Waterfalls....

On March 30th, several of the guys that were down on a team along
with Polveret (left) and Vixen (center) and myself (invisible), went on
a hike to "the waterfalls", about an hour and a half away. It's a real
killer of a climb down in and back out, but it's worth
it to see the lovely falls...

This bottom part falls about 60 or 70 feet into a nice
little pool; quite an impressive little drop. This being
the end of the dry season, the water level is fairly
low. When we get into the rainy season, there will
be a significant increase in the water flow...

There are some really neat rock formations and growths
in various small caves around the area...

Aaahhhh, a refreshing spot to swim!!! Several of us took a dip in the
pool at the base of the falls- wow was the water ever cold!!! I didn't
realize before that there were any melting ice fields in Haiti!! :)
I'm not sure where the water comes from, but I would imagine there
is a spring not too far above the falls.....

Petting Zoo...

Alex helping to carry gravel up from the riverbed for a project around
the mission here. He loves to help out when people are working
wherever he can... (shhh- don't tell him it's work and you're
not supposed to like it; where ignorance is bliss...)

One of the little neighbor boys knocked this poor
birdy out of a tree with a rock. ?! . Yeah- they're
that good at throwing down here, they
have lots of time to practice- on each other
occasionally... :(

After reprimanding the scoundrels who perpetrated
this act of malice, my wife took a few pics with the
little blondy, who was quite pleased with the catch
and (I think) can hardly wait to grow up so he can
knock a bird out of a tree... :) Actually he felt sorry
for the little critter, it was still alive... The nationals
said it's some kind of hummingbird... Maybe one
of you knows what it is...? Drop us a comment...

Quartets and lollipops...

Steve and a couple friends enjoying a few minutes of singing...

Left to right; Donny, Stevie, Johnny, and Mikey. Or if you prefer;
Donavon Hostetler, Steve, Jonathan Newswanger, and Michael Martin.

Claudsie's first lollipop!!!! Just a few shots, his
expressions are pretty cute...
"Hmm, this ok...."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about these before???"

"Oh yeah, yummy!!!!!"

Wedding!!!

We were honored to participate in the wedding of Mis Louda, one of
our Haitian nurses. It's typical of Haitian weddings to have a "Marenn
and Parren", sort of like a godfather and mother... We were a little
surprised when she asked us to fill that role (along with a Haitian
couple), but we really enjoyed it!!! Here's the couple finishing their
preparations before heading to the wedding....

At the wedding... We sat across from them...

Shana, the other Marenn, and the bride... Mis Louda- or rather Madam
Denny as she is now- is about 32...

The pastry confection is my wife's creation, and the cake
was created by Anita, but the rest of the food is authentic
Haitian....AND delicious, as always!!! (Have I mentioned
that we LOVE Haitian food???)

Parenn and Marenn...

Solar panel project...

We were really excited to get our solar panels up- finally!!!

Here's Darwin, helping with painting just before we placed the panels up.
They're about 18 feet up in the air, and HOPEFULLY we put enough
cement in the base to keep it there in a hurricane... I estimated there's
about 3 thousand pounds down there, so....?
BTW... Nice shades, Darwin... (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

The finished product. We've already noticed a significant decrease in time
that we need to run our generator, so that's a blessing!!! Generally when
the ladies run the wringer washer, we would need to start the generator
to have enough power. Now, during the day with the sun shining bright,
they can do laundry to their hearts content and the solar panels more
than compensate for the energy being used...