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.

Hotel Mont Jolie

I don't have any pictures of the churches we visited on the two Sunday mornings we were in Haiti.  I just don't feel right about carrying a camera into church.  I want to go to church as a worshipper, not a tourist.  I must say, while I'm on the topic, that our kids did exceptionally well at staying put and attentive through multi-hour worship conducted in a foreign language under very hot circumstances.

So going to the Hotel Mont Jolie after service for lunch and a swim was an especially sweet treat.  The hotel has a great view of Cap Haitien and a sparkling blue pool.  Bud and Jane were along and so was Maury, a great guy who is living on the compound for a few months and working as interim treasurer for the mission. 

The kids and Melissa take in the view.

Dats is on his way to the dressing room to change.

The view of Cap Haitien's harbor from the pool deck.

Four great kids!

You can see The Princess' affection for her Uncle Bud in her eyes.

Dats and Maury taking a break from swimming for a little conversation.

We were trying to coordinate a flip while Melissa took a picture.  We were unsuccessful on our first try.

That's Bud on the left, then a young man named Zion (who was at the hotel with his family), then Ida, then me and finally Dats.  On our second attempt, we got the picture we were wanting...

Another great meal!  Our server happened to be one of Jane's students - she teaches English classes to adults.  He did a good job waiting on us in between running back to the lounge where a soccer match was on the TV!

A Day at the Beach - Cormier Plage

Half way through our two weeks in Haiti, Bud and Jane took our family to the beach for a day.  It is just over a mountain on the other side of Cap Haitien.  It's a bumpy ride - Ida, who was sitting in the back of the van in the sun, lost his breakfast half way there. 

Ida quickly recovered from losing his pineapple once we got out of the van; he was eager to check out the snorkeling gear that Bud and Jane brought along.

Ida and the Drama Queen enjoy the surf.

Dats was looking contemplative.

Plenty of interesting coral and shells wash up on shore.

Lunch at the hotel restaurant with Bud and Jane.  Bud works maintenance for the mission and Jane is hostess to visiting groups and works with the Starfish Schools program.  To our kids, they quickly became Uncle Bud and Aunt Jane.

Is there a limit on how many times a sail can be patched??

Dats and I went snorkeling and had a great time checking out the coral and a wide variety of colorful fish.  The sea urchins made us nervous, though!

Jane joined Melissa and the kids in the water.

Snorkeling with Ida ...

Ida could play by himself in the sand for hours.  For all he knows, the rest of the family left after lunch...

There was a street market out front of the hotel where various artists were selling their wares.  These were some of the nicest crafts I had seen in Haiti.  Beautiful work!

These pieces were carved from soapstone by an artist from Port au Prince.  Melissa bought several of his pieces to bring back as gifts.

Jane climbs back into the mission van at the end of the day.

View over Cap Haitien on the trip back down to town.

Uncle Bud and Aunt Jane invited us to their house that evening for homemade pizza and some "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader" on the Wii.  It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day.

Playing in the Great Outdoors

Our kids got plenty of fresh air while we were in Haiti.  Every time we turned around, the kids were outside, exploring, playing or trying to communicate with their new friends.

Mosquito bites on the Drama Queen's legs.  At one point, she counted 50 bites on one leg!  But, thank God, no malaria problems!

This rope swing outside the Bundys' house got a lot of use.  Here, Dats and Ida play on the swing with Woud, the son of Dr. Rodni.  Woud is six years old and quite a character.  In the days since we returned to Indiana, my kids often have said they miss Woud.

Woud, the wild man, is ready to do battle.  Later in the week, he managed to kick Ida in the face while doing battle on this swing and left a large mark on Ida's lip.

I told Woud I wanted a picture and this was his pose.  He has been working on his English and is pretty good...  I could tell because after I took this picture, I said, "Why so serious, Woud?" and then he gave me the following expression ...



The Princess and Woud also did battle at times.  One day The Princess came into the house crying and covered in dirt from head to toe - she had gotten into a fight with Woud over a stick ... and lost.



I know this isn't the "great outdoors", but I include it here because when our kids weren't playing outside, it seemed like they were browsing around the gift shop that Jane stocks with local crafts.  The kids spent literally hours in this little square room, trying to pick out the perfect gifts for friends and relatives back home and souvenirs for themselves.  This got started one day when Jane employed The Drama Queen in cleaning and reorganizing and restocking the gift shop.  DQ LOVED it and worked hard.  She's excited because Jane said that this could perhaps be DQ's ongoing ministry once we move to Haiti.