March in Review! (In pictures)

Hold on to your hats! This is one LONG post of pictures covering our month of February.

Miss Nancy is a Global Partner's missionary who is teaching adult English classes. On Saturday mornings, she comes to the Children's Village to teach three English classes to the older kids. Morgan decided to help one week.

We had a team from our hometown visit this month. Here they are doing a medical clinic for the staff (and some children) of the Children's Village. 

 Our crazy boy! It's funny how the kids find this one small patch of grass at the village to play on!

This month we tried our hand at making cinnamon rolls from scratch. I've got some great helpers!

Straight out of the oven! We added a little frosting to the top....YUM! They were SO good!

 When teams come from our hometown, they usually come with gifts for the kids from grandparents, family and friends :)

 Out on one of our Sunday afternoon snorkeling trips. If you can believe it, this day was actually a bit chilly! (Probably still in the mid to upper 80's but it still felt cold!)

 Carnival is celebrated in Haiti. It is kind of like Mardis Gras. However, it is celebrated for about 5 days. All week, this party bus would drive around with LOUD music. People were just having fun, but when you're woken up at 12am, 1am and 2am from the loud music from the bus coming down your street...not so fun.

 We had another team visit from our hometown! This team was partly made up of some nursing students from IWU. They did a CPR training with the house moms at the Children's Village.

 Jaron...being his usual self...CLIMBING!

 We invited the team over for brownies and some time to talk. It was nice seeing some familiar faces and meeting new people as well!

 Before we left, we bought this chair at IKEA. We decided this month was as good as any to put it up for the kids. We knew we wanted to wait a little so that it would be something new and fun. The kids love it. They spin each other in it an I don't know how they don't get sick! They also like to read in it. They call it their nest.

 February was a busy month with teams! This team came from Canada and spruced up the paint on some of the pods. They also did some crafts and songs with the kids in the afternoons.

 Jaron is so sweet. One of the house moms had twins in November and he LOVES to hold them an play with them. This is the little boy.

 If he's not climbing...he's usually upside down. :)

 One of the kids' favorite things to do is catch animals. Chickens, goats, donkeys, lizards, etc.  I love that they are not afraid at all.

 Playing at the Children's Village. 

This month, the kids found a tiny, little baby goat. It couldn't have been more than a couple days old. The neighbor kids convinced our kids that the mama had abandoned the baby goat and that it would die if we didn't take care of it. (I honestly don't know if the mom had abandoned it or not, but we did walk back over and look for the mom and she wasn't anywhere around.)

Morgan named her Cola.

 At first, we fed her with this straw thingy. Then we bought a baby bottle at the market and she drank from that really well after she got the hang of it. Morgan and Jaron did a great job taking care of her. She would eat every couple hours around the clock and the kids would get up to feed her during the night.

 Can you spot Craig's head? He was playing a game on his phone. The kids are all so fascinated with technology!

Sleepover! The kids invited their friends Ella and Rebecca to sleep over. You can see Cola in her little box bed at the end of the beds. Morgan put her stuffed animal horse in there so Cola would feel like she was sleeping with her mama.

Fresh veggies to make some salsa!

 This month, a brand new gas station and super market opened up on the island. We were invited to attend the inauguration. The tickets said that it would start at 4. We knew not to come then, but we did arrive around 5:00. The actual ceremony didn't start until around 6. It was HOT sitting there waiting. However, we are very excited for this new establishment. So far, they only sell gas and some drinks, but they are working on getting more things for the supermarket! Maybe I will be able to get more groceries on the island now. We'll see!

 The entire ceremony was in Creole and lasted about two hours. This about sums up how we all felt ;)

Well, despite our best efforts, we just weren't good enough for Cola. She was just too young and needed her mama. She ended up dying in the night. We had her for about a week. This was SO hard on Morgan. We had some good talks and decided that it would best that if we ever found another baby goat that we thought was abandoned, we should leave it for a while and make sure that the mama really doesn't come back. It was a fun week for the kids to take care of Cola and I'm sure something they'll remember for a long time.  So, we had a little funeral and buried her with her little collar that Jaron made her and her bottle. (Thanks Caleb and Michelle for the box of goodies! It made the perfect "casket" for Cola!)

 This month, we also started a new worship service on Wednesday nights. This is the property where we are currently holding the service. We had some time to do a prayer walk and pray over the property.

Craig meets with two of our Haitian friends once a week to go over the passage that will be taught that week. This time has been very meaningful to all involved. We have learned a lot about the Haitian culture and are thankful that we have been accepted to be a part of this service. 

 Some of our friends who were here to oversee the hospital build left this month. Here we are at one of their favorite rooftop "restaurants." 

Morgan, Jaron and some of the neighbor kids. I promise I did not make them do this. It looks like some sort of torture punishment! They thought it was pretty funny :)

 We met a doctor from Korea. Some of our friends are working with him and we invited them over for dinner after church. I love that he got down on the floor and started tying balloons together with the kids to see how long of a chain they could make. I'm so thankful for all of the precious people we have encountered while we've been here. What a blessing!

Jaron climbing again...this time on the neighbor's wall.

 At the "airport" saying goodbye to our friends. They have been in Haiti for 2 1/2 years and are now heading back home to England.  

Goodbyes are never easy.

 The kids had been planning and working all day to put on a party. It was all very secretive. Here Jaron is up on our roof getting ready for the party!

The rooftop party! The kids were so excited. They had decorated the roof with balloons.

They had water and snacks all ready :)

 The neighbors came over!

 Little Miss Deborah - love her!

 What party is complete without a little music? So we pumped some tunes and started dancing!

 And jumping rope! These girls are amazing...they make it look really easy!

 These are four sisters who live across the street. They have three other sisters. 

Ymma, Edna, Me, Rebeka, Tidodo

We drew quite a crowd...

 We partied until the sun went down. The balloons were transformed from decorations to some crazy headpieces. 

This month, one of our hens had chicks. Unfortunately, one died :(

 On our way to our first church service!

 Worship time

 Back at the Children's Village. Jaron always seems to find the babies :)

 Another team came and had a time of worship with the kids. 

We are getting into the windy time of year. All of the kids are making kites. Here Jaron's upset because they won't let him fly it ;)

 Goat catching!

 Jaron has been SO creative. Every day, he makes multiple things. He's learned how to use a glue gun, multiple tools, including power tools, and a machete. Here, he made a cross and then he and Morgan wanted me to take a picture of them acting out Jesus being crucified and Morgan was kneeling.

 Soccer buddies at the village.

Whew! My shoulders are sore from sitting here at the computer! Thanks for keeping up with our crazy journey! We're so thankful that we are able to be here. We are learning new things every day and growing individually and as a family. Thank you for your prayers! I never know who all reads and looks at this blog - but it always encourages me when someone tells me that they love to follow along! It makes us feel like we're not quite so far away.