There is a time to come and a time to go. They came. They worked, they drank, they laughed, they drank, they slept, they drank, they walked, they drank, they spent time with my kids, they drank, they played pranks, they drank. They consumed more liquid than I thought possible. It was needed. The temperature and the humidity were both high and they drank a lot of cold beverages to keep going.

I want to say thank you to each and every one of them – for coming, and for everything thing and everyone they touched while here.

Bob, thank you. Thanks for trying to pull off a huge surprise and almost managing it. Thanks for returning once again and for all your hard work as usual.

Fabian. Thanks for coming for the first time and for the worship music and singing. It was good for me.

Gerry, thanks for everything. For all you did before you came, while here, and for all you will continue to do when you back home. A special thank you for holding my ladder in the dark!!

Sue, Thank you, Sue, for coming and seeing for yourself what HATS is all about, and for doing so as part of a workteam. Thank you for working in the heat when it was obvious doing so was difficult for your health. Thanks for your support in many ways. Thanks for being you.

Linda, Thanks for the awesome surprise. I am glad you came. Am I totally forgiven for the night time shenanigans on Saturday? Still good friends, right? Thanks for working hard and especially for all the help with Ti Luc.

Jennifer, Thank you for deciding to come and see what it was I was doing in Haiti all these years. Now you and Jocelyn can share with my Deer Lake family. It was great to have you here. Thanks for being willing to do anything asked of you.

Jason, You worked hard, enjoyed time with the kids, and helped with another important thing. You have a great sense of humour. Thanks for accepting the shenanigans Saturday night and being so wonderful about it all.

Dora, I am glad you came. Thanks for your help with Ti Luc and the other children. I appreciate it greatly. Always nice to have Newfies come.

Judy, Thank you for coming, too, and for your work painting in that heat along with the others. Thanks for the time spent with the children and time spent sewing for me. Really appreciate having the pants on my body instead of the chair.

Cory En, Thanks for returning. It was nice to have you back. Again this time you worked hard, and in the sun when necessary, at whatever was needed at any given time. Thanks for trying, along with Cory De, to ‘get me’ but I am still ahead.

Cory De, Thank you for returning, too. Like Cory En you came and worked at anything and everything when needed and like the others enjoyed time with my kids. You and Cory fell short in ‘getting me back’. Good try, but despite the food in my bed, no ants or cockroaches were there.

Amanda, I am glad you came back, too. You, like the rest of the group, are a lot of fun. I appreciated your late night e-mail after the Saturday night shenanigans. Really glad your mother did not get the frantic message. Thanks for all your work too.

Jocelyn, I am glad you came too. Two of my Deer Lake family have now been here and that means a lot to me. Thanks for the work you did and the time spent with my kids.

Again a huge thank you to the whole team. The administration building/my house went from ‘ugly’ to ‘beautiful’. The comments from people are now very different than they were before when looking at this building. The men had hoped to remove the cement at top of the pillars but without some heavy duty equipment, not available here, it was impossible. They, however, worked diligently at other things and, removed or not, the building is now beautiful.

I ask all of you to please remember to pray for the mission – orphanage and school – children and workers. Lots has been done but lots more needed. Hurricane season is officially started today and it is being predicted as possibly a bad one.

Cholera is on the rampage again since the rainy season started. The numbers of people ill with it, and dying from it, are rising rapidly. Haiti needs your prayers.

What we do here at HATS in every way, on every day – I S A L L A B O U T T H E C H I L D R E N

~Karen