today was quite an eventful day, we collect the last of children's pictures and profiles for the sponsorship program. We also got a chance to go to the beach! It was beautiful: crystal clear water as far as the eye could see. We brought the pastor's son and some of his friends with and they were crazy fun. The rest of the day was spent fixing the generator which broke down again, eating another delicious dinner and lying on the roof looking at more stars than I could ever count. See y'all tomorrow night when we get back!

LOVE ALWAYS FROM CANDACE

Well...today was the last day here. Needless to say.....we are all wishing we could stay longer!

We took the last of the kids pictures this morning - 94 total - then we walked around the village some to interview folks who took part in the bean loan program. It was so neat - we also got to meet a woman from the church who was raising a baby from a lady in the village who had died from pre-ecclampsia after childbirth (her 4 other kids are split up). She is a single woman but so full of the joy of the Lord - anyway she was giving the baby a bath and we got to see the baby and hear the story....AND got a great picture of Fran holding her - we figured it's good practice for the “grandpa to be!” (hee hee)

Then, we hopped the truck and headed to the BEACH - oh my gosh it is beautiful!!! Velix and a few of his friends came with us too - and John had fun teaching them how to chicken fight in the water. It was quite funny (but alas, we didn't get any pictures of that...sorry). Then came the standard rainstorm we've been having almost every day this week - so the soccer game we were going to watch didn't happen (bummer).

Everybody just came down from the roof - the stars are just amazing. You cans see so much more than you can back in the states! Makes you feel really small in light of the amazing reality of our God, you know?

We have tons of pictures to share...thanks for all your prayers while we were here!!! See you soon!

Tama

So today was a pretty relaxing day. Tama, Joline, and John went up to the church in Marfranc and took some more pictures of the children for the sponsorship program. From what I hear we have about 10 more children we need pictures of, and we are hoping to get those on Monday. Cindy helped Steve put the new shocks on the truck, which were very much needed, and Steve seemed very happy to get that accomplished. After inputting more information for the children into out database, Candace, Kelsey, and I spent the day just enjoying being down here. We have found that watching Bouki is a full time job...he likes to get into everything, but he is super cute, so you can't help but love him!

After lunch today while John was hanging ceiling fans, and Fran was working on his sermon, the ladies were sitting on the beautiful front porch reading. In the middle of the afternoon, we got him with some pretty strong rains. The ladies all decided to go play in the rain and decided to help save on water usage, to use the rain water to wash our hair. It was amazing how warm the weather in general was, and the rain water coming off the roof was warm too. Overall, it was a relaxing day, and it reminds me how much I take for granted at home. I realized the last few days how important it is to stop and take time to look at all the beauty around me, I hope to take that home with me.

Fran will be preaching tomorrow morning at church in Creole. I think that I can speak for everyone here when I say that we can't wait to hear him. Please continue to pray for us and our safe travel as we will sadly (to me anyway), be coming home in a few days. Thanks for your love and support!

We arrived Tuesday amidst much rain in Port au Prince, but had a nice night at the Matthew 25 house. Wednesday we made it safely to [the smaller airport] - Cindy was thrilled when she got off the plane - she acted like a little kid when she saw Steve waiting by his big truck! It was great to meet them both, they really are wonderful. So, Wednesday was mainly spent getting acclimated, going through the forms for the kids, and determining a plan for today.

This morning we headed into the school in the back of the truck -- which for those of you who have been, you know its much faster a drive than a walk - hee hee!. Vilex helped at the “check in” station as he and Joline made sure we had the info on the kids, especially what they liked to do when they were not in school (or responsibilities, etc). We were able to take pictures of 32 kids today - which was a great start. Of course they loved seeing their pictures - so much so that eventually Cindy and John whipped out their own digital cameras just to take pictures and let them look!

Today was exam day for the school, so afterwards when the kids were hanging around, we tried to give them coloring sheets and crayons. Talk about bad timing! Kelsey practically got mobbed and eventually John had to rescue her (since he was taller) and he just stood there with the batch of papers high in his hand telling them no, and settle down in his best Creole. It was actually quite funny. Then, Fran and Candace tried to pass out one crayon per child... and that didn't go so well either. I never knew 1st through 3rd graders could mob so well.

Anyway, we finished up about 11 and came back to the house, had lunch, a small rest and right now half the team is sanding wood for the back door - then we'll stain and eventually screen/ frame it. By the way - many thanks to the earlier team for the screens. We aren't getting eaten up as much by the mosquitoes!