Our House, Birds

Today the focus of the work done by the team at the mission was the building in which we live (the first floor mainly). Mostly painting was done, but gardening and guttering was done as well. We fixed a gutter piece that fell during a hurricane last year as well as cleaned and realigned other parts.

The gardening that was done was to remove and move some flowers and plant corn, peas, zucchini, and bush beans. I have to build a fence to keep people from stepping on it, but I am looking so forward to eating the goodies that come out of it!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of anyone working (too busy helping), but I did just take these pictures:



They painted the metal bars over the windows, the concrete above and below the windows as well as the white on both sides of the house and right outside the front door. It looks much cleaner and better now. Carter also painted the railing-type bar on the front porch.

Again, THANK YOU ALL FOR BLESSING US!!

I attempted to get Lee from Answered Prayers a Digicel T-Shirt as a surprise because on Saturday he mentioned that he wanted it one, but I was told that they don't sell them - you got to buy something first (this is crazy because Digicel marketing items are ALL OVER the place in Haiti). Oh well, I tried.

Birds

This morning while looking at things and figuring things out, I saw this bird sitting in the tree and got a couple shots of him:



In the middle of working, the kids said they found a hawk in the nets by our house. Here is a shot of him. He got himself out the same way he got in - through the net itself.

More Team Work

Great news! The team that was in Saturday is coming again today! I hope to have them work on our house a little bit. The outside needs painting and it'll be nice to have their help.

Their plans to go to another place fell through so they'll be spending the day here at the Mission. We'll most likely be doing a lot of painting again and repairing of gutters for our cisterns. There is plenty of things to do around here! We are so thankful for their help!

Birthday Gifts Received for Kayla, Misc

Kayla greatly appreciates the gifts that Grandma's and Papa's sent (Blogger rotated my image ONCE AGAIN...):


Misc.

One of the things that Kris brought in for is a new camera. My old one has dents, the screen doesn't display the whole image (and there is no view finder), and the other day the flash smoked after it flashed. Here is a shot I took last night of what the new camera can do:

Team Work

The team that came yesterday did GREAT WORK!

They arrived around 9 AM and were ready to start immediately. I gave a short tour on the way down to where we would be working. This involved walking down where a new concrete floor/roof was being poured on the hospital building thanks to some funds from USAID (a US Government agency). I think they enjoyed watching how things are done without all the hi-tech devices in the States and Canada (I mentioned Canada because some were from Canada, eh?).


When we got to my shop, they unloaded their bags and started gathering supplies - most of the work involved painting. Kris and Lee, from Answered Prayers, were the team leaders of this group. They were very good at keeping people going, organized, and dedicated to doing the jobs right the first time. The places that they painted look great! Three of the ladies from the group painted a pretty dirty bathroom area that didn't smell the greatest - they did it all without complaining and even (somehow) had fun doing it!



Lee and I also did some work in a couple other buildings - including bolting down some sinks in one of our bathroom areas (we had one stolen not too long ago).

They worked all day from about 9:30 AM until 4 PM with a quick lunch break. This was my first time hosting a team and things went very well - they made my job easy and a lot necessary things were accomplished for the mission.

Here is a shot of most of the team (some making silly faces, perhaps it was the paint fumes...) - some of the team had started the walk up the hill already:



A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!

Birthday Party for Kayla and Naomi

On Friday night, we celebrated two birthdays: Kayla and Naomi. Kayla's was Monday and Naomi's was Thursday. We had two great cakes (one by Tina and one by Naomi's mom, Debra). We celebrated their birthdays with some nice gifts and had a great time.

Many Things

Today is going to be very busy day. Our friend Kris Baker is coming to the Mission with a team today of about 10 people (perhaps more). I walked around the mission with Patti, the director's wife, yesterday (which is a completely separate blog post sometime later) to get an idea of what needs to be done, so that Kris's willing team can help out here at the mission. We'll be painting, fixing various things in the buildings (gutters, windows, etc...).

Kris has been a great blessing to us and we are so thankful to the Lord for her - every time she comes from the States to Haiti she asks us what we want/need her to bring. She is a true helper/sender of missionaries and we sincerely appreciate her!

I'll post an update perhaps tomorrow.

Post, Gifts, Misc, BCS: Tires

I posted a new blog post to the BHM website today regarding The Smile Train. Check it out here.

Gifts

We received some gifts yesterday. Our good friend Tina and her family sent us a bunch of good treats (Thank you, Tina and John and girls!). Also, Tina's (my wife's - not the "Tina" in the sentence before this if you are keeping track of the "Tina"s) parents sent us some goodies as well. We are living the high life on sugar now! hic!


