The Joy of the Lord is our strength!

Christmas Program

2012-01-19T13:24:00.001-05:00

On December 22 the school had it's Christmas program. The teachers did a great job decorating under the tent for the occasion and Wislande (Gr 1 teacher) and Roodvens (Gr 3 teacher) were the MC's for the morning. They had the crowd clapping, laughing and singing. Each of the classes presented a short presentation, most of them a song, the younger classes had cute little actions with the song that half of the class did, while the other half looked at them. And after the presentations were over awards and report cards were given out as Christmas is also the end of the first controle (there are 3 controles in a year)

Wislande MCing the program

It was a full house!

Emmanuel serenading us with the recorder

Kindergarten II singing a Christmas carol

The Grade 2 class singing a Christmas carol

Alix presenting Hermite with her award

Posing with the plaque we received from the staff

At the end of the program the staff surprised us by giving us a plaque for our dedication to education in the community. It was a really sweet gesture. We are far from experts in education and we have made a lot of mistakes in the past and will continue to do so in the future. AND the only reason we have a good education program is because we have a GREAT staff who is dedicated to their students and community... we should really be giving them all a plaque. We are, however, thankful for the community where the Lord has placed Adoration and pray that the Adoration can continue to be a community project and that through it Jesus Christ may be worshiped and adored.

Staff Pictures

2012-01-12T12:05:00.000-05:00

Adoration Christian Centre Staff 2011-2012

the WHOLE staff, Directors, teachers, asssistants, property supervisors,
disaster relief staff, gatekeeper, runner (missing the cooks)

Adoration Christian School Teachers

"the Guys"
Cadeau, Yder, Randy, Cornelius, Samuel

And, we'll just sneak a Family Picture in here too

Staff Par-T

2012-01-12T11:56:00.001-05:00

Our annual staff party was held the weekend before Christmas. It was GREAT having all the staff and their families together for some games and food. We had 64 people all together laughing, eating, talking, giggling and a few little ones crying...

It is always such a joy to see our staff members with their families. It's always a good reminder too that some of them have a lot of responsibility outside of the school as well. Seeing them helping their wives and their love and devotion for their children brings a smile to my heart and knowing that they are providing for their family because they have a job through Adoraiton makes me thankful for Adoration and the opportunities it is giving to the community.
There were some great pictures from the day, I've just chosen a few to show you the yummy food, the intense games and the good fellowship that was enjoyed that afternoon.

One, very intense, bocce game

Mindy with Maman Manise's little baby girl

The party wouldn't have been success if it wasn't for Rolland and his wife
and friend who prepared us some amazing Hatian food!

Eating up all that yummy food!

Women's Bible Study

2012-01-12T11:47:00.000-05:00

Tuesday afternoons are spent worshipping with my Haitian sisters in the Lord. One of the things that we have been doing lately is what they call an "action", we visit a different ladies home every week and spend time in worship, praying for that household and encouraging that sister in the Lord. In December is was our turn to host, it was a beautiful time of worship, fellowship and was truly encouraging as they lifted our family and our home up in prayer. Love these ladies and their hearts for the Lord!

Month of Prayer

2012-01-10T15:01:00.002-05:00

December was a month of prayer and fasting at the school. Throughout the month we, as well as our staff, took different opportunities to pray for different needs of the centre, the school, fellow staff members and the students. Some of the things that we did throughout the month included morning prayer services held at 6 every morning with short devotionals, each class made a poster of prayer requests, a topic was chosen every day for the school to be praying for, time was spent in the classrooms praying over the teachers, time was spent praying for each student by name, etc. It was a really encouraging month and we saw answered prayers and people being encouraged by the Word of the Lord.
We have some BIG things at Adoration that continously need prayer and so the month of December was a time to once again lay them before the throne of God ... but even though December is over we are still laying them down.
Some of the BIG things that we are praying for and we'd love for you to join us in praying for are:

Land for the organization
Registration of Adoration Christian School
Registration of Adoration Christian Centre

"Pandan n'ap fè tou sa, pa jamn bliye lapriyè. Mande Bondye konkou li. Lapriyè nan tout sikonstans avèk pouvwa Sentespri a. Se poutèt sa, pa kite dòmi pran nou, kenbe fèm nan sa n'ap fè a. Lapriyè pou tout pèp Bondye a" Efiz 6:18

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints." Eph 6:18

Barahona

2012-01-04T12:09:00.001-05:00

Shortly after we got back from Canada, 2 days later, we were able to head to the Dominican Republic for a spiritual retreat along with staff from both the Dominican and Haiti CRC offices. The people who work for the CRC office in Haiti are kind of like family to us in Haiti, we love them dearly and are very thankful that they allow us to tag along to different events, this spritual retreat being one of them. This weekend was hugely needed for Randy and I. We slept a lot, worshiped, fellowshipped, dug into the Word, were challenged, encouraged, cried, and laughed. One of the exercises we did during one of the sessions was extremely tough but good and the result of the exercise really allowed us to clearly see how the Lord has carried us through the years and how He is Faithful! It was a good reminder for us. God is good.

I had a few more pictures picked out but our internet is going really slow... I've been uploading these pictures for three days! So 3 pictures will have to suffice

The group spending time in worship

Randy and Levi spending some time on the beach

Maia loving the pool!

Playing Catch Up

2011-12-12T15:12:00.001-05:00

So... the blog has been silent for a little bit. I've had good intentions of updating it but it just always got put to the bottom of the to do list. Well today is the day of doing the stuff on the bottom of the list, it's been sitting there for two months time to get it done! So here we go...

In October and a good part of November we were able to spend some time in Canada. Word and Deed has speaking tours every fall and they choose one of their projects to be the keynote speakers at the dinner. This year the project was Adoration Christian Centre and so Randy and myself did some of the dinners while Kim did the others. And since we were in Canada we got to enjoy time some special time with friends and family.

Maia hanging out by the pool with Jacoba and Allie

Levi's 1st Birthday! He's not sure what to think of the sparkler

Photo Op with Grandma and Grampa

My sister Nicole and I after we finished our 5K race in support of Edu Deo Ministries

Playing Play-dough with Lean in Ottawa

Enjoying the green gass with cousins Caleb and Logan

Princess Snowhite with Oma

Reading the safety instructions, in case of emergency....

Thank you to all those who helped make our trip enjoyable. We did a whirlwind dinner tour on the West Coast and a lot of different people helped to accomodate us and give us a vehicle, Thank You! Also thanks to Grandma and Grampa and Oma and Opa and Aunt Cole for looking after our kiddos while we traveled around, you guys are the bestest! And thanks to all those who attended the dinners and encouraged us in our work as well as assured us of your prayers for ourselves as well as the whole organzation, we appreciate you!

www.ADORATION.net

2011-10-25T17:24:00.000-04:00

Adoration recently had a facelift in the PR department. Our new website just recently went live on the worldwideweb, check it out at http://www.adoration.net/.
Also check out Adoration Christian Centre on Facebook and please "like" us.

First day of school... three weeks ago!

2011-10-25T16:42:00.000-04:00

sorry, this is very, very, very late post! I had the blog post done a couple days after school started but of course my internet crashed before I posted... I know excuses, excuses. Better late than never, right?
The first day of school, three weeks ago!, was once again a reminder of why we are here doing what we are doing. Seeing the students eagerly awaiting for school to start and seeing the teachers preparing and welcoming the teachers always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I love the first day of school. There is so much excitement for the coming year. We at Adoration are excited to see what the Lord has in store for this coming year... "There is no one like our God! Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city" (Chris Tomlin - God of This City)
Enjoy the pictures!

One of our Sponsor students, Denalie, his mother has set up a
pate (yummy deep fried treats) stand outside the gate

The Grade 6 boys trying to not look too excited for the first day of school

Adoration staff gearing up for the first day of school
and laying it all before the Lord in prayer

Randy leading the school in devotions
"I can do all things through Him who gives me strength"

Levi's first day of school!

Maia enjoying the first day of school

One Stop Market

2011-09-19T18:06:00.002-04:00

If you visited us here in Haiti before the earthquake chances are that you've heard of, or been to, the OneStop Market. One Stop, like many buildings, crumbled to the ground on January 12. When Randy drove by One Stop the day after the earthquake he was pretty conviced that no one had stepped out of the bottom floor alive, people on the street told him otherwise. God was merciful and had spared everyone inside.

This past week was again a reminder of God's faithfulness.

Tarek, a good friend of ours (because we can beat him in Settlers and Farkle!)and his Uncle had the grand opening of their new store, One Stop Market. It's in a new location and it's a totally different store but the management is the same.

Tarek and Trisha, we are so thankful to have been able to celebrate One Stop's Grand Opening with you and we pray that the One Stop Market may be used for His Glory here in Haiti.

Entrance to the New One Stop

First time entering!

Tarek and his beautiful wife Trisha

Levi perusing the One Stop Aisles

A basket full of Levi

Poko

2011-09-19T16:52:00.004-04:00

Adoration is almost ready to start the 2011-2012 school year... all we are waiting for is the government!

The first day of school was supposed to be in September but unfortunately the Ministry of Education announced late in August that the first day of school won't be until October 3rd. Since we are a Haitian school and we try to follow the Ministry of Education's school calendar we are waiting till October 3.

I won't get into all the reasons as to why this is frustrating but instead we'll focus on the positive, the extra time it gives our teachers for planning and decorating their classrooms....

Annelle (Special Ed Teacher) preparing decorations for her classroom

Ilda (Special Ed Assistant) making an Alphabet board

Node (Kindergarten II) and Ketie (Kindergarte II assistant) preparing lesson plans

NB We do have male teachers but they somehow didn't make it on the camera the day I took these pictures!

Belladere

2011-09-17T21:35:00.001-04:00

A little over a week and a half ago we dropped the Broersma family off in Belladere. Cornelius, Mindy and Chloe will be spending three weeks in the countryside immersing themselves in Creole as well as seeing life in the countryside. It's quite a bit different from city living but really good to get a taste seeing as most of our students have either spent time in the countryside or their famiy is still in the countryside.

We haven't heard much from Cornelius and Mindy but we do know that they are surviving :) they've gotten a little bit of city power and they are trying to soak in as much Creole as they can. I'm sure they will update you more on their blog when they get back in a week and a half.

We took the whole family along to drop them off. It's about a three hour drive North-East of Port au Prince. We really wanted to take our children with us because Randy and I also spent three weeks out in Belladere three years ago. We were one month pregnant with Maia and we hadn't been back since then, so we thought it was a good opportunity to introduce our children to some of our friends out there. They got lots of attention!

Levi soaking in all the attention

Guilene is a member of the Christian Reformed Church out in Belladere,
she is Cornelius and Mindy's host for the next three weeks.

