VERY LONG OVERDUE catch up

I am very happy to say I have finally found a way to get into this blog and to update it after a VERY LONG TIME!!!  The problem ended up being my personal computer.  But now I will be able to keep things updated more often and prayerfully more informative for everyone!!

Since it's been so long, I am going to try and update maybe twice a week for a while to let everyone "catch up" on all the happenings here.  Please bear with me if you have heard some of this from other sources.  

First and foremost, the children are doing great!  And I will start doing individual updates on them.  Things have changed a bit and it's been a good thing.  But then we all know that moving forward at times is hard.

The situation in Haiti the last 6 months has been difficult for everyone here.  But the Lord kept His Hands on IDADEE and saw that things never were as bad as in some areas of the country.  We simply need to keep praying for the country and for those in power, as the Bible tells us.  When the leaders know the Lord, we pray He will be with them, to guide and direct their ways.  When they don't know Him, we pray for eyes, ears and hearts to be softened to the saving knowledge of the Lord.  

One of the things that has changed at IDADEE is that the committee has put Vilbrun Martin in charge of the children.  He has started changing things in a good way and that is why I will start this time with something new he has done.

Since having  41 children, it's not easy to have birthday celebrations.  But Vilbrun has decided, and started in January, to take the children who have birthdays each month out for a time of celebration.  For the month of January, he took them to a restaurant in Cap Haitian and they had pizza and drinks.  Then he took them to a photo studio and had their pictures taken.  I decided to take each child he took, and show you how they have grown.  I will include 2 photos of each one.  First one I took several months ago and then the one they had taken at the photo studio.  So, here are the January kiddos who had birthdays.

                             Anderson Civil who's birthday is January 10th, 2010. 

Claude Almonor who's birthday  is  January 18th, 2011

                               Kendy Desir who's birthday is January 23rd, 2011

 

Modelene Thelusma who's birthday is January 27th, 2011

Robenson Dorestan who's birthday is January 24th, 2009 

Sherlanda Sentaus who's birthday is January 6th, 2011

I asked them to do a question session with the kids to find out their likes and dislikes...wow. the ONE COMMON statement was, they HATE noise.  Made me laugh but I can also understand that with 41 kids, 8 moms, and all the workers to keep it going.  

So, for this next area, I'll do the "likes/dislikes" for the kiddos above.

Anderson:  His likes list is great!  He likes to dance, to sing, he likes school, church and work.  And he added Soccer and TALKING!  That was one no one else said.  But he only said 2 things are what he dislikes:  Someone being stupid, and NOISE!

Claude:  He likes church, first.  Then he added playing soccer, music and sometimes work.  Dislikes NOISE, and fights.

Kendy: He had a good list.  He likes school and church. He likes the beach, singing, some work, soccer and EATING.  He dislikes fighting and NOISE.

Modelene:  Wow, her like list is pretty long.  School, church, singing, studying, dancing, music, reading, drinking water, smiling, and work.  She dislikes NOISE, sleeping, eating, running and talking.

Robenson: He likes school, church, music, and movies.  He dislikes stupid people, and NOISE.

Sherlanda: She likes school and church.  Washing clothes, playing with toys, water and TV, and cleaning the house.  She dislikes NOISE.

I have a feeling the kids may have compared some things, but in talking with them, it does come out pretty clear that they are pretty much happy with church and school.  And obviously the biggest dislike was NOISE!  

I think I'd like to include in this post, the letter that Remy Fils-Aime, the IDADEE president, wrote for Christmas.  It tells a lot of what has gone on.

The problems in Haiti have hit IDADEE in many ways.  One of those is the cost of fuel.  Gasoline was $2.59 US a gallon, it is now almost $11 US a gallon.  Making it almost impossible to get to town for supplies.  Food has increased quite a bit.  Each item is different, but it has all gone way up.  The manifestations have caused problems even trying to get to town.  We find it very difficult to get supplies of any kind.

We had planned to open our trade school in January of 2020, but now, because of the inability to get supplies, it has been put off.  We do not know when we will open now.  There have been no teams staying at the Joshua House, so that income has stopped, also. 

Our area hasn’t had many problems, but our school had closed for a whole month because parents feared sending their children.  We are now open after meeting with the parents, and the children do not have to wear uniforms.

 

Two of our men, Vilbrun Martin and Amos Celian, had gone to Port au Prince to study.  They have now returned and Vilbrun is now in charge of the orphanage and Amos will now be the head of the trade school.  We are happy to have them taking these positions.

IDADEE has marked off 12 acres of our land to use for agriculture. Food for the Hungry has helped us get the area fenced in.  They are now studying the soil, so we can get the correct items to plant. We now have a motorcycle.  We have also prepared one area for bananas.  And we have started planting in small pots, to sell to others, to help them start gardens. 

The trade school will be opened first for the young adults from the EBAC orphanage, and for some young people in the IDADEE area.  After we have become established, we will open it for anyone to come. 

We want to build a gym and cafeteria for the school and the orphanage, and for the community, too.  We have started to purchase some of the material to start this project.

I took some of the children with me to Port au Prince for 2 weeks, to experience life in the capitol city.

On December 22^nd, we will have our yearly party for our workers, the orphans, and the IDADEE committee and their families.  We are all looking forward to this time of fellowship and sharing.

Thank you for your time, your prayers and your support.  We pray for you and ask you to keep us in prayer also.  Our Lord is answering prayers for us, and we know it’s because so many of you are holding us up to Him.

Matthew 18: 5  “and whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”