Little Miss "Vivi"

Apparently she was feeling camera-shy here. =)
"Vivi" is staying at our house this week, while Steve, Faith, Rich and Keith are in Port au Prince. The new license for Steve's pickup is finished, finally--thank God--so they all went in with our big truck. Rich and Keith will haul back a big load of building supplies, propane, fuel and etc., and Steve's will bring the pickup back, at last. It's been parked in PAP for quite some time.
Isn't she a cutie? She's gaining quickly, and should be ready to go back to her family within a couple of weeks. We'll miss her (all but the night-time tummy aches).

Of Babies and Houses

Our house now has two halves. Actually this picture was taken a few days ago; I'll post a current one soon.
Always something to do. Rich is fixing the fuel tank mounts on the big truck. They got bent up when the truck "fell" into an underwater hole, on Rich and Keith's last muddy trip up from Port au Prince. The fuel tank kind of hit bottom, and it was a bit hard on it.
This is the wee tiny baby Faith has been caring for since the beginning of this week. She is a twin. Her sister weighs 5lb., 5 oz., but "Vivi" (she really doesn't have a name yet, but her last name is Vincent, so Faith calls her Vivi) weighed only 3 lb., 3 oz.
We got to care for her two days this week, when Faith needed to be gone for meetings. Laurie had a great time cuddling the baby--much more fun than school work!
That's Tyler's hand holding the baby's. He was chuckling at the way her onesie fit. The newborn size was long enough for a nightgown. "Vivi" seems to be doing well. She takes her bottle quite well, and is getting stronger.

The Hospital Addition Has Another Section of Roof!

Bracing the forming for today's roof pour.
Here the rebar has been placed and everything is ready for the pour.
And this is the actual pour, this morning.
The guys working on the roof during the pour.
And the finished product. You can see the roof is going to have three levels, as the building follows the contour of the land. They should be able to do the last section in two weeks--and by that time, they'll be able to start forming to pour the house roof!

Projects and Progress

Keith spent his afternoons this week, working on the screens for the hospital. His friend, Matthias, helped him put the rat wire and screening on the frames, and then install them.
The project is almost finished. There are just three small windows left to do. It's a great improvement.
The house is starting to take shape! I took these pictures this morning. The three rooms on the far side (left to right) are a bedroom, the kitchen, and storeroom. On the near side will be two more bedrooms and the bathroom. The large room in the center will be the combination living/dining area and will open onto a porch on the far end. We have funds to continue building for awhile now. We thank God for that and are trusting Him for the rest.
The view through my future kitchen window. =)
Rich spent some time washing the mud of another journey off the pickup. Steve and Faith got home last evening, still driving our pickup--they weren't able to get the license for their truck, so will have to go back to Port au Prince soon. They found lots of mud to drive through!

Random Pictures from the Last Week

Rich and the guys working to pour a beam at the hospital addition.
Laying block for the house.
My beloved morning glories.
Keith was sick again, but is much better again now.
Tomatoes in my garden

Hmmmmm

I just posted for Mike's birthday, and it published below last night's post. I am not going to try to change it lest something worse happen. So scroll down, and don't miss it. =)

Two Days Late, but Happy Birthday, Mike!

Mike's 21st birthday was the 29th, so I'm a couple of days late here, but wanted to post a couple of pics anyway.
Thanks, Mary, for letting me borrow some recent photos. =)

Trip to Port de Paix--well almost

Last Thursday, Rich and I took Faith over to Port de Paix for a medical meeting. We found the river quite high and decided not to try to cross with our pickup. Faith got a boat to take her across.
After she crossed, we sat and watched as this pickup tried to cross, started to spin, stalled, and then stopped in the middle of the river. When we left it was sitting there with water up into the cab, and the hood up. We were very glad we had listened to that little voice of caution.

The Roof

Putting up the forms for the hospital roof.
An inside view.
All formed and ready for the first stage--it will take three pours.
The actual pour took four hours.
Hard at work.

Tyler's Pictures

Tyler, Jacob, and Linda went on a hike last Saturday. Ty got some great scenery pictures. I love the light on this one.
It started to rain, so they tried to get a good picture of the rainbow. This is the best one.
Tyler.
Jacob.

Rain and Grass

Lots of skies like this, and the resulting rain...........
has made this necessary. Rich was mowing last Saturday, and it smelled so good, like home on a June day.

Pouring the Last Post at the Hospital Addition

More Cement Work on the House Footers

The Cement Haulers

One More Try

I haven't been able to upload pictures at all the last few days. It lets me start...I choose the pics I want, and it says it's uploading them, and then, suddenly, the whole thing just goes away! AAAAHH! But, I decided to try just one, and lo and behold, here it is. The guys are mixing cement for the footers for the house.

Progress

The crew digging the foundation for the new mission house. They were in a good stretch when I took the picture; there were no rocks--whoever heard of that!
The foundation trenches filled with concrete and rock.
The rebar "forest"
Today they are forming and pouring the first section of foundation. There is no cement mixer, so it is mixed by hand and poured with buckets.

Work continues at the hospital addition, also. I'll try to post some pictures of that when they form and pour the first section of roof.

Tidbits from the last two weeks

Rich and Astel were hurrying to fix the leak in this roof, before the rain began to fall, because inside.........
is this little guy, who broke his leg and is enduring what has to be very uncomfortable traction ever-so-patiently.

Watching these guys try to get this big log up on the stand to saw it into boards, we thought there might be some more broken legs, but in spite of breaking probably every safety rule there is, all went well, and this log is now lumber.