Chloe sharing her toys with the rest of the children

The house where Cornelius, Mindy and Chloe are staying

Please keep Cornelius and Mindy, Chloe in prayer as the countryside can be challenging, fun, exhausting, hot, lonely, exciting and tiring all rolled into one. Pray that their Creole learning goes well and that they are able to sit back, relax and enjoy this time.

Two Man Team

2011-09-07T20:17:00.001-04:00

Although Curtis and Andre have been gone now for almost a week, we still need to do blog justice to the time they spent here and the work that they did. They joined us for 10 vigorous days of work. Building, degajing, and building some more. They tiled, built tables, joked, put in a handwashing station, storage depots, joked some more, painted, built a new sun-roof, hung up soccer mesh, and drilled, astaught and mentored some young Haitian men. Thank you two very much for all of your hard work and for getting so close to completing the never ending job list (not sure if it's ever possible to complete :)

Curtis tiling the front entry

Yder helping with the building

Andre, Cadeau and Dendy drilling to put in piping

This may not mean anything to you... but to us she's a beaut!

Supervisors, Maia & Chloe, checking out the handwashing station

Even Cornelius got his hands dirty a day or two... hee, hee

Football Finals

2011-08-22T16:07:00.007-04:00

Friday was not only the last day for the seminars but it was also game day. The Football tournament had it's final game on Friday afternoon. Both teams showed up in fine form and it was an exciting game but unfortunately the white team took home the gold. Good job guys!
The pre-game photo op with both teams and Randy

Handing out the silver medals to the red teamProudly displaying their gold and silver medals

Teacher Training Seminars. Done.

2011-08-22T14:34:00.004-04:00

The Teacher Training Seminars have come to an end. Once again all the teachers did a fabulous job and all walked away from the week having learned a lot and having been encouraged by their fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Thank you Al, Theresa and Julie (and your spouses for letting you come!) You guys did a fabulous job and we are thankful for your wisdom and creativitiy that you shared with us. And thank you Adoration staff for coming, participating and encouraging the Canadian teachers in the gifts and talents that they shared with us.And you would never guess but Julie turned....70 while she was with us! Happy Birthday Julie! Thanks for letting us celebrate it with you. We pray for the Lord's continued blessings over you this coming year.

At the closing ceremonies all teachers, Canadian and Haitian, were presented with certificates. After the certificates were given out the Adoration staff presented a smallish gift to the Canadian teachers thanking them for their hard work and making sure they never forget them.

Group Shot!

Thanks for keeping the seminars in your prayers. They were truly a blessing and it's great to start the school year off with some great memories, time spent in the Word, and being encouraged in the work of Adoration Christian School.

Vacation Bible School

2011-08-16T08:07:00.003-04:00

Well the teacher seminars are going on upstairs there is a lot of laughing, singing and hollering coming from downstairs from the Vacation Bible School being organized by the church. The kids were having a great time yesterday singing and laughing and playing games. It's so encouraging to see different members of the church using their talents to serve the children in the community. And to see so many of the children from the community having fun together and learning about Jesus. What a special time!

Madame Delfils is organizing the VBS but I think she is also having the most fun!

Maia and I sitting in on some of the activitiesLunch Time!

Teacher Seminars

2011-08-16T07:14:00.004-04:00

This week is Teacher Seminars. Julie, Theresa and Al have joined us from Canada to lead our teachers in a week long teacher training seminar. Yesterday was the first day of seminars and both teachers did a fabulous job. Pastor Octavius is helping bring out the concepts and ideas by translating for the teachers so that there is some mutual understanding:)
Our prayer for this week is that it may be filled with much learning, encouraging, bonding, laughing, praying and singing.
Pasté Octavius translating for Theresa during her lessonAl and Julie with Pasté OctaviusAbner sharing his self-portraitEvenz strategizing his bingo gameMaia taking advantage of the seminars

Football

2011-08-15T16:45:00.005-04:00

Cadeau, Samuel, and Yder, with a little help from Randy and Cornelius, are running a three week soccer/football (depends which country you are from!) tournament for the community. One things Haitians are serious about is their football. There are 12 teams in the tournament and four times a week there are three 40 minute games with lots of fans from the community to cheer them on. Enjoy the pictures!
Match de football

The fans

The team with the white guys

The jerseys... Thank you to the St. Catherine's Jets for your very generous donation!

Watching football with Daddy

Bienveni!

2011-08-15T16:21:00.002-04:00

At the end of July we had to say farewell to Kim as she felt the Lord leading her back to Toronto. But because Kim did a ton of work for the organization we needed to hire two replacements for her...hee, hee. All joking aside, Cornelius and Mindy Broersma and their beautiful daughter Chloe have joined us at Adoration Christian Centre. We are excited for the many gifts and talents that Cornelius and Mindy bring to the table and how the Lord will use them at Adoration Christian Centre as we, as an organization, continually seek to support the local Haitian church in alleviating poverty by enriching the community through quality Christian education. Cornelius and Mindy and Chloe have been with us for two weeks and Maia and Chloe are already best friends and worst enemies :) Maia goes to bed talking about Chloe and wakes up in the morning asking for Chloe.
Corn and Mind it's great to have you here and we pray for a blessing over your family as you have entered into a time of lots of unknowns, lots of firsts, a steep learning curve, and a beautiful culture with some amazing people. May your love for the Lord grow as you serve him here in Port au Prince. Looking forward to working with yous and seeing the ways in which the Lord uses you through Adoration.

Canada

2011-08-08T14:41:00.007-04:00

On Vacation...
We had a very relaxing time, spending most of it with our families. We stayed in Ontario for half of it and for the other half we relaxed on the beautiful West Coast with Ryan and Ruth and their two boys. Both places were relaxing and refreshing. It was good to see brothers, brother-in-laws, sisters, sister-in-laws, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Maia especially enjoyed time spent with all her crazy cousins. We also enjoyed the beauty of creation and the beauty of having a park just around the corner with a splash pad and an Aunt Cole who took Maia there whenever her little heart desired. And Levi, well he was just along for the ride, anywhere we took him he was happy :)
Here are some of our favourite pictures...
Catching a midafternoon snooze with cousin Matthew Tea Party

Watching Diego with Cousin Caleb

Story time with Aunt Cole

Wagon ride at Uncle Greg and Aunt Jolene's

Strolling the streets with cousin Alyssa

Hanging out with Leah and Caleb

Bath Time!

Cheese!

Chillaxing on the beach with Alyssa and Robyn

Levi and Sammy watching the sunset

And now we are back at home in Haiti (we've been back for over two weeks already... a little slow on the blog update!) It feels good to be home again. We feel refreshed and rejuvenated, ready to see how the Lord is going to work in this next year within our hearts, our family, Adoration, and Haiti.

Nou Pral Sonje Ou

2011-08-08T09:09:00.004-04:00

Before we left for vacation...
We were able to have a going away party for Kim. It was supposed to be a surprise but Kim pretty much figured it out that morning, it's hard to get anything past her :) But even though the surprise was spoiled the party was a great time to reflect on the past two years and how Kim has blessed each and every one of us with her different talents, gifts and great personality. Kim you are missed and loved. Thank you so much for all of your hard work, sweat, tears, and prayers that you have poured into Adoration. As you go from here we pray for the Lord's continued blessing on you as you head back to Toronto and all the different parts of your life there.
Alix welcoming Kim to her party Spending time in prayer - thankful for the blessings of the last two years and praying for a blessing over Kim in the year to come.

The teachers from Adoration presented Kim with a plaque. This way she will never forget us at Adoration.

Pretty self explanatory... We Love Kim

Enjoying a sweet time of fellowship

Nou Pral sonje ou Kim!

Graduation

2011-08-04T16:15:00.004-04:00

While we were on vacation....
Adoration Christian School celebrated it's first ever graduation. Check out Kim's blog post for pictures. Click Here.
God is good!

Emily

2011-08-04T11:07:00.002-04:00

I know we've got a lot of blogging to catch up on ... hopefully one day soon.
This morning we are asking for prayers for Haiti as tropical storm Emily is upon us and she is fierce and strong. She's expected to hit in full force later this morning/early afternoon. Pray for those in tents and temporary make shift shelters as the winds can rock them pretty hard. And pray that Emily passes quickly.
Thanks for praying with us!

School is out for the Summer!

2011-06-17T16:20:00.003-04:00

Textbooks have been collected, uniforms worn for the last time, exams finished and waiting to be marked... school is out for the summer! Adoration Christian School is done it's classes and exams and the students were excited to be done today! Although the work isn't done for the teachers, they still have a week of marking, report cards and clean up, the students are finished today. There will be a graduation program at the end of next week to officially end the school year but students are done studying, done exams and done with homework. I shouldn't say all students though, the Grade 6 class has their government exam next week Tueday and Wednesday. These are big exams for the Grade 6 class and they have spent the majority of the year preparing and studying for this exam, we'll be keeping them in prayer! waiting for the final bell to ring...

The Grade 6 class preparing for the graduation ceremony. As long as their pass their government exam they will no longer be students of Adoration Christian School but Adoration will continue to sponsor them through High School as long as they meet the requirements.

Maia enjoyed the last day of school as well playing with some of her friends,

And finishing off all of her school work!

Class Trip

2011-06-15T16:04:00.002-04:00

A little over a week ago Randy, Alix (School director) and Evenz (Grade 6 teacher) took the grade six students on a class trip. They went downtown to see That's the National History Museum downtown Port au Prince. The students got to have a tour of the Musuem and see different artifacts of Haitian History. After their tour of the museum the spent some time walking around the five parks downtown which are dedicated to the five heroes of their history.

Fun at Home!

2011-05-31T15:25:00.004-04:00

*Special Post for Grandparents*
Here are some pictures of Maia and Levi from the last month having some fun at home! Both are doing really well. Maia's new favourite is puzzles, she loves to spend time with Mommy or Daddy on the mats working on her puzzles. She also loves to tell stories, her vocabulary is very limited but that doesn't hinder her from babbling and acting out her tales. Levi is sitting and doing the army crawl. He just recently started eating baby food and would probably eat the spoon if we let him he loves eating so much. Enjoy the Pictures!
Heading out for a walk... hee, hee

Cuddle time on the couch

Daddy and Levi

This one is for Aunt Cole!

Riding Polo around the house

Flag Day

2011-05-31T15:12:00.002-04:00

May 18 is a holiday here in Haiti in which they celebrate flag day, the day the took the white out of the French flag and created the Haitian flag. The day before at the school staff and students celebrated with a fun program doing a little March arount the courtyard with their Haitian flags as well as other fun activities with the students body. Unfortunately we missed the festivities at the school but Levi had his own little celebration at home with his Haitian flag however we put on the Canadian bib so he wasn't confused as to what nationality he is!