Misc

Kids are good, wife is good, God is good!

I scheduled our dogs (our dog and her sister upstairs) for an appointment tomorrow to make them baby-free in the future. We need this because in about a week we are going away for the weekend as a staff. We are not sure what we are going to do with the dogs and if put them all together, we want the boy dog to stay a boy and not become a father - he's not ready yet.

I believe I submitted the last piece of paperwork in the process of being here in Haiti full-time and legally according to the government (not that I am illegal now). This may end up with me getting a driver's license as well.

We are going to dinner at Cullie's (the former mechanic of the mission) place this evening. It should be a good time as we have a lot of fun together verbally poking each other in the ribs!

There was also something else I wanted to say here, but I lost my train of thought, so pretend that I said something really funny and laugh out loud when I say, OK...ready...NOW!

Boring Car Stuff…

Mr. Storm, you'd be proud of me - I changed my first motorcycle tire today (rear) with the help of Cullie. When we put it back together, we had a puncture in the tube so we had to take it all apart again. IT IS NOT EASY to replace the tube or tire. I have the front apart, too, because the tube is bad and it needed a new tire. We didn’t have another tube so it is waiting for me to fix it. I can't wait to get this project out of my shop - it's been there for months!

Language, BCS: Canter

Often people come up and ask for money for various things. Today, as he has a couple times, a guy came up to tell me again that his children are not going to school because he doesn't have any money. So what do I do, I try to continue to practice my Creole and I think I tell him that I will pray for him. It turns out the pray and pay sound very much alike in Creole and this morning he thought I said that I would pay for him. He came this afternoon to ask me if I paid for him. I worried that what he said was pay and not pray, so I asked another person and, sure enough, I said that I would pay for him instead of pray. I cleared up with him what I said and that was the end of it. I feel real bad for him going through the whole day thinking that I would pay for him - I messed up.

BCS: Canter

We got two sheets of 1/4 inch think metal to weld on the Canter. I made a template and had the metal guys cut it with a torch. After grinding it all smooth, I clamped it up to the truck's frame and quit there for the day.

Cutting:


Placement:


Do you think this screwdriver is magnetic? It was sitting on the bench and this is what it looked like when I got done grinding.

Birthday, Cell Phone, BCS

I think that we managed to make Kayla's Birthday on Monday special. Every meal we ate was her choice. We gave her birthday gifts during breakfast and did our best to make the day special.


Cell Phone

Mr. Chris and I were talking about how very little water we have left. The rainy season is about to start and we could really use the water in the cistern that feeds our building.

We went up to check it out and Mr. Chris leaned over and out came his cell phone - dropping into the 2 feet of water left in the cistern. He called for his son, he tied a rope, and lowered him in. He got the phone and it was still on. He shut it off and dried it really well. It is still working today (Yeah!).


Boring Car Stuff...

We have a motorcycle for a pastor here (actually we have quite a few) and the keys got lost/misplaced/whatever. So we had the local dealer make new keys. It turns out that they couldn't, so they ordered a new ignition, new helmet lock, and a new gas cap.

It was the gas cap that proved to be a problem because you have to have the key to take the gas cap off. We talked about it and decided to try drilling first, try prying it apart second, and then replace the gas tank third. I drilled and nothing good happened. I took my air powered cut-off wheel and started carefully hacking at the gas cap. I also used a screw driver to break the metal away (it was surprisingly weak metal - but it doesn't have to strong because it's just a gas cap).

I ended up breaking enough pieces off and prying in the right spots that the cap ended up breaking the mechanism and it came right out. I was a little concerned about the sparks because even though I emptied the gas tank, it wasn't completely empty. I ended up only making a small quarter inch mark in the gas tank in the process of removing the cap - not bad. God is good!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

We are glad that you are who God made you. You are turning into the Biblical definition of a woman and we pray that you continue to grow in the Lord. We thank you for loving us with all of your treats and attention to details (like getting our bed ready and even putting toothpaste on our toothbrushes). You are an amazing blessing! Let's spend many more birthdays together!!


Our newspaper star:



Our actress:


Our daughter:


With her brother:

Chief Papa

Happy 80th Birthday Chief Papa!

You have been such a blessing to us!

You live out what it means to persevere - beyond what doctors told you what age you could live to. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. Proverbs 8:34

You live out what it means to not complain - through your many trials (some still continuing) you have taken the "punches" and hardly made a grimace. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25

We appreciate the love and kindness that you have shown to us and your great-grandchildren!

