2013 - off to a good start!

Wow, the holidays flew by... Ted, Tynan & I all met up a week ago yesterday in south FL & then flew down the next morning to prepare for our first team of the year. Emma arrived Wednesday morning & Callie on Thursday, so everyone is back “home” and happy to be here. We each were refreshed by our visits with family & friends and returned very ready to get back to work!

WORK

Wheaton Academy is one of our favorite teams to host, because they are HUGE & full of energy, but most of all because they are some of the most amazing teens that we’ve ever met. The team of 43 arrived Weds afternoon with smiles on their faces & servant's hearts.  I am always blown away at the way that this group is willing to embrace the huge change in culture so readily. I never hear complaints, just worship, prayer & praise out of the mouths of these students the entire week.

This year their stay seemed to fly by so fast! They had a packed week with two very big & busy medical clinics, a children’s program, art class, home visits, helping in a local orphanage, and painting the brand new classrooms that they raised the funds for & had built last summer.

It was a tearful goodbye for many this morning. The seniors will graduate at the end of this school year & not be coming back with the group. We are thankful for the the legacy that they hand down to the students that will follow, and for the sacrifices that they have made on behalf of the children in Pastor Thimote’s church OVC program.

HOME

In addition to coming back to our first team, we landed immediately in our new home – THANK YOU again to those of you who helped make that happen. (You know who you are!) It’s unanimous that we LOVE it!

Even though we pretty much camped out on the dining room floor this first week with pads & mattresses, had no electricity or running water, and spent all of our spare time scrubbing, scraping concrete, paint or who knows what off the tile floors & prepping walls for paint – we slept soundly and woke up smiling every morning.

We have felt welcomed by our neighbors, who seem to find it interesting, rather than “entertaining” (like our last neighborhood) to have a “blan” (white) family move in. As far as I know we are the only American Caucasian family in this general area. We have had people pitch in to help out in several ways, out of kindness, rather than a motive of compensation. It is a quiet, peaceful area, where everyone seems to be calm & friendly so far.

Ted had the first feeling of “pay off” for the tumultuous move, a couple of days ago, when he headed out early to make coffee and start breakfast at the guesthouse. As he left, he found that our vehicle had a flat tire. Normally this would have been a huge stressor – trying to figure out how to get there in time, having to try to change a tire in our tiny little parking alcove. Instead he walked the four blocks, which he had already planned on doing & dealt with it later when he had time,...in the breezy shade & spaciousness of our new drive way area!

Here is a look at our first day in the new house:

Renovation Realities - Haiti: First Look from Ted Barlow on Vimeo.

Watch for Renovation Realities – Haiti, first installments coming soon…