Teacher Appreciation Day

2011-05-20T16:54:00.002-04:00

May 17 was teacher appreciation day in Haiti and since we appreciate our teachers immensely we had a little party to celebrate them! Pizza, pop and fellowship, it doesn't really get much better than that. Cheers to a dedicated and committed staff who we love!

Maia's Birthday Party!

2011-05-20T16:00:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago... sorry I'm playing catch up... Maia had some friends over to celebrate her birthday!
Enjoy the pics from her 2nd birthday
Eating supper with friends...

Singing Happy BirthdayEnjoying the cake... while at least the icing on the cake!Ana Leah and Maia's after party with Dora

Birthday Girl!

2011-05-11T22:14:00.000-04:00

Two years ago today the Lord blessed us with a precious gift. We treasure our little girl, Maia Joy, and daily thank the Lord for her.

Maia, we love you and we pray that this next year as you soak up the wonders of this world that your little mind will more and more come to realize what an awesome God you have and his deep deep love for you. Holding you in prayer sweet one.

More Clinic Days

2011-05-11T21:49:00.000-04:00

The team has been travelling around Port au Prince a bit doing clinics in a variety of places. Each place has it's joys and it's challenges and the team continues to provice some medical relief to individuals as well as be an encouragement where they set up clinic. Enjoy a few of the pictures from the last couple of days.
Erica seeing patients
Esther and Martine, the Haitian nurses that assist Dr. Ed

Greg assisting Dr. Ed with a minor surgery... I don't think many operating rooms have a view like that!The beautiful pharmacy gals, Nicole and Erica Grace filling out a prescription

Karon assessing her patient

Medical Team

2011-05-09T12:14:00.006-04:00

A Medical Team has been here for almost a week now... sorry for the belated posting, our internet has been very temperamental lately! Here are a few pictures from their first couple days of clinic at Adoration and a church close to Citi Militaire. The team has been a huge encouragment and blessing to the communities in which they are serving.
Enjoy the pictures!
Dr. Ed and Greg at Registration
Neal with his patient

Helen explaning the medications to a mother and her child

Bernice (aka Beatrice) registering a patient

Neal and Grace consulting together

On the weekend we got to do some sightseeing. We headed downtown to the palace and then up the mountain to The Baptist Mission.

Maia at the "zoo" and loving it!

Levi sporting his pink pants, he's the only man I know who looks good in pink!

The Lost Month of April

2011-04-26T14:35:00.009-04:00

Well I just realized that April is pretty much missing from our blog... so this is one LONG post to get you all caught up and ready for May.
This may not be in chronological order but...
we enjoyed the orchid extravaganza (Ian & Nad next time you need to come for this event!) The location was beautiful, the orchids were amazing, the colours were stunning and it was a really nice day out.

That same day we went to a friends house and celebrated her 1st birthday with a pool party! Lots of Maia and Levi's little friends were there so it was fun to watch them "swim" and have a good time together.

Levi and Julianna haning out in the car seat section

Maia swimming with Esther and friends

Adoration Christian School finished up it's second of three controles. We had a program for the parents with awards given out to the top achievers in each class as well as students who always come to school and come on time! The program was well attended and students were eager to get their report cards having done a lot of class time, studying, homework and exams during this second controle. The school is now on the final stretch will school finishing off in the middle of June.

Randy hard at work collecting contact information from families

In between here we had two different visitors come in and join us for a couple days. Pastor Bernie from the PCA joined us for the weekend to visit Pastor Octavius and his family and after him Bernie Pennings from Word and Deed joined us for a visit to discuss the Adoration Project (which is now a project supervised by Word and Deed). Both visits were enjoyable with some intense conversations about the work that is being done here.
And then we celebrated Easter!
Friends of ours had an Easter get together for the kids. Maia had her first experience with painting Easter eggs... too bad she had those hard boiled eggs cracked, peeled and in her mouth before we could get them in the paint buckets!

The kids were told the Easter story using plastic eggs that each had something inside to remind them of a part of the Easter story.

Apparently our Easter weekend was so exhausting that not even Dora could keep Maia awake...

And to finish off the month we've just been doing the regular... eat, sleep and work.

Levi hanging out with big sister Maia

One Happy Little Man!

So... that catches you up on April, hopefully May gets a little bit more time and attention on the blog.

Martelly

2011-04-04T20:51:00.005-04:00

Preliminary Election Results are in and it looks like Martelly won with 67% of the vote. We could tell as soon as the announcement was made that the people were happy. There was a lot of yelling, music and victory gunshots in the streets. Keeping Haiti in prayer.

Opa & Oma!

2011-04-04T18:21:00.006-04:00

Opa and Oma were just here for a 10 day visit. During that time Maia and Levi got spoiled with LOTS of attention. Maia took full advantage of having Opa and Oma all to herself, just ask Opa how many times he had to read the same book! We enjoyed having my parents around as well, although we got our fair share of whoopings in Qwirkle at least we didn't miss the double Qwirkle for 26 points (Opa!) Thanks Mom and Dad for visiting, for being able to witness Levi's baptism, for taking us to the beach, for playing bocce and Qwirkle with us, for working at the school and for pruning all the trees in our yard!

When we were at the beach with Opa and Oma we saw Jim Carey! It's a little random piece of information but thought it was blogworthy :)

Levi's Baptism

2011-04-04T16:28:00.006-04:00

On Sunday March 27 Levi Casey was baptized! He was given the sign and seal that he is a covenant child of the Lord. It was a beautiful service because we could witness the baptism of our son but also the baptism of three other adults in our church who recently professed their faith. God is good! Enjoy the pictures from Levi's special day... The special cupcakes The three adults being baptizedPastor Ben praying for Levi after he was baptizedThe churchMaia and her friend JaydenOur blessed little family The after party... good food and good fellowship!And, one very serious game of bocce!

Mr. Levi

2011-03-24T15:13:00.002-04:00

Profession of Faith

2011-03-23T15:25:00.005-04:00

The church that we attend here in Port au Prince, L'Eglise Presbytérienne Réformée de Delmas, continues to grow in numbers. It's been an exciting time for our church. A couple of weeks ago they held interviews for people who wanted to become members and as a result of that a number of people came forward who wanted to publicly profess their faith. On Sunday, March 13 we were able to witness this beautiful event. It was an extra special service for us because Cadeau, Samuel and Yder were among those professing their faith. God is good!Pastor Ben and Pastor Octavius reading the formPastor Ocatavius and his father

Board Visit

2011-03-14T16:24:00.005-04:00

The last week has been pretty much chalked full with meetings. Carina, Hilary and Steve joined us for a week to discuss future plans of Adoration. It was a good time of reflection and planning. Steve's son Cam also joined us and took some great pictures while we were out and about. Please keep Haiti in your prayers this weekend as the elections are on Sunday and the rumour going around is that Aristide is on his way back to Haiti. Praying for peace.

Dancing Queen

2011-03-10T07:30:00.002-05:00

Thank You!

2011-03-02T18:40:00.003-05:00

Derek, Frank and Marc just flew out yesterday. Thank you guys very much for all the work you did at the centre. It was very much appreciated and will make life at the centre more organized and efficient. It was great having you and being able to share with you a little of our lives here in Haiti.
Enjoy the pictures of their last couple of days here.
Playing with the kids at recreation A must before you start the work day :)

At the lookout overlooking Port au Prince

Our beautiful new entry way to the church

Mesi Anpil!

Workaholics

2011-02-28T10:21:00.009-05:00

The guys arrived and have been working up a storm since the minute they stepped off the plane in Port au Prince. They have been busy building storage depots, shelves, shelves and more shelves. I think the last shelf they made took them 30 minutes flat. They are pros! Although now that I think of it it's probably because Samuel and Yder were helping them. Anyway needless to say they are working hard, giggling lots, getting to see a few of the sights in Port au Prince, and enjoying a lovely cold shower at the end of the day, right Derek?

Can't get much passed Supervisor Maia

Quality Control making sure every screw is tightLevi and his Daddy hanging out at the Baptist Mission on Saturday afternoon

My 3 Favourites

2011-02-21T14:06:00.004-05:00

A little of this and a little of that

2011-02-14T14:04:00.002-05:00

I mentioned in passing that the school was painted. This montrosity of a job was accomplished by two different teams. One was a small team that our friend Joanna brought in from Minneasota and the other was a huge team of 15 from somewhere in the USA, the leaders of the team are friends with Joanna and that is how we got hooked up. Thank you to both teams for beautifying our school and helping us out! I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture above but the school looks SO much better since it's been painted.
And since we're talking about teams, our next small team is flying in today. Frank, Derek and Marc are hopefully somewhere in the maze of airplanes and airports as I write this. They will be joining us for 9 days and doing a job list that is about four pages long... we're hoping they work hard and are optimistic :)
And below are two pictures of our little munchkins, just hanging out around the house. They are both doing really well. Maia is developing quite the personality. Although she doesn't talk much she understands EVERYTHING you say. And even with her pretty limited vocab will let you know EXACTLY what she wants. She's a lot of fun to hang out with and play with. And Little Levi is growing like a weed! He is just over three months and is a super happy, content little guy. He loves to hang out in his pack and play or his chair and as long as you give him a little bit of attention he smiles and flails his little arms and legs. It's been really fun watching Maia love on Levi with millions of kisses for him everyday.

Girlz Talk

2011-02-14T12:59:00.003-05:00

A while back a good friend of ours, Joanna Thiele, was in town with a small group from Minnesota. They worked on painting the inside of the school, which looks fabulous, and they also did a special talk for us. They took some time one afternoon to sit down with some of our teenage girls in the program and talk about bodily changes, sex, relationships, pressures of society, and their worth in God's eyes. It was much appreciated by the girls as most of them stated that they rarely get an opportunity to talk about this stuff and especially talk about this stuff with only girls around.

Our prayer is that these girls may flourish into beautiful educated young woman who desire to serve the Lord with their whole heart. They all have different stories, trials and burdens in their lives. Pray with us that they may know and grow in Jesus and feel His presence in their lives.

Games Day

2011-02-14T11:15:00.005-05:00

While Aunt Cole was here we organized a fun day for our staff. The benefits of having Aunt Cole here was definately her free babysitting and so we took advantage of that. We had a great time with our staff playing games, laughing, singing Happy Birthday, looking at old pictures, eating goodies, whipping balls at each other during dodge ball, showing Kim's hidden talent in the coke bottle game, a very competitive couple rounds of Bible Trivia, and, of course, an intense round of muscial chairs. It was a great day with some great people. Mezi Jezi.

