Hello everyone!

Okay, so it has been more than a week since I did my last journal, but it hasn't yet been 2 weeks, so a sort of improvement! I have no excuses, none....well, maybe a couple of feeble ones, like the fact that it is about 98 and 100% humidity in the daytime and 82 and 50% humid at night! This tends to make me a little limp and uninterested in anything! However......things still go on and as I promised I have a lot of catching up to do...so here I am!

As I said last time, we have had a bunch of people visit since the Earthquake and we have gotten a lot done and had a great time. The next team I want to tell you about was a team from LifeSpring church in Plainfield, IL., actually our home church for NLH. They brought a team down to do our first ever....field working trip to a mountain church. It was decided last year that a new roof needed to be put on the parsonage and the church in Chameau. Chameau is located in the mountains outside of Moron, about a 1 hour plus walk from there. It is a small village and the view from the church door is awesome! Pastor Plaisir and his wife, both grew up there, Vilex was born up there! Chameau is also a part of the 6 churches in the Marfranc district! We have visited it several times and it has always been a great trip. Steve ordered all of the tin from ACC in Cayes (it is better tin and comes from the states) and we had everything ready to go when the team arrived. Everything had to be taken by hand or mule up to the church before the team arrived, this included 60 pieces of tin, that was 3 feet wide and 12 feet long, all the water for the group of 6 for 4 days, the food, generator, all supplies. The guys each took their own personal belongings and some tools in their backpacks. Steve drove them to the river drop off point and they had a great time. Both roofs were completed, they played with kids, enjoyed talking to people and spent a Sunday morning worship with them before walking back down the mountain to go home. It was quite an experience for them and also for the village of Chameau. The church was ecstatic over their new roofs and Pastor Plaisir was happy to have one of the churches fixed! The roof on the parsonage now enables that church to be able to find a Pastor that is willing to stay up there during the week and now they won't be rained on during their church services! What a huge blessing this was for that village.

Also with that group was a man named Mark! He stayed at Kay Bo Rivye with us while the team went to Chameau and helped Steve weld up the frames for our solar system! It was a huge job...making racks for them that could be adjusted according to the seasons. We enjoyed having Mark around during the week.....we sure put him to work! Got the frames all complete and when the rest of the group returned, they put the panels on the roof!!! AMAZING..........Thank you guys....it was awesome!

Wonderful news. Our solar system is up and running and YES...no generator sound and so clean and wonderful! After the team left, we were able to get everything connected and the new solar system refrigerator and refrigerator installed and hooked up! For the first few days there were tons of clouds and the system wasn't fully charged, so we had to use the generator to help out at night, but as of a couple of weeks ago...we are totally self sufficient with solar! So amazing. Well, we still have to have the big generator to pump water up to the roof and to run the washing machine.....but that is pretty minor (unless we have groups here and lots to do). I just love that after the initial cost, it is free and here everyday and so QUIET!!!!!!! Thank you one and all for the contributions to this system. We could not have done it without the special money to do so! Thanks again to Mark for helping to weld the frames and the team for getting them on the roof and screwed down and wired! Special thanks also to those that got the system ordered and on the container to get to Haiti...know it was a hassle, and appreciate all of that work! Now you all have to come and experience the solar powered team house! We love it.

THANKS!!!!!!!

For those of you that don't get my updates, Steve left Monday morning to go to Miami to have his right knee looked at. He has been having extreme pain the last 2 months and is hardly able to walk on it. It frequently gives out on him and he is having trouble sleeping at night due to pain, even with meds. Zurita's and others have helped with getting braces for his knees as well as pain meds, all have helped I’m sure, but the pain was still really bad. He arrived on Mon. evening and was able to get into the VA clinic on Tuesday morning. The doctor took x-rays of both knees and poked, prodded and twisted them a lot, Steve said. The diagnosis is that his right knee needs to be replaced. Yep! He had his left one replaces 10 years ago and they said that although it is swollen and stressed right now, the replacement is still in great shape, so when his right knee is fixed and takes some of the load off of his left knee, it will be fine. This is great news because we were concerned about it as well. They gave Steve a shot in his right knee and he said last night it was already giving him some relief. They also gave him a different medicine to help with the swelling. We are hopeful that these 2 things will at least help him get through the next couple of months until surgery is a possibility. When we are home in Jan/Feb. he will have to see what he can have done. We just know that this pain can not continue! Thank you for all the prayers that you have been saying for Steve, we appreciate them all. We will keep you updated as to how things progress. We appreciate and welcome continued prayers for his pain and complete recovery!

