Haiti Mission Trip

Eric and I have decided to go on a mission trip with our church to Haiti in September. In some ways this seems a bit crazy, but both of us feel like we are being called to go. Several of you know that last year Eric was moved to help a specific school in a suburb north of Port Au Prince called the The Good Shepherd School of Pele. We began sponsoring a child there and Eric put on a music benefit for the school. This is where we will be going to help rebuild the school and church. As we process everything we have to do to prepare for this great adventure we will keep you updated. Below is some recent information about the current status of the school and the people in Haiti. This is a message from the headmaster of the school. On Tuesday January 19, the national staff was in the streets to visit some camps where our leaders and kids take shelter and the victims in general. Information which we collected the first day of the meeting made it possible to know that our young people are shared out in 17 miserable camps of refuge. They do not have water, food, latrines… The great majority of them suffer from fever especially at night, flu, diarrhea… some of them present signs of great weakness. Many young people and leaders have left Port-au-Prince, but unfortunately some of them have started to come back again because they do not have anything to provide to their needs, they are suffering from hunger and they wish to receive something from what the foreign governments are distributed to the victims and these assistances are very difficult to be received by the victims. (Now everyone needs, everyone is thirsty and everyone is hungry.) Many leaders and young people do not have house anymore and consequently they do not know where they will go when the life become normal again. Now, everyone lives in the streets and the deprivation of house is not felt yet and does not make problem yet but when people start to return to their house the leaders and young people will begin to face the blackest misery. Following the various information received from the leaders, we enumerate the needs in order of priority:A. Food and water B. Tents C. Hygienic materials D. Clothing E. Medical help. F. Immediately after the events (Housing).

Children in class about a year ago.

The classroom today.

The classroom today.

Stairs on the school grounds.

Stairs on the school grounds.

The main church building prior to the earthquake.

The main church building after.

The main church building after.

This picture is a camp of refugees in the Pele area the first few days after the earthquake.

Please continue to pray for these people.

You can read more about the school at: http://www.haitichildsponsorship.org/index.html

Pinewood Derby

Today we had the annual Cubscout Pinewood derby race. After an emergency visit from Pappy to help pull Sam's car together we were ready to roll. Sam placed 4th place for the Wolf den which was awesome.

Sam with all the impounded cars.

Episode III car (Star Wars)

Dad and Sam having a snack for his race.

Josie and Ausha snacking.

Sam and his best friend Miles (Miles won 1st place for Wolves & 3rd place for the pack)

Sam's car ready to go on track 1.

Sam won 1st in 1 of 4 races.

Proud of his car.

We have been dusted.

A little dusting of snow gave way to about 30 minutes of fun before we came in to warm back up. We are such southerners!

It sticks to my gloves.

Peek-a-boo.

Causing dust storms.

Sam throws a "snowball" at Dad.

Snow is in my eyes!

Our Snow...blobman

The dogs were very excited about the snow.

Josie warming her bum and toes.

Bang!

You could say this year started off with a bang, just not the kind of bang you want.

UPDATE: I caused $4,000 in damages just to my van and it will take 2 weeks to fix. I also sprained my wrist which is in a brace. If the pain in my shoulder and back doesn't go away soon I may need physical therapy. Happy New Year!