Happy Birthday Cadeau!
The coke bottle game

Muscial Chairs

Bible Trivia

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T08:34:00.001-05:00

Jacmel

2011-02-11T13:24:00.006-05:00

I'm a little behind on the blogging BUT I have a good excuse. Nicole and Danielle just came for a visit. Danielle (Aunt Dell) was here for one week and Nicole (Aunt Cole) stayed with us for two weeks... yes Maia was spoiled!

The first weekend that they were both here we headed South of Port au Prince to Jacmel. We had a super relaxing weekend playing St. Petersburg, heading to Basin Blue, Playing in the pool, snoozing, eating fish, playing the animal game (fyi X - Xenopus, a frog), jumping in the waves, shopping in Jacmel, eating club sandwhiches and the list could go on but instead we'll just let you enjoy some pictures!

Nicole, Danielle and Randy at Basin Blue

Aunt Cole enjoying her fish
Maia, soaking up the sunrays

Aunt Dell posing for a picture

Maia having fun in the pool with daddy

Levi enjoying some cuddles with Aunt Cole

Maia and Levi enjoying the pool!

Par-T

2011-01-25T15:18:00.004-05:00

On Sunday we had a staff party at our place. All our staff were invited to join us for worship at Elgise Presbyterienne de Delmas and afterwards we headed to our place to enjoy food and fellowship. I think we all had a great time, at least that's what Reminais is saying in this photo.

All the kids

The guys enjoying some good eats

Lot's of food!

Maia and I ... all that good food and all Maia wants is a hotdog!

Photo Op

2011-01-21T09:03:00.004-05:00

Today was picture day at Adoration!
Enjoy the pictures of our awesome staff. These individuals put in a lot of time, sweat, tears, prayer, energy and love into the Adoration Christian Centre. We are truly thankful and blessed for each of their parts in Adoration. They all have different talents and gifts and together we make a great team. We pray that through all of our staffs' efforts the Lord may be worshipped and Adored.
The teachers at Adoration Christian School Randy and the "guys"
The Staff - teachers, directors, gatekeeper, Property Supervisor, security guys and two little white babies.

Visiting

2011-01-20T12:50:00.004-05:00

Last week we had the privilege of going to visit Reminais and his family. Reminais is the Grade 4 teacher at Adoration Christian School and him and his wife were recently blessed with a healthy baby girl, Christina. She is looking really healthy and has a beautiful head of hair! It was a blessing to be able to spend some time visiting with Reminais and have the opportunity to meet his wife and three beautiful children.

Maia had a good time visiting, it took a while for her to warm up to the other children but once they showed her some of their toys and started running around outside she was right in there with them. She even got so bold as to give out kisses on the lips to the little boys. I guess we'd better keep a closer eye on her!

And Levi got lots of attention but, as always, was oblivious to it as he slept the visit away in his car seat.

January 12, 2011

2011-01-12T14:38:00.002-05:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of the earthquake.
A day that we will never forget.
A day that is filled with many emotions.
A day that we grieve the lives that were lost.
A day that we thank God for the grace he gave to us.
Today, as we reflect, it is amazingly clear that we serve a Faithful God.

"Thank you Jesus for your gift of salvation, for your love and your peace. May the Nation of Haiti rest in that peace today as they grieve and mourn lives lost and as they say mezi Jezi for your grace in their lives. May you continue to bring healing and hope in Jesus Christ."

Looking Good

2011-01-11T14:41:00.005-05:00

Since Kim did such a fabulous job blogging about the beautification of the school I'm just going to send you over to her blog to view the pictures. Saves me about four hours of trying to download pictures with my ever so slow internet!

School Days

2011-01-10T12:45:00.009-05:00

Today Maia, Levi and I were able to spend a bit of time at the school. Since we don't get down to the school too often it's always special for us to see everyone. Met Alix and some of the students striking a pose for us.
Hanging out at recreation Dr. Ed had some visitors with him today, one of them was a physiotherapist who did some work with some of our students from the special education class.

Randy multitasking, holding Levi and talking, now that is a talented daddy!Gotta love em!

Maia spending precious time with Tante Kim

This isn't the greatest picture but it's the only one I have. The school got repainted last week, it looks 30x better than it did before! Now we have the artists in putting the logo on the front so people know who we are, hopefully the finished product adds to the fabulosity of the building.

Not enough...

2011-01-07T14:30:00.005-05:00

There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to do things besides changing diapers, feeding little mouths, bathing, playing, cleaning up , etc. And so the blog definately falls to the wayside. I had good intentions about blogging about the last day of school, the Christmas program, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, the gazebo, first day of school, painting the school, visiting Maman Manise, Levi's first smile, Maia's overflowing affection for Levi, the beautiful weather we are having, Levi sleeping longer hours at night, Maia happy again, The Reformed church of Delmas, visits from old friends. But this little list of things is going to have to suffice because our precious children are crying for some attention.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mesi Anpil

2011-01-02T15:38:00.005-05:00

We've been back in Haiti just over two weeks... the transition was very difficult this time, especially for Maia as she battled an ear infection, a bad cold and the realization that Levi was coming with us and she would have to share her life here in Haiti with him as well. Things are settling down now and we are starting to get into a sense of routine, which we are all thankful for.

Before we share some of what has been going on here we just wanted to say thank you to all those in Canada who helped us out. Many of you kept us in your prayers, encouraged us, showered Maia and Levi with gifts, invited us into your homes, lent baby things, toddler things, vehicles, clothing etc. We wanted to thank you for blessing our family with your generosity. Escpecially thank you to Mom and Dad deJonge for letting us invade your home and beat you in Quirkle, to Aunt Cole for spoiling Maia rotten and giving her lots of attention, to Uncle Kev for playing with Maia when he should have been studying, and to Mom and Dad Lodder for the use of your vehicle and taking Maia for sleepovers so we could catch up on some sleep.

*here's a picture of Maia saying please, which means give me what I want, please, thank you, I know how to manipulate you etc. Today we are using it as the sweet thank you very much picture.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T11:04:00.005-05:00

We want to wish you all a

Merry Christmas.

May your hearts and homes be filled with

love, peace and joy

this Christmas season.

Love,

Randy, Karen, Maia Joy & Levi

Home Sweet Home

2010-12-17T11:19:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to let you know that the third time was a charm. We finally made it back home to Port au Prince. We apologize to anyone who was on the same flights as us. We take no responsibility for loss of hearing due to uncontrollable screaming from Maia. After our trip back I don't know if we'll ever fly again!
But... we are back, settling in, enjoying showing off Levi and seeing friends and co-workers again.
If you're looking for something to pray about please pray for Maia, the adjustment back is tough on her and she has this new routine of getting up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to bed, it started just over a week ago and has made for some long nights for all of us. We've almost exhausted all strategies - nap, no nap, stay up late, tylenol, gravol, bottle, scream it out, cuddling. Needless to say we are getting tired and Maia needs her sleep!
Thanks for the prayers, we'll post some more once we get a little more sleep and a little more settled.

Introducing....Levi Casey

2010-11-05T21:00:00.003-04:00

With huge thankfulness to the LORD we want to introduce to you Levi Casey Lodder! He was born this morning at 9:15am, weighing in at 7lbs, 9 ounces. Mother and child are doing well (so is dad, in case anyone cares.) In a brief interview with Levi he stated that he loves his daddy very much but he is glad that he looks like his mom. He is ready to tackle this world, one nap at a time. And he likes his big sister Maia, because she hasn't poked him in the eye, yet, and shared with him the big apple she was eating. Mother and child are staying over at St.Joes, and D.V. willl be headed home tomorrow. A thankful dad, Randy

Above: Karen and Levi.

Below: Maia sporting her "Super-Sister" shirt, welcoming Levi to this crazy family.

Nicole and Opa meeting Levi.

When Helping Hurts

2010-10-28T20:06:00.005-04:00

Randy has recently been taking some courses through the Chalmers Center. This all started shortly after the earthquake when evaluating what our organization was doing... really doing. As a result of this evaluation we, as well as those involved in CDIA, were encouraged to read the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert. This book is extremely challenging and thought provoking (we highly recommend it). After reading the book Randy signed up for some courses that are offered through the Chalmers Center. He was recently asked if they could use some of his thoughts for their monthly newsletter. To read the article in the Chalmers Center monthly newsletter click here.

2010-10-27T20:06:00.002-04:00

dEar daDdy,
i can't wait tO see yOu. onLy tWo moRe slEePs!
loVe yOu
mAia joy

First day of Lekol!

2010-10-18T21:02:00.015-04:00

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

1 Timothy 4:7,10 "Rather train yourself for godliness. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God..."

Well, today we had our first day of school! Praise the LORD! We were excited to open our doors again and welcome the students back as we begin our new school year. Most of the students showed up, packing the classrooms. The first day of school is always hard though because there are so many parents who still show up with their children trying to get them into the school - but we do not have enough room, and can't take them all. It is heart breaking to turn people away.

On the first day of school the children receive all their books and cahiers, they get introduced or re-introduced to the school’s rules, meet their teachers and get settled into their class-rooms. You can see on some photos the stack of new books that the students receive this year. Because of the earthquake most students’ books were destroyed or lost, and so this year we had to purchase new ones for them all. Thank-you to everyone who has supported Adoration through child sponsorship or disaster relief. The books are included in the sponsorship.

We are also blessed in that through your support we can offer 2 meals a day to these students. They receive breakfast and lunch. It was good to have the cooks back, working hard to provide these meals.The students will be given uniforms as well, when they are finished being made. We provide 2 shirts for them, and they are responsible for their pants or skirt.

Maia enjoys the school, and enjoys playing with the students and sitting with them. She also enjoys organizing the school office, as Kim always needs a hand tidying up.

Many things still need to be done to the Centre to make it fully functional. We do not have any electricity yet, and we are still working on building classroom dividers, enough tables and benches, getting the pastors office, the church, and the medical clinic up and running. Please pray that in the next little while we would be able to get all these things operational.

God is good... all the time!

Anticipation

2010-10-16T20:16:00.003-04:00

So the "little" bit of work has been done and Adoration is almost ready to open it's doors Monday morning to 140 very excited students, 11 very pumped teachers and assistants, 2 amazing cooks, 1 fabulous gatekeeper, 1 great errand guy, 4 extraordinary directors and 1 cute little blan. This week was extra busy but lots of different people came and helped out and because of that, di Dieu vle, we can open our doors on Monday!
They were able to totally clear and clean up Charles' propertyFix tables and benches (under Maia's supervision of course!)Supervise entry exams for new students who are hoping to attend Adoration this year Maia also helped out with the supervising of the entry exams

as well as countless other jobs that we didn't get pictures of... moving all the wood around, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, preparing for class, organizing books, tables and benches, buying supplies, setting up the kitchen, painting, moving furniture around, picking up garbage etc, etc.

On the personal side of things Maia and I are packing up and saying the dreaded good-byes.

