We had a very productive day here at HATS-Haiti. The men working on the roof weren’t able to get a jack hammer, so that project is being adjusted. We’re thinking of tambourines and a few turns around the pillars in hopes that they’ll just fall down. It worked for Joshua at Jericho…

Last night we relaxed with a little ceremony to make Jessie and Seth, the wonderful couple who are here on a year-long mission from Illinois, honorary Canadians for the length of our week-long stay. We sang a version of O Canada, had them kiss a Tim Hortons cup, required them to say “eh” after each sentence, and taught them to say: “Habs good, Leafs bad.”
That’s for you, Pernell.

We worked on several small jobs today: installing a basketball hoop, and opening up the downstairs bathroom to shorten the shower and make it more accessible for Ti Luc. Karen is especially excited about this project. We visited the school this morning to hear the children sing, say their devotionals and raise the Haitian flag.

Yesterday the women may have made more obvious progress, and maybe made a few jokes about work ethic, BUT today they spent some of their day repainting a bit of the trim they did yesterday. God is good. (Always remember to scrape off dust bumps, ladies.)

Speaking of painting, Seth now has one grey eye and one turquoise eye. We’re not sure if it’s permanent. That’s a little reference to the pleasing shade of blue-green that we’re painting the house here.

We also celebrated Amanda’s 22nd birthday last night with a bit of cake, song and some photos. Thank you Fabian for providing the music.

We ended our work day today with a walk along the irrigation canal that runs through gorgeous countryside outside the orphanage. We saw some interesting sights along the route: lots of local people, cows and horses (including two newborn colts).

We’ll update you tomorrow with more on our adventures and photos.