Helping to build our deck at our old house (rather, it was I who was helping you):


Taking in the family activities:


With your doll:



With your family (goofing off with Carter's doll):

Trip

We are all back - safe and sound. At one point were were 2 miles from the Dominican Republic boarder. The end stop was Cornillon (through Bouchon and Thomazeau).


Joas and I took the Blue Isuzu at 5AM (because the big trucks can't be on the mountain roads between 6 AM to 8 AM or 9 AM). We couldn't get all the supplies into the Ranger so we took the Isuzu, too. We dropped the wood and four workers off at a newer school that didn't have windows/shutters - it just had the holes in the concrete for them. Joas took the Isuzu back to the Mission and Pastor Rob and I left in the Ranger to go further out with boxes, two generators, a corn grinder, and a motorcycle.


This was the first "road block" - the concrete bridge collapsed but it wasn't too deep to successfully pass on the right (before we dropped the guys and wood off):

Here was the second road block. These bovines (because I can't remember if they were cows or bulls, Becky) were in the way for about 15 minutes. They were so tangled up in their rope that some of them had their heads twisted and others had their heads stuck (with horns) against the underside of another. The owner(?) was having trouble getting them by us. There was a steep mountain drop-off to the left and a steep hill up to the right. They had to pass by on our right and as they went by, there were bumping and moving the truck.


We made it to the final destination and on the way back, we ran in to this road block:


There was one more road block that I didn't get a picture of, unfortunately. These roads are sometimes not wide enough for one vehicle let alone two. There was a big truck with rear wheel/axle problems and we had to get by. I got out to direct Pastor Rob (because I was scared) around the truck and NOT off the side of the mountain. The only thing stopped me from protesting fiercely was because if he went off the side of the mountain, there was a ledge about 10 to 15 feet down that would have stopped him from going all the way down (maybe). It had rained the day before and the ground was moist. Right where the tire was going to go on the drop-off side there was a chunk of ground that had loosened itself downward - if it were up to me, I probably would have waited the hour or longer until they fixed their truck. This story has a good ending because he made it with an inch (two at most) to spare on each side.

Interesting Stuff...

I think that I saw this picture in the Guinness Book of World Records for how many people you can fit on a Chinese-made 125cc road motorcycle used primarily on off-road terrain. If a motorcycle could be a school bus, it would look like this. I saw this guy drive by twice with 5 other people with him on the motorcycle.


Can you find all of the items on this device (hint: There are five)? I think the only thing that it is missing is the kitchen sink.


Justice of the Peace/Courtroom/etc...


There may be more to say - I am just too tired right now to think of it...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Paint, Canter, Trip

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The kids paraded around to everyone's place this morning wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day. The Dog was a big star.



Boring Car Stuff...

Paint

I took the cage off the new Blue Isuzu a few days ago and we had the guys paint it black - much better looking (and it will prevent corrosion) than the bare metal look. I put it back on this morning.


Canter

To weld the frame back together on the Canter, I had to remove the front half of the rear leaf spring and so I ended up just removing it all to get it out of the way. It's really, REALLY front-end-heavy now! I can just lift it up by hand. We are going to weld a plate on the outside of the frame in the hopes of making it last longer.



Trip

I am taking a trip tomorrow with Pastor Rob and a bunch of guys to bring materials out to one of the pastors. The materials includes a new motorcycle, two generators, a bunch of wood, and some other stuff. It will be a one to two night trip, so I'll be away for a while.

Wings of Hope, Wisman

Troy and Tara Livesay called a few days ago and wanted to know what we knew about Wings of Hope which is a home for disabled children. We talked and I mentioned that we would like to go there too to visit. Wings of Hope is right next to our Mission.

They had various kids in all stages of disabilities. Some could walk and talk OK and others were older, completely bedridden, and wore diapers. We all interacted with them as much and best as we could. Kayla and Carter spent some time pushing them in wheelchairs which the children really enjoyed.



This guy is somewhere in his 20s and is autistic. He loves to show people around (as I found out). He was holding my hand (what a grip!) and pulling me all sorts of places for over a half hour - it was a behind the scenes tour. We went to the roof and all around. He didn't talk, so that was unfortunate, but he did understand Creole.


The people that manage/run this place are incredible people. Those are tough circumstances to live and work in on a daily basis and the Lord is giving them the strength to persevere. I have never appreciated what I have more than I have today. From feet to hands, from eyes to mouth - I pray that I will always thank the Lord for the health that I have (and my whole family has) for it may not be in His will for us to have it through the rest of the day.