Besides missing her daddy A LOT (he'll be flying in a little later than us) Maia is especially going to miss "Uncle" Cadeau, he spoils her rotten!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-10-11T21:05:00.002-04:00

To our all dear Canadian friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving!
We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner yesterday up the coast with fellow Canadians and a fabulous turkey dinner put on by Samaritans Purse. It was fun to meet and fellowship with other Canadians.
And today we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving by having our first meeting at the "new" Adoration Christian Centre. It truly is a blessing to have a building that school, programs and church can call "home". Although the building needs a bit of work we are hoping and praying that Adoration Christian School can start next Monday. This will require a lot of prayers and a lot of hard work but we know that our community can do it!
Below is staff and volunteers helping move Adoration's stuff

and... our little dutch girl :)

"What goes up must come down"

2010-10-07T14:41:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately this statement is true of all the temporary structures that were put up for Adoration Christian School. Although we knew they were going to be temporary we never dreamed we would be taking them down already. But we know that in all of this God has a plan. So we've received access to the property and in two days most of the buildings were down. We are waiting finalization on our next location for Adoration Christian Centre and then we will be moving all of our stuff over. In the meantime plans are in the works so that as soon as the next location is secured school and programs can once again start up.

And a couple of weeks ago we went to the "zoo" here in Haiti. Maia LOVED it.

2010-09-24T17:49:00.006-04:00

Before I post on the present I should catch up on what has happened in the past...

Just over a week ago we felt the presence of Tropical Storm Matthew here in Port au Prince. It was a powerful storm that did a lot of damage in the area. Tent cities were mostly affected as the strong winds whipped through pulling tents and tarps free and leaving peoples possessions exposed for the heavy rains. It was a freaky storm as it brought back earthquake memories, feelings of hopelessness, desolation, an event beyond your control, but at the same time it was a good reminder of how powerful our God is. We continue to pray for those in tents that they may find what they need for their daily bread.

Here are a few pics to show the damage to our property

Below one of our big beautiful trees came down, roots and all! Patio table almost got blown away, thankfully the big branch that had fallen caught it for us!

A week or so ago Kim, Maia and I were able to visit one of our secondary students who had just given birth. Although it's an unfortunate situation that this young girl is in, at the same time we rejoice with her for her bundle of joy. Her baby is a healthy and happy and precious gift that the Lord has given to her. We pray that this young mother may have the means to provide for this baby and may lavish her with love. She is beautiful!

And, on the Maia end of things
In training for heading back to Canada for the fall. She needs to be able to help Opa clean up the leaves in exchange for room and board.

And... just hanging out

prayer

2010-09-17T14:41:00.004-04:00

(Picture : Standing on the grounds where Adoration crumbled on January 12th)

Send Thy peace O Lord, which is

perfect and everlasting,

that our souls may radiate peace.

Send Thy peace O Lord, that we may

think, act and speak harmoniously.

Send Thy peace O Lord,

that we may be contented and thankful

for Thy bountiful gifts.

Send Thy peace O Lord,

that amidst our worldly strife,

we may enjoy Thy bliss.

Send Thy peace O Lord,

that we may endure all, tolerate all,

in the thought of Thy grace and mercy.

Send Thy peace O Lord,

that our lives may become a Divine vision

and in Thy light,all darkness may vanish.

Send Thy peace O Lord,

that we Thy children on Earth

may all unite in one family.

prayer for peace - pir-o-murshid inayat khan - 1921 ±

Big Sister in Training

2010-09-13T14:09:00.006-04:00

As most of you may know... or maybe do not know... we are expecting our second child early in November. We are excited (and a little scared) about having another little Lodder baby running around. Our orginal plan was to have this baby in Haiti and apply for the Canadian citizenship card and passport from the embassy here in Port au Prince. Unfortunately when Maia and I went to visit the embassy the other week we got some disappointing news. A citizenship card can take anywhere from 3-12 months and a passport 1-2 months. Also the lady that we talked to said that after the earthquake some people were not able to evacuate because they did not have all the paperwork for their babies. So, because the reality of being evacuated is still fresh in our minds, elections are two weeks after the baby is due, the process only takes 4-6 weeks in Canada, and we realize that we live in an unstable country, we have decided that it would be best to go back to Canada for the birth of the baby. Although this is disappointing to us we know that God has a plan for our family and that through this time of once again being separated, settling Maia and ourselves into a different culture (again), adding a baby brother/sister to Maia's life and ours and then resettling them back home in Haiti. We know it will be a time of many highs and lows and we are trusting in our Faithful Father to carry us through it.

....So while we are back in Canada if you feel like being destroyed in either raquetball or settlers just email us and we'll set a date :) And... Randy is training to run in the WWCS race in November. If you think you even stand a chance of beating him sign up here

A Request for Prayer

2010-09-07T21:23:00.003-04:00

As you can see from the letter below we have been asked to leave the property where the temporary location of Adoration Christian Centre was set up. It pains us to be removed from a location which we know a lot of people have poured a lot of sweat and tears into, and a setup that we love, and, so soon after finishing it. But we know that the LORD must have something better in store for us. We know that He has a plan, and that this situation is in His hand. So we will keep our eyes fixed on Him, give Him the praise that is due his Name, and humble ourselves before Him.
Please keep Adoration Christian Centre in your prayers as we make plans for the upcoming school year. Through all this we are reminded of the prayer in2 Chronicles 20: 12 "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you". We really do not know what to do in this situation, but we move forward with our eyes upon the LORD. He is our Rock! He is the great Provider.

Dear Friends of Adoration Christian Centre:

Due to a situation that is outside of our control, it appears that Adoration is going to have to find a different location for the upcoming school year which begins in October.

The temporary site that we were using was owned by Pastor Charles of the Presbyterian Mission to Haiti. Because of a falling out with the church, Pastor Charles has withdrawn his permission to use the property. At this point Randy is hopeful that all the buildings and materials will be recovered. The news of this development is a great disappointment, as many relationships have been severed, and for those who worked so hard to erect the offices, residences, classrooms, playground, bathrooms, kitchen and the tent.

However, the teachers and staff have been a source of encouragement for Randy and Karen and Kim! They are confident in the Lord's goodness, and that even in this, the LORD has a plan. He has always come through for us, and He will again.

We ask for your prayers in resolving this situation, either through a change of heart for Pastor Charles, or that God may lead us to another property where everything can be re-installed. We stand with the decision the Presbyterian Mission to Haiti board had to make regarding Pastor Charles Amicy, and with the decision of the overseeing Presbytery of the PCA. To read their statement on the situation please visit their website at www.presbyterianmissioninhaiti.org. We continue to work with Pastor Ben Hopp, OPC missionary, and Pastor Octavius Delfis, PCA Pastor. The work of the church will continue, as we prayerfully and humbly move forward. Sometimes it seems like life in Haiti is one crisis after another, and it is true, the Devil is hard at work! On the other hand, our work has been so greatly blessed, and many people have been able to witness the love and power of our God, that we stand in awe of His works.

As much as possible we will try to keep our supporters up to date on the developments. Thank you for your continued concern, support and prayer.

Yours in Christ,
CDIA Board and Adoration Team

Four Weeks and Counting...

2010-09-07T20:34:00.006-04:00

Well we haven't fallen off the face of the earth we've just been a little quiet lately on the blog. This post should bring you all up to speed on the major happenings in August.

Two days after we flew in Ryan and Cassandra Vandenhaak joined us. Ryan is studying youth ministry and part of his program was to do a three week internship so they joined us here at the ACC and Randy put Ryan to work teaching Bible, leading Bible study, organizing a community soccer tournament, setting up a house in a third world country, the experience of driving in Haiti, teaching with a translator, I think the list could go on and on. Cassandra was a blessing to have along as well as she helped out a lot with administrative stuff since our co-worker Kim was out of country. She was also a Super Huge help with Maia, babysitting her and entertaining her so that I could get our "new"house organized...

Ryan teaching Bible in Grade 3

Maia hanging out with CassandraThe Winners of the secondary students World Cup Tournament

yes we moved! It's probably only a km down the road but it is a much nicer place to be. It is way less dusty, on a quiet road and it has a bit of vegetation - banana trees, palm trees, lime trees - it's beautiful and we are so thankful for God opening up doors for us to rent it so fast and move in so quickly. Ryan and Cassandra were able to help us out with the move, which was another big blessing, epecially since Ryan's got the muscle power and Cassandra has the gift of organizing kitchen cupboards among many other talents.

And along with the house came two more dogs. They are two more big dogs to add to the two we already had. The main reason for them is security, we have a tent city right outside our back wall and our two big black dogs look scary but they aren't much for security as I think they are a little deaf. The two new dogs however are good guard dogs... I was even afraid to come into my own yard! Thankfully though they let Maia boss them around and use and abuse them.

And to end off the month of August school let out for the year. It has definately been a year of ups and downs but through it all we can confidently say the Lord is good! We have been so blessed this year by teachers, staff members, students, parents, co-workers. We've dealt with many big losses this year - loss of life, loss of building - but we have also gained so much - new staff members, stronger sense of community - GOD is good, all the time! Before school let out we had a fun day with the kids, the older kids had a world cup tournament and the younger kids participated in a little talent show. It was amazing hearing their giggles and their screams of delight and their voices belting out praises.

The Long Lost Post

2010-06-21T14:33:00.010-04:00

Well this post was prepared before we left Haiti some three weeks ago or so... so the news is old but it's still good and the events were big and brought a lot of healing.
THE tent is put together and up. While John and Jim came down to visit us again (last time was the time of the earthquake) we thought what better use of time then to get them to do some physical work on the new property :) I think they enjoyed there work and the end result was definately worth it as they were able to experience the first worship service under the tent as well as the school's memorial service.

On Monday Adoration was able to hold a memorial service for our community who lost loved ones. We specifically remembered our beloved gatekeeper, Luc Guerdeson, our Grade 2 teacher, Samuel Marcelin and one of our Grade 6 students, Mackson Aristil. Many other names were mentioned and thought of as well that morning as our community lost many close family and friends on January 12. We were comforted during the service by the words of Job "the Lord gives and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord." It was healing to grieve together, pray together and sing praises together.

The whole student body sang a beautiful song that morning for us all. "Are you ready?" Are you ready to meet your maker and go to heaven, you never know when Jesus will return or when He will call you home.Randy sharing a short meditation on the words of Job.I'm not sure if you can make out the picture below but this is the old Adoration. We've hired a parent of one of our students to take down the building. It's a slow process but they are slowly working away at it. And life at the "new" Adoration continues on. Students are giggling, learning, writing, eating, crying, praying, singing, dancing, playing and enjoying the blessings of once again having a school to attend and dedicated and loving teachers, cooks and directors overseeing the operation of their learning.And before we head off to Canada this is a special one for Carina. Yes, Carina that is a recorder, Maia is learning a very special song so that she can serenade you when we see you in Canada :) We'll be taking a short break from the blog while we enjoy some time in Canada. We are looking forward to family and friends, grass, trees, fresh air and birds. Si Dieu vle, we'll see you in August!

