Walk ??‍♀️, Paint ?, Play ??‍♂️

Day 3

Brooks here again (with an assist from David)

The day started bright and early for several of us as we went on early morning walk through beautiful Haitian country. We were warmly greeted by many locals who had nothing but kind things to say to us – words so encouraging that Karen wouldn’t repeat them. Seriously though, there’s no better way to start the day than seeing the sunrise with our HATS family.

After walk and breakfast, we went to work. Brooks risked his life yet again to paint the roof of Jocelyn’s headquarters. David discovered something that Molly Ritchie forgot to tell us – Brian prefers to work alone. His craftsmanship definitely improves without help, so David was banished to risk his life with Brooks, making sure TiDG’s place was filled with the proper Dignity Purple accents.

The girls painted doors all over the compound, unloaded clothing and supplies from the crates we brought, and criticized our work (Claire and Abbie only). John David played basketball and washed brushes.

After our work, Brooks put on his annual magic tricks show, amazing small children and frightening some house mothers, and not fooling Ti Luc one bit.

But this was all buildup to the real reason we come here every year: the annual Texans plus 2 Canadians (Keith and Luc) vs Haiti soccer match. This year we added a third Canadian, Jocelyn.

The match was back and forth. Incredible goals by Brooks and Abbie gave us a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, the Haitians battled back for a 3-2 victory. We are devastated at the loss, but our heads are held high. We gave it our all, including Brian’s big toe. There’s always next year.

It was a full, wonderful day.