Meetings

I know most people don't enjoy meetings and find them a waste of time.  I on the other hand am a total geek and really enjoy meetings.  The past few weeks we've been having lots of meetings and they have been very beneficial, many discussions have taken place and much has been accomplished. 
We as an organization are going through some changes and are re-evaluating our mission and vision and strategies for moving forward.  We strongly value our community's input and therefore have been meeting with them and providing them with opportunities to share their ideas.

GIRLS ONLY!!!

January 13, 2010 was the day we had planned a special day for the older girls in our school community.  The invitations had been sent out, the party favours bought, a special speaker booked, the activities planned, and I was excited!  Of course the earthquake put a major dent in our plans...One of my first thoughts after the earthquake was that we wouldn't be able to have our "girls only seminar" as planned and I was really disappointed.  Over a year has passed and although I haven't forgotten, other things are keeping me busy these days and the idea kept moving further and further back in my mind.... The other day Karen mentioned to me that our 'guest speaker' was going to be back in town and maybe we should see if she would still be interested in speaking.  We figured it couldn't hurt to ask, so we did, and she agreed!
So once again, the invitations went out and preparations started anew...

The Invitation

Invitations ready to be given out

The event takes place next Thursday, I'll be sure to post pictures!

Party Time!

Despite the hardships and difficulties of 2010, we ,the staff of Adoration Christian School, have much to be thankful for.  And what better way to celebrate God's blessings than with a party?  This past Sunday we gathered together at Randy and Karen's house to enjoy each other's company and celebrate the many blessings the Lord has given us. 

What better way to start a party than worshipping together?

Lots and lots of delicious food

The girls having fun

Goofing around with Samuel

Maia found someone who likes getting into trouble as much as she does:)

The guys chowing down

The kids

Blessing

After the earthquake, most Haitians struggled to stay alive and didn't have the 'luxery' of 'taking a break' or even having a time of rest. Even more luxerious was having a chance to sit and talk about what they experienced with a psychologist.  Many counsellors and psychologists visited Haiti after the earthquake but they were in high demand and there wasn't enough of them to go around.  Last week Dr. Ed showed up one morning with a lovely group of people from New Brunswick.  They all spoke French and worked in a variety of medical fields.  They came to work at another organization but asked if they could tag along with Ed for a few days.  One of the team members was a Haitian/American psychologist who had left Haiti twenty-two years ago.  He was staying in Haiti for two weeks and asked how he could support us.  We asked if he would be willing to meet with our staff members and provide them with some counselling. Of all the weeks of the year for him to come, it was the same week as the one year anniversary of January 12th, the day the earthquake happened.  Coincidience? I think not...
All of the staff were interested in meeting with him and over several days he was able to meet with each one.  He took the time to pray with every staff member and encourage them in their work.  He was such a blessing to our school community.

Picture Day

Since I experienced little success with class pictures, I decided to focus on the teacher and staff instead.  Below are the fruits of my labour:)



The Men

The Guys

The Women






Everyone!! (except for Manman Manise:(

 We have been blessed with an amazing staff.  We appreciate the efforts they make every single day.  Despite sickness, personal difficulties and the general hardships that are part of life in Haiti, they come to work with a smile on their faces and give 100% for the glory of God.   It is an honour to work alongside them.



 

Silly Me....

One of my goals this week was to take class pictures.  I thought it would be nice to take the pictures in front of the new logo.  I got myself organized and managed to get through all the classes and was feeling pretty proud of myself, until I uploaded the pictures onto my computers and realized that they weren't very clear. I figured it was the sun shining on their faces that made the photo unclear.

Take 1

I decided it would be better to take the pictures under the tent to cut down on the sunlight. 

After uploading these pictures onto my computer I saw that they had the SAME problem.  At this point, I decided to build a small barricade to keep out the sun, to no avail...

Take 2

At this point I was becoming a bit exasperated with the whole idea of class photos.

I decided to try one more time... I moved upstairs and took a thick blanket and covered all the windows.  I took a few samples this time before calling all the classes (I'm getting smarter...)  I had the SAME problem again.  I gave up... I decided that my camera is garbage and that was that!  Then I noticed that all the pictures were unclear in the exact same place... A coincidence?? I think not. I turned my camera on and looked at the lens, sure enough there was a nice big smudge on the lens... brilliant!  At this point I was too afraid to interupt the classes once again to ask for another photo shoot... I think I'll wait a few days until they forget and then try again:)  

Janurary 12, 2011

I had no idea what to expect yesterday, the one year anniversary of the earthquake.  I spent the morning reading through my blog and looking at pictures from last year. I shed some tears remembering those we lost and praying for their families. I was unsure how the day would unfold... I was able to attend several worship services all over the city and everywhere we went we saw people praying, singing and worshiping God.  There was mourning and there were tears but overall there was a sense of peace, and thankfulness to be alive.  I was able to go to the lookout point overlooking the city and pray with some friends over the city.  We prayed for those who were mourning loved ones and for the future leaders of this country. As I sit here tonight I remember the pain and sadness of last year.  I remember the days and weeks of shock and not knowing who was dead or alive.  I remember how lost and scared I felt.  But today, one year later as I look back I know without a doubt that God is good, He is gracious and He gives us what we stand in need of.  As I drove around yesterday I saw that Haitians know this more than most... their faith in Him is a testimony to us all.

Facelift

Now that we're settled into the new building and our first semester of school is finished, we decided to give the place a facelift.  The 'guys' and several sponsor students got busy painting and we are pretty proud of the new look we have!  Our new location is situated on a busy road that leads to the airport and we have a lot of traffic driving by all day long so we also hired local artists to paint our name and school logo on the front wall. 

Scraping off the old paint

The BEFORE Picture



Hard at work painting



Looking good!



Local artist were hired to paint on logos






The AFTER Picture

Random Pics

Visiting a Catholic Mission in Cite Soleil





Can you tell that Maia is SO HAPPY that I am babysitting her??



My mom and I hard at work!

 

Look at these happy smiles! 

Cap Haitian

My parents, Cadeau and I were able to travel to Cap Haitian for 3 days.  We took a small, 17 passanger plane.  After only half an hour in the air we landed safely.   

We stayed at Mont Joli, a nice quiet hotel, located on the side of a mountain.   

Here is the steep hill we had to climb each time we came to and from the hotel.  When it rained it became quite slippery.

The second day we decided to check out the citadel.  We had quite the entourage of help as we climbed the hill leading up.  We declined the offer of donkeys but they accompanied us anyways, just in case we got tired and changed our minds. (which we didn't)

 Unfortunately it was quite a cloudy and foggy day so the view wasn't great, but on the bright side, we didn't get a burn or sweat too much.

Exploring the citadel.

 Mom received some "help" on the way down. 

Exploring the city of Cap Haitian.  It had a more European feel to it than PAP.

Haitian Christmas Dinner

We decided to have a traditional Haitian meal for Christmas; rice and beans, chicken, creole sauce, potato/beet salad, and a lettuce salad.  We invited some of the Adoration staff and friends over and cooked up a storm.  It was a wonderful time of celebrating Christmas and fellowshiping with our Haitian "family". 

Playing Dominoes before dinner