Alright… first off, apologies for this being a very belated entry.  It is amazing where the days go and how much we take for granted in America the fact we are connected to wi-fi almost everywhere we go.  I had typed this entry 3 days ago, and when I was finished with it and ready to post, our wireless on the property was not running well and my computer froze.  We also try not over stay our welcome at our teammates house where the wireless is, and so our time to use the internet is often rushed a bit.  Lastly, the wireless here is touch and go.  Sometimes it depends on what day it is, what time of day it is, if it is windy, if it is cloudy or a number other of factors.  So there are my excuses, sorry to begin the entry this way, but do know that I will do my best to update more regularly.

There is a lot to write about, but in this entry I will just attempt to give you a picture of how our days here are beginning to take shape.

• ·      Our day usually begins between  6:30 & 7:30 (Regan is the alarm clock)
• ·      Breakfast, getting dressed and doing hair takes about another half hour
• o   Breakfasts consist of a rotation of granola bars, pancakes, scrambled eggs, cereal or oatmeal throughout a week.
• o   During this time Tim is often retrieving our water for dishes, cooking, bathroom needs and drinking, from large barrels at the end of our property about 50 yards away.
• ·      then we do a variety of chores like sweeping, mopping, laundry, dishes, picking up fallen leaves, and straightening up the house
• ·      Homeschool is also often accomplished in the morning which takes anywhere from 1 ½  to 2 hours.
• o   Logan is a diligent worker when it comes to school.  She likes accomplishing pages in her workbooks and generally enjoys learning… it also helps she can read all the instructions to herself!
• o   Aubrey has flat out told us she would rather be outside helping whomever is in the yard.  This is a wonderful thing, but makes her attention span on schoolwork very hard when there is often a constant flow of busyness outside our door.
• o   Regan actually does pretty well staying focused… forgive me for sounding surprised.  The only thing we have all had to get used to is her CONSTANT chatter.  For real… it is CONSTANT! (Today we literally practiced holding still and being quiet. Honestly, I wrote that in my lesson plan book for her!)
• ·      Then it is about time to play a bit while we wait for our lunch to be prepared for us by our cook Kanel.  He is a wonderful cook who makes healthy, traditional Haitian meals for us and our 3 other teammates.  (Our girls have done very well trying all the new foods and like the majority of it.)
• ·      After lunch the girls try to nap or rest for a bit
• ·      About mid to late afternoon we are often greeted by a number of kids from the orphanage, located just behind our house, who are asking for the girls to come play.  (The girls have also done well getting used playing with the kids and I think it goes both ways, that it works best to be around each other in small doses.)
• ·      We try to then eat a small supper which is often something put together without turning on the stove, as by this time of day it is a cooker in our house.
• ·      At 6:00 each day we gather as a Mission Haiti staff to pray, sing, read scripture and talk about how our days have been.  This has been a learning and refreshing experience during our time here and something we look forward to in our day.
• ·      After prayer time we accomplish showers, which are in a shower stall with no ceiling.  This has been a high point so far for us all.  It is a very refreshing thing to dump a bucket of water over us and wash away the heat of the day.
• ·      About 7:30 the sun has set, and we either let the girls watch a part of a movie or we head to bed by 8:30 cause we are all usually exhausted.
•  

This is a very rough outline of what has generally happened here.  While we are going about our day, there is always a lot going around our property.  Tim has become busier with maintaining the financial side of the ministry, and is starting to get the ball rolling with the new block plant.  He also is hoping to develop a business education class to those who desire a bit more knowledge about managing money or developing a business plan. 

We all help out whenever and however we can.  Sometime for me that is just making sure the team members have eaten and drank enough for the day.  Other times it is simply being a good listener for people, and making sure they are able to do their job well… lots of behind the scenes work which has been good for me.  I also am helping out with an art class every Friday afternoon to create items for our youth to sell to short-term team members from America, as well as helping with the formula program for new moms, and assisting with a garden.  There is so much to do here, and we are doing our best to simply help lighten the load for others.

Here are a few other bits of information that might give a little perspective into our daily life:

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           Water – This is a basic and necessity of life anywhere in the world.  We have our water pumped for us most days into large barrels.  The water straight from our well can be used for bathing and washing dishes, but otherwise we need to run it through a water purification system to be used for drinking and cooking.  Most of the time, Tim is the one running to get our water which includes a jug for drinking, a couple buckets for dishes, a couple buckets for flushing our toilet and a couple for showers each night.  So as you can see, water is a big part of our day.

·                 Electricity – There is very little that we can call predictable when it comes to the government giving us power.  For a while we thought we recognized a routine, but now we have simply stopped trying to figure it out.  I think the longest we have gone without power is close to 4 days.  This means the inverter in our house kicks on which runs 4 fans, a couple outlets and 2 lights.  But after 4 days of no power, even our inverter needs charging so we have experienced a couple days of getting by with very little airflow, low computer batteries and lots of flashlights used.

·                 Privacy – There is simply very little.  I will leave it at that for now : )

·                 Health – We have had our bumps in the road already since being here; a few colds, a few fevers, one ear infection and plenty of upset stomachs.  But we have felt we have had what we needed to treat symptoms and keep comfortable through this all.

·                 Haitian People – We have loved getting to know the people we see on a day-to-day basis.  There are many people around our property that are regular visitors and we feel relationships are beginning to be built.  It is very interesting to learn about cultural differences here, what is ‘normal’ or what is traditionally done in any given situation.  We have also felt extremely cared for and watched out for by those who know us.  And the girls are given a lot of attention by a variety of people which they of course do not mind : )

I just re-read what I have written and I hope the picture I painted is not one of how different or difficult life is here.  We have truly felt supported, prayed for and loved during our time here.  I will write more, hopefully soon, about the condition of all of our hearts, as for now this entry is already quit long.  I hope to also include images on Facebook, it takes about 1/10 of the time to upload there than it does to upload to our blog.  Until I get something else figured out with this, I think this is the best option.

Keep praying, and check out our prayer journal for an update for specific things that we would appreciate covered.