A little of this and a little of that

2010-06-09T09:51:00.008-04:00

Last week Thursday we were privileged to host a medical team that Dr. Ed was working with from New Hampshire. They came in and were able to see 200 medical patients as well as 25 dental patients. We pray that the patients that received the medical care may be relieved of their pain and healed of their ailments. Thank you team from New Hampshire for visiting us in our new location and being such a blessing to the community!The facilites worked AMAZING for hosting the clinic. Dr. Ed loves his new home and it was great to have so much room for people to sit in shade around the property and wait for the doctors. And Adoration continues to keep on going. The majority of the students have shown up for school and they are LOVING being back in school and we are loving seeing them as well as their teachers daily. We have a wonderful staff whom we love dearly and are so thankful for all that they do for the school and the organization.

And... work on the property continues. The list never really seems to get shorter even though a lot of things are finished already. Right now the big project going on is getting the toilets ready. Randy and his team of hard workers hope to have it ready for Monday so we can say bye-bye to the blue rockets. The bathrooms is the same pre-fab structure as the clinic (we got a good deal!) and we'll be building bathroom cubicles inside.
And the land is slowly getting leveled. Here the bottom layer is looking sharp with it's new layer of gravel. We are working on getting the top layer leveled so that we can put the big tent up for the church to use as well as a waiting area for the medical clinic.
As well the container, packaged in Canada and sent a while ago already, arrived in Haiti. We have collected a lot of the donations that were given to Adoration and are busy distributing them to different students and their families who are in need.
And to end it off, what's a blogpost without a Maia fix?

Second First Day of School

2010-06-01T17:14:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Adoration was blessed to open it's doors once again. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! It was such a blessing to hear childrens voices talking, singing, laughing, and reciting on the property - definately beats the sounds of hammers and drills! Makes all the work seem worth it and makes us all very thankful for what people in Canada and Haiti have done for Adoration - given finacially, remembered us in prayer, sacrificed time at work and with family to come and help - We know that so much was lost in the earthquake and that so much devastation has taken place but at the same time a lot has been gained. God is good.

Definition

2010-05-28T17:56:00.005-04:00

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...

2010-05-27T09:38:00.003-04:00

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!

2010-05-22T09:41:00.007-04:00

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

2010-05-18T16:06:00.008-04:00

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

2010-05-17T10:01:00.005-04:00

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

2010-05-15T09:45:00.004-04:00

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

2010-05-13T17:15:00.008-04:00

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

Mud, Maia and More

2010-05-13T11:04:00.005-04:00

Since the next team has already arrived and is hard at work on the temporary location I thought I should get caught up on what's been going on around here in the last week.
This is "THE" hole that was dug for the septic, right after they dug it we had a huge downpour of rain which collected in the bottom of this beautiful hole as well as made the sides collapse. And... since then Randy has realized that it actually has to be 3x the size of this this, needless to say he's looking for something with wheels and an engine to finish it off instead of digging it all by hand.Here's the kitchen on the left as well as the guys houses on the right. This week we hope to install the stoves so that the cooks can start making some yummy food again.And we haven't only had mud and water at the property but the other night with the big rainfall it started coming into our living room as well! We also had quite the stream gushing around our house as well. In the backyard we have a lawn chair and the water level was up to the seat! Randy and the guys went outside our gate and channeled the water away from our house so that it could all drain properly. It made us think a lot that night of people in tent cities and what it must be like for them... our hearts go out to them.

But before the fiasco with the water and the mud Maia and her daddy had some play time out in the rain. Maia LOVED it!

And the day after the big rainfall Maia Joy celebrated her 1st Birthday! Thank you for all the congratulations and well wishes over email and facebook. Maia has been a huge joy to us this last year and we pray that the Lord continues to bless her with health and strength and that she may learn more about Jesus and strive to follow him in her little world.

Some pics from the birthday bash...

And although we've spent a lot of time on the blog talking about the temporary location there are still a lot of other things happening around Port au Prince. Below is a picture of Guilgal where a majority of our secondary sponsor students attend. Classes have once again resumed there and we are thankful to see that teachers are starting to show up and school is once again in session. We pray that students may once again return to some kind of routine in their lives and that it may help the healing process.

And... the official gift certificate. We are still doing a food distribution at Adoration for the families connected to Adoration. Si Dieu vle we will continue to do this until school start up again on May 24th (praying that that is the first day of school!) Usually we package sacs of rice, beans, cornmeal, spaghetti and sauce, oil, and sardines but this week we started giving out a gift certicate to a local grocery store where they can go and buy the food and materials that they need.

Well hopefully that gets you all caught up. Stay tuned for pics of the "new" team and the progress that is being made on the temporary location.

TeamWork

2010-05-06T14:27:00.009-04:00

The team is out there working hard. Today is their last day before they head home. They have made some major progress on the property since being here. Maia, Kim and I went for a little visit this morning to see all the work they've done so far... WOW!!! Just being there made us super excited about the possibility of school opening up in three weeks. Things are starting to come together and it's starting to look like a school. God is good! Here some pics on the progress and the little lady in charge.
Here's what she looks like from the back end of the property, standing underneath the kitchen shelter looking towards the officesThis is the new home for the bathrooms. Next week, si Dieu vle, Pastor Ben as well as ourselves have teams coming in who hope to put in a septic tank and build the washrooms. Members of "the" crew doing some major planning and replanningNick working alongside a staff member and a sponsor studentAnne and Rob working hard, as always :)The supervisor on her throne

Frank getting all his tools ready to goCalvin cutting his wood, don't worry the closet is finished!

Kim and I holding the tools so they don't get dusty
And Maia and her assistant sorting donated school supplies, thank you to those who donated!

Proof

2010-05-04T08:52:00.004-04:00

I don't have pictures of team members working but I do have proof that they have been working hard. Yesterday they made some major progress on the site and today they are already at it again.
Primer on the offices The sheeted tikay

The beautiful tin lean-to roofClassroom dividers under the lean-to

And, as some of you may have heard, there was another aftershock yesterday. Although the aftershock did not do more damage to buildings and such it does do damage to the heart. Please continue to keep our team as well as the people of Haiti in your prayers as we all make plans to move forward, whether it be rebuilding a school, finding food and water, mourning loved ones, or taking care of our families. May the Lord continue to be our refuge, our strength, and our joy.

The "Carman" Team

2010-05-03T09:22:00.006-04:00

Alrighty, let me introduce you to this fabulous team who has been working hard putting many sweat, tears and a little bit of blood into the temporary location for Adoration.
Below is Nick Willsie working on putting the strapping on to the lean-to Calvin Nobel is... I'm not really sure, either measuring his thumb or the piece of wood, either way I assure you he is working hard.

Frank Smith is fearless on the roof, we're trying to keep him on the pieces of wood that are nailed together

Anne Heidema busy putting up the sheeting on the tikay

Rob, who we are trying to keep on the roof when working with the tin, nailing in the tin on the tikay

On Sunday we were able to once again be reunited with our brothers and sisters in Christ from the 1ere L'Eglize Presbyterian de Port au Prince. It was a beautiful time of worship and an uplifting message about the Lord being with us through the difficult times in our lives. What a blessing to be able to worship in our home church once again.
And... Maia loving her daddy time

Back to Life

2010-04-29T10:23:00.008-04:00

Well, we, the Lodder family, Randy, Karen and Maia, have been reunited and are in the same country, in the same house! It's been an tough couple of months, many uncertainties and emotions and long seperations, but through it all the Lord has carried us and been gracious to us and we are thankful that we are able to be reunited and return "home".

Being here in Haiti has been a big adjustment for Maia. So far she's been doing well, she's clingy and a mommy's girl but she's slowly starting to play on her own and do the silly things that she was doing in Canada. When we do go out she's got a lot of people in her face who want to love her, touch her and hold her. The problem is they all remember her but she doesn't remember any of them. We're praying that in time she will settle down and remember her Haitian friends who love her dearly.

A bewildered, sweaty Maia

Yesterday we were able to go to the food distribution. It was a high to see a number of students and their parents and they were all super excited to see Maia. Some of them didn't even greet me they were so excited about Maia! The food distribution went well. It's a huge thing for these families to come once a week to get a supply of food. A lot of families have lost a lot... things were tough before the earthquake, now things are even tougher. We are thankful that Adoration is able to provide this short-term service to our Adoration community.

And since we've been back for two days we just picked up our first team of visitors. Wouldn't want us to get bored so we've added 5 more men to the mix for the next 9 days. They plan to continue on the work for the temporary location focusing especially on the little house as well as getting up the rest of the tin on the lean toos. I have a few pics to get you back up to speed since while Randy was in Canada for some meetings some brothers from the OPC church did some work on the property. They finished up the tin on one side so that L'Eglise Presbyterian de Port au Prince could once again meet together. From reading Pastor Ben's blog (OPC missionary) it was blessed time of worship that first Sunday that they were able to get together. We pray that the Church here may love and care for her people who have been through so much in the last couple of months.

Picture below - Office is on the left, lean too is on the right which will eventually have classrooms but is also home to the church

The church, all set up and ready to go.

We will try to update you on the teams work as we go along. Shalom.

Hokey Dinah Look What They've Done!

2010-04-05T20:14:00.007-04:00

Well the team has been and gone and they did a TON of work... I think we say that about every workteam but I really do think that this team was able to accomplish way more than we could even have dreamed. They worked Hard! My husband included....

just to prove it here he is hard at work.

Here is my feeble attempt at showing you the location of where the temporary location is in comparison to the old location of Adoration. The bottom half of the page attempts to show how the temporary location is set up followed by pictures of the structures that have been started.

This is the offices. The left side will be for the pastors of the Presbyterian church and the right side will be for Adoration.

Below is the lean-to that will host all of the classrooms for Adoration. The team along with all of our Haitian friends finished putting up the beam for the lean-to which means we just have to throw up the strapping, trusses and tin. This will probably also be the temporary spot for church until we get the "big" tent put up.

This is the kitchen as well as the house for our four young men who will be living on the property for security. The kitchen will be on the left side and the two bedrooms are on the right.

And... the team who sweated it out all week long. Thank you so much to all of you for the blessing that you have been. You have encouraged us in our work and made a huge indent on the work for the temporary location. We pray that the work that you did is a blessing and we pray that you too in return were blessed through it.

