Definition

Main Entry: back·hoe
Pronunciation: \-ˌhō\
Function: noun
Date: 1928
: an excavating machine having a bucket that is attached to a rigid bar hinged to a boom and that is drawn toward the machine in operation

It came! Prayers have been answered and the ground is looking level. And we've got a picture to prove it!

Just in case you are confused that's my husband on the left and the backhoe on the right :)

And since the septic is going to take a bit longer and we are antsy to get school going these are our temporary washrooms. Nothing like using a blue rocket again.Si Dieu vle, Adoration hopes to open it's doors on Monday to 120 students, 10 teachers, and one very excited director. There has been a lot of work going on on the property but there has also been a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Teachers and their fearless leader, Kim, have been hard at work the last couple of weeks getting ready for school to open on Monday morning. Everyone is excited about getting school open again and we pray that Adoration may be a place where, children and adults, voices and hands, may be used to praise and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. Please keep Adoration in prayer on Monday as there are quite a few kinks that will need to be worked out and it will be a flurry of excitement and busyness.
Below the teachers are organizing and preparing the books for each class.And the cooks have started work once again as well. They are LOVING their new kitchen, it's 20x better than the kitchen at the old school. Here they are making a sauce for rice out of a soup mix, compliments of Ontario Christian Gleaners.

And Maia giving the water filter a test run before we send it down to the school.

High Quality Videos...

These videos are NOT exceptional quality... but they'll give you a good idea of some fun things happening around the house :)

First off this little girl is starting to motor around the house

And giggles like a little girl

And... it's almost World Cup time, I would have never have known that except that we live in Haiti and soccer is HUGE here. There are three songs for world cup that are played ALL the time. Last night Maia, her daddy and her favourite guys had a little world cup dance.

Warning : This video is really bad quality (good thing the guys are wearing white or you wouldn't be able to see them!)

And, a picture of the dancers so you can see their faces!

Mesi Anpil!

The team has landed safely back in Canada but once again they left a big mark on the temporary location for Adoration Christian Center. Thank you Dave, Dave, Howard, Harry, Rick, and Marty for giving of your time and gifts. We pray that you were blessed as much as you blessed the rest of us. Thank you also to your families, wives, and children for sharing you for 10 days.
We've got some pics here to keep you updated on things
Below is the finished medical clinic on the left and Pastor and School Directors office on the right. The team also put in desks and cupboards in both of these buildings.
The kitchen on the left with it's beautiful shade as well as the property supervisors houses on the right.Painting the medical clinic

Harry cutting the wood just so

Kim and Samuel Paintin it up inside the offices

Putting in the water towerMaia checking to see that the ground in the medical clinic was level enough to start cementingStudents of Adoration helping out with the paintingThe Team (missing Kim & Rick)
"Mom, I didn't just put a whole mouthful of gravel in my mouth I promise!"

Fête du Drapeau

Happy Flag day everyone! Today is a holiday in Haiti as they celebrate the birthday of their flag. Here Maia is showing off her patriotism to her "home"countryThings at the temporary location are continuing to take form. Unfortunately the backhoe still hasn't arrived but the team is still making good use of their time finishing off a lot of little odds and ends. Today they worked on tables and benches, cementing the clinic floor, painting blackboards, welding up the water holder, and organizing the tool room... the job list never seems to get shorter!

Yours truly actually did a little bit of work today and I've got a photo to prove it!
Building benches

Rick and Howard working on the cement floor in the medical clinic

Welding up the water tank holder

These are from the last few days... Dave working on some shelves with JeanTiChurch leadership meetingProud of a job well done... not sure if the walls are straight but I'm sure they fixed it up :)

And check out this tool room. Randy LOVES it, thanks Rick & Marty!

Weekend

Things just keep on trucking along. On Saturday morning the team went to the property and worked for half the day, unfortunately I have no pictures of that but rest assured I am confident that they worked hard. In the afternoon we then went up the mountain to Fort Jacques to enjoy some spectacular views, some good food, some souvenir shopping as well as visit the historic Fort Jacques. This was my first time being to Fort Jacques since the earthquake... there has been a lot of damage and it's sad to see a piece of their history in ruins. The gatekeeper at the fort assured me that they are going to restore it so we shall wait and see.

While up the mountain Maia got to visit the little zoo that they have up there. She loves seeing the bunnies, the monkey and the ducks and is constantly busy dancing and yelling at them from the fence.

On Sunday morning we enjoyed a beautiful time of worship at 1ere L'Eglise Presbyterian de Port au Prince. After church the team headed downtown to see the palace and once they returned it was game time. The Haitian guys living at our house challenged the team to a Haiti vs Canada basketball game. Haiti won fair and square two games to one, but it was a good effort put forth by Canada :)
Heading to "the" gameThe cheerleaders

Wow! Look at that white guy jump! We have a few specific things that we ask that you to pray for:

1. A backhoe... we really need to put the septic in so that we can get school up and running. The backhoe was supposed to come on Friday but it broke down, until this backhoe comes we can't put the septic in and we can't level the land, please pray!

2. That our vehicles may work! We are always having vehicle problems... right now our truck is causing us some grief (I know Pete you don't think it's a truck but it's all we've got!) We need it right now to transport materials as well as pick up some things that we have salvaged from the old Adoration and bring it to the new Adoration.

Thanks for keeping those two specifics for us in prayer

Work, work and more work

And the work continues....
Dave hard at work in the medical clinic

Rick... doing something with some kind of tool... Check out that medical clinic on the left!

Marty welding up a thingymajigi for the water tanks to sit on

Check out those muscles! Dave, Howard and Harry working on the shade in the kitchen

Maia getting her tools ready for another day at work
Below is a special picture with Pastor Marcelin who came to visit us yesterday. Pastor Marcelin is Samuel Marcelin's Dad, Samuel was our grade two teacher at Adoration but on January 12th the Lord decided to take him into glory. It has been a tough time for Samuel's family as they mourn and grieve his passing amidst the other destruction in their lives that happened on January 12th. Please continue to pray with us for Samuel's family that the Lord would provide healing, comfort and hope during a very difficult and hopeless time.

Beauty

First off check out this beautiful view that we are blessed to enjoy from the new property. When it's clear, like it has been the last couple of days, the mountains are beautiful!Yesterday I had a meeting with our secondary students who the organization sponsors. It was good to see a lot of them again and especially good to see a lot of them in uniform. We had a little rendez-vous to encourage them to start attending school as well as let them know that Adoration, Lord willing, will be starting soon which means they need to come and help clean and that, Lord willing, Bible study will also be starting up again next week. We are SO thankful that plans are being made for programs to once again start up. Exciting times!And joining us this week from Ontario we have Dave, Dave, Harry, Rick, Marty and Howard. These guys have volunteered (on VERY short notice) to come down and help out with the temporary property. We are hoping and praying that once they are finished their time here the property will be functional so that Adoration can once again start it's programs.
Here's some pictures of what they've started working on.Below is the new home to the medical clinicThese guys are working on building a retaining wall in the middle of the property so that we can work on getting it leveled so we can play soccer!Check out that nice railing...

Supervisor Maia