Sorry for the L O N G wait

Saying we are busy is no excuse, but it really IS our excuse.  With 24 children, only 3 moms, and few other workers, it's really hectic trying to keep up with things.  Plus we have started school, had the edges of a hurricane and LOTS of rain.  

We started school with 14 of the children.  We have 3 teachers who have taught before.  Most of the kids like school, but of course we have one who does not like it AT ALL.  We are teaching in French right now.  We will also teach English to the children.  If we start now, they will be able to grasp languages much easier.  They are learning to do letters, sounds of letters and different shapes.  They have Bible every day.  They color.  They are starting to learn how to count.  There is more that we work into their lessons, just as  I'm sure you do in the states.

It was VERY dry and we lost many of our crops we had planted.  We prayed for rain and the Lord answered.  But we really didn't want Him to send a hurricane to accomplish that.  We have had so much rain and it has cause other problems, but we will overcome them.  The actual hurricane (Sandy) didn't hit us, but the outer ridges of it brought us an overabundance of rain.

We now have the new bus and are using it a lot.  We take the children to church in it, and that is a blessing.  During the week it is used as a tap-tap, or transportation vehicle between Cap Haitian and Vaudreuille (near Radio 4VEH).  And if we need to take the children to the clinic, we use it before they take it for commercial use.

We have been working on the guest house.  It is situated on the hill above the orphanage.  We have the foundation in and they have started on the walls.  We are praying it will be completed in good time.

We had a team come in and put in a gazebo.  It will be a place where visitors can come and we can talk with them.  

So many things have been accomplished lately.  We will try and get some photos posted on here in the next few days.  With being so busy it's hard to take the  time to take photos to share, but we will make that effort.  

Please check back and you can remind us what you'd like to see on here.  We will take some photos of the projects completed and in progress.  We will also try to update the children's photos, so you can see how they have grown.  

Please keep IDADEE, it's children, the workers and the committee in your prayers.  This is a hard time in Haiti and we are feeling the effects of the raising cost of food and fuel.

Thank you for your prayers and for keeping in touch with us.  May the Lord bless you abundantly.

A mid week update...

A lot has been going on at IDADEE the last week or so.  First we'd like to post some pictures of a few of the kids, dressed up and smiling.  Hard to get them all at once, but we'll do our best.  

 Dieulene

 Kendy

 Amy

 Loveka

 Gaelle

Esther

Ruth

Emmanuella

We had a group come in to get set up and prepare for the "Kids Fest" this year.  We are half way through the week and it's going great.

The Sunday between training and "Kids Fest" started, we had a couple of weddings.  We have been doing evangelism in our area and these couples came to the Lord and wanted to get married.  The pictures tell the story...the first gal shown is 84 years old.  Yes, they have lived together for a long time, but now that they are Christians, they want to live according to how the Lord would want them to.  Both couples are up there in years, but are new Christians.  Please keep them in prayer.

 

 

 On to "Kids Fest".  Some statistics you may be surprised at.  We have 530 children (including our own orphans).  We have 65 Haitian leaders who came in and trained to do the camp.  We also have 5 helpers, who see to the children's needs throughout the day.  (Example, bathroom breaks). We have 6 Haitian cooks who make a meal for 618 people every noon.  The main meal is beans and rice with meat included.  And we had 13 Americans come in to help teach the leaders.  Now, on to our day...  We have morning chapel with the whole group.  We pray and teach them songs.  Then they go on to the different areas.  There are a third of the kids in Bible Study, a third in crafts, and a third in competition and games.  They switch off and everyone gets to participate in all three areas.  Note:  the different "headbands" tell you what group they are in and who their leaders are.

Here is morning chapel...

These are some of our orphans at chapel...

 This is individual group Bible study...

 And games...

 And then crafts...  

 

 

 

 

 That is our quick update for now.  We'll post more photos when the excitement is over and we can sit down and let  you know how it all went.  Till then, keep praying and thank you for your prayers, and for your financial support that keep us going.