This should do it for this time....I'll talk to you again next week!

Until then, may God continue to bless you and keep you and your families safe!

We send you love........

Ke Bon Dieu beni ou,

Joline

Hello everyone,

Not really sure what all I'll talk to you about, but know it's been a week plus so really want to share news with you.

We have been having a lot of rain, usually in the afternoons. There have been several storms and almost hurricanes that have come near us and not done any damage, but left us with a lot of rain. Thankfully we have had sun most mornings, so it charges the solar panels, then clouds up and rains for the afternoon. However, that means it usually gets really, really sticky and humid. Laurie is real good at telling us weather stats, like.......actually 90, feels like 109! ha! When it rains here, it normally rains buckets at one time, for a fairly short time, then it's over. However a couple of days ago, it rained buckets for most of the afternoon. When that happens we end up with a red, muddy river through our yard. I think I've shared pictures before, but wanted you to see what our side yard looks like during a downpour! It goes away about as fast as it arrives, but sure plows through our yard when it's here. We are thankful for the rain, it does cool things off (some)!!!!

Some of you contributed by either buying sheets or giving money to buy sheets for the sun curtains on the porch at Kay Bo Rivye. Our wrap around porch is really wide (8 ft.), It was designed that way to keep the sun out of the house and it does. However, what we found out is that the hot, hot summer sun, still shines on the cement on the porch, heating up the cement and that hot cement radiates heat that warms up the house! Sigh. So, the next thing I thought of doing was to put curtains up to keep the sun out. We thought of bamboo shades, regular shades....etc. But when I priced them it would cost a fortune on the large area of the porch. Then I thought, okay, I sew, I can make curtains...so I priced material. Again, buying a ton of yards of material just wasn't cost effective....so, I thought, sheets! I went to Walmart in Idaho when we were home last and found a great bargain on single flat sheets, $3 for single and $6 for double. I calculated how many I would need to make shades....and it was perfect. They were almost exactly the right length...didn't need to cut them and I could use different sizes to get the width's I needed. However, I realized that I would have to bring back about 15 sheets....they get heavy! So I asked Leslie to see if some of the people at LifeSpring could donate a sheet or two and then we'd have shades! It's wonderful. They work really well. We even use them when it's raining and the wind is blowing sideways and rain comes into the porch...they help keep the rain out as well! We put wire above the openings and then bought metal shower curtain hangers so they slide back and forth easily! Works great. Just thought those that donated the sheets might want to see the end product! Thank you to those that helped us get this done!

The last team that came to visit Marfranc was a team of 9 from Austin, Texas! They traveled a long ways to get here and it was a great group of people. Their project was to paint all 3 of the Marfranc school buildings, inside and out! Actually a really, really large project. The top floor of the second building had never been painted before, so it had to have multiple coats to even look decent. The other two buildings had been painted before and it only took 1 coat and touch up to get them in good order! These guys were great workers and we got it all done in 3 days! Everyone worked really hard and some of the teachers pitched in as well as some of the students and Pastor Plaisir's kids....it was a lot of fun! The truck was broken down when they were here, so we walked to the school and back every day as well as to church on Sunday! They brought a great Texan BBQ meal with them and we had a great time getting to know each other! Thanks ya'all for all the work you got done...we really enjoyed your visit with us! Come back any time!

We are getting quite a menagerie in the yard!!! Laurie bought a boy goat the second week she was here, we added a girl goat about a month ago and we already had 2 turkeys (boy and girl). Now a group of chickens have decided to visit each day and spend time with the turkeys. I asked Dis if we could just keep them, and he said no. I told him we were feeding them, why couldn't we keep them and he said they belonged to someone, so they would always go home at night...just doesn't seem right. Originally we were going to keep Bebe (boy goat) and when he got big...have a party and eat him, but then we decided to get Love (girl goat) and have some babies (call them Bebelove) and then eat the babies when they got big enough!!!!!! These guys are really cute. Can't wait to have baby goats!

Okay, not much new news! Just wanted to say hi and let you know that it's HOT and all is well! Think Laurie and I are going to try out the solar oven on Monday...we have been looking at recipes!!!! I'll let you know!

Blessings to all of you....

Ke Bon Dieu beni ou!

Joline