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