Swimming

On Sunday afternoon we went swimming with a family that was staying with us for the weekend.  Kati Wiersema's family was here in Haiti for a week helping with the building of a school.  Her family stayed the weekend and we decided to go swimming.  Well this was the day that Chloe decided that she would start swimming.  She learned very quickly and by the end of the afternoon was swimming for about 20 seconds by herself.  Thank you Kati also for helping us get this video up and running too.  Thank you for all that you do. 

Bible Trivia @ Adoration Christian School

The students participated in a Bible Trivia Challenge on Friday, March 9th.  The school was divided into four sections: Special Needs, Kindergarten, Grades 1 - 3 and Grades 4 - 6.  Each section picked five students to represent their class.  Throughout the morning the students got more and more excited and the cheering got louder and louder.  The students enjoyed the competition as much as the teachers did.  Here are some pictures of this mornings Bible Trivia Challenge.

The students eagerly waiting an answer.

One of the Special Ed. classes discussing the answer.

Roodvens excited that a team got an answer right.

Whispering the answer so that the
other team would not hear anything.

Grade 3 in great discussion!

Director Alix reading the questions.

The score between Grades 1, 2 and 3

Grade 4 discussing the answer.

Do we have it right?

The audience cheering the winning team.

Dedicated to Grandma and Oma!

Chloe and her daddy!

Enjoying Play-Doh

Wacky Wednesday.

 

Reading a new book!

Chloe loves her ice cream.



Chloe still misses Angel, :(

  

Waving hi to mommy.



Chloe chillaxing with one of her friends at school.

Enjoying the slide at the bazaar.

 

Chloe loves to play in the sandbox.



Spaghetti and meatballs, want some?

Angel loves having her belly rubbed.





Playing with the new puppy!

 

Locked in the cage with Maia.

Making crafts with Miss Kati

Bible Trivia Challenge!

This past Friday the Secondary Students met for their regular Bible Study at 3:00.  However this Friday afternoon was going to be different then most Friday afternoons.  The students had a surprise waiting for them.  They were going to be participating in a Bible Trivia Challenge.  The month of February was dedicated as Bible reading month for the Adoration Christian Centre.  The Secondary Students read part of Joshua on Friday afternoons and the book of Matthew at home.  So anything from those books was fair game.  Pastor Octavius and I spent some time during the day coming up with some questions.  After the initial shock that they were going to be tested the students formed groups and were ready to go.  Throughout the afternoon, the competition was fierce.  But in the end the there was a winning team.  They won only by one point!  A job well done and an excellent time had by all.

Pastor Octavius and myself coming up with the final question of the challenge!



Coming up with the right answer, together as a group.

 

Oops wrong answer, nice try guys, better luck next time!

The right answer, time for celebrations!  Well done team!

 

Writting down the correct answer, hopefully!



The winning team, Santanette, Amson, Seliane, Jeandline, Farah, Nelson and Claudy.  Well done team!

Finished products!

After spending part of Thursday and most of Saturday, the secondary students, Daniel, Randy and myself finished up some of the projects and got the school ready for the children to start again this past Monday. 

So to the eight who travelled from Ontario, Canada for 10 days to help with the renovations at Adoration Christian Centre here are some pictures of the finished project. 

Much thanks for your hard work.  Much thanks for your mentorship and leadership.  Much thanks for everything that you could do.  May God continue to bless you and keep you back in Ontario, as you spend time time with your families and as go to work.  You have touched many lives here in Haiti and for that we are most thankful for.
 

Books ready to be read.



Come take a book, read as much as possible!



Freshly painted floors and walls and a new chalkboard
waiting to be written on.



The Grade Six class does not have to share a room anymore.

New installed doors, connecting all the downstairs classrooms.

A freshly painted chalkboard put to good use in Kindergarten II

Our new message board!

New shelves, new work tables, a totally
rearranged kitchen that is a lot more user friendly,
and screened in to protect from birds and bugs.

Soccer nets made out of metal, used every single day.

The younger children love their new playground :)

Not as much noise between Grade 2 and 3 anymore.

Beauger's new shoes.

Extra clothes donated to the secondary students.

