Visitors!

Our team has arrived and has been here for a number of days already. Working hard with us we have Jim Kamstra, Joel Helder, Curtis Bowman, Natalie Plantinga, and Rachel Ysinga. They've had some good times already... nights of no electricity and the invertor dying, being able to enjoy the neighbours music till 5 in the morning, sweating at 6:30 in the morning b/c they are brushing their teeth... all the fun things about Haiti :)

But... they've also been working hard. They are working on building a tikay (little house) on the roof of the school for the four young men that live at the school, as well as building tables, staining, counting books etc, etc. While they are working on that a bunch of our sponsor students, some of our employees and some hired help are working on the concrete for the new classrooms where the old tikay used to be. Here are some pics to show you the progression of these projects.

The original tikay

The demolition of the original tikay
The New Classrooms
Jim and Curtis working hard on the roof of the new tikay
Joel and Guerdeson working on the foundation of the new tikay

Natalie building us some new tables for the Special Needs Class Rachel Paint'n it up

The Project Supervisors...

The New TikayBig Picture View - New tikay on roof
And that's it for now... but don't worry we are all still working and sweating, and sweating and working!

N'ap boule

Well two words to describe life here in Haiti would be Hot and Busy! Since we've been back there has definately been no lack of work and the weather is definately HOT! Thankfully we've had some cooler nights to give our bodies a bit of a break but when those don't come we survive off of constant showers.

We are busy preparing to have a team of five come down later this week. There is a big job list for them to do and so Randy has already started some of the jobs with Cadea, Samuel, Wisly and Guerdeson so that the team has a head start. Here is a pic of them working on the foundation for the tikay (little house) that we are going to build for them on the roof. This will give them a bit more space and will be a lot cooler then where they are currently sleeping.

Things are busy with the Adoration school as well as the sponsor students as we are playing a bit of catch up from the months that we were gone as well as getting ready for the next year. We are very thankful for the work that the teachers and the rest of our employees put in while we were gone, they did a fabulous job running the school and looking after the property. What a blessing they are and continue to be.

Maia has been doing well adjusting to life in Haiti. She's really living up to her middle name as she brings us much joy in our days. She is constantly screeching and cooing at us and she loves to kick her little legs, espcially when we give her the freedom of no diaper! She is definately not lacking in the attention department although they are certain people that she especially misses.... Grandma and Oma, nobodies attention is quite like theres! Here she is with a good friend of ours Lesley and her fiancee Diego as well as with Cadeau.

Maia's First Plane Ride!

Well, Maia had a great plane ride today, well actually 2. Everything went smoothly, only waited 2 hours on the runway in Miami in a hot plane, only lost one bag, only had to wait an hour and half for our luggage on this end. Well, we are back at home... We are so thankful for a blessed day, and thankful to be back again. Maia did so well today.

Thanks for everything to everyone, the prayers, the encouragement, the visits, the good belly laughs, it was very good to see you all these past fews months. We feel refreshed to take on the work again and are looking forward to seeing how God will work in this next year. Enjoy the cool weather in Canada, we were already sweating at 8:30 this morning!!

3 Years!

Happy Anniversary to us! We celebrated 3 years yesterday (today we celebrated 3 years and 1 day).
The LORD's mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness! We give thanks and praise to our Father in heaven for the many gifts He has given to us in the past 3 years. He has blessed us immensely and carried us through the waters, and His grace is sufficient by far. In Christ alone...our hope is found. His Joy is our strength.





3 Years and a princess!

Some pics of the princess...

Praise the LORD for He is good - His love endures forever!
Here are some pics of our precious gift, Maia Joy. Enjoy.

Introducing....Maia Joy!!!

Introducing a Princess!

Born yesterday, May 11, at 3:35 pm, in Hamilton, at St.Josephs Hospital, and wieghing in at 7lbs 9 ounces - Maia Joy Lodder!

Both Mother and child are healthy and doing well. They stayed over at the hospital last night, but then came home this morning. Maia (pronounced My-a) loves to spend her time sleeping, feeding, making me fetch more diapers, and giving me BIG hugs! She was pretty alert all day yesterday, but today is fairly tired. I was hoping to take her outside and start teaching her how to play hockey but she has been sleeping all day today.

WE are hugely thankful to the LORD for her - what an incredible gift!

