A Holiday in Haiti

 

Another week here in Bonne Fin including Christmas.

 

 

We even got to break a homemade piñata in the shape of a gecko (small lizard almost everywhere in Haiti) on Christmas Day.

 

 

We had a Steak Dinner one night that included: Steak (that was from Grandma and Grandpa W., and we brought it down when we moved), Homemade French Fries, canned green beans and a cup of ice water.

 

 

Caroling at the Hospital on Christmas Eve.

 

 

Beautiful sunset on Christmas Day.

 

 

 

We took a trip to a beach in Port Salut, which is about 2 hours from Bonne Fin.

 

 

Haitian bringing in his sailboat.

 

 

Our dog in the USA, Poppy Louise, died on the day after Christmas.

We had her for three years and will miss her lots.

 

Poppy loved taking Jeep rides with us.

By: Toby Plattner (this took me about 2 hours because of bad internet)

 

This Week's Activities

 

Here are a few pictures showing activities from the past week.

 

 

 

People from back at home have sent us Christmas Cookies that we have been enjoying!

 

 

Haitian vendors sell items ranging from artwork, masks, and bowls.

 

 

Sweeping is a big job that is done often. Our floor is always dusty!

 

 

We had our family Christmas at our house this week. We had lots of fun opening our gifts!

 

 

Even Brenna helps wash our loads of dishes.

 

 

At our family Christmas we had Homemade pizza! (Delicious)

 

 

Coke, Pepsi, and 7up with Pizza in an 80 degree room on December 20th.

By: Toby Plattner

 



Happenings in Haiti

 

Hello from the Plattner family here in Bonne Fin Haiti.

I, Toby, would like to share a couple pictures of the past week.

 

 

 

Family gator ride up the mountain

 

 

Beautiful landscape of a rocky mountain road

 

 

Tropical mountain scenery of Haiti

 

 

There is constantly a counter full of dishes to be done

 

 

Baking Christmas cookies

 

 

Completed candy cane cookies, Yummy, Yummy!

 

 

Dad was in the mood for buckeyes so mom helped mix some up.

 

 

Brenna enjoyed cleaning up a bowl of chocolate used for the buckeyes.

 

 

 

Potluck at Eric and Jami Hartzler's house with a medical team.

Thanksgiving, Adventures, and Daily Life

Well, hello there!  We seriously have good intentions to do frequent updates on our blog, but things don't always work out how we'd like!  Friday marked our one month anniversary of living in Haiti.  Plenty has happened in that short amount of time, and we will let the pictures tell you about it! 

Our daily routine usually includes the following:  kids go to school at 8:30, Kurt and Joan study creole and do projects around the house (laundry/hanging out laundry), kids come home at 11:45 for lunch and are home for an hour, our language instructor comes from 1-3,  the kids come home from school at 3, Joan starts thinking about making supper, we eat supper about 5:30 which is also when it gets dark here.  On Sundays we usually go to the Haitian church just down the road, and then we listen to a sermon online from our home church in Goodfield (so thankful for that technology, it means so much to us).  Often on Sunday afternoons, we play games at the ball court or ball field like volleyball and baseball.  Many of the others in our missionary family join us, and we have found that it is great exercise and fun to be together! 

So, we hope you enjoy some pictures of the happenings in our life!

 

 

The weekend before Thanksgiving we were blessed to go on a missionary retreat to Abaka Bay.  We took a boat ride (not the boat in the picture) to an island resort and spent a night there with a support team from the States and other missionaries in our area.  It was relaxing and refreshing! 

 

This is Abaka Bay Resort.

 

One of Reggie's favorite games in Slammo, and he found several others who enjoyed playing it with him.

 

A beautiful day at the beach on Abaka Bay.

 

All of us waiting to load the boats to go home.

 

 All of our kids were in a Thanksgiving play with their classmates, which was directed by their teacher, Miss Desma.  Our kids loved it, and the parents enjoyed watching it on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

 

Some days we have baby pigs wandering through our yard!  You never quite know what to expect here!

 

Hal found his little quiet spot on the roof of our house!  He really just likes to get away from it all for awhile!

While most of our family was back in the States freezing on Thanksgiving, we were enjoying a lovely dinner outdoors!  That being said, we really missed being with our family that day.  We always have reasons to be thankful, though, no matter who we are with or where we are.

