Saturday June 19, 2010

This week has been quite a change for us at JoyHouse.

Sook arrived from Canada on Sunday. She has been holding a grief counseling class in the mornings for a few of the women and then at night for Daniel, Fito, Matthew and Jerald. The girls wrapped up last night and received their certificates and the boys are finishing up right now. They have all been really excited and involved in the process. Sook is great to have around, she is very wise and a great person to talk to.

The florida disaster team came Monday and worked very hard! They had a lot of wisdom and great things to share. They left early yesterday morning to head back to Port Au Prince to help with the Buckets of Hope that were collected by the Southern Baptist Conference and finally released.

We are still seeing a lot of fruit from the FBC/PCH team and all the great work that they did! Samon's man who accepted Christ last week when Pastor Ryan came to talk to him, was in church Sunday! He seemd very excited to be there and it was great to see the transformation made in both his and Samon's lives. Continue to pray for strength for him as he makes changes to his life upon dedication to Christ!

We also received word that Cheryl Thomas has acquired another wedding dress! Joyful Weddings is going to bless so many people, t is incredible to see it all coming together!

Kristen and Cristine have been working with the women more this week and it was extremely exciting to see that all the women from last week, brought a younger woman to learn this week! We had asked them to be thinking of someone they would like to learn what they were learning so it was incredible to see that fruit! Ty made some absolutely beautiful head scarves...

Matthew, Fito and Daniel took Kristen, Cristine, and Sook to see the beach yesterday and Matthew even got them all to try cooked snail! It was definitely interesting...!Today Charlie took Sook, Cristine and Kristen to the market in Port Au Prince where they got some delicious fruits. It was great to get to see more of Port Au Prince but we were happy to get back to Gressier.Last night we taught Eddie and Daniel how to play "spoons" although, in order to conserve dirtying utensils, in Haiti we play "pens." It was such a fun time! I don't think we have all laughed that hard in a LONG time!

We can't believe it is already time for our team from Living Hope to arrive tomorrow! It seems like just yesterday that we got here. We are so excited to see them and to get the kids club undereway!Keep the kids club this week in your prayers and safe travel for Joe as he comes to join us on Wednesday

We have decided that Charlie , one of the boys, has a new nickname....: the "phantom." He's got a soft walk and a gentle touch! Whenever something breaks, needs repairs, or even when city power goes off, Charlie has already fixed it, restored it and gotten things running before you even realize he's been there! We had a sink break the other day and before we even knew we had gotten a new sink, there was already one installed! He is such a blessing to have and just one of the kindest spirits!

OH! I forgot to mention, we got the washing machine all set up and running, this has made laundryjust a tad easier! We loved seeing everyone's mezmorized faces as they walked by the tumbling and whirling of the big machine..

Fito and Norma were planting her new flowers the other day (which are just lovely!!) and for those of you who don't know, Norma is quite the avid gardener back in Arkansas! Well, some worms popped up in the dirt and sweet Fito was just aghast! But Norma just dug her hands in the dirt and picked those worms right out...which Fito could not believe!! Now, the flowers have brought on a small battle between Lucy and Norma of how much to water the plants.

Meema (Norma) always has to remind the boys to wear their JoyHouse shirts whenever they go to the airport to pick up teams. A few weeks ago she took the boys to a nice restaurant while they were waiting for the team and had some great food. A week later when it was time to go to the airport, every single boy was outside in his JoyHouse shirt, ready to go. Needless to say, there has een no further problems with them wearing their JoyHouse shirts!!