Well since we have a lot of visitors to the HATS blog with the visitation of this team, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Team.

HATS:

Karen or DG (Director General). When the Lord had in mind to establish a safe haven for kids of Haiti I would imagine His checklist would have included the following:

• A soft heart full of compassion for His children – check
• A strong desire for those children to grow, learn and be leaders in their own community – check
• Boldness to continually step out in faith with the One who calls – check
• Strength and courage to be faithful to the task – check
• Finally, a little red hair to add a little spunk to the process of serving – check

Karen is the living, breathing example of James 1:27. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Ti-Luc is Karen’s little man. He is a special creation who has overcome alot of odds. His complete story is probably documented somewhere in the confines of this blog. Safe to say that Ti-Luc is nothing short of a miracle. To see his determination and progress is so encouraging. He is only just beginning. With DG leading the way, Ti-Luc will go farther than anyone of us could ever imagine. He’s helping me write this blog as I speak – he’s a special young man!

Team Illinois:
Seth and Jessie Huber are the new full time assistants to Karen, Luckner, and Hats. A young couple that has already made their impact here at the orphanage (see the picture of the new Girl’s Dorm). After, a few more days to collect stories and embarrassing moments I will prepare a more lengthy description and storyline to share with you. For the moment though, here is a brief description:

Seth – humble, talented cut-in man with the paint brush, likes to celebrate No-Shave November, a worker, and according to the research we have completed so far we believe he is the only former All-American soccer player currently residing in Haiti.
Jessie – well Jessie is Jessie and I am sure to those that know her well that entails a lot but for those of us that just met her she is – vivacious, funny, kind, caring, has evidently had a crush on Seth since 4th grade, a talented painter and cut-in woman in her own right, a hard worker as well and evidently the 10 months she spent in the 1980’s made a major impact on her musical taste

Team Texas:
The newbies –
Joanna Ritchie – A caregiver, joyful, smiles a lot, a kind and compassionate spirit, willing to do what needs to be done, a faithful servant

Madeline – or “Maddie” she said that her friends call her Maddie, I asked if I could be her friend not like FaceBook friend but you know just like a friend friend and she said yes I could and then I asked if I could call her Maddie as well and after a moments hesitation relented to letting me call her Maddie – Maddie also is kind and caring, what a joy it is to see her and her sister love on these precious children, Maddie is a excellent painter and a understanding painting inspector (since it was my fascia work she was inspecting), she is a hard worker and joy to have here.
Special note of interest – the parents of the Ritchies, Brian and Molly, will be releasing their new book Parenting, The Ritchie Way next weekend with a book signing at our local Barnes and Noble and I will certainly be the first in line.

The Veterans –
Brittanie (Ritchie) Wooten – a gentle and sweet spirit, uninhibited with her care and concern for others, loving, kind, looks out for the need in others – shall I go on? Every home needs a Brittanie and we and the kids at Hats are fortunate that we get to share these few days with her in Haiti.

Garrett Wooten or also known as G – Garrett has served as our historian (Texas, that is), music analyst, duct tape professional, Google trivia expert and all-around good guy. G is talented in his own right and will be leading us in song and worship from the roof top tonight.

Me, David – well instead of making up a bunch of stuff to try and impress you I asked Karen to go around and ask the Team for their comments and then insert them below (the following remarks are unedited and unseen by me until the exact time of this posting – I hope they are kind and sweet):

Seth: “Karen, I just can’t use David on the paint team anymore. I mean did you see that cut-in he tried to do on the back side of the house. It took me two hours to touch up his touch up. I will need you to find something else for him to do.”

Jessie: “What do I say? (long pause) Karen, he’s a little weird and lacks people skills. Does he even have a job? I really feel sorry for him – I’m not sure what to say, a lot more talented that David, right?”

Joanna:  “Karen, I know you have shown a great deal of patience with David since this is his third time down but don’t you think my fabulous brother-in-law Garrett could be the next team leader?  You know he’s a lot more talented that David, right?”

Madeline: “Can you do just one thing for me?” “Yes, Madeline, what is is?” Karen responds. “For the last time, will you tell him to stop calling me Maddie!”

Brittanie: “Karen, I think we just need to continue to work with him and show a little patience. I mean you should have seen all the times I had to be patient with him as he learned a simple dance routine for the It’s a Wonderful Life presentation. I’ve heard of “two left” feet but this guy’s feet must be backwards.”

Garrett: “I admire David so much. He is the best photographer I know. Certainly better than any other guy I know with a D-90. Are you going to publish this back in the States because I really don’t want my boss to hear that.”

Editors Note:
Brooks Boyett who is currently serving at The Comfort House will be at Hats on Sunday and will be able to give a complete description of their work there. So check back tomorrow for their update.

Correction from previous post:
Haiti does not offer Blue Bell ice cream – that was wishful thinking on our part. However, “mama” has promised that if we work hard the rest of the day she will take us to Sonic Happy Hour.

~David