Wisman

A few weeks ago Wisman, who is not 100% mentally, wanted a cage built for his rabbits at his house. The dogs have been getting to some of them. It was sort of a little joke around here that he had this request, but it was decided that a cage would be made for him. They made it better than he asked for and he was really pleased and looked proud as he walked away with it. He was taking it up the hill so that someone (Ti John) could take it to his house for him. I felt pretty happy for him that he finally got a place for his rabbits - it was a "feel good" story.

Sign Language, BCS

Not too long ago we had stated that we were going to skip the sign language for Lou because he didn't try to say the words he knew in sign language...we may be switching this idea around and going back to sign language because his vocal dexterity (did I just make up a new term?) is not very good.

Boring Car Stuff...

I worked for about half the day on the truck that nobody wanted to drive. It has loose wheel bearings, but that was not the primary issue. I suspected the steering dampener, but after breaking my tool trying to get the ball joint loose and finally getting it loose later, I found that it was not the cause of the MAJOR front end shake above 20 MPH. The problem turned out to be a learning experience for me - the part that wasn't tuned correctly was the ball joint(s) that I installed. There is an adjustment on the outside that allows you to tighten the ball joints - they came new not tightened but just "together" (and quite loose), so I tightened them and all was good. The roads are not very straight up here on the mountain, but I managed to get up to 50 MPH without a problem. The guys at the gate were getting sick of me coming and going during all my test rides... oh well.

Readings, Busy, BCS

I wanted to share a couple readings. As part of my daily reading, I read Morning and Evening by CH Spurgeon. Yesterday morning and this morning are both great readings (as most of them are).

Busy

Yesterday was especially busy for me (as I am sure that it was for others). The morning started out with us sending all of our drivers out and almost every vehicle. We had even called a back-up/occasional driver because we thought we might need him.

One set of guys had complaints about a vehicle they were supposed to take. There was apparently a problem with it that they hadn't made me aware of the day before. Pastor Rob and I got on their cases a little bit and told them that I need to know these things.

Once we got them out of the office and on their way, then various problems and issues hit. One of them was for a guy who was supposed to get out and beat the traffic so that he could come back and go out again. Pastor Rob and I realized that there was no way he would make it back in time.

We decided that I would go to the airport to pick up a couple guys that were coming from Cap Haitian. They were to arrive at the small airport where I had never been (but I knew where it was). I got in and found a spot to park with no issues. I was a half hour early and stood waiting outside. A worker at the airport came up and started talking to me in Creole. This was a great experience because he didn't know any (much) English. So for the next half hour or so, we were chatting/talking in Creole. Most of which I understood, but there were a few new vocabulary words to try to remember. His name was Rolex.

After a little while of being real close to the two guys (I was holding a board that said "Baptist Haiti Mission" just like the limo drivers in the states - except I didn't have a suit on, haha), I realized that they were next to me as I was talking to Pastor Rob on the phone and one of the guys was talking to a pastor next to Pastor Rob. They described me as a white guy in a white shirt with no hair - I was the only one fitting that description within many miles, so I am not so sure what took them so long to find me.

We got in the car and started driving. He didn't speak English. He told me that he wanted to stop somewhere on the way. We went to where he wanted to go (not far away) and dropped something off at a house. On the way back he was pointing me in the wrong direction to go back to the Mission and this was where I couldn't understand what he wanted or where he wanted to go. I tried to ask the questions in Creole many different ways hoping that one of the answers I would understand, but it didn't work. He made a phone call and said that we could just go to the Mission. I turned around and headed back. They said that I was a good driver - I feel that coming from a couple Haitian guys, that was a pretty big compliment. They said that fairly early on, so I hope that they also thought that near the end of the ride - as usual here, there are always close calls (not all high speed) during every trip.

Mr. Kyrk had been out since Monday morning and on our way up about 30 minutes away I ended up three cars behind him - he came back a day early (without incident I might add - thank God!).

When we got to the Mission it was close to closing time. I had one guy asking me if he could get a part fixed (I turned him over to our metal workers) and had our drivers coming back with their keys, receipts, and money. It was just busy - I won't get more boring than I already have been.

Boring Car Stuff...

Today I "PLAN" to work on the truck that nobody wants to drive so I can figure out what is wrong. I might work on fixing/rewelding the Canter frame. I also worked on a couple things with the Access database yesterday, so I'll try them out today and I might work on that some, too, today. (Yesterday, I also ran a cable to the mechanic shop in an attempt to get network access so I can make my entries and do computer work from the shop. It will be very nice to get that working!)