 

 A family from Les Cayes (an hour from us) graciously invited the missionaries in the area for a Thanksgiving dinner.  There were about 130 people there!  I really enjoyed getting to know some new people, and the kids made some new friends too.

One Friday (the kids don't have school on Fridays), we took the kids on a hike and enjoyed swimming in this beautiful pool.  That is Brenna jumping off the cliff!

 

Brenna celebrated her 7th birthday on December 4.  We had brought many gifts along that family had sent from home, so she was thrilled to open them all!

 

The day after Brenna's birthday we hosted a birthday party for her and her friend Grace who had a birthday the next day.  We invited all the other missionary families here and enjoyed cupcakes and snacks.

 

Music is good for the soul!  The birthday party also included some instruments and singing. 

 

 

We are so thankful for God's faithfulness!  Thanks for praying for us!

 

 

 

Moving to our new home

We have seen a lot of changes in our lives in the last couple weeks!  We had many sad good-byes with our dear family and friends, and we feel blessed to have so many precious relationships!  It just makes it a lot harder to leave them.  On November 5 our parents came to our house at 2:30 a.m., and we all headed to O'Hare airport in a big van(thanks Bill and Heidi) pulling a trailer full of luggage(thanks Dan).  We were very thankful to have our parents there to send us off with lots of hugs and tears!  We then began our long travel day!  Thankfully all went well, and we arrived at Hospital Lumiere in Bonne Fin, Haiti at 9:30 that night.  

We have been steadily unpacking boxes and totes, and trying to find a place for all our stuff in our nice little house.  It has felt a bit chaotic at times, but we are so thankful to be getting settled and putting our personality into our place.  The kids started school Monday, and Kurt and I started our language (creole) lessons on Monday.  We are thankful for a loving welcome from the Bonne Fin missionary families!  God is Faithful!

 

 

            This is the arrival at the Haiti airport with 18 suitcases, 6 backpacks, and six pillows!

 

Good reactions from the boys as we walked into our house for the first time since August!  A lot has changed since then!

 

 

I was excited to pull this slipcover (made by my dear friend Amb) out of my suitcase and transform this chair!  Underneath it is burgundy and gold.  I think it goes great in our blue bedroom! 

 

 

The Saturday after we arrived we  had a sea container come to the Hospital.  It came from Bluffton, IN, and it had a lot of our things on it!  It was almost like Christmas!

 

A fork lift would have been handy in unloading the sea container, but we had a lot of strong men helping.

 

 

 

This is our living room!  Yikes!

 

 

 

And this is our living room a few days later!  Whew!  Thankful to be this far!  By the way, the orange chair is another slipcover by my friend Amb.  I love it!

 

 

 

I have begun filling my large pantry that was built by the work team!  The space is wonderful!

 

 

 

Reggie, Toby, and Brenna in their new classroom at Miss Desma's house.  They were so excited to go to school so they could play with all the other kids.  There are a total of 9 students.

 

 

Kurt is working on his language lessons with our instructor, Mr. Falens.

 

 

 

Hadley had fun finding a grapefruit and an avocado in our yard.  It's so nice to have fresh produce so close!

 

 

 

We are discovering very quickly what happens when food gets left on the floor.  These ants were feasting on a piece of macaroni!

 

 

 

It has been raining a lot (10 in. just this week!).  The kids went out to play in it one day and loved it.

 

 

 

No dishwasher at our new house:(

I am teaching all the kids how to do dishes, so I don't get stuck with it every time!

 

 

 

There is a basketball court on the campus.  It is great for rollerblading, scooters, bikes etc!  It was nice to get out for some sunshine and exercise.

 

 

 

I sent this cart down that I got at Ikea, and I'm loving it with my fresh produce in it.  A Haitian woman went to the market for me on Saturday and bought me what I needed.  The Haitians get a better price, so it is best send them.

 

Way back in September I found this dresser on Craigslist, and my friend and I went to Marquette Heights, IL and picked it up.  I had a vision for it in my new home in Haiti, but I didn't get to see it all come together until last night.....

 

 

 

....when Kurt put the countertop on and turned it into a kitchen island!  It fits very well in the space we had for it, so I am very thankful for that! 

 

Blessings on your day!