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.

Happenings

The cement work is pretty much finished at the hospital addition. Here the guys are finishing the last section of floor for the porch/walkway in front of the building. Plastering ceilings at the house...........almost makes my arms ache, just thinking about doing this all day.
A newly finished floor in Ty's room.
Saturday, we took the family (and Jacob, of course) to the beach at Mole for one last outing before Keith goes back to the states. The kids spent most of their time on this old ship, exploring and goofing around. Can you believe I let them take the camera out there? They got some great pics and the camera is fine. Two ziploc bags, and the camera case did the job.=) They even swam down inside the ship. Looks unpleasant to me.

Things to Celebrate

God sent us a beautiful rain Sunday. What a blessing!

The forming for the last pour on the house went well, and all was ready for Friday's roof pour.
The pour itself took only four hours, and turned out wonderfully. I'll send Ty up to take a picture or two soon.
Keith faithfully sanded the 80 or so cabinet doors and drawer fronts that Steve and Rich had cut and routered earlier. These are for our house and for the hospital addition.
Ok, it'll be something to celebrate if I can figure out how I got the same picture on twice, and how to get it back off again!
I've been painting all those doors, and will soon be done priming, and ready to start on the ones that get polyurethane rather than paint.

Last, but not least, Rich and Keith had a good trip to Port au Prince on Monday. They're busy now running around getting necessary paperwork for the 4-wheeler--they hope to bring it out this trip--and a myriad of other things.

How Many People Can You Get In a Truck

We went down to Mole St. Nicolas to bring a group of youth up for the Youth Retreat at Ebenezer. They needed transportation for 30 or so, they said. When we got there, 45 people were waiting with all their luggage. We brought them all. Here we are arriving in Bombardopolis.
These kinds of trips are always fun. I don't how anyone can sing while riding on Haitian roads, but sing they do, and with enthusiasm!
The guys hard at work on the house. This photo was taken last Friday.
And this morning at the house, Rich and Steve are snapping lines and putting up boards for the roof forms, while the crew is rough plastering in the rooms to the right. Plans are to form and pour the last roof section this week.

House Photos

The two wings of the house are now connected! This is the east end of the house. The set-in area will be our screened porch. The west end of the house. Saul hard at work on the floor of the depot. Acilio and Dalis plastering walls in Tyler's room.
Goofing off for the camera.

Happy Eighteenth Birthday, Keith!

Keith at work.
Goofing off.
Concentrating.
Babysitting ???? (He really did have a reason to be in the tank. He was helping his dad try to fix a leak.)=)

Thursday's Work

At the house, the guys poured a beam (the roof over the main living area will rest on this beam).......
Hauling buckets of cement up a ladder is hard work.
It's hard to see much here, I know. This is a corner of the depot (storeroom, for you Americans), and it's all smooth-plastered and ready for paint!
Keith and Jacob on the new roof. I'm sure this was a deep, philosophical discussion.
This is the meds depot at the hospital, where Linda and I spent most of day counting, sorting, and putting away the donated meds that came in Wednesday from Christian Aid Ministries. These donated medicines are a big help to the hospital. In a few days, we'll work on the other side of the little room, pricing and putting away the purchased medicines that Steve and Faith will bring tomorrow when they come home from Port au Prince.

Finally!

Wouldn't you like to be this guy? He was the "bucket catcher" for Friday's roof pour at the house.
Hard at work.
Rich and Keith putting together the first door frame for the house.
The electrician at work. =)
Another wall going up. There's been a lot of progress since this photo; I'll try to post current photos soon. The guys are working so hard, it's hard to keep current, but it's sure great to see so much progress.

John Benson's Hard Work

Thanks for all the hard work, John!
This is where John spent most of his time while he was here.
Some of the fruits of his labors, sitting in front of his "work station".
These are all cabinets he built for the new hospital addition.
And these are the kitchen and bath cabinets for the new house.

Photos from the Past Week

"Ti Wilson" went home this week. Here he is at the hospital for his last weighing before he went home to his family--Mom, Dad, and three older sisters. Steve and Rich cutting lumber for the cabinets John Benson is building.
Here's John installing doors at the hospital addition.
Painting in the future office. Keith is our roller man, but he graduates from high school in February, and will move back to the states in March. Then what will we do?

Markets and Well Pictures

Keith was running interference for Mary and Laurie. This guy was trying to sell them some very ugly sunglasses.
Market area. It's also a street, so gets a bit congested.
Back home again, and working to install the pump in the new well.
Ty's helping to hold the water line so it doesn't kink as they drop the pump.
Here the pump has been dropped, and Rich is working on the wiring.