Birthday Dinner

Yesterday evening we went to the dining hall for dinner. We normally only attend on Friday's, but they wanted to celebrate our birthdays (and Adele's birthday, too, which is the 9th). We had a good meal and some thoughtful gifts and cards given to us. We are very appreciative of the effort that everyone went through to put this gathering together! Thank you all!

Lou, BCS (Airport)

Lou's food issues seem to be completely resolved. We still have to watch him CLOSELY to make sure that he chews and not just swallows - he takes every opportunity to shovel a mouth full in - and down - if we don't pay attention to each bite. The "bedtime urp" was a one time deal (thank you Jesus!). He continues to have accidents in his pants if we don't ask him if he has to go potty. He is smart enough, just too smart - he holds it until the last minute and than can't make it in time.

I hope I don't eat these words, but we are finally starting to feel like we are getting a grasp on the way we want to do things around here. We have a pretty decent groove down within our family, but want to continue to grow various aspects. We are striving to keep the focus on our Biblical priorities: God first, spouse second, children third, mission work fourth, whatever fifth. It is not always easy to keep this priority, but that's why it's "striving". Anything worth doing takes effort. If you believe in God, you believe in Satan. Satan is always throwing distractions at us in various forms to keep us from our Biblical priorities. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. We pray that we improve as we strive.

Boring Car Stuff...

I was a driver for the whole morning yesterday. Mr. Chris and I went to the airport in two different vehicles to drop off a team that was here helping by painting one of our buildings. We left early because we got notice that with former president Clinton coming here there may be protests. There were lots of UN and Haitian police around (about double what is normal), but the airport wasn't as busy as I expected. It was busier on the roads way before the airport. They got there too late because they mixed up their schedule. We ended up driving back and Mr. Chris wanted to go in.

We got to the first security check and Mr. Chris was asking me to come in. I had all my belt tools and equipment on me and told him that I wouldn't be able to come in (I had 4 knives on me in various tools as I usually do). So I waited outside the airport. He called me two minutes later to grab two knives that he had on him. So I was full of knives. I was wearing fancy looking pants that Gerbin gave me last year and as I stood waiting, I was being looked at (scoped out) by UN, Haitian police, airport security, and lots of other people (I was one of less than 1% of white people around, so I stuck out like a zit on the nose of the airport on picture day). After being asked to move to a different location once, I found a spot (out of the sun) where I didn't make people nervous and could still see when Mr. Chris came out.

Mr. Chris got them settled in the airport for another flight later on after more than hour and we headed for home. We never saw Clinton (didn't really want to).

The rest of the afternoon I did various little boring things.

Friend's Video, Brutus, Pictures, Cake, BCS

Friend's Video

On Friday, we got a DVD from our good friends in Minnesota. We watched it yesterday AM and it was so good to see their animated faces and hear all of their voices - Bible reading and singing. It made Tina cry. It made me want to ask for a glass of water (Grotewold-style) <-- inside joke. We may just find out how many times you can watch a DVD and wear it out. We are planning our retaliation DVD...

Their kids are getting big (which means that our kids are getting big to them, no doubt).

Brutus

Speaking of which, I think Carter weighs more than me now. He's got his Grandpa Schilling's brutus bone structure. I'll have to figure out a different way to deliver his knuckle sandwich when he misbehaves.


Pictures

Yesterday we took the family down to Petionville about a half hour away, the closest larger town around. We had to get photos for our permit to work and reside here.

When we got our pictures back, we just about cracked up laughing: About a week ago, we talked with a Haitian guy we had met a while ago and have seen a few times since then. He showed us his family photo that was taken in the States (he is married to an American) and you could hardly see his face. He said "The photographer didn't know how to take pictures of black people." We kinda chuckled. But when we saw our pictures that the Haitians took, we were greatly amused. I think I can say equally that they don't know how to take pictures of white people. Our faces blended in with the white background just like his face blended in with their dark background (navy). It was a funny moment for us (probably not as funny to our readers - but that's OK - I thought I would share it anyway).

Cake

We ended the day with a great cake that Tina made. Lou doesn't take his eyes off of ANY FOOD as you can see.


BCS

I didn't really want to work yesterday, but rather just enjoy my birthday. However, there were things to do. I found out how quickly I could remove and reinstall the upper control arm on the Ford Ranger. It was eating its way through the bushing and was going to soon cause problems. Pastor Rob needed it today and Mr. Kyrk is taking it up north on the worst "roads" on the planet, so it needed to be done. All-in-all I ended up working about a full day because I did more work on the database for automating the requisitions for materials that we have here.