The last of week before the boy's went home-by the Riegel's

This has been exam week for all the boys. With exam week comes a lot of changes around the home. Usually during the week the boys go to school around 6:30am and are home in time for lunch, but with exams, their schedule is different. Different grades in school go to class at different times during the day, different schools have different times and different days, so this week, it has been hit or miss with the boys during the day, but like always we all come together in the evening to pray and read scripture. The boys are very serious about this time; this is THEIR time together and together with God. Please continue to pray for the boys as the semester ends and they prepare to go visit their families until school starts again in January. The boys travel a lot during this time and though they are anxious to see their families and we encourage this time, we pray and anticipate for a safe return in January so they can continue with the second half of school. We will miss them while they are home with their families.
Whiskey- Whiskey has really stepped up over the past few weeks with exams and school coming to a break. Whiskey celebrated his 21st birthday on the Dec. 5th with his cake and his closest friends. Whiskey is like the big brother of the boy’s home and we appreciate his help so much.
Jocelyn- Jocelyn has been the silent type this week. Every morning (early) we can hear Jocelyn climbing the stares to go on the roof with his books to get that extra quite time to study and listen to God. Jocelyn always has good incite during our devotions and seems to be really diving in to what God has for him as a young man of God.
Jn. Robert- Jn. Robert has been in his books a lot lately preparing for his tests. He has been really busy keeping up with his studying and his chores, but Jn. Robert always finds a little bit of time in the evening for a quick game of Dominoes.
Mackenson- Like Jn. Robert, Mackenson has been caught in his books a little more than normal these past few days, also preparing for exams, Mackenson is stepping up to hit next semester running !
Elira- This boy is all smiles, all the time, even with the pressures of tests and school, Elira is not sweating it. Elira brings joy and laughter everywhere he is and is always willing to give out the extra hand!.
Jacky- Jacky was giving the short end of the stick this exam week (not a short-joke). He is the only boy that has to be at the school before 7am. While the other boys have that extra couple of hours in the morning, Jacky is up, dressed and out the door. Go get’em Jacky!
The boys have been really good with the Rigel's in our absence. They absolutely adore Blayn (the Rigel’s 11 month old son) and are having a blast the Rogelet (the Rigel’s 11 year old son). Rogelet fits in just fine playing games and watching cheesy Kung foo movies.
God has really begun to turn this house into a home, giving these boys a safe place to learn and grow. This home is a family, and they keep it that way. Of coarse all brother argue and step on each others toes, but you will not find a better group of young men seeking out what God has for them and taking advantage of such a great opportunity that they have been given. May God bless these boys!

It is interesting to see what other's see. Nixon and I ache to see our boy's again. We will be back in Haiti before we know it. Our prayer is always the same for our boys, that they would grow up to be super close to our Lord. He loves them so. Our love for them is only a teeny tiny piece of His love for them.

Our boys are missed

More than ever Nixon and I realize what an important role the boys play in our lives.

We knew that having the boys gave us a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillement.

We knew that the most important role we feel we play with Joy In Hope is having the Boy's Home. But just like there is a point when we go from knowing God to REALLY KNOWING God, we have come to the REALLY KNOWING that we love our boys.

We miss their unique personalities and hearing them downstairs. Yeah, I even miss their spending all weekend in our house, sometimes even in our room strewn all over our bed.

I find myself wondering what they are doing and how they are really feeling. Every time we call they say they are doing fine. I know they are, I just miss them.

Praise the Lord for Georgette and Mike who are there for our boys. Praise the Lord that they could do this for them, and for us. Thank you both for that, I know you are doing a fantastic job.

Saturday was Jacky's birthday! We kept calling the digicel numbers and somehow we were not able to get through so I was disappointed. We celebrated before we left though. I am glad we did.

More than ever I pray that our boys grow into responsible, mature men. I pray that they will have a heart that beats for the Lord. This is the greatest wish that a person could ever have for another. I pray we all have that heart.

Whiskey's birthday

Whiskey's birthday will pass us by when Nixon and I are gone and so we wanted to make sure and celebrate with the boys.

I made his cake and then Whiskey requested us not to eat his cake so he could celebrate on his birth day.

I said ok. I gave him his cake and he asked if i could keep it. I was hesitating. Nixon said ok.

