Out on good behaviour

Friday and Saturday the team made more cupboards than I thought was possible...

this may not sound exciting, but when your sports equipment, school supplies, food and cleaning supplies look like this....

you may understand my excitement!
Since the team has been flying through the jobs on their work list we decided to let them out on good behaviour.  Saturday afternoon we took them up the mountains to Baptist Haiti Mission for lunch.  They loved the view, the clean, cool air and of course the company.

Sunday we were all able to worship together at The Presbyterian Reformed Church of Delmas.  In the afternoon Randy took the team downtown and today is back to work! no rest for the weary...

Lean, mean, shelf building machines!

Well, I must say this team may be small in number but they are HUGE in the amount of work they can accomplish, and still find time to play soccer with the kids at recess.

The office building we are renting has some interesting alcoves and we are in need of some serious storage... so they have been enclosing some areas and building shelves. I can't believe how much they've gotten done in only 2 days! Today, I left the school early because I was kicked out of my office so they could install a new desk for myself and Alix, and I'm hoping tomorrow they will finish off the storage room for the school supplies. Things are starting to get organized around here and that makes me REALLY happy!

Bored...?

I hate to admit this on my blog but.... I've been a bit bored lately! Can you believe it??  Things that once were so exciting and new are becoming routine and mundane.  So thankfully we have some visitors here right now to liven things up a bit.
Yesterday we had a team of three guys from Southern Ontario arrive to help us with a few work projects around here.  Frank, Derek and Marc got right to work this morning building a storage room with shelves for all our food supplies  We have quite the long job list for them and they can't go home until it's done so they might not be sleeping, showering or eating...
Of course I'm kidding, we really try to emphasis with visitors that although we appreciate their help and hope they can complete some projects while they are here, we want this to be a time of learning, sharing and building relationships.  Despite the language barrier, visitors in the past have established some great friendships with our staff and students here, many friendships continuing for years through e-mail, phone calls and repeat visits.  Visitors also are provided with opportunities to expand their understanding of a different culture, what poverty truly is and what we are doing here in Haiti to address this poverty.

Marc

Frank

Derek

We would like to thank the two brave wives and mothers of young children who agreed to allow their husbands to leave them home alone for 9 days!  We pray you survive without them and we will do our best to keep them safe and return them to you in one piece, most likely a bit more suntanned (or burned), probably a bit tired, but also with lots of stories and pictures to share with you.

Oh where is my camera?? (sung to the tune of "Oh Where is my hairbrush")

So I haven't updated lately and to be honest it's because I don't have pictures to share.  Several things have happened but I didn't have my camera with me!!! I know I should be fired from the blogging world.

So, for a quick update (without pictures), we closed the school on February 3rd, the day the CEP announced the results of the Nov. 28th election (we're quick like that here in Haiti)  The results could have potentially caused rioting so we closed the school to avoid being stuck with 150 students at a school surrounded by road blocks preventing them from returning safely to their homes.  Thankfully the results were received calmly and we were able to return to life as we know it on Friday.  Of course, Thursday was the day we had planned our girl's seminar (second time we had to cancel in two years!)  We rescheduled for Friday but were unable to contact many of the girls so we had less participants than we anticipated, however, our guest speakers did an amazing job and the girls were very appreciative of their words of wisdom and the small gifts they received!  (Thanks Joanna, Anne, Deb and Jane!)
As well, these three lovely ladies along with 15 other visitors descended on our school and painted like mad!  They were able to paint the entire inside of our school building!  The hallways and classroom were in need of a facelift and the whole place is super cheerful now!  What a blessing.  I helped paint for a bit and when my hair was completed covered with paint (thanks Samuel) I headed out to prepare for a Girl's night which was also a fun time! (Thanks Karen) - again no pictures sorry!
Last and not least we had another day of meetings with the teachers to discuss future plans for Adoration Christian School and Centre.  It is always interesting to 'pick their brains' and hear their ideas on a variety of topics. They really are our greatest assets and we are thankful for the input they provide us.
Apparently some of the staff found my camera the other day and did a photo shoot, so I do have some pictures to share!

Let the games begin!

I often write about the great staff we have been blessed with here at Adoration Christian School, and indeed they really are.  We have a great team, but our team has one problem - TIME; we're all very busy and therefore we rarely have time to enjoy each others company.  The teachers rarely spend time with the staff and vis versa.  So we decided to have a team building day.  Randy, Karen and I prepared some games/activities and we ordered in beans and rice so the cooks could participate as well. We had a GREAT day.  We laughed, we fought over chairs, we made fools of ourselves and we bonded!

Bible Trivia



The team that almost won:)




Alyn is SERIOUS about games day




Dodge Ball





Huckle Buckle...




Musical chairs



Down to the last two - can you guess who won??

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