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.

Laurie's Birthday

It doesn't seem possible that Laurie could be a teenager, but September 22 has come and gone, and she's now 13 years old!
Laurie with small cousin Serenity this summer in PA.
And this was a beautiful sunset the other evening.

Accident Scene

Here's the new look for the ambulance. Rich and Astrel were coming home from their second ambulance run yesterday, and as they made a right turn, Rich glimpsed a motorcycle coming at them, and just had time to accelerate enough to avoid having it hit the passenger door. Damage to the ambulance is minimal..............
Rich thinks they can push out most of the dent...................
but the motorcycle has a little problem.
The accident happened at this intersection; the motorcycle was being driven at a good clip on the left-hand side of the road--don't know why. The driver says he was going to make a left turn, but he was going much too fast to turn, so who knows....
Here you can see how he was coming along the cactus hedge on the left-hand side of the road. We're thankful he wasn't hurt badly. He had a cut on his cheekbone that required a few stitches, and banged up one leg a bit, but is otherwise undamaged, only upset and scared--it isn't his motorcycle, and the owner is probably not going to be too happy.

A Day's Work

The big truck is fixed, and it took Rich and Astrel one day to do it! What a blessing. Of course, they had been doing their prep work, lube-ing all the bolts so they come loose easily.....and planning exactly how they were going to tackle the job. They really enjoy working together.
This is the "new" rear end going in.
Don't you like the truck sitting on the steel drums? Rich said they weren't going under there with just the jacks holding the truck. It looks funny, but worked great.
A little change of pace here--a big rock fell on this little guy's leg. That was months ago, and he came back yesterday to get the cast cut off.
This picture is for Billy to show how much fun Rich has with the little pressure washer you sent down. It works wonderfully, and best of all, uses very little water.

Gardens, Sunsets and a Spider

Cabbages in the shadehouse garden are growing nicely. I was able to give away around fifty small plants and have a big cabbage bed of my own also.
I'm attempting to grow peas, but they look a bit spindly. My green beans look even leggier, but are blooming, so I have hopes of a harvest.
We had a beautiful rosy sky the other evening.
This guy lives in my garden. He has a huge web, and catches lots of insects, so I leave him be as long as he leaves me alone. :)

New Screens for the Hospital

The guys (Astrel, Keith, and Rich) are putting rat wire on the screen frames that Rich built.
Installation of the finished product. An onlooker commented, "The hospital has a face now!"

And these pictures show why the project is necessary! The hospital has 40 windows, so the whole process is going to take a bit.

Kent

Kent and Becca
Kent and Grandma Yoder
Kent and his car
And letting small cousin Tyrel wear his beret.

Ok, here's my birthday post for Kent. It's a couple of days late because we've been having system problems again. The problems are fixed now (we pray), so---Happy Birthday, Kent! We love and miss you.

(I "borrowed" the pictures off my sister-in-law's blog--thanks, Beth!)

Kent's Birthday

Kent is nineteen years old today. Happy Birthday, Kent!

Pictures will follow tomorrow--if everything is working.

St. Teres, St. Annie, and Ernelia, much loved residents of the widow's home

This is St. Teres. She is very lively and full of mischief, also very helpful, loves to sweep, water the garden, and come up to our house on one errand or another, but mostly to see her friends, of whom Laurie is chief. Laurie is "zamni'm" (my friend) and I'm "mama zamni'm" (the mother of my friend).
St. Annie was the home's first resident. She had a rough time recently when she had problems with her meds and was very confused and disoriented. She's a sweetie, too, although quieter than St. Teres.
Ernelia is very patient and sweet. She is blind, so sits a lot, but St. Teres loves to help her. They go for walks sometimes, and St. Teres, who is a terrible tease, will sometimes let go of Ernelia's arm, and say, "I'm getting tired of leading you; why don't you walk by yourself!" Then she giggles and giggles, and Ernelia laughs, too, and they link arms again and march on!

Linda B., who doesn't like to have her picture taken, does a great job of supervising the widow's home. The ladies love her, and she likes to spoil them a bit.

The Cement Blocks are Finished and It's Raining!

The blocks for our house are all made now, 2100 of them, made one at a time by hand. Rich and the block makers are celebrating with some cookies and pop.
The last day's work.
It rained today (that's Linda Blankenship headed down past the widow's home to her house after lunch)...............................
so Rich, who has dengue fever, and has been working anyway, took a nap after lunch.............
and so did Keith----he has malaria, and is very glad this is his last day on chloroquine. (We don't really make him sleep on a bare mattress; his sheets were washed today.)

We're Back!

Family time at the end of the day.
Too bad you can't smell these; they're pretty, but smell even better.
We lived by the ocean down in Mole, and miss it, so on our way home from PAP, I had to take some pictures of that beautiful Caribbean blue.
Just getting home from a supply run to Port au Prince, with a full load on our pickup. You notice Rich put the tire changing tools and jack right beside the door. We were glad not to need them this trip.

We've been having some difficulties with our internet service; have only been able to do emails occasionally, so it's nice to find things working a bit better today. We think it's probably weather-related--hurricanes and such--but we shall see....

And now I shall publish this post quickly before I lose it.

God bless,
Marj, for the Byers gang

Hard Work

This huge root refused to be budged. Finally, using two jacks and a winch, (and after a lot of animated discussion, which always seems to accompany any project here), they were able to get it out of the hole.

These little girls were interested observers to the whole process.

this and that

The guys installed our water tanks on top of the cistern to replace the small one that had been up there. They act like a mini water tower to provide a bit of water pressure for the houses.
Working to clear the spot for our house.

Babies and Flowers

Sorry about the blurry picture. These healthy triplets were born at the hospital a month or so ago.
And this is a double hibiscus--beautiful!

Thank God for rain!