Since I last posted.................

................Bombarde has had rain! What a blessing, but I don't have any pictures of the rain. Cisterns are full, and folks are planting gardens.
At the house, Saul laid up a shower wall. It was more work than he expected since he had to fit around the plumbing Rich had assembled.
The windows are all installed, and the cement work around them finished. There's just the roof to seal, and a bit more cement work in the bathroom, and we can start painting!
Here the guys are pouring the slabs of concrete that will cover the septic tank.
Astrel is mixing concrete--it all gets done by hand here, and he has lots of practice!
Rich and Astrel relaxing together at the end of the work day.

Photos from the Hospital grounds

The hospital addition is being used, even though the building isn't yet completed. Here folks wait to see the doctor.
Kids in Haiti are out of school this week before Easter, so these two are working to clean up and beautify the hospital grounds. Here they're knocking the tops off some rocks to make it easier for people to walk between the old and new hospital buildings. Sorry about the ugly background. I just had to take the picture in front of the little storage depot at the end of the hospital. The rest of the hospital looks better---really.
They've gravelled the hospital driveway very nicely with "tet sab" (literally, "head of sand", it's what's left after sifting sand for cement work, and we have a lot of it right now!).
Tyler and Jacob got inspired to haul some gravel after school today, and the kids Steve had hired got worried that their job was being stolen, but it looks like we have plenty of gravel to go around!
Here they're knocking down sharp rocks preparatory to spreading their loads.

Windows!

Yesterday, the guys poured and finished the gallery floor.
Rich installed the first three window frames! This morning, Rich installed more windows, and the guys worked on finishing the cement work around the windows............. and smooth plastering the north outside wall of the house.
It's looking great!

This 'n' that

Today was a busy day, and once again, we're thankful for God's protection. Since I had the pay envelopes ready for hospital employees, I had gone down to the hospital with Rich when he went down to distribute water for the patients (because water is rare and valuable in Bombarde, it's necessary to control its use).

We were in the wound care room, and Rich stopped for a quick check of the battery pack there that provides power for the hospital lighting. He's been saying for awhile now that those batteries are going bad. As he walked over, his foot bumped the charger cable, he leaned down to check the connection, there was a spark, and a BOOM as one of the batteries literally blew its top. Rich quickly disconnected the power, and we all hastily left the room to escape the fumes. Rich got some very mild acid burns around his right eye, says tonight it feels almost like a bruise (it was a boom you could feel), but we're so glad his eye is ok. Those of you who know Rich, know he was blind in his left eye for 20 years, the result of a farm accident. In 2004, he had an artificial lens implanted, and treasures having good vision again more than most of us do!

The rest of our day was a bit calmer. Rich stayed busy supervising work on the house, redoing that battery pack at the hospital, and installed the first three window frames at the house this afternoon. Now that's exciting! The guys poured the gallery (porch) floor today, so finally, the house has all of its floors. The truck from CAM arrived today, so Laurie and I spent the afternoon putting away meds.

Steve and Faith are in Port au Prince this week, buying meds and taking care of many details of hospital and mission administration. They hope to be done with business so they can travel back out on Thursday to avoid all the Easter weekend congestion on the roads. Rah rah groups and Catholic processions can make travel very slow, and somewhat nerve-wracking. Pray with us for their safe travel.

We're beginning to adjust (I think) to Keith's being gone. He's at Fort Lewis right now, visiting his brothers, and when he arrives back in North Dakota, will spend awhile working for his uncles.

I'll post more pictures soon. Until then.........

God bless,
Marj, for the Byers's

Progress

The house looked a lot different when we got home from our trip to Port au Prince. All the walls inside were smooth-plastered, and a fair amount of work had been done on the outside too. Today the guys poured the floor in the big room that will be our combination living/dining/office area.
It's great to look across through the house and see that beautiful floor.
This is tomorrow's work--a floor for what will be our screened porch.

For your entertainment

Tyler and Laurie found creative ways to entertain themselves on the long, bumpy eleven-hour trip home from Port au Prince. They ride in the back of the truck, so we don't really see what goes on back there, but the evidence was on the camera when we got home. :)
When we stopped for a short rest stop, Ty hopped on top of the truck, and took these pics of the beautiful Caribbean.
Is there a more beautiful blue?

Twelve Days

We got back Thursday, after being gone for twelve days. Getting the paperwork done for the four-wheeler was the big project, and we had to stay in the city four extra days, but it was worth it. The four-wheeler is now at home (legally, even) in Bombarde!
We also said good-bye to Keith.............
And Linda Blankenship.
Mike and Kent, these last two photos are for you, so you can see Tyler the bald.
:)

House pictures

The kitchen has a floor now, and so do two more of the bedrooms!

You won't be hearing from us this week, because we're leaving tomorrow morning for Port au Prince. It's a multi-purpose trip. Linda Blankenship and our son, Keith both fly back to the states; we need to pick up the windows for the house, hopefully finish up the four-wheeler paperwork and bring that back with us...............plus there's the usual varied list to fill.
Seems like we've been doing a lot of this lately. Here Ty is priming kitchen cabinets. We just have a bit more to do on the cabinets now. It's nice to have that much of the painting behind us, and it was great to have Keith's faithful help for one last week.

The guys started to smooth plaster the front of the house this week, and some of the brick is up on the roof edges. They took the forms out of the "big room"; just left that center support post in to make everyone feel better, I think. Here Rich is admiring the glass block in the ceiling. They will help make our dining area much more cheerful.
Looking through from the dining room end of the big room to the front door. Won't it make a great living room? Of course a floor, a door, and windows will improve it even more.