The Container

Thanks to all of your prayers, our container has finally been inspected. What a time we had though. It took 5 hours. We had a new inspector and he wanted to open and check EVERY box. Now, we are not opposed to them checking them, since we have nothing to hide...but for instance, our boxes of rice meals...come from the company and are in sealed boxes. I don't know how many he opened (quite a few though) before he finally said, well, okay I don't need to check anymore of those boxes. I have put two pictures here of some of the "fun". Our poor guys were melting in the heat. It was upper 90's outside, but inside those containers was a whole lot hotter. And this time, we were in a sort of blocked in area, so there was NO breeze to releve any of the heat. Then on top of all of that, it was simply check a box and put it in the second container...a LOT of the boxes, as you can see in the second photo, he had us stack outside, to check again. Now we need prayers concerning the cost of the container in customs. We hope to have the final amount by Tuesday, we'll see. Our broker said the head of customs is trying to help us and work with us, but this is Haiti, so no telling how long it will take.On a brighter note...today is the day our grandson heads home to the US with his mama. I know there will be some very happy tears all around. He has asked her each week, for a LONG time, "Will you come to get me this week?" And now it is a reality. Pray for them as they all have to readjust their lifestyle.

I have to include an "Abbie funny" here. She is always coming up with statements that set us to laughing. Well, yesterday while we were sitting at the docks...she said, "Tomorrow Grandpa is going to school." I looked at her and said, "He is? What is he going for?" She said, "He is going to study the Bible!" I responded, "Oh? And who is his teacher?" She gave me that, "GRANDMA" look and said, "The Holy Spirit!" She was so serious, so we tried not to laugh. But do you think she has been picking up on things said around here? One day she decided she wanted to talk to Him, so she asked grandpa if she could talk to Mr. Holy Spirit, too. This is daily quips from her. She is a treasure.

Well, time to get to work and get some things done. Have a wedding to organize, and container to plan for and all the normal working here. PLUS, today we get two new watch dogs from another missionary. She is moving into a smaller place and can't keep them. This, too, should be interesting...

From our house to yours, have a God blessed and wonderful day. Remember, Jesus walks with all of us and keeps His hands on us all the time!!

The container

Hello,

Just a quick note. The container was inspected today. They say we may get the container next Monday. Pray for that, and pray that the cost is reasonable, for Haiti, that is. We are rejoicing that the inspection did take place.

Keep praying....

THE container, finally!!!

Greetings again...
This time it's with great joy and rejoicing. We are SO excited and pleased that the elusive container is now in our hands.
The following is just a few pictures of our day, yesterday, February 14th, Valentines day in Haiti! We had a team here at the time. It was MFI's president, Dick Snook, and his group. They didn't get to deliver any bags, like they had hoped, since it came the last day they were here, but they really got to experience "unloading a 40 foot container".
This is our moment of rejoicing. The container finally being pulled into our yard. It's quite a job to get a 40 foot semi into our yard with the sharp turn they have to make. The driver was really good. We have had some deliver 20 foot containers that had to make 5 or 6 turns to get it right. This fellow made two swings and backed it up to right where we wanted it. He was GOOD. Everyone was amazed watching him drive. (He must have trained in the US!) It took just a few minutes for him to get it in the right place for us to get to work on it.We had another missionary couple here at the time. Ray works at the airport with us and Bonnie watches Abbie for me. We had just gotten back from the airport when the container came, so they stayed to help out. What a blessing!! Bonnie was up on the container bagging socks and Ray helped haul boxes.

We had so much to unload. Well, consider it had 39,645 pounds of items!! You KNOW it was a lot of heavy work to get it done. The fellows (all 25 that we hired) did not complain once. And when it was all done, they had a meal of hotdogs, mac & cheese, chips and cokes. They were happy campers. These are almost all older boys from the orphanage. They work hard and really earn their pay!The problem was, where to go with all the Christmas Bags when there is a team here? Well, you can see, looking in the door of the dorm, it went into the living room and dining room areas. A few paths were left to get to the bedrooms, but that's about all. Good thing it was the teams last night here... no place to sit or eat, except the bedrooms!!God brought this to us in His time, not ours. Not it's our job to get these things sorted out and delivered. Don is right now on the road with some of the food. (The containers on our property have their share of the load, too!) We will start on the Christmas Bags tomorrow!!
So, please, keep praying. We have another container ready to be inspected, but need to get this one delivered quickly to make room.
Our love to everyone who has helped make this a reality, both through prayers and finances.
In His Grace...
Karen, for the whole group here.

Finally, the container

I can finally say, "The container arrived"...not only in Haiti, but at our place. It was only a week late (maybe a bit more), but it came yesterday. Once it was here, we were surprised at how quickly and efficiently we had it unloaded. And the customs man was great too. He did check things, but found the people who sent it were truthful in what they sent. He ended up joking with our guys who were unloading it, so it was a great day. And, surprisingly, a short day. The fellows worked fast and carefully and did a super job. When you consider there was 29070 pounds of cargo, it went fast. but the guys were really worn out and muscles hurting. The great thing was, some of the food has already gone out. There were things for others, too, and those will be picked up soon. But we can truthfully say, Praise God for His provisions. This will help so many people. We received our first shipment of food from "Feed My Starving Children". We are very anxious to get this out to the orphanages and others. We (Stan, MFI, and us) have been working on this since last May. It's exciting to see it come to fruitation. You can check out this wonderful place by going to www.fmsc.org Don was up on his foot for a lot of the time while unloading, and he paid the price later in the day. But he seems better today. This has been very hard on him, not being a major part in unloading this container. We also have part of the "Christmas Bags" for Haiti on this shipment. This has been a blessing too. Our next container will mainly be the Christmas bags. Another great project for helping people here in Haiti. You can check that out at: www.christmasbagsforhaiti.com

Althought it's for Christmas, it ends up being a year round thing for many people who start collecting items early. We praise God for Stan and his crew and all their work for Haiti...through Christmas Bags, Containers and work teams. Stan is working full time for Haiti and he is a blessing!!

Till next time...God Bless!!