Boys will be boys! and Kervens is all boy

Friday July 11th - Kervens was running and slipped. He broke a permanent front tooth and his right arm. We spent the afternoon at the hospital getting xrays and a cast. The dentist came to our house around 8 pm and spent a couple of hours repairing the tooth. (Actually, he had to take Kervens to a guesthouse around the corner from us since we didn't have electricity. The guesthouse has an inverter.) We were all exhausted, naturally, but extremely thankful that everything got fixed in one day.

Playground

On Friday mornings we take a few childen to the church playground. On a recent morning Michelor, 11, proposed marriage to Natasha.

Claudine was not sure what to do on her first visit. She mostly just watched the others. She let me hold her too.

Kervens plays ball with Deedee's boys. Gertie and Richardson are right at home on the equipment of playing ball or making up games. Isna was shy at first but caught on pretty quickly.

July 3 2008

Johnny came home from the hospital after 5 weeks there! Finally his ear infection is cured. He has gained weight! The doctors cautioned that he is still anemic so we must be diligent in giving vitamins and good food. He will take antibiotics to help prevent future infections as he is HIV positive. We are SO glad to have this sweet boy with us. There have been many changes in Johnny’s life recently: he left his home to spend a week with Sherrie, spent a week with us, then five weeks in the hospital. He is a little scared of new surroundings and people. Pray for him, please, to be comforted and to be healed.

Pierreline is a 1 month old baby girl whose mother died. The family only knows that mother had a fever 2 or 3 weeks after giving birth, the doctor gave her medicine and she died two days later. Papa and aunt love the baby and did their best for her: they gave her Gerber baby food. They didn’t understand that she needs enriched milk more than pureed fruit but they did know they needed help. She is beautiful and, thanks to a concerned family, is in good condition. We are thrilled to be able to help her.

Pierreline’s papa acknowledged that he is not a Christian but it is okay with him that we will do everything in our power to be sure that Pierreline learns to love the Lord. We will try to introduce papa to Jesus, too. Please pray for this!

Silly car! It has been running so well for a long time but now the a bar in the front end is falling down. Add car repairs to the list of needs that we are asking you to pray for. The Haitian mechanic said the bar isn’t important, it only stabilizes the car. Hmmm, not important to be stable?

A friend worked on the diesel generator and we think it only needs a battery and an air filter to make it run. The Haitian mechanic said we need to replace brushes in the gas generator.

It seems like we have a lot of problems, doesn’t it? Two broken generators, a broken inverter, broken car, lack of rain forcing us to buy water again ... Well, that’s life. We are in the Lord’s hands and I know He will solve each of these problems in His own time. He is already working on them. We practice I Thessalonians 5:16-18: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. We give thanks for a houseful of healthy and healing children, for always having food to eat and water to drink, for having a house full of joy and peace, and much, much more.

We thank the Lord for you, too, who are our partners in prayer and ministry. God bless you!