He opened his present and said he preferred a long sleeve shirt.

Later i found out Nixon said he would exchange it.

Ok, I am glad we got to celebrate but this is getting ridiculous. It happens so quickly, so sneakily. You start good and then you love em and it becomes "give them a hand, and someone will take the foot".

Whiskey will be turning 21. Though 21 is not the same as in the States. It is 21 nonetheless.

Happy Birthday to Whiskey. We still love him and will pray till the cows come home.

Nixon and I had a long talk about this the next morning. We have to tighten the reigns again.

Starting with, "you get what you get", as a present.

God help us as we try to do what is best for our boys. It just all comes back to getting on our knees. And that is a good thing.

Thankful for Wiskey

Nixon and the boys went out to the beach yesterday. I have a list a mile long and I also needed some peace and quiet yesterday afternoon so Nixon let me stay home.

Nixon said he and some others noticed someone very far away from shore. They realized it was Wiskey but he often swims way out. Nixon was concerned and as he watched Wiskey, his alarm grew.

According to Wiskey, after he realized that he was just getting taken out further and further into the ocean, he signaled for help. Danny and Nick responded as soon as they saw Wiskey waving for help and were able to come to the rescue.

Nixon can swim a little but cannot float. He never goes out so far that he cannot touch the ground. Apart from that Nixon has been in a near drowning incident of his own which he says he never will forget. He shared how helpless he felt as well as a flood of emotions of anger, fear, and desperation.

When Nixon came home, even before the boys were able to wash up, we got together and talked a little. Then we gathered around to praise and thank God for rescuing Wiskey. It was a scarry thing but it reminded us of how much we love each other, should pray for one another, and made us grateful to have such a God who never forgets us. Truly, God means things for good. I was reminded of Rom. 8:28.

Praise God for His goodness and grace!!!!!!

Eventful Sunday

we got in on the fun too:)

I love this picture!

all except for Jackie+husband

They are so funny!

likes the serious look.

It started with church.

All our boys are old enough to stay downstairs at church service. I caught Elira in one of the classrooms though, I still need to get Nixon to talk to him about that.

Anyway, I looked through the window to see how that classroom was doing and saw Elira. He had a little bitty thing on top of his desk and he looked so in love. He was talking to her and he would kiss her little cheeks. It was the sweetest thing in the world!

When we came home, the boys wanted to take pictures. They love photo shoots and it is free so what the heck. I got my camera out as well, since they were doing that. We then sat out on the balcony and just had fun talking and relaxing after church. It took us a while to get out of our church clothes.

I actually fell asleep in a chair, there was such a nice breeze out there. LOL! There are not many cool days here a year so it was nice.

A couple of hours later, a group of short term missionaries came back after spending the night here. They were so nice and sweet! They were an elderly group and the boys told us later on that they were concerned about them coming up the stairs and all. The boys were very happy to carry their luggage downstairs as they were leaving. But before that the prayer group wanted to pray for us. They invited the boys over to help pray for Nixon and I and then the group prayed for the boys as well. We finished by singing "Lord, I lift Your Name on High". I thought it was a real special time.

As the evening rolled around, the boys gathered and we had our usual prayer Sunday. Everyone took their time praying and it just floods my heart with joy to hear the boys growing in their faith. Then it was Planet Earth time. I had been trying to get Nixon to hook it up to the projector and he finally did last night. It looked so great and the time was filled with its usual "ooohs and aawws" as well as the boy's questions. The boy's favorite part was definitely the lions ganging up on an elephant. They always seem to like these gruesome things.

We had a good and eventful Sunday.

Remember the video the boys made with Rick, here it is!

Trouble keeping up-for me anyway

Boys playing as we speak

Everytime they lose, they put a clip on

I am so glad Nixon can play Memory so much!

There is only so much of that game that I can take.

Jackie the Teacher.

I am thinking he likes teaching;0

They worked for at least two hours. Wow!

The boys looking at some of Rick's pictures

enjoying their time with Rick.

This week has been eventful, to say the least.

Wiskey keeps saying he has a headache, so we are working on that.

The boys got their scores back and Elira and Jn Robert are not doing as well as we would like.

Jn Robert spent about 6 hours studying today.

