Monday, June 10, 2013

Oh the life!

Watching my little girls having such a party in the hammocks made this mom want to forget about cooking and cleaning, and go join them. :-)

(this picture is especially for Dwayne and Linda - the lilies are getting so big!)
I love the view of the grasses with the fort in the background.
After taking a few pictures it was time to get back to the work at hand... I have such wonderful helpers - Michael especially enjoys mopping floors. :-)




Thursday, June 6, 2013

Goat butchering


Sunday morning we discovered that dogs had attacked our goats during the night. They killed and ate 3 big goats, 4 kids, and punctured the intestines of the another nanny. (she died later) All that was left of the big goats were the heads and front legs... there was no sign of the kids. The dogs' destruction left us with only 2 billy goats. Billys do a lot of good by themselves, you know, so we butchered them the next day. It was a good educational experience for the children. I know, I should have a lot more pictures. But fact of the matter is, we didn't take anymore, and I'm not sure there are very many who would've enjoyed them if we had... but I would've liked to share pictures of Rose cleaning the intestines, and scraping hair off of goat heads and appendages... :-)
See Janelle standing in the corner with her hands up at her face? She was the only one that was not at all interested in this butchering business. :-)
And the boys? Well this was grand!!! They were delighted to hold the legs while Maxo skinned 'em.
We ended up with about 20 lbs of meat. And not a bit of those goats was wasted, let me tell you!!! Every single last bit was parceled out to someone -heads, legs, stomach, kidneys, intestines - you name it - except for the skin. I don't know that they did anything with the skin. I was telling the children that it would be fun to tan the hide, but I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing. :-/ I have to smile when I remember how before I came to Haiti, I would be so grossed out at the thought of eating goat, but I didn't realize what good cooks these Haitian ladies are... By the time they have it washed, marinated, cooked and fried... well let me just say - it's really, really good! I tasted the heart, but sadly it ranked the same as liver in my opinion... (shudder...)

Friday, May 31, 2013

All hands on deck!

Just some random pictures of activities around here, that the children enjoy being involved in...
...folding laundry...
dishes...
Mud cookies, anyone???

of course we have to make our houses... see how they dug a hole and buried that red tub?
Pictures to color...
Garlic and spices to pound...
beans to shell...
and there's always meals to be made... :-)

*photo credits to Marc*





Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Seven!

Yesterday was this young lady's 7th birthday. I can hardly believe how the time flies. Seven years already?! :)
She was absolutely delighted to bake her own birthday cake. It was a green jell-O cake. :-) I had so many things to catch up on after being in the States for a week, so the birthday celebrations were on the quieter side. But Cherlise loves puzzles, so she was thrilled to spend time with Mommy and several of her siblings putting a brand new puzzle together.
Our dear "Lili", We are so thankful for you. It's a delight to watch you thrive in school and mature in so many ways. I love to watch you so gracefully twirl in the yard for sheer joy and love of life. We pray that God would raise you up to be a woman who loves Him passionately and serves Him faithfully - for His glory!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Hello!

It's been a while hasn't it? I always feel bad for those of you who faithfully check the blog. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. We're all doing well. We had visitors here for the last part of April; of course that makes our life more hectic. I have lots of pictures that I hope to post soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of all of us that we quickly posed for on Sunday afternoon just before our visitors left.



PS. Thank you to those of you who prayed for rain! It's been raining a lot, and we once again have a cistern half full of water! Praise the Lord!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Springtime in Haiti

Our weather might not change much year round, but you can still tell it's springtime in Haiti by the animal babies that appear! This colt made his appearance yesterday morning...
The children think they ought to call him Larry, because the mom's name is Lily. :-)

I don't know if it's my imagination or not, but sometimes I think there's something about him that looks like a mule! Maybe that's just because I was always used to my stockier Haflinger foals in the States???
And these twins are about a week old...
She is all action... kids are so entertaining!
Finally! She stood still just long enough to pose for the camera. :-)


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Pray for rain...

Good morning from the mountains! It's a beautiful sunny morning with barely a cloud in the sky. It's awesome when it comes to hanging laundry out to dry... but we've been having an unsual "rainy season". We have been getting very little rain. It might pour for 5 minutes or so and that's the end of the rain that we get... Would you all please pray that God would send us rain? The water level in the cistern is getting very low. It's been dry enough that we could have trouble hauling water from a spring, because the springs are really low too... We're loving all the sunshine, but we would be soooo thankful for rain! I'm so glad that we can trust our Heavenly Father to supply all our needs... Thank you for praying!