A very late post

We are sorry for the long time since we have posted here.  We have been very busy and so much has happened.  

On June 12th, Smith Mondelus went to be with the Lord.  He was such an important part of our ministry.  He did so much of the day to day work.  Aside from the fact that he was Veronique's brother, he is missed by everyone on the committee, the workers at the orphanage and especially the children.  This has been a devastating loss for everyone.  Please keep us all in prayer as we try to regroup and move on without him.

Work on the chapel has continued.  We have gone as far as finances will allow on that project, but you can see it's a beautiful building which will be a great asset to the ministry of IDADEE.  We are using the building for Bible study now.  Normally we travel to Pastor Saint Ange's church for Sunday service, but if situations prevent that, we have service here with the children.

 

 We have the bus now, but it is still in Port au Prince waiting on the paperwork to be finished.  Please pray with us on that.  Pray that we will have it up here soon, so we can transport the children to church and appointments easier.

Work has started on the guest house being built on the hill behind the orphanage.  It's just begun, but we wanted to share with you where it will be and how we are progressing.  It's a beautiful setting, for sure.

 We have had to work on getting our septic system up and working right.  This meant we had to put in a septic tank.  The picture below shows the work on that.  In the background you can see the play yard that was put in for the children.  We hope in the near future we'll get more pictures that are up close.

 We have just a couple pictures of the kids for now.  The first one is Loveka and the second one is Lovensky.  The kids are growing and doing well.

 

 Again we are so sorry for not keeping up with our blog.  Please forgive us for the time we have taken to get this to you.  Please remember to pray for us.  For the children specifically, for the different projects, and for Smith's family and friends as they deal with his loss.  Thank you for your prayers and for your patience with us.

Two new children

We now have 23 children in the IDADEE orphanage.  We are including photos and birth dates for them.  

First is Ester.  She was born on February 16th, 2009.  She was brought to us from the Port au Prince area.  Her mother is mentally sick.  The father has 4 children, with Ester being the youngest.  With his wife mentally unstable, he cannot care for Ester. 

 Next is Evnel. His birthday is November 19th, 2010.  He is from here in the north.  His father does not care for the child at all, and the mother has no way to care for him without help, so she gave him up.  

 This next photo is of the whole orphanage.  The children, the workers and the committee.  We will try another time to get individual photos of the workers.  But this gives you an idea of how many we feed and care for.

 We were able to get some school desks and chairs through MFI.  Someone had donated them, and we were blessed to receive some of those for the orphanage.  Now the children can start learning some of the basics.

We have had a lot of rain lately.  Roads are in pretty bad shape all over.  Ruben has been hauling rocky fill for the road approaching  IDADEE.  That has helped a lot.


Well, until next time, God bless and please keep praying for IDADEE, for Haiti, and for all of our children.  Thank you!

March Update

Greetings,

We have progressed quite a bit.  The children are doing really well.  We are praying to be able to start school with them very soon.  We are working with them now, on colors, numbers and words.  They really like school and we want to encourage them to continue.

They also like going to church.  We are VERY happy with that.  Our only problem with this is finding shoes for all the children.  We don't have church shoes for them.  Please pray with us for that need.

Our workers are doing very well.  They all work so good with the kids.  God blessed us with the right people for those jobs.

We are working on the chapel.  The roof is on, and we are plastering the inside now.  Pray with us that it will all be finished soon and we can start using it for God's glory.

Our generator runs from about 7 to 10 every evening.  With the time change it is lighter out later, so we can cut down on the time needed.  This is also when we get the washing done.  We have 2 washing machines and things can go fast.  The ladies come in the morning to hang the clothes out and finish up whatever wash is needed.

Our watchman and yard man are doing a great job of keeping things in order.

