Le Phare / The Beacon

Le Phare Children (above) Sawyer Water Filters in use at Le Phare - Yea! Clean Water!

The Le Phare Oprhanage has also been referred to as the La Plaine Orphanage and Terre Noire. Terre Noire is the neighborhood, La Plaine is the general area. Le Phare means the Beacon. DieuGrande had named the orphanage "Fonds de'Aide aux Enfants Defavorises de la Plaine du Cul-de-Sac (FAEDPCS). We all agreed to change the name to something more "manageable"... Something a little easier for folks to remember. DieuGrande immediately came up with "Le Phare". We hope that this place will continue to be and fully develop into a beacon for this area. We are all committed to working towards this end.

God is definitely at work in leading us. I will be partnering with some folks to begin a new non-profit so that we can be effective in what we plan to do with The Beacon and various other projects in Haiti.

We are still looking for a place to live after August 31. We've looked at several places, but most are still in some state of being unfinished pieces of work! We have considered renting a large house and operating it as a guest house. So much to consider!

I will be in Houston on July 27th for a benefit concert put on by NewWorldSon!!! This is for the purpose of raising funds and awareness for the Beacon. As you may recall the orphanage, church and school were all destroyed in the earthquake. While we have been able to get funding to finish (almost) the school classrooms (that were in process of being built at the time of the EQ ) we still need to rebuild a permanent home for the children. They have just been able in the last few weeks to begin sleeping in the classrooms at night. They have to take everything out the next morning in order for school to operate. At least they are out of the rain and wind at night.

We still need some funding to do the finishing on the classrooms and also to get the toilets operational. Toilets being plumbed (above) This is a small unfinished house that sits on a piece of land

inside the orphanage compound. The owner wants $195,000 for it!

Classrooms almost finished Let us know if you'd like to come visit and see the orphanage and meet this precious group of children and the awesome couple who direct it (DieuGrande and wife). We are excited to see how God is opening this next chapter of our lives! We were missing a kid in the above shot, but I like the way the puppy got in

the frame and posed so nicely

I tried to delete these doubles, but could not - so look again!

Tim's Time

It is hard to believe that it has now been six months since this country and people were "shaken". It seems like six weeks. The needs and suffering have been multiplied, but Haiti presses on.

The past couple of weeks I have been blessed in serving with Curt King (the Master's driller) as he searched for good water, which is "living water". I have seen that "water for the poor is really water for the rich in faith". The Lord has been proclaimed and praised!

God is beginning to open doors for me involving water ministries and others. We've been asking God to reveal His plan for us - a lot! But I need to seek and grasp MORE of how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge. He is able and faithful!

We're Back On the Blog

We are so way past due for an update on this blog! So much has happened since the last post we made on January 17. Unbelievably, it has been almost 6 months since the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, followed by numerous aftershocks. Sometimes it all seems like a dream, but we keep waking up each day to the reality of it all. So much has changed in so many lives. So much has changed for us. For several months I (Debbie) had been praying about the situation with HFHC and asking God's direction. I knew what He was telling me, but it was such a difficult decision to have to make. I love these kids so much! I couldn't imagine not being with them and Jean Baptiste, Sonia & Jean. But God allowed several incidences to occur that really confirmed to me that I needed to heed His leading. So in early May I resigned from HFHC. I just completed my time with HFHC on June 30. Wednesday was a bitter-sweet final day with them. But as soon as I had made the decision to resign I had the peace I had been seeking over the decision. This does not mean that it has been an emotionally easy think to walk through - on the contrary! The enemy is at work - and I have to constantly remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil and powers of darkness. But God is greater and He is making His paths for us a little clearer each day. We have been blessed in so many ways - with loyal friends and neighbors and new friends. God has sent encouragement and confirmation in so many unique ways. He never ceases to amaze! It is hard to know where to start in updating....we'll have to add a little at a time so as not to bore and tire our readers! More later....

Worship

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a place for herself, where she may have her young- a place near Your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King, and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ver praising You. Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autunm rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. Hear my prayer, o Lord God Almighty; listen to me O God of jacob. Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on Your anointed one. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. Foor the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in You. Psalm 84 Amen

Bijou

Bijou Christmas 2009

What Bijou does when we are gone (or when she thinks we're gone)

Bijou Christmas 2008

There are a significant enough number of our "blog-followers" to justify this post!

Bijou returned with us to her hometown for Christmas. It was quite an adventure - one I don't think she cares to repeat. She was depressed most of the time, unless we were out walking, and it was too cold to do that too many times a day! We did get in at least one good walk a day.

And then, all the attention that was given to the new baby! Well, that just added to the depression! Bijou was so happy to get back home! She ran all over the yard, getting reaquainted with all the rocks, toys, holes, sand pile, etc. She wants to stay home when we go back in February for the coming of the second grandbaby.

Happy New Year!

At about 1:00 AM on New Year's Day, my phone rang. It was Sonia and all the kids at the orphanage calling to sing Happy Birthday and say Happy New Year! What a way to start a new year! New Year's Day is a huge holiday here in Haiti, as it is not only the start of a new year, but also the Haitian Independence Day, so even the youngest of the young stay up to usher the day in.

A day or two later I stopped in to visit at the orphanage. They presented me with a birthday gift! It is a handpainted, special made giant mug with a lid. They also enclosed a packet of chocolate drink mix with it. Gotta love it!

Update on Mezo's House

Around the middle of December, Mezo and his family moved into their new house (see earlier post)! We were in the States for the birth of our first grandchild (Jayda Nicole), so we missed the move into the new home. When we called from Charlotte to ask Mezo how things were going, we were so surprised to hear that they had already moved in! This house was built in a short span of time.

We got back to Haiti on December 28 and Steve came for a quick trip to do some planning on the school building. While he was here we went to see the house. Mezo says that people who walk by and see the new house all comment about his beautiful new house! The family is so grateful and so happy to be in their new home! Everyone is praising God, to whom all glory and honor is due.