A family update!

It has been a little while since we have had a family update on this blog.  As you can see we have been busy with a team.  Four members of the team stayed here for 10 days.  It was a blessing to have them in our house.  We enjoyed catching up with friends and making new friends.  We enjoyed the fellowship, the worship and the companionship.  What we, as a family, loved most about this team was the how well they interacted with our secondary students when they were working with them.  They took the time to teach and to mentor.  A lot of time was spent in communication.  Lots of talking, lots of laughter and having a good time.  Each team member got to know the people they were working with.  This was a joy to see happen on a daily basis.

Before the team arrived we had the mom and dad Beintema in town.  We loved having them here.  They got to see where we lived, we were are living now, the work that we do, the church we attend, the roads we drive on, where we shop and the list goes on and on.  It was a pleasure showing them around, it was a pleasure having them here.  We will miss them and look forward to seeing them when we return in March and May.  When we took them to the beach it was much needed break for our family.  We spent two whole days on the beach with very little people to share it with.  Nice and quiet and peaceful.

Before we had the Beintemas in we had some pastors from the OPC and PCA churches staying at our house.  We also had the director of Word and Deed over for about three days.

So all in all we have had a lot of company in the past month.  It has been nice to have lots of people visit and spoil Chloe.  It is nice to have people to chat with for long hours of the night.  But it is also nice to have personal space back.  We are getting back into a routine.  We are settlling down.  Chloe was excited to go back to school and see her teachers.  (She just had a week off for spring break.)  The baby continues to grow inside of Mindy, we can see the progress happening.  It is such a blessing.  Adoration Christian Centre continues to be a place of business.  People coming and going.  Teachers teaching, students learning, ministers preaching, doctors helping, students cleaning and the list goes on and on.  It is a blessing to see all this activity happening.  But at the same time there is so much need.  People continue to get sick, some people even pass away.  The Lodders and ourselves are called to minister, to help, to talk and to make some tough decisions.  Please pray for us as we continue with our work.  Pray for patience, for gentleness, for direction in making the right decisions.  Please pray for God to guide and lead us and to put our trust in Him alone.  Please pray that we may do our work to His honour and glory, to do it for Him and not for ourselves.

Finished Products!

Throughout the 10 days that the work team from Ontario was here a lot of different projects were completed.  A couple blogs ago I posted a list of projects that we wanted to be finished before the team went back to their loved ones.  (An aside:  Thank you loved ones for allowing the team to be here for ten days, we really enjoyed the time they spent here.)

     1.  Building a new food depot. FINISHED
     2.  Building a roof over the propane storage area.  FINISHED
     3.  Building two more storage cupboards.  FINISHED
     4.  Building a library.  FINISHED
     5.  Repositioning three walls so that we can have three bigger classrooms.  FINISHED
     6.  Building a playground.  FINISHED
     7.  Putting in a couple of washrooms.  FINISHED
     8.  Building awnings over the windows.  Materials all cut and ready for welding
     9.  Building a new wheelchair ramp.  Work in progress
     10.  Putting razor wire above the gate.  FINISHED

Here are some pictures of the finished products:

But the thing that we enjoyed the most from this group was the was the way they interacted with the Secondary Students.  Throughout the days spent working, time was taken to demonstrate and explain how to use the hand and power tools.  They took the time to show the students how to use a skill saw, a chalk line, a drill, a hammer drill, a welder, a grinder, a sander, a level, a chisel, a hammer and many others I don't even know the names to.  Not only did the men explain the uses of the tools but they also took the time to explain how to make the projects.  They explained why things were built the way they were.  Extra time was taken to make sure the students learned the correct way of doing things. 

It was nice to sit back and watch the Canadians mentor the Secondary Students, all the leadership and the teaching that took place.  We are thankful for the work that was accomplished, it will definetly make our week seeing those men working with the students.  We got to see first hand patience, leadership, gentleness, guidance but above all, genuine love for the students.  Men we would like to thank you for everything you have done.  These students will have memories for many years to come.



The entire work team from Canada!  Thanks guys!!

Our entire team!  Great work done by all, thank you so much!