Elira is confident he can get his scores up there. I'm not sure what happened with him since he is a strong student. Jean Robert has always had to work twice as hard to keep his grades up.

I think Elira was just a little overconfident.

I am praying hard for all our boys to pass and not only this, to excel.

Jocelyn was dealing with a really bad toothache and went to Christianville to have it pulled yesterday. He had two teeth pulled and by the time he got back from Leogane, he was exhausted and just beat. I felt so bad for him. He is doing well today. He had nothing but banana malt o meal yesterday but he started to eat soft foods today. He is such a great kid.

The boys, Nixon and I, and Rick(Director of Joy In Hope)had a wonderful night together on Thursday night.

I made homemade pizza and cupcakes. The boys practiced their English on Rick and we were floored to hear Jackie speak SO MUCH ENGLISH. He is such a smart kid. Wow!

Afterwards, some of the boys had to go to their English course but some of them stuck around to watch some pictures of the animals Rick saw in Kenya.

The boys loved it since they are extremely interested in animals, especially after watching Planet Earth. The boys even made a video, Elira being a natural-future tv reporter maybe.

The boys had a wonderful time with Rick.

And we have a visitor staying with us. His name is Jean Luc and he is staying with Nixon and I for two weeks before he goes to the Mangine home. He will be child #5 in their orphanage.

He has gotten along very well with the boys and is happy as a lark.

Jacky sat with him for quite a while, giving him some lessons and even homework.

I am so proud of Jacky. I think this will help him become more mature, a little more responsible. Jacky will be working with Jean Luc while he is with us since Jackie likes playing teacher and Jean Luc is SO HAPPY TO LEARN. And Jacky is breezing through school so he can afford the time with Jean Luc. It is really cool to see, both of the boys.

Right now the boys 4 of the boys are playing dominos and Jean Luc, Jacky and Nixon are playing memory. I LOVE HAVING A HOUSE FULL OF BOYS! I don't really know why though. I just love it;). God is good.

"Boys, we need to take new sponsorship photos"

No Retake necessary,

Jocelyn is just happy to

be Jocelyn. So proud

of him!
Mackenson is just used

to taking pictures.

Jackie's photo is wonderful, after so many

attempts. The boys

said his smile was crooked. Clearly we do not have the same opinions on what a wonderful photo really looks like.

Jean Robert flatly stated that he was not going to smile, no matter what. Maybe it was due to his battling a cold this week. Maybe it was just the Haitian in him. :)

Elira is growing up to be soooo handsome.

So GQ.

Wiskey finally tilted his head

in order to have a more

relaxed look. LOL



"I am not going to smile", even if he didn't, Jean Robert is still very handsome. And he really does have such a great smile.


I kept telling Jackie to not open his eyes so big cause it made him look scared. It was hilarious!

We had so much fun taking our photos.

Planet Earth night

Every Sunday we come together with the boys and discuss anything that is happening with our families or in our hearts-anything we can pray for.
We did just this, went over James 4:2, and then prayed one at a time.
Normally we have a full length devotion but on Sundays it is prayer night.
We then pulled out Planet Earth. We set our little t.v. out, along with our dvd player, and turn off the lights.
Watching t.v., Haitian style, is not like it is with Americans.
They never quit talking, asking questions, laughing, and of course all the ooohs and awws(Me zami, o oh, quiza?, etc)
The boys loved the panda bears and even though they feel sorry for the animals that get caught and eaten, they love to watch the chase.
They were also amazed that some parts of the earth can be so frozen. They find it quite silly that some adventurous folk think it is a thrill to climb tall and dangerous and nevermind frozen mountains. That is nice to watch but not fun at all to do, just dangerous.
They LOVE PLANET EARTH!!! I kind of figured they would since Nixon found it the coolest thing to watch when we started to watch them.
Haiti is not often exposed to such exciting footage of nature. Most Haitians have never seen such things.
I don't know who enjoys it more----the boys, Nixon, or me just listening to all of them? Personally, I think I enjoy it the most. LOL!
It is just really really really cool to be a part of the Boy's Home.

