Last week we were blessed by having Keith and Joan Wight from Montreal join us for a couple days. We packed a lot into that short time. There was just the two of them but they arrived with a lot of luggage – 8 or 10 large hockey style bags packed with things for our school, my children here, and other children in the area. Our thanks for all these things and for it arriving free of charge goes to Air Canada. Air Canada has a charity for children called “Kid’s Horizons”. Keith, an Air Canada pilot, helped to get these things donated to Kid’s Horizons. Air Canada saw that it was all transported to Haiti, to HATS, to bless children in this area. Thank you Air Canada. Thank you Keith. Thank you Keith and Joan for coming, bringing it all and spending a short but valuable time with us.

Keith & Karen with Air Canada donations

Joan, Karen & kids happy with their backpacks

Joan with Sandra & Jonathan in backpacks from Air Canada

Seth and Jessie were scheduled to return this Thursday, Jan. 12th, and Mariah to return Saturday, Jan. 14th. Mariah will return as scheduled. We will manage this first week of school without her – albeit I might hide out so I don’t have to do her class for a week. Mariah has cute kids but I already have more than my share of work ahead of me this week. Hopefully Rose Lore will put her and Mariah’s classes together for one week.

You many remember we wrote about Seth being ill awhile back. He had a terrible problem with his throat which in turn caused him to be a very sick man. He pulled through enough to function for awhile and to be able to travel back to their home in the US with the help of a lot of antibiotics. At one point I thought they might have to change their tickets for returning home in December and get Seth back home earlier to see a doctor. They managed to wait and leave as scheduled. The day after they arrived home he did see a doctor. To make a long story short their return date has been delayed as Seth needs medical help before coming back. For starters they will be removing his tonsils, then after the healing time, they will be checking to see if that takes care of all his suffering. We were all looking forward to their return this week. Now we are praying for Seth and Jessie, for all to go well with the surgery and that when they return Seth will be in good health. Being ill is never fun, but being ill in Haiti is not something anyone should have to experience. We will be waiting their return in God’s timing when all is well with Seth.

I have been experiencing a lot of computer and internet problems for quite some time which has escalated in the past couple of months. It has caused a tremendous amount of frustration and wasted time – as noted by Liette, Yvette, Dana, Mariah, Jessie & Seth or anyone else who has come lately. When a person’s plate is already overloaded, and that person has to sit and fight with a computer and internet service daily, and in the bargain lose 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day, the overloaded plate might just fall to the cement floor and crash . (Dropped plates break easily when they hit cement floors.) I tell you this so if you do not hear from me it may be caused by:

1. The modem and/or router having been yanked off the wall and thrown in the garbage.
2. The computer having been thrown out the office window.

Radio Creole, under Luckner’s direction, and with help from his support team continues to get God’s word out to the public. The messages and the Christian music it plays continues to bless and help change the lives of people in the area. On New Year’s Eve Luckner and team were on the air all night and said they would be starting 2012 out by spending a lot of time on the air January 1st, both day and night, and letting people be involved by telephone. Well, the afternoon of the 1st trouble started. It was discovered someone had tampered with (sabotage according to the repair man) Luckner’s big generator. Luckner was home, heard a noise and ran quickly to discover a lot of oil and gas had leaked unto the floor and the generator caught on fire. He was able to put it out before it reached the motor. He decided to use his little generator by putting it on the roof and using long extension cords to run things in the radio station, when batteries for inverter ran out of charge. He needed to look for gas for that little one, but discovered his truck would not start either. It was broken down with an unusual problem, that caused suspicion as well. He then discovered his inverter, in the station, had a problem and would not work anyway. His microphones/headsets in both studios made a screeching noise only and could not be used either. Needless to say Radio Creole could not start the year off for the Lord as planned but they were not crippled for long. The generator has been repaired (albeit not working as well as before), truck has been repaired, inverter repaired and microphones/headsets have been replaced by a trip to PAP. The determination of Luckner and his support crew to reach this area with the Good News and to help those in need has not waned but increased instead.

Several people have asked for information on workteams to HATS and have expressed an interest in coming down.   There is seldom a month that does not see a group come to help.  If you are interested in the possibility of joining a team in the future please contact Gerry Rhyno at gkrhyno@ns.aliantzinc.ca. If interested in coming early July you can contact Gerry in NS or Beate in Toronto (team leader for that group) at beatefufft@yahoo.ca.

My children have been fighting sickness for a couple of months now – especially from fevers and headcolds. I always have 3 or 4 sick at a time. As fast as I get some better 3 or 4 others are sick. At this time Jofky is still ill, two others have ongoing head colds and Sandra and Ismyis have fevers. Oh joy! Never a dull moment.

Tomorrow school reopens. Do I feel ready? No! Do I feel like I had a break? No! Did my desire to have a day, or at least a 1/2 a day, for myself happen? No! But off we go to school tomorrow for 7:30 a.m. anyway.

I am, in the midst of all the sickness and busyness, looking forward to the arrival of four precious members of my family two weeks time. I may not get a rest, but I will have fun and do lots of laughing. That is the best medicine ever. Will Sandra be able to fill Dana’s shoes with goat herding, and feeding I wonder? Perhaps I should have Sandra try milking a goat too. The four coming will do the blogging while here so hopefully you will not have to wait so long to find a blog has been posted.

Yesterday I made three employees, Antoinette, Naomie, and Marguerite, and my children very happy when I put a new six burner stove in the kitchen of the children’s home. It was overdue for some time. Such joy on the faces of the workers. Gas hooked up and all was well. A few hours later I was presented with a piece of cake that they had made to celebrate. The oven in the old stove had not worked since they had it. Today, Sunday, thanks to the new stove the children ate their meal on time instead of 2 -3 hours late. We are all thanking God for the provision of this stove. At the same time we say thank you to those who continue to support us so needs like this can be met.

Antoinette, Naomie & Marguerite very happy with new stove

For awhile now I have been sitting on the roof of my house with the older children after dark. It has become a special time for Mama and children. We have some good discussions while there, and I am kept on my toes by a lot of good questions they ask. Last night I decided to try and get a photo of the five children who were there with me – JJ, Moise, Mirlande, Djemima and Leica.

Nighttime on the roof with Mama

Anne, my cutie pitutie 1 1/2 year old decided yesterday to help herself to a box of ‘Reliv Kid’s Now’ chocolate powder mix. She was very happily eating the powder by herself when we found her.

Anne escaped the house with a box of Reliv Chocolate powder

Anne happily enjoying her chocolate

Anne, however, was not so happy when I decided she should leave the rest so it could be mixed with water to share with the other children.

Okay, not so happy.  Don’t want to share it.

The children are all growing and learning and all very precious indeed. I am tired. I am, too, a happy and blessed mother of 18.

I T I S A L L A B O U T T H E C H I L D R E N

Love and blessings,

~Karen and kids