Day 4

Day 4 of the same hairstyle... still cute or what?

Barrage Hydroélectrique du Péligre

School was closed last week.  The beginning of the week was carnival, Thursday was a teacher's workshop on teaching Bible and Friday was...
a STAFF OUTING to the dam in Péligre, just outside of Mirebalais.
It was really interesting seeing the dam, checking out the turbines up close and going into the control room - seeing the switch that gives Port au Prince power!  The staff loved the outing, there was some amazing beauty on the way and at the dam.  Our tour guide was fantastic, very knowledgable and informative.  Having a tour in Haiti was extremely interesting.  (I think the recreational safety boards would have had a heart attack if they saw what they showed us during the tour - access to the control rooms, standing beside an active turbine with no rails or protection etc.)  And it was fun to hang out with the staff outside of school.

For those who are interested here is some info on the dam (stolen from wikipedia) :

• The largest hydroelectric dam on the island of hispanolia
• The dam was created as a flood-control and an energy-providing measure in the Artibonite river valley as part of the Artibonite Valley Agricultural Project in the 1930s.
• The dam was completed in 1956
• The Peligre Hydroelectric Plant and its consequent operation was completed in 1971.
• The plant situated on the dam provides the country with most of its needed electricity.
• Recently a rapid rate of silt deposition has occurred in the Peligre Reservoir reducing the energy producing capability of the reservoir. (due to deforestation)
• The power plant, though needed, has fallen into near disrepair.
• The EDH (Électricité d'Haïti), Haiti's federal electricity supplier, has done relatively little to restructure the plant.

Heading down to the dam

Barrage hydroélectrique

Our tour guide explaining how it all works

The structure that made the concrete some 50+ years ago

Beauty

Group shot

Mesi Anpil!

Gary, Andrew, Kevin, Gary, Shane, Dave, James and Dan, thank you for your time spent at Adoration Christian Centre.  You were each a valuable team player and we are thankful for the skills and talents that you brought to the table.  Thank you for your patience with us and for being able to go with the flow here in Haiti.  Thank you for your dedication to training and mentoring a few of our students so that they were able to learn and succeed at a skill.  Thank you to your wives and children for supporting you, encouraging you and allowing you to spend 10 days away from them, we appreciate it.  And thank you for your prayers and encouragement for the work of Adoration. 
I missed out on the pictures for the last few days the team was here so check out Cornelius and Mindy's blog for pictures.

Men on a Mission on Monday Morning

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Proof

The team was hard at work again today at Adoration.  They passed along some pictures to prove it.

check out that new storage depot for food supplies!

Revamped classroom dividers

Dave redid the frame for the office door

Kevin and Samuel putting together the shelves

Some of the boys working on the front gate

brotherly love

Heart Knowledge

"I have hidden your word in my heart"  Ps 119:11a



Students reciting their memory verses



Construction Team

The construction team and their 700+lbs of luggage have arrived safely in Haiti.  They arrived yesterday for a 10 day stay and will be busy at Adoration doing a bunch of different projects around the centre.  They started off strong today setting the bar high, hopefully their momentum keeps up!  While working on the different projects they will also be teaching, training and mentoring some young Haitian men who work for Adoration or are connected to the programs in some way. 

We are very thankful for these men and the skills and talents they bring to the table and we are praying a special prayer of blessing over them as they serve these next 10 days, and over their families as they are apart one from the other.

Thank you to all those who donated supplies and tools!

Gary Aikema working alongside Franklin and Daniel

Andrew and Dan cutting their steel for the playground
with a small audience in the background

pre-requisite

You would think being cute is a pre-requisite to being in Adoration's program

because these kids are so adorable!

Valentine's Day!

Maia and Levi and I got to spend yesterday, Valentine's Day at Lucas's house.  Check out Britt's blog for some cute pictures of Maia and Levi with a few of their friends!
Happy Valentine's Day!

You know you live in Haiti when...

You know you live in Haiti when directions to get to your friend's place looks like this...
when coming down the road continue straight thru. we are before the next light...so if you reach it you're a little too far. you'll turn right on the road right before the depot it's after you go around a little curve, and at the start of the next curve. turn right here, we are the 9th gate on the left. (it's a dead end street).

Bible Month

The month of February is Bible month at Adoration Christian School.

Check out the Adoration Blog  to see the great bible activities the school is participating in this month!

Kiddos

Thought it was about time for a little update on Maia and Levi.  Levi is walking!  He started walking about a month ago and now there is no going back.  Besides walking he loves exploring, he spends hours outside exploring the yard, playing with the dogs and sitting in the dogs water bowl... hours of entertainment for him in the yard!  And Maia is growing.  She is super funny and such a joy to be around.  She talks, and talks and talks about anything and everything and you have to acknowledge everything she says.  She loves going to the park and swinging higher than the cows - I don't think many people see cows when they go to the park but we have a nice family of cows that hang out by the park so we try to swing higher than them.

We have a million and one great pictures of them but I thought I'd just entertain you with a few of my favourites. 



Levi hanging out with droppie



Christmas hugs



Hanging out with the plungers and Lucas at One Stop in her princess dress!



Levi's favourite spot to hang out in the kitchen

flying with daddy



Cool girl on the way to church



colouring pictures for cousins and grandparents