Crazy Times

Last night we had the annual birthday celebration for the Fresh Up Band, the band in our area(actually on our street). They are actually a pretty good Haitian band. The music is very unique. The band invited different local artists to perform for their fans. There was a lot of rap, the kind of rap that has a lot of colorful words. As I was listening to the rap, more than being infuriated I just asked Nixon, "but why?". Anyway, that was just one of those moments.
Well, the boys and Nixon and I sat on the balcony watching the people begin to fill the street. There were all sorts of people there. The boys made us laugh so hard. After seeing some of the rappers on stage, Jocelyn disappeaed for a while. He came back wearing very loose pants and a cap. He began to dance like the rappers on stage and we were all rolling. After the second rap artists performed, Elira and Jocelyn escaped for a while again. When they appeared, it was hilarious. Jocelyn could not even turn to look at us. They did a really good job with the dress up and I just had to take a picture.
It actually reminded me of my sisters and I. We used to play dress up as well, when inspired by a show or something of that sort. You would think we were kids when we did that but we werent, we were already in our 20s and it was hilarious.
I enjoy the boys so much and I enjoy seeing them be boys, without worrying about girls or the troubles of life. They are just boys, having fun being boys, and learning lots in the process.

A special creation-very fun to create.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Elira's birthday

GOOD LOOKIN BUNCH!

I had told Nixon to take the pic as Elira

was blowin out the candes. As you can see, he missed it. LOL

The boys sang the funniest birthday song.

This is the pose Elira wanted. I really didn't get it.

I told Elira to hold the cake so carefully,

you can tell he is being so careful. so funny.

Ah yes, the one sock.

Elira's birthday was on Thursday of last week, October 22nd. We celebrated on Wednesday since I was going to spend the day with a good friend of mine. Anyway, since it was a surprise that we were celebrating on Wednesday instead of Thursday, there weren't any fancy church shoes marching up the stairs. (However, Elira was wearing one sock!?&%!)

We celebrated with cake and soda. Again, the boys loved the cake. It is so funny to see how they get a kick out of them. Elira said he just made a goal on the cake and the other boys, including Nixon, loved the ball. It was a good evening. The boys got to watch a little tv even though it was the middle of the week and they went down to bed with plenty of time before lights out.

Elira is turning into such a handsome boy and he has quite a personality. He is our joker and the boy that seems to get into trouble the most. I was cutting out some crafts for the junior church kids about a week ago, using egg cartons. Elira watched for a few minutes and then asked if I could have one of the egg carton lids and some yarn. He proceeded to make himself a cross between a mask and glasses. He sat with the boys, quite seriously, and watched a movie with them. It was hilarious. I tried to get a picture but he had decided to take his egg carton goggles off at that exact moment. Darn.

Anyway, Nixon and I pray that it would be a good year for Elira. We pray he would grow in wisdom and that his energy would be used in a positive way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mackenson's Dad

Mackenson approached me yesterday morning. He seemed sad as he told me he had recieved a call telling him that his dad had passed away. Mackenson did not have a relationship with his father nor did he know too much about him but losing one more family member, especially the man that was his father has saddened him.

Mackenson has almost no family left and his mother is not mentally well. Mackenson has chosen to go to his funeral and left today after school. He should be back on Monday.

The boys and Nixon and I have been praying for him during our nightly devotions, for him to be comforted knowing he has a perfect and living Father in heaven to accompany him through life.

We love you Mackenson.

WORK

washing tables

hanging mosquito nets

sweeping

doing laundry

cooking dinner

I have always been the kind of person that works. Though I have the capability to be lazy, I don't agree with it. Some people are naturally "workers". I don't think that is me either.

I think work is another way to praise the Lord. Sometimes it is hard to do, but it changes you as you push yourself to work. When we work, it is also a time to practice "praising Him in all things". So anyway, I believe in work.

The boys have daily chores and do some extra work on Saturdays. They also wash their own clothes (except for uniforms), cook their own dinner, iron their clothes(except for uniforms), clean, and help us out with carrying supplies or luggage when teams come. Though they are hard working, I hope that the boys learn the connection there is, spiritually.

This weekend they helped prepare for a team. They were excited to know that they knew a person on the team. I was upstairs preparing on another end as Nixon and the boys laughed as they worked. May the Lord bless them and their work and may He make a way for them in life.

And may we all do everything to the glory of God. Amen.