Went to bed last night and Dickie and I decided to move our beds out from under the roof so we could star gaze.  I fell asleep quickly despite the LOUD music from a night club in Deschapelles.  I was awakened by Dickie shining the flashlight in my tent saying “Sandra wake up.”  I was startled and thought something had happened to Karen when I heard him say ‘it is raining, get up” and I could feel the rain on my face and arms. We had to move the tents back under cover again and by then I was awake and the music kept me awake for a while.

Jim is in the doghouse today, at one point Dickie thought about building him a dog house when he was putting backs on the stools. He and I had a good laugh!

Dickies version of a doghouse for Jim

It is Friday and the kids are all glad to be off for the weekend.  They were only at school 3 days but are glad to be off again!  We were NEVER like that were we?

Excited because it ie Friday

We went to devotions at the school this morning and it was great.  They hold them in the new church and there is room for everyone from PS1 to grade 6.  I got caught in a song where I was supposed to shout out someone’s name, and I didn’t understand, so was supposed to pay a penalty of going up front to sing a song, recite a poem or tell a story!  They had mercy on me and didn’t make me go although Claudy said I had to.

Morning devotions in the church PS1- Grade 6

We have been sorting clothes, shoes and toys today and getting to distribute them here at HATS and into the community.  Dickie and Jim have been painting chairs that Dickie made out of stools for Ti Luc.  He finds it hard to get up from the little Haitian chairs now that he has grown so much.  I made a big pot of tapioca this morning for Karen and that is what she had for lunch today.

New chairs for Ti Luc

That tapioca didn’t last long

We had a couple more students come for gifts today, two real little ones and they were soooo cute!  We also had 2 families get their food today.

Student receiving sponsor gift

Student with sponsor gifts

Karen has been busy since she got up this morning and is now in a meeting with the house mothers.  When she is done we are going to Project Help to see and talk to people connected with Clean Water for Haiti. We did go and it was so very interesting and the couple who run it are very nice and informative. Jim has been following their work by blog and facebook. Karen met someone she hadn’t seen in almost 20 years (when she lived on that compound) and they were glad to see each other and when she told him I was her sister he said “but she is so much bigger than you!”

One thing off Jim’s bucket list, visiting WPH and meeting Bim and Tim

We came home to no water, no electricity, boys home showers and toilets backed up BUT all is well again now.  We have water, the boys showers etc have drained, we are hooked temporarily to power and the man will come to fix the problem tomorrow.  We ate and did dishes by flashlight.  It is all a wonderful adventure!

Jim and I travelled in the back of the truck today and we loved it.  We thought of you Jess, we know how much you loved it too.  We stopped at Luckner’s and Jim opened the tail gate to take out a bag and I decided to jump out…usually I climb over the tailgate.  Bad idea!  I jumped and when my feet hit the gravel my foot turned and I landed flat on my back.  Dickie came around the truck and looked at me and asked if I was alright then he took out his camera and took a photo before he helped me up.

How not to exit the back of a pick-up truck gracefully

The funny thing was there was a group of teenagers playing games on the side of the road and they witnessed the whole thing and I could hear the word “photo”.  When we left and Jim and I climbed in the back again the boys started laughing and one of them fell back on his back on the road and the other stood over him and pretended to take a photo.  We were all laughing as we pulled away.

Good night.

~Sandra