Our Next House - God Willing

When we got to Haiti, I was surprised to hear that the folks at the mission already had a house picked out for us.  It's toward the back of the compound and right next door to the Bundys - who also have four kids, roughly the same ages as our kids.

Melissa and I had both had experiences with this particular house on our separate trips to Haiti last year.  Melissa had stayed in the house and had wondered at the time about the possibility of someday living there.  I didn't stay in the house, but I helped a bit on a project on the outside of the house.  The first night my October group slept in Haiti, somebody broke into this house and stole the inverter.  (Inverters are battery packs that charge during the day when the electricity is flowing and then power a few outlets and a couple of overhead lights through the night after the power goes out - around 9 PM.  Inverters are the only way to keep fans running through the night.)  Someone had torn one of the screens off a side window, climbed the grillwork of that same window, punched their way through some rusted wire mesh near the roofline, crawled in to the attic, dropped through the ceiling and then made off with the inverter - which was the only thing of value in the house beyond some large furniture.  Our job was to reattach the screen and nail some wooden pieces strategically to still allow air to flow through the attic space without giving enough space for a human body to squeeze through. 



My friend Todd works to repair the house in October of 2010.  In the lower right hand side of the picture you can see the screen (with its blue frame) hanging loose and the grillwork of the window which our thief used as a ladder to enter the attic.



We attached our wood pieces on both ends of the house so nobody would find further temptation to break in.  Storly and I are working together at the top of the ladders.

So when we got our family to Haiti in July, Melissa and I were both excited to think that this could be our house a year from now.  Maury was currently living in it, but he gave us a couple of opportunities to get inside and look around.  And Melissa had me measuring everything - windows, couch cushions, shelves!

It's floor plan is nearly identical to the Bundys' house where we were staying.  The house is in pretty good shape overall.  And it seems to be positioned in such a way as to be brightly lit by sunshine and to allow breezes to move the air around.  It just has a good feel to it.  Jane tells us that all of the furniture that is currently in it will stay (couch, table and chairs, beds, dressers) but we'll have to gather our own kitchen supplies.

Here's what it looks like:

The front of the house

The dining area, which is part of one large room along with ...

The living room area.

The hallway that leads to the bedrooms.

Bedroom #1.

Bedroom #2.

Master bedroom .. with mosquito netting!

There are even two bathrooms... this one and ...

The bathroom attached to the master bedroom.

The kitchen.  If only I could get my mom to come down and redesign this kitchen...

Side view #1.

Side view #2.

The front porch. The Bundy house is in the background.

Some of the landscaping out front.

I took this picture at about 3:30 in the afternoon and when we came back from dinner about 3 hours later, five or six of these blooms were wide open!

The view from the front porch.  The Bundy house is out of sight to the left and the house on the left in the picture is one that will be occupied by a new missionary couple who will be arriving in a couple of months.  She will be working as treasurer and he will be overseeing home maintenance.

All in all, not bad, eh?  Definitely not "roughing it" too badly.