No-name update

2010-03-30T00:38:00.000-04:00

I couldn't think of a title for this post so it it officially named the no-name update. It has a little ring to it, don't ya think.
So it was Monday today, all day i think, and that means that hopefully we got some more work done today. It definitely means we had many more interesting things happen, thats for sure. Let me try to cap off what the team was working on today - trying to bring all their wives up to date....

We had some gravel and sand (sab) delivered to the property so that we could do some concrete work, along with a mixer. Our Haitian helpers (secondary students and friends) hauled it in one wheel barrow at a time. In the afternoon, lead by our fearless concrete leaders Derek, Derek and John, they then poured half of the floor for the offices.

Erik and Peter were up on the roof of the office 'structure' this morning putting up trusses, strapping and then the tin. By lunch we had a very nice shade cover.
Also in the afternoon we started to build the walls for the ti-kay (small house). Eric nicely laid out all the walls and cut the wood and then 'the guys' (our term for our Haitian friends) went to work nailing them all together.

Erik and Peter were busy this aft trying to find heights for our posts for the ti-kay, and had them nicely laid out, when finally, the Loader showed up and started working leveling out the land and filling in the big hole in the middle of the property. Not bad - only 4 days late.

This morning I purchased food again, for our food distribution that we will do on Wednesday. Kim and Max went to work separating the beans this afternoon, into smaller bags. We joined in tonight after devotions and finished bagging all the rice and cornmeal. Tomorrow we need to make a sac of food for 150 families.

Here are some photos to explain a little better what was happening...

'The guys' framing the walls.

Mixing the concrete...

The Loader working on flattening out the property. He was able to do it a little quicker than we could...

This is just a picture on me working...aka, holding a stick. Just to prove to my wife that I was working hard...

Derek and John working hard pouring and leveling the concrete.

The same picture of the guys doing the concrete. This was just to show that it was a lot of work, enough to merit posting the picture twice....Spending time in worship through singing and praise - Adoration!

This is some of the food that arrived at the end of the week last week. It was shipped here from the Gleaners. It is a dehydrated soup mix. We hope to use this when school starts again to make a vegtable sauce for the rice and cornmeal meals.

Last Saturday half of the team stayed home and worked on fixing the 'bridge' over the culvert in front of our house. Over half of it was broken, reducing the road to half. They re-cemented it. ...And we drove over it today and it held up.

Another picture of the team closing down the road so they could fix the bridge. Of course they had all the necessary permits...rocks on the road blocking the traffic.


Eric and Peter taking heights for the kitchen and tikay.

Well, that was today in a nutshell.
Please continue to pray for the team and all of us, that they would be safe on the job sites, on the roads, and wherever they are, and also in good health. And we hope and pray that the last 2 work days would be productive and that they can get the projects done that they are hoping to get done. And also that in all things the LORD's Name would be magnified and exalted through the work, our worship, and while spending time with our Haitian brothers and sisters.
Well, it late, I'm off to bed. Good night. Randy

Work Team update

2010-03-28T21:45:00.002-04:00

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Col. 3:17

Well, I am finally updating my blog. It has been awhile I guess, so here it goes...

Work on the temporary property for Adoration Christian Center and the church has begun. Last Monday we had about 20 secondary students and parents show up and help level the land a little. They spent the day moving a tonne of soil, filling in the foundation where the "lean-to" is going for the school.

The work team showed up on Wednesday, and they began their work right away designing and planning the layout of everything.

Right away thursday morning they begun putting up a beam attached to the existing property walls that the roof will be run off of.
We are waiting for a loader or a back-hoe so we can level off the land, before we can move forward with the front wall and the roof. We have been waiting for a few days now for the machine, which everyday it is promised it will show up the next day....and so we keep patiently waiting.

The picture above is Fort Jacques. It was drastically damaged by the earthquake, both inside and out. One of the cannons is laying a piece down the hill, and here pictured is inside, where a lot of walls have fallen. We went and toured Port-au-Prince on Saturday afternoon, and had a chance to go up the mountain and visit Fort Jacques and do some bartering at different souvenir stands.

This is a picture of the offices been built for the church and school. Hopefully on Monday we can put on the roof and start putting on plywood, and pour the concrete floor.

Here is John and Max fastening the posts to the wall.

Today we had a beautiful worship in Messeiller (Cabarre) with the Prebyterian Church there.

Please pray for our team as they continue their work, and please pray that we can get a machine in to level the property so that we can move forward with the classrooms. We give thanks to God for the safety and health we have had, and for the work that could have got done so far, for our times in worship, and for fun and nice times of fellowship. Randy

Short Team Update

2010-03-26T09:13:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures but I do have a little info on how the team is doing. They arrived safely on Wednesday afternoon to some really hot and humid Port au Prince weather. Apparently the last couple days have been scorchers.... there is no shade on the worksite so they all burned a little yesterday... maybe the Haitians will start calling them rouge instead of blan :) Their luggage did not arrive with them that first day which was pretty disappointing but thankfully they were able to get it on Thursday afternoon, all 12 bags and as far as they know NOTHING is missing, Praise the Lord!
The goal of this trip is to level off the land and clear it and start building a lean-to off of the one wall which will be for classrooms and depots, as well as build offices for the school administration and the pastors, and build a small house for our security guys - yes they are going to be busy! Yesterday, besides frying themselves, they started with some of the clearing of the land as well as putting up the beam for the lean to. Kim has a few pics on her blog. Enjoy! I'll try to keep you updated as I learn more....

Team #1 Post Quake

2010-03-23T19:33:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, si Dieu vle, our first team post earthquake will be heading into Haiti to help with the setup of our temporary location where we hope to run Adoration Christian Centre and the Pastors hope to start up Premiere L'Eglise Presbyterian de Port au Prince again. I ask that you keep Derek Bouwman, Derek deJonge, Eric Hart, Peter Ostermeier, and John Meerveld in your prayers as they head down to Port au Prince to begin the work on the temporary location. Pray that they may have productive work days, that they may best plan their time and resources, that they may be a blessing and encouragement to Randy and the rest of the Adoration team, and that through it all they too may be blessed.

I don't know all the details of what they will be doing... I do have the information somewhere in email but I can't quite understand it, but rest assured that they will be working hard! I'll try to hound my handsome husband to post some pictures to keep us all updated. Below is a picture of the property as it looks right now.

Thank you for keeping Adoration Christian Centre and all those connected to it in your prayers.

Short Term Substitute

2010-03-11T19:32:00.005-05:00

Since I currently am not present in Haiti and it's hard to write about what exactly the Adoration team is busy with I thought I would encourage you to check out our our co-worker Kim's blog to keep updated on the work that Randy as well as the rest of the Adoration team are involved in. God continues to work in BIG ways in the city of Port-au-Prince... just as the song says "Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this City..." i love singing that song and thinking about Haiti... God is at work there doing great things.
Si Dieu vle our little family will be reunited and we will re-enter the blogging world in the near or not so near future.

Take Me I'm Yours

2010-02-01T14:10:00.003-05:00

Randy's cousin, Paul from Ion, has recorded a song and has dedicated it to Randy in light of the earthquake on January 12, 2010.
You can download it here:
http://www.indieheaven.com/artist_main.php?id=87106
All proceeds from this song go to CDIA and their relief efforts in Haiti.
Paul, thank you.

2010-01-27T19:45:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Aunt Karen!

Say Hi to Maia for me. I miss her already.

Love, Matthew (and my parents)

hApPy BiRtHdAy!!!

2010-01-27T17:44:00.006-05:00

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Karen,

Happy birthday to you!!

Maia Joy sitting beside the birthday flowers daddy sent mommy

Here she is...the Birthday Girl!

Today she's a star and she's looking the part!!

We too would like to wish Karen a very happy birthday. We are all so thankful that you are here today to celebrate it with us. We wish you the Lords blessing in the coming year and we remember you and your little family in our daily prayers.

With love,

Your family ;)

January 27, 1984

2010-01-27T10:13:00.003-05:00

If i take a look at this day, January 27, in history many things have happened.
Many, many things.
I googled it this morning.
There are too many to write here, but you can google it when you have time.
What is interesting is this date, January 27, in the year 1984.
Some very interesting things happened.
Here are some:

John & Yoko release "Milk & Honey" album
LA Kings end Wayne Gretzky's NHL-record 51-game scoring streak. The Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, ending Wayne Gretzky's NHL record for consecutive point getting at 51 games. Gretzky collected a total of 153 points - 61 goals and 92 assists - during the scoring streak, which started Oct 5, 1983
Michael Jackson is burned during filming for Pepsi commercial, his hair catches fire and he is hospitalized
Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world long jump record by 9 inches (23.5 centimeters) with a 28-foot, 10-inch (8.795-meter) jump.
I, myself, was playing hockey I think.

Anyway, to make a long story short - Something else happened on this day, January 27, 1984 - something absolutely incredible, something truely special,

And that is what I want to mention today:

Little, tiny Karen Elizabeth entered the world.
That's right, it is my wife's 26 Birthday Today! So Happy Birthday Karen! I wish I was with you and Maia today to celebrate with you, but that is okay. I am just so thankful that you are safe and healthy, and that the LORD has blessed you with another year.
It is my prayer that He will bless you with many more years, and with health, strength, joy and peace.
I love you.
Your husband.

Here are some pics of my beautiful wife.

what to say...

2010-01-26T20:18:00.006-05:00

Things have been quiet on the blog for the last two weeks... it was two weeks ago that our world changed. A lot of thoughts and emotions have been going through our hearts and heads these last two weeks. It's been difficult to process and make sense of it all. Anything I write doesn't really do justice to what is going on in Haiti. Hearts are broken, bodies are hurting, people are starving, people are thirsty, people have no homes, there is fear... fear that the building is going to collapse around you, fear that you won't find food or water, fear because people have no idea what lies ahead... where will they go? what will they do? Life as they know it has changed forever. In the middle of this is the need for the gospel, people need to know that Jesus loves them, He died for them and we are all in His Grip of Grace. Please continue to keep Randy and his team of young men, Cadeau, Samuel, Max, Yder and John in your prayers. They are working hard, they are hurting, they are fearful, yet they know the Love of Jesus Christ and because of that they continue to press on.

The team right now is focusing on water purification as well as trying to collect food to hand out to students of Adoration as well as locating students and staff. All of these tasks are time consuming and essential. Please continue to pray for these efforts.

And Randy was able to send over some pictures today of what they have been up to. The first pic up top is Randy talking with an Adoration student and finding out the needs of their family.

below : A refugee camp

Teaching people in Citi Aux Cayes how to purify water Handing out food to families of Adoration students

The team purifying water at Quisqueya chapel

Broken Hearts

2010-01-18T09:57:00.002-05:00

here is an update that Randy sent out late Saturday night. Please keep him and all our Haitian brothers and sisters continually in your prayers.

Many hearts are broken... ours included.

