Thursday, August 1, 2013 at 11:40AM Despite the heat of July, we are continuing to make progress on the house repairs on our days off. The latest project has been the kitchen cabinets:
It's getting there!!!
Home, House, Renovation Realities, summer Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 7:03PM Today our reno reality was quite nice! Our fixer errands took us up the hill into Petionville to an actual Sherwin Williams store. Here we get to pick more color options than they have at MSC, it's great paint & we enjoyed a few minutes of air conditioning. The Haiti twist...it is impossible to get paint here the same day. So we put our order in & will have to drive back up again tomorrow to pick it up.
It's been worth it, we threw in a quick stop at Maison Handel to look at a bed for Emma, picked up a couple more padlocks to replace the ones we had to cut off, bought a really nice bushel of "fig" (bananas) on the street and stopped to grab a few groceries on our way back home.
60 sec 1.10 from Ted Barlow on Vimeo.
Emma, Life in Haiti, Rebecca, Renovation Realities, Ted, paint Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 8:45PM In comparison to Fredny's project this week, ours is quite simple...paint.
Tynan got to learn how, when we dove in on his room today!
60 sec 1.9 from Ted Barlow on Vimeo.
60 seconds, Life, Renovation Realities, family, new house Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 9:14PM Our hearts have been filled with thoughts & emotions this week as our neighbor, Fredny's house is being removed, one bucket & wheelbarrow at a time. We can't even begin to understand the journey that he has been on since the earthquake. Thankfully no one was hurt in the home, but it's hard to watch them unearth corners & walls that belonged to a former life. He has been a kind, gentle & humble neighbor to us the past two months & welcomed us into the neighborhood.
Please keep him in your prayers as the excavating continues and his dreams of reconstruction begin.
60 sec 1.8 from Ted Barlow on Vimeo.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 8:37PM 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…
