April Update

April 2012 Update What we've been up to. Well our past month has been packed full with visitors- family, friends and child sponsors.  We had a great time with my sister and her fianceé along with a team from the US and Australia- lots of encouragement and help.  They were able to paint the swing set, monkey bars, Faith's toy box and help us put up the chain link fence around the soccer field.  The fence around the soccer field allows the neighbors to use the field, along with our kids, but not be inside the rest of our compound.  The kids are back in school now and can I just tell you how nice it is to have them back in a routine?!  Haha- three weeks of Spring Break, I think, is a little too long :-).  We are sad to see our first intern, Joy, leave us tomorrow :-(.  She has been a huge blessing and help around here the last few months.  She fits right in here at Grand Goave.  We will certainly miss her help with the depot, teams, the HAF store, watching Faith, doing my dishes as well as her ideas on how to better improve here at Hands and Feet!!!  Thanks, Joy for all you've done these past three months- you will be missed!!!

HAF on Facebook HAF on Twitter Forward to a Friend The Well Mountain Property Update: Over the past month, we have been testing our well for about 10 hours a day to see how much water it really is producing.  The good news is that it hasn't produced less than 2.8 gal/min.  In testing the well, we are able to give out the water to the neighbors- who absolutely love not having to walk down the mountain to get it.

Women's Conference GOSSIP.  The Women's Conference had a really good turn out!  I ended up sharing some Scriptures from James and Matthew about gossip and the power of the tongue.  It wasn't a "feel-good" message, but one that needed to be addressed.  After all, the Word of God cuts deep and convicts, right?  I ended up sharing in English and the pastor's daughter translated for me- thank you, Alexis!!!   Raining Mangos It was literally raining mangos yesterday!!  We had one of our workers climb up in the tree (directly above our house) to shake out all the ripe mangos.  The kids were having so much fun collecting them as they fell on the roof and rolled off.  We collected 4 huge buckets of mangos to give out to our workers and kids.  We were also very appreciative for the AWESOME night sleep we got last night.  In case you can't imagine- a mango falling 15 feet onto your tin roof (that doesn't have any insulation) in the middle of the night sounds like a really loud shotgun!!  We're thankful for the "near end" to the mango season :-) The Word Evening Devotions. Andrew's Bible lessons with the kids are going really well.  They are loving the interaction and being able to answer questions!  I'm pretty sure this is the first kind of interactive Bible study they've ever had.  Most of the other studies they've had in the past are more of a teaching time- no room for questions and answers.  Each of the kids also just got a brand new Creole Bible with their name engraved on it.  It's really neat to see the enthusiasm of the kids when they read and can find the Scripture for themselves.   Waterfall Hike Andrew and the kids took a 2 hour hike up to a waterfall their last day of Spring Break.  They absolutely loved playing in it- despite the fact that it was pretty small and a little muddy!  They ended up blocking it off for a few minutes at the top and then let it all go at once, it was pretty dirty, but they had a blast!!  Here are two of our kids playing in it :-) Joy- We are going to miss you!  May God bless you as you start a new chapter this fall! Upcoming.... Orphan Summit: We are gearing up and getting ready for an Orphan Conference this May 2-8.  We will be flying into California and attending the conference for two days followed by some HAF board meetings.  We are really looking forward to some of the breakout sessions specifically geared towards discipling teenagers, transitioning them out of orphan care into the "real world," as well as family style model orphanages.  Drex and Jo Stuart (previous HAF directors at the Jacmel site) are coming down to hold down the fort while we're gone.   Our Garden Our kids have been doing a great job of taking care of our new garden!!  The Northside (NY) team helped us plant some corn, watermelon, beans, beets and some flowers.  They are sprouting up and the kids are doing a great job at watering them everyday!  Jean Baptiste and Jean Marie are the two who are really taking ownership of the garden- which is awesome!  Andrew was outside working with some of the kids the other day helping them put together a little fence and irrigation system for the garden.