Work Team - February

Well, after the medical team came and left, we had about 1 week before the next team came to visit us and help at the school. This time we had an all guy team, a team of 5, who came and did a tonne of work at the school. They did a lot of building and fixing up - building shelves, cupboards, a counter top, fixing doors, benches and tables, installing grates for the ditches, screens for the kitchen and food depot, installing hooks, painting, and on and on.
Here are some pics of the guys working hard...

The team: (from left to right) Rick, Henry, Case, Peter, myself (Randy) (TopRow): Karen, Jaron


Jaron working on where the generator will be set-up, getting it all ready for it.


We put a hole in the wall in the kindergarten class, and installed another door, to make a better entrance for the school. This is Cadeau chipping the wall a little further to fit the door.

Henry doing some needed electrical work...

Rick building some cabinets and a counter-top....

Building the library shelves...

Karen and Cherri Kay organizing all the medical supplies. Cherri Kay helped in the medical clinic 3 days a week.

We went and visited Marie's house and her fathers shop in Cite Soliel. Marie is a student that Adoration sponsors. This is her dad's hardware store.

Building a table for a kindergarten class.

Putting together the counter-top...

Installing a blackboard in the kindergarten class...

Putting in hooks for the school bags...

Thank-you very much work team for all the work you did, your heart of service, and for taking time out of your busy schedules to come done and help out at Adoration. The work you did is a huge blessing for us, and the school and programs will benefit greatly from it. You were a joy to have with us, a real encouragement and lots of fun. Thank-you also to all those behind the scenes who donated supplies and helped out financially!

Jan -Feb: Visitors and Medical Team

Well since it's MARCH, I guess we should update on what has been happening in January and February... we'll start with some pics from January.
In January we had some board members come down, John Kottelenberg and Carina Ploeger. We had a great time with them discussing the ins and outs of Adoration, visiting some other schools and really taking a look at how we can develop our Special needs class for next year. John's wife Tony also came and visited for a few days. Here are some pics ....
John and Tony and some of the children, after church...

Carina and Moise, standing close to Moise' home...

Recess time!

Tony helping in Ed in the medical clinic...

Cadeau starting teaching Karate to the

students. He does Kindergarten to grade 2 on Thursdays, and Grade 3-5 on Fridays. It is fun to watch them practice.

Medical Team

At the beginning of February a Medical team came for 10 days. They were a team of 7 highly enthusiastic girls, who were eager to have medical clinics for a few different Haitian communities. Each day we had a clinic we were able to see approximately 150 people, with a whole range of ailments; helping people with headaches to doing minor surgeries. We were able to do 2 medical clinics at Adoration, 1 clinic in LaSaline (attached to Cite Soliel), 1 clinic in Cabarret (a town up the coast, about 1 hour drive from Port-au-Prince), 1 clinic on the island of La Gonave, and helped in a clinic at Pastor Michel's (who runs an orgranization for children and youth in PAP).

Our medical team - group picture in the ocean.

Eating lunch at the school. Rice and Beans and a Vegetable sauce...

An elderly Haitian lady (in her 90's) who came to the medical clinic on La Gonave.

Danielle and Alisha working the pharmacy at the clinic at the school.

Alisha and Jennifer helping Ed remove a bump...

Wisly, a worker at the school, getting his blood pressure checked by Esther and Deanna. Esther is Dr. Ed's assistant who works in the clinic at Adoration.

Nadia checking blood pressure at the registration table in LaSaline. In LaSaline we were in an old prison that was used in the days of Papa and Baby Doc, which has now been transformed into a church and school (and for us - a place to host a clinic).

Samantha seeing a patient, with Samuel as her translator.

The OPC church building we had a clinic at, on the island of LaGonave.

Danielle and Jen doing pharmacy on clinic day at Adoration.

Clinic in Cabarret...You can see Linetta (Lynetta?) with Ed, and Samantha and Deanna, and in the far right corner, Jen and Alisha.

Lynetta examining a student at Adoration.

Alisha in front of the UN check point, just in front of Adoration.

A huge thank-you to the medical team, for all the work you did and the heart of service that you have in everything you did! We know a lot of people were and are blessed through the service you performed! It was a real joy and a lot of fun to have you all here with us, and we are truely thankful to the LORD for each of you, and the talents he has given you, and seeing you use these talents for His glory, for His kingdom. Thank-you to everyone who supported them to come down, and for all the donations that were made.