Well, its 10:00pm on Saturday night, as I begin to write this little update. I am sitting inside, which is a little unnerving, but all the doors are open in case i need to make a quick exit. We have had more aftershocks today, that are not that big, but when the ground is moving under your feet for about 30 seconds, my brain keeps telling me thats not normal. It sends my heart through the roof every time. Anyway, I thought I would send a brief update so that you could know our prayer requests, and know a little of our situation. This is hard to write because I have so many emotions that are coming up, and my nerves are fried right now.

I feel so incredibly thankful - my family was spared, Kim was safe, our visitors John and Jim were with us and were spared, everyone was out of the school at the time, the earthquake didn't happen at night when there are a ton of locks to unlock just to get outside, that a lot of our friends are safe, that God put it in our heart and made a way for the car-port to be taken down during the holidays, that my wife and child are safe in Canada right now, that my house, although it has a few cracks, it seems relatively safe, and my walls, which are very weak to the point of falling over, have not fallen over. I have so much praise and thanks to give to God.

I feel so fearful at times - fearful of violence getting out of hand, not being able to find students, or co-workers, or friends, fearful of the next aftershock, fearful that people won;t get enough food or water to survive, fearful that people are still trapped, fearful that my house might come down...

I feel so much pain - its hard to describe the pain that people are going through right now, pain of losing loved ones, pain of seeing all the destruction, pain of seeing so much death, and so many people grieving, the pain of not knowing - not knowing where someone is, or how they are,

I feel so much sorrow - my heart and head are just heavy,

I feel joy- joy in being able to share the gospel with people who need to know Jesus, joy in singing God's praises with neighbors i never knew before this, joy in living with all the guys who live with me now and seeing them work to help others and work to make sure that we are safe, joy in seeing Karen and Maia, and Kim, John and Jim making it safely home, joy in being reunited with freinds that i didn't know what happened to them, joy in knowing that my sins are forgiven and that if I perish - that i am with my Lord and Saviour.

I feel grace...this is hard to explain, but we could have all perished - it is by God's grace alone that we are alive.

So many emotions, admist such a great disaster.

We have spent the last few days finding students, connecting with other organizations to see how we can work together, delivering medical supplies to clinics around the area, distributing clothes and supplies to feilds of people, finding supplies so we can survive.

We lost two good friends and co-workers, Samuel Marcelin and Guerdeson, and that is very painful. I went and visited their families and grieved with them. I also was visiting families of students I knew had lost their lives. One of our grade 6 students was killed with his father, leaving 9 siblings behind. We found him as we watched his body being pulled from a building. I am just trying to encourage, comfort, and be with our students and their families and our co-workers. It is a difficult task but a beautiful one that the Lord has given to us. We don't have enough food and water to give them, or a place to stay, but we can minister to them and care for them the best we can. We suffer together and we encourage eachother to find our strength in the LORD alone.

We have been going through our storrage room where teams and people have donated supplies and these are coming in handy right now. The guys have been distributing clothing to the parks which are packed with people, and i have been able to supply a bunch of clinics with a lot of medical supplies. We don't have a lot, but what we do have is such i blessing. Next we will hand out all the toys we still have to the children who have lost everything, and then the rest of our 'Adoration' uniforms to those who need clothes.

We had a scare yesterday. The guys came home at night and said that nobody could locate Wisly, and then they said there was a smell coming from the school. I was almost sure that nobody was in the school, but my heart sank and was filled with so much grief. This morning we went to the school and started digging and searching. this was very difficult because the building is half fallen, held up by the neighbors wall and house. It could go anytime. So we checked in the places we thought he could be, and we couldn't see anything or find anything. Then I asked who had asked for him that didn't know where he was, and it was only one person, but not a family member, so we went to go find his family in cite soliel. The only problem was that it is very dangerous in cite soliel right now, and so i went to the UN base and asked for a UN escort to find Wisly, and they wouldn't do it, they only travel in packs and did not want to go into cite soliel. Then we drove to the police station in cite soliel and they said it was to dangerous for them to go out. So then we went by ourselves - Cadeau walked by himself the roughest part. And he found Wisly's sister who said that Wisly was safe and was staying with his mom. Praise the LORD!

There are quite a few students that i have not found yet, because everyone is everywhere. Most families are living in parks, or on the road or have left to the country side. As I was dropping of medical supplies at a clinic I found one of our kindergarten students at the clinic. He had a broken foot, as the wall had come down on it. His mom was a cousin of Guerdson, and i had to inform her that Guerdeson had passed into glory. So much pain and sorrow.

There are truck loads of dead bodies being removed from the city. The roads are lined with the bodies, and the smell is pretty bad. But people are banding together and working to help out. People are mourning together and living together in parks and in the streets. Because all have lost so much, and because all are affected there seems to be a unity here that was not here before. At the same time, other people are getting desperate and the violence has started - looting, stealing, gun shots; it is definitely all around us. There is a definite fear in the air that things will get tough, and then violent.

We are so thankful to hear that countries are sending Aid and sending troups to try to control the city and bring relief. We have heard so many planes landing, and i have seen many trucks leaving the air port with supplies. I have been to the Canadian embassy a lot this past week and have seen the soldiers come in, the medical supplies, and the different teams and organizations that have come to help. This gives us much hope - because much help is needed.

Right now we are still sleeping outside. We will go back inside once all the after shocks are over, and i don;t know when that will be.

We are holding services every night in the street right now. We just take our chairs, go sit outside, walk around and invite all our neighbors to come join us, and then we start singing. Then we share scripture, and pray. It is a beautiful time. A time for us to lament together, to the LORD, a time to pray for others, a time to heal, and a time to bring Adoration. That is our main focus right now - ministering to people; being willing and ready to pray with people, share the gospel, and to comfort people, and give them hugs. We pray that the LORD would give us strength to do this. I woke up on Thursday morning and was praying and asking God how i could best help people. He really put it upon my heart that I was to minsiter to their spiritual needs - the need to repent, to turn to him, and in the midst of pain and devestation not to turn away from God, but to find our hope and comfort in Him alone. I talked to the guys that morning that that was to be our focus - working hard, but the main part was ministering - listening, grieving, helping, sharing with them, but also prayer and Bible reading. That afternoon, I approached a man on the street who was just sitting there, who looked like he couldn't go on. He was a deportee, in jail for years in the States, and in a lot of trouble in Haiti. He was deeply shaken by the events that have happened and God opened up a door for me to share the gospel with him, and pray for him. He wants Jesus in his life, but has no idea how that works. Anyway, it was a blessed time. Please pray for Willice Fidel Mendez and his family that they may turn to Christ. We have met many neighbors by just singing in the streets and asking them if they want to join us. Please pray that God would put it on people's hearts to come out and join us. And pray for my team - these guys are young, and are shaken, and are scared. They need a lot of prayer. The guys at the house are Cadeau, Samuel, Max, Yder, and John. Roland and his son are moving in too, as his family is moving to the country side to be safe. And we have other guys that help us during the day - Allyn, Evenz,Deigo, and Silly.

Anyway, thank-you for praying for us. We are greatly encouraged by you and we need your prayers.

I want to leave you with Psalm 46, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, and though the mountains tremble at its swelling.....Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I wil be exalted in the earth!" The LORD of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress!"

In His Service and In His Grip of grace,

Randy

Home

2010-01-16T16:04:00.002-05:00

On behalf of Karen we would like to let you let know, with thankfulness to the Lord, that Karen, Maia Joy, Kim, John and Jim arrived home safely early Friday morning. Randy remains in Haiti and continues to work with and support the staff and students of Adoration Christian School. There are still so many unknowns, much devastation and violence. We ask that you pray for safety, strength, and wisdom for Randy, the people of Haiti and those that have gone there to help. Also for Karen, Maia Joy and Kim as they struggle with many emotions being so far away from family and those they care deeply for.

Please join us TOMORROW Sunday Jan 17 for a prayer service for Haiti, at Cornerstone Can. Ref. church, Stonechurch Rd., Hamilton, ON. We will begin at7:30pm, and Rev. Bezuyen, of the Trinity URC, will lead in prayer and devotion. Karen, Kim, Jim and John will be in attendance, and John will have a short powerpoint to show some of the pictures he took, and to tell of their experience. Hope to see many of you there!

Earthquake!

2010-01-12T22:49:00.002-05:00

Hi this is Karen's family on behalf of Karen, Randy, and Maia
We received word this afternoon that there was an earthquake in Haiti. the school has collapsed completely but by the grace of God they don't think that anyone was in the school. Randy, Karen, Maia, Kim, John Kottelenberg, and Jim Kampstra are all ok. Please Pray

This is an email sent by Karen after the Quake:

Good Evening All,

We just wanted to let you all know that, by the grace of God, our lives have been spared. An earthquake hit Haiti just before 5 this evening. Randy, Maia and I were at the school along with our two visitors, John Kottelenberg and Jim Kamstra, as well as a bunch of our secondary students and the school collapsed right before our eyes. It was the scariest moment of our lives. As far as we know no one is trapped in the school. Kim is safe as well.

There is much devastation here and many unknowns, please keep praying for Haiti and her people.

O Lord have mercy!

Randy & Karen & Maia Joy <><

Bon Ane!

2010-01-12T09:10:00.002-05:00

We wanted to wish you all a little belated blessed New Year! God has been very gracious to us all in 2009. There has been times which have been extremely tough and challenging; times which have been great and full of laughter; times where we have felt the weight of sin and weakness and Satan’s constant bombardment; times when we have been perplexed; times that we have been so thankful and happy; times when we have sat in peace and quiet; times when we have been so worn out that we don’t know if we can go on; times that we can see God at work so clearly, and times when we wonder ‘God where are you’; times when we smile, and times when we grind our teeth; times when we think we are growing in the Lord and times when we feel we are controlled more by our flesh than by His Spirit; times when we have seen His glory and Majesty all around us, and times where we only see the ugliness of the world at large; and through it all God has walked with us, carried us, forgave us, stilled us, helped us, blessed us, comforted us, been our Rock, and has filled us with joy and peace – His Peace which passes understanding. His love is greater than our weaknesses, and there is nothing that we face in our life in which, He doesn’t know about, and doesn’t have the power to deal with. And so we look forward to 2010 with much Hope and much anticipation, in seeing what the LORD has in store for us, and how He can use us, weak servants, for His Kingdom work. He has given us life, and has been working in us to make us more like Him. Our prayer for our whole familyand friends, is that He would continue to work in us all; continue to purify us and grow us up in Him, that more and more everyday we would walk with Him, find our Joy in Him, and declare His glory to the Nations. And may He bless us all, and give us everything we stand in need of for any trial or difficulty that comes our way, and that we may put all our confidence in Him alone.
Love and Hugs from Port au Prince