We are still doing evangelism.  Once people accept Jesus, if they can't read, we are starting literacy classes for them, so they will be able to read their Bibles.  In our Bible studies with people, we have had some who were raised in the church setting, but never understood what being saved meant.  They have now come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We also have 7 couples who have been saved, but they are not married.  Pastor Saint Ange Monestime has been doing a seminar for them, and they all plan to be married.  We will have a ceremony for them in the near future.  

We found out today that we may be getting another child.  The mother is mentally unstable and cannot care for her.  We don't have all the information on this child yet, but will let you know when we do.

We have a few photos to share with you.  Our workers feed three of the children by hand, but the rest all eat at one table.  (You can see the workers in the far back feeding them).  And they DO eat, they love their food!!

 This photo is of Vladimyr.  We hadn't posted his birthday, but now have it.  He was born on July 27th, 2009.

 Wakenson

 Dieulene

 Makinlove

 Modeléne

 Frandjina

 Anderson

 Gaëlle

 Amy

 Emmunella

 Claude

 Efrayim

 Jhon Peter

 Wacky

 Ruth

 Loveka

 All of the kids love playing and having fun, like normal kids.  And we are thankful that they are now happy and healthy.  Please keep praying for us and for the children.  We want to raise them up in a Godly setting and with God's love for them at the front of all we do.  Thank you!   

February update

We know it's been a while since we've posted, but things keep moving at a speed we can't believe.  Things change and move along at a pace that we didn't expect.  But we know God is in it and His hand is guiding us.

First, we were sad when the parents of Sheridane came and got her.  We had to go through the court to release her back to them.  We are sad, yet her parents must want her, for them to return to get her.

We now have hired several workers to help us out.  Since Vilbrun and Wengley left, we knew we needed to get more help with the children.  We now have 3 "mothers" who are doing a really good job with the kids.  We also hired a lady to help with the wash.  Although we have washing machines, we needed someone to hang up the clothes, take them down and care for them.  She also helps clean the orphanage.  We hired a woman to help Leah in the kitchen.  Cooking for so many was a huge job and she needed help.  Finally, we hired a guard/gate man.  Security is a primary thing, and we needed someone to be there for us.  So, you can see a lot has changed in the area of helpers, and we are SO very thankful for them.

We also have a huge change in children.  We have taken in 5 more little ones.  There are so many needs.  Her are our new additions and the situations they came from. 


Luphenson Leagard  ~  His mother has 14 children, with another on the way.  There is no father in the picture.  Luphenson is just over a year old and her youngest.  We take all the children in to the doctor for a preliminary check up.  Luphenson has a very severe case of malnutrition.  He was given many medications to help him overcome his problems.

Gaëlle Ducasse  ~  Gaëlle is also suffering from malnutrition.  Her mother has 5 children and Gaëlle is the youngest.  There is no way the mother can care for any of the children, and they are suffering.  She will look for a place for the others, maybe with some family member.  There is no man in the house.

Ruth Louimé  ~  Ruth came to us from the town of Plaine du Nord.  Her mother passed away and there is no father.

Jephtey Louis  ~  His mother was the youngest of 8 children.  She became pregnant at the age of 14.  She knew she could not care for the baby boy, so gave him up.

Kindy Desir  ~  Kindy is the youngest of 6 children.  The father went to work in his garden and when he returned, the mother had left...and left all 6 children in the house.

You can see each of these children have had a different, but sad situation they came from.  And of course, being given away was hard on them.  But they are adapting with all the other children at IDADEE.

We have to apologize for the quality of the pictures...scanner is not working properly.  But in going through all of these, we also found that we had not listed one of the boys.  His  name is Vladimyr Ficien.  Checking for birth date on him now.

Here are a few pictures of some of the kids we had before.  They have adjusted really well, and are being cared for.  All it takes is a little food and lots of love, and they are getting that now.
 Here is Claude (who is now walking)...

 And Efrayim...

 This is Makinlove...

 And Kerby...

 Jhon Peter...

 Vladimyr...

Please continue to pray for us and for these children.  They have all had a hard start in life, but we are praying they will adjust and become the productive people the Lord wants them to be.