

We have come to a place where we are really in need of your help at this moment.  We have mentioned the financial struggle we have had off and on for the past couple of year.  We are so grateful for everyone one of you who has been a part of the House of Hope family over the years; whether it is through giving of your time or resources, or your encouragement and prayers.  

The past couple of weeks have been tough as we are receiving more and more pressure to pay off the debt that we have to our local hospital.  It is a debt that has been around for a long time and no matter how hard we have worked to reduce it, we haven't been able to as more expenses continue to be added to it.  We have mentioned it as a need in our latest newsletter that you will see below, but since writing the letter it has become an even bigger need as the pressure to pay it off has become more intense.  

We realize not everyone is able to help us in a financial way.  But if you are, would you please consider helping us with this need by sending a gift to one of the organizations listed on our page?  If you cannot help in that way, could you please pray with us that our God who has provided for us so faithfully in the past would do so again in this moment of need?  Either way you can help, we are thrilled to have you partner with us in this exciting ministry.   We hope you are encouraged as you read our latest news in this link below...

   Sept 2016

Welcome Baby Jeremiah!!

A new addition to the HOH family arrived this evening with the birth of Jeremiah Liam Justin.  He weighed in a 3.7 kg, just over 8 pounds -- a big baby for us -- we are used to the under 4 pound crowd!  

Both baby and mother are doing great.  By this evening the doctor had given Fafane one hour to give birth or he was going to have to do a C-section... we are thankful everything went well.

Thank you so much for your prayers together with us.  We are excited to have another "grand" baby in our family.  And he has many "moms", and "dads" waiting to show him lots of love.

Prayer needed

Good Evening, we hope this blog post finds you all doing well in your respective areas of life.  I know I promised you more stories of my latest travels to the HOH and the goings on there -- and I will be posting more about that.  But for the moment, we have an important prayer request we wanted to share with you.

You might remember last summer when I went to Haiti I attended a wedding of one of our girls, Estephanie (Fafane).  She is expecting their first child and has been having some issues since last month.  She is 8 months along and has started to have contractions.  While we are thankful that she was able to hang on a bit longer than when the troubles started at 7 months, we would like the baby to stay in just a bit longer!  The doctors have admitted her to the hospital and she is on bed rest.   They are watching her blood pressure closely and we are just waiting to see what will happen.

Please pray for Fafane, her husband Ronald, Linda and the medical staff giving her care.  You can see Fafane and Ronald here in this picture (along with our boy Mits).  

On the same praying note, continue to pray for Lyse.  The doctor in Miami has the medical report now, and we are just waiting to hear from him if anything can be done to help her out.

We appreciate your prayers on our behalf very much.  We are very blessed!  Thank you for your part.

Catching up

I am back from my trip to Haiti.  It was a wonderful time for all of us and as always ended too soon!  I have many stories to share and hope to do that in bits and pieces over the next few weeks.  

Of course, seeing my two girls just made my trip and we spent as much time as possible together over the weeks I was there.  Every time we had a chance to hug Nannie (on the right) would tell me, "I'm not done with you yet" and the hug would go on for a while longer.  They are both doing really well though, and Lala (on the left) is just a huge help to Linda with all of the younger kids -- I'm so proud of both of them.  Lala brings a seriousness of someone who knows the importance of bringing order out of chaos, and Nannie comes along behind and brings an insatiable joy to every aspect of life.

Another highlight for me was finally getting to hold little Lyse.  What a precious little girl.  I was surprised to see how alert she was; she is a fighter and is just fighting for her life with all her might.  Here we are...

Every day is touch and go for little Lyse as she can hardly go a week without needing a blood transfusion.  This makes each day stressful for her mom and dad as blood is not always easy to find.  They asked me to pass along their thank you to you all for keeping them in your prayers.  

On my way into Haiti, I received a phone call from a friend in Miami who has a doctor friend who wants to see if he can help us help Lyse.  While we do not know if anything really can be done to help her complicated condition(s), we are so thrilled to have that possibility arise.  I was able to get all the information we needed to write a complete medical history for her.  We have sent it to the doctor and are just waiting for him to get back to us with his thoughts.  

In the meantime, please continue to remember this family in your prayers.

Some other prayer requests at this time are:  

• I will be traveling again this week, heading to our friend Bonita's wedding in Ontario.  I'm really looking forward to seeing a number of our good friends and supporters, and also excited to have the chance to swing by our great supporting church in Simcoe.  
• Linda is already busy in getting things together for the new school year.  She has many uniforms to get made as well as decisions as to who should study in which school.  One of our biggest needs as the start of the school year looms before us is the finances to pay the tuition, books and uniforms for the year.  Please pray with us as we watch God supply this need.

We appreciate you all and the various ways you help us bring hope to the children and youth of Haiti.  

A forever family found

Greetings to all our friends and supporters.  Thank you so much for the prayers for our students who were writing the exams.  They all feel they did pretty well -- time will tell -- now they just have to wait to get the results back, which will likely take a month or two.  

A couple of months ago, two of our lovely little girls found a forever family here in Haiti.  Our pediatrician here at the hospital had a sister who wanted to adopt some children.  Unable to have their own children, she asked her sister to watch out for some little girls who needed a home.  She found two of our little girls, Rose Nirva and Julienne, who do not have homes to return to.  

They came up from Port-au-Prince to meet the girls and it was love at first sight!  Now, the girls have joined their family in PAP and seem to be fitting right in.  As you can see from the picture of Rose Nirva in their new home, they look so happy.

 

  And here they are with their new mom...

It doesn't happen often, but when it does we are thrilled to have our little ones find a family here in Haiti to adopt them.  As you can imagine, it was an emotionally difficult day when they came to take the girls with them.  Both of them have been with us since they were just a few months old.  But, we are thankful for more people in Haiti who are willing to love and care for these children and now we can receive others in their place.  We look forward to filling their beds again!!

Thanks for your support that helps us bring hope in so many different ways to the children and youth who come through our doors.  Please continue to pray for Lyse whose health is still so poor.  Pray for Jenny as she travels down to Haiti during the next week.  She will be in Miami for a few days over the weekend, so she hopes to see as many of you there as she can.  Pray for the team from Miami who will also be traveling to Haiti a little later.  And pray for the camp as we have fun together, study the Bible together and make many special memories as we share the good news of Jesus with all those who come.

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.