Lex, AJay and I arrived back in the States this week.  It was a long flight with an 8 hour layover, so we took a couple of days to catch up on our sleep.  We’re so grateful for all the wonderful friends and partners the Lord has brought into our lives.  Doris Buckley picked us up at the airport in the middle of the night, when she certainly should have been sleeping.  Wayne & Patsy Fish waited up until almost 3 AM to welcome us into their home.  Can you imagine?  Lennie & Amy Engman opened their home to us once again, as they have been doing for over fifteen years now.  As you can see, we have so much to be grateful for!

This week we spent most of our time in and around West Newbury, MA.  Doris made arrangements for us to have a guided tour of the Greater Lawrence Technical School.  We are looking into starting vocational training in Haiti and are looking for guidance and resources.  Our time at the school was well spent.  Mr. Hollingshead, the school’s administrator, spent three hours showing us the different shops in construction and auto mechanics.  We enjoyed lunch with some of the shop teachers we met, as well as the school superintendent, John Lavoie and administrator Diane Norkiewicz.  Everyone was so helpful with their thoughts and ideas.  What an amazing school, too.  I was particularly impressed with the level of respect shown to us by the students.

Greater Lawrence Technical School

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We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Koinonia Nursery and Preschool in West Newbury.  Alicia who teaches one of the classes was with us last month in Haiti.  When she got back to work, she taught her students a song (Are You Sleeping) she’d learned in Créole.  They were pretty surprised when Lex started singing it.  They joined in and then squealed with delight as Lex stopped singing and started snoring.  It was a lot of fun and reminded Lex of our preschoolers in Haiti.

Koinonia Nursery & Preschool

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This morning was a very special time for us at the West Newbury Congregational Church.  Mindy (Fish) Rameau, who spent 5 weeks with us in Haiti many years ago, and her husband David asked Lex to participate in the Christian service of dedication for their son, Theo.  This cute little man cooperated very well and blessed us all throughout the service with his timely “amens” – okay, so they were more like “AHHHHHHs” than amens, but at the age of one – I think it counts.

Theo’s Christian Dedication Service

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Another exciting moment during the church service this morning was when the missions director presented us with a check to be used to ship the library furniture to Haiti.  Praise God!  This project seemed to have stalled, due to a lack of funds, but God always has a plan!  We are eager to get things moving once again.

Everything is still functioning normally in Haiti while we are in the US.  We communicate regularly with our staff and have even received some photo updates, as well. This week we started fluoride “swish” treatments for our students in Thozin.  The kids and teachers alike had fun with it.  We’re thankful to Bless Back Worldwide for bringing this program to the school!

Fluoride Swish

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A few more happy moments…

Getting ready to distribute food to our neighbors in the Galèt.

Team reunion at the Buckley’s home

Amitane is in charge of the school kitchen. Here she is sorting through the beans

Our students LOVE having water at school!