Guest Blogger Kristin - She's writing more than I am!

Hi!
First, I want to apologize. The email I sent out with the pictures had a different picture than I meant on it. The nice one I said I was sending of Lidia actually ended up being a picture of Stanley. I'm sure most of you figured that out, but I just thought I would clarify.
This past week has been a lot of fun! Very exhausting, but a good time none the less. The four volunteers who are here right now have been helping the team from Alberta out with VBS every morning. They were very glad to have our help, which was nice, and we all had a great time. I'm thinking that I would love to try and take a group from my church down to GLA next summer to do a VBS for the toddler kids, so I really appreciated this inside look of what works and what doesn't. We only had the 33 oldest kids at VBS, all of the 2-4ish year old kids played upstairs instead. The theme that they were trying to get across through the whole week was that God loves you. It seems like a simple message, but I think it was done very well! They used a different bible story each day to show how God loves us. Monday was the parable of the lost sheep, Tuesday was the story of Blind Bartimaus, Wednesday was the story of the feeding of the 5000, Thursday was the story of the Jesus calming the story, and Friday was the story of Zaccheus. Each day the kids made a snack and a craft relating to the story. My "job" every day was to help the team member in charge of the snacks. We helped the kids make their snack, and then we served them when it was snack time. It was really cool how they made everything tie in. On Monday, the kids made sheep out of a half of a banana and shredded coconut. On Tuesday, the kids made their own cookie with pieces of brightly colored dough. On Wednesday, they made their own bread with bisquick dough and cut fish out of cheese slices with a cookie cutter, which we actually served to them in baskets they made for the craft. On Thursday, we made boats on a sea with melon slices and finger jello, and on Friday, we decorated cupcakes for the party that Zaccheus had at his house when Jesus came. I don't remember what each of the crafts were because I wasn't helping with them, but they all tied in really well too. Of course, each day we also had several singing times, with some neat songs that the kids really grew to love, and they had a story. We kept hearing the kids walking around singing the new songs they learned after VBS was done even. We also tried to get a few group games in, with a parachute or balloons, and occasionally they had some free play time too. My church was doing VBS this past week, and I was kind of bummed that I wasn't going to be able to help with that. It was nice to be able to help with a VBS here instead. The kids all loved it and they had a great time! We had one volunteer who just walked around with a camera each day taking pictures, and then we should each get a copy of the pictures, so I should have some great photos to show you all when I get home.
On Saturday morning, we slept in, which felt wonderful! We lounged around and watched a little TV, and then went out for a full day of shopping! We went to the Baptist Haiti Mission, to shop and eat lunch, and then we went to the look-out point where you can see the entire city of Port-au-Prince, and then we went to the city of Petionville to do some shopping on the streets and in an art gallery there. I was very successful, and spent a boat load of money! The nice thing is that I don't feel very guilty about spending too much money here, because I know that the economy can use it! Especially at the Baptist Mission, where you can be certain that it goes back to the people who made the stuff. I got some gifts, and some stuff for myself too. We kind of just sat around the rest of the day, recovering from our crazy week.
Sunday was another lazy day. I slept in for a while, and then did my own little church service off of the balcony. No one was going to Quesqueya Chapel this week, and the Haitian Church was having their annual anniversary celebration, so that was guaranteed to be a very long service(at least over 3 hours long). I decided it would be better to just do my own thing. It was great to have the chance to remind myself why exactly I'm here- it's all about Jesus. He has done so much for me, and loves me with such an abundant and everlasting love. I'm here to share that love with others through my actions, to share the gospel of love through whatever I do. The rest of Sunday will be a pretty lazy day too, without much going on.
One thing that has been very cool to see is how some of the children that I was assigned to last year have changed and are thriving! God has been very good to these children!
A few prayer requests...
We've gotten several new children in this week, even though we don't really have the room for them. Pray for all of these kids as they adjust to orphanage life without a mom and dad.
There's been a lot of delays in Haitian adoption recently. There is a guy who is in charge of the courts in Port-au-Prince who has to approve something at the end of the adoption process. He needs to get out of that office so badly, and someone who actually cares about the children needs to get in. Dixie said that there was a chance he might get replaced this weekend. Pray that this did happen, and if it didn't, that he will get replaced soon or have a total change of heart and stop holding up children's adoptions. There has also a hold up in the Passport office. All children need to get a passport in their new adopted names before they can leave the country. There are 50 kids here at GLA who are waiting for a passport! So many kids are really close to being able to go home, but they and their parents are still waiting. GLA has occasionally been getting a few passports out, but please pray that the person in charge at the passport office will start signing those papers like crazy! Any prayers for the adoption process here would be greatly appreciate, because we need to be able to start sending some kids home, so that there is room to take in new children.
I don't know all of the information about the latest status on the virus here, but I know that we haven't had anyone on an IV for a while. I think that there are still sick kids, but no one who is really, really sick, which is a great thing! Please continue to keep the health of the kids here in your prayers.
Please pray for the volunteers who are here. Pray that we would have the patience and strength to keep on loving our assigned children in the way that they need, even when they seem pretty unlovable. Pray that our children will be receptive to our love so we can make a big difference in their lives. Pray that we will all stay healthy so we can better serve.
Thank you in advance for your prayers!
It was kind of depressing to realize this week that I'm almost half way through my stay in Haiti. Time has been going so incredibly fast, it's unbelievable! I'm glad that I have three more weeks to work with my kids, though. With my trip last year, I would have been leaving about right now, and that's way too soon.
I hope that life is going well for all of you!
Love from Haiti,
Kristin
clogirl@sbcglobal.net