Weekly Update Nov 10

                                                                                                     November 10, 2013

Hello everyone,

So many times Julie and I have asked ourselves “Where do all the school supplies go??” Pens, pencils, erasers, text books, notebooks, etc, they just seem to disappear. This week we learned one possible reason for at least the missing notebook paper. Apparently the girls know how to make and shoot spitballs as was evidenced on Saturday while Marcus the choir instructor was doing his weekly lesson. Fortunately for us it was his hour so it was his job to manage the distraction. Still funny though. At the guesthouse, the road/sidewalk construction continues. The backhoe preparation has reached the edge of our driveway/gate, but the concrete pouring needs to catch up some. We have a contingency plan to park a vehicle on the nearby church grounds in case we cannot get in and out of our gate for a while, but we are really looking forward to a paved street and less dust.

This week we welcomed a team of 11 people from the Pittsburg area. This is the groups second time here at the house so it is nice to see familiar faces return.

We think it is time to do another round of introductions of the girls at the home.

Above is an updated picture of Dorice. She has had a rocky start to the school year. Sometimes we forget that many of the girls come to the orphanage from some pretty rough backgrounds. I don’t know all of Dorice’s story, but lately she has been channeling her inner pre-teen and acting out in a variety of ways including not working diligently on her homework, and getting into trouble with her teacher at school. She has also perfected the disdainful teen-ager eye roll. Dorice is one of our girls with a mother who is still active in her life and visits every couple of months. Sometimes we recruit the mom to remind Dorice what a great opportunity she has here to live in the home, go to good schools, and build her hopes for the future. However, she needs to take advantage of the opportunities. No one else can do it for her. Dorice has a quick thinking brain and can be both very funny and very clever. Our hope is she will soon move into a more mature phase of her life where she takes responsibility for her actions and sees the connection between work put in today, and rewards reaped in the future. Please pray for Dorice to make good choices and for us to be a good influence in her life. 

Blessings from Haiti 

G&J 

Weekly Update

Many people asked if or how Haiti celebrates October 31^st.  We already knew there were no trick-or-treaters or costumes for that matter, but the days that follow - November 1^st & 2^nd - are called Fetes des Morts and honor the dead predominantly with voodoo ceremonies.  Christians spend the day praying at church as was the case for the girls.  However in the afternoon, we arrived with a stapler, rolls of clear packing tape and glue … the plan was to repair/reinforce their soft cover textbooks that were already showing wear-and-tear and it was a success!  On Saturday, we spent time in Tabarre with our friend Nan and on our way back got to experience up-close a Rara band (google it, unless you are our moms and skip that).  In retrospect, we realized driving by a big cemetery on this holiday weekend was not our best idea, but thankfully the intensity never lead to any problems.

Also I need to give a shout-out to my wonderfully awesome hubby who in the last couple of weeks got us connected on the iPad to MagicJack (F-R-E-E phone calls from Haiti to USA, woohoo!!) but also got the guesthouse listed on TripAdvisor :)  Our board of directors is super pleased and it will hopefully drum up some more business which a) helps our amazing guesthouse employees provide for their families, 2) aids the girls with resources and c) last but not least – helps Haiti as people come to serve and stay here.


Another week with another birthday here at the guesthouse :)  This time it was Louise, our amazing part-time kitchen assistant.  In the days leading up to her birthday, I asked how she would be spending the day.  She explained to me in very manner of fact terms that money was tight so there would not be a party as a person needs something special to serve to the guests.  When we presented her with a cake, she was overjoyed!!  When her shift was over, I had been praying about asking if we could drive her home but thought she would probably decline.  Well, God sent some rain so when we asked her she said yes!

At the risk of sounding too susie-sunshine about our “life overseas”, there are plenty of challenging, stretching and gut-wrenching moments every day.  Even after 11 years of marriage we are still struggling at times how to mesh our two (VERY) different personalities into one unified relationship. This was a hard week for that as being in Haiti only magnifies the differences. Also be praying along with us for the girls, that they would continue to grow in the areas of showing respect to others especially the adults in their life.  On one day this week, I counted 4 girls who were being disciplined and on their knees (Haiti version of “stand in the corner”).  Woah.  Tough love is hard.