Lèt Pou Ayiti

Oh, where to begin? I should probably start by apologizing for not keeping up with this blog. ☺️ It has been an amazing three months! The most notable thing, which most have probably heard by now, is that we moved to the farm! I cannot tell how blessed we feel by the support of the community and the peace of God we have living here. I am loving living in the country again, like where I grew up in the states. I can honestly say that it felt more like home in the first two weeks of living here than living in Cayes did for two years, and for that I am very thankful!

A lot of progress has been made, and it is exciting to be able to see it (and hear it) first hand! Most of the physical changes have been to our house and the milking center. It has also been great to build more relationships with the people of the community. Dad has been doing a lot of plowing, overseeing construction, and other general work around the farm. Right now we have two cows that are being milked by hand and the raw milk is going to Haitians, but we plan to start milking and processing milk in the milking center this fall! Mom spends most of her time at home keeping things running. ☺️ I spend time a little bit of everywhere, helping mom out around the house, helping dad when needed (although he has some really great guys working with him, so that isn't too often), spending time with my dog and the heifers, and I hope to start doing more with the community kids soon. We look forward to seeing how God works in this community next!

In April, Ed Sanders and Isaac Steiner, along with their Haitian construction bosses, came to put the roof on the milking center. It was a two day project, but with many helping hands, they got the job done well!  

They built all the trusses right here, following the pattern of one. A few of the guys from our community helped as well.

After the tresses were built, they put them all up and put the tin on! 

In the past month and a half, we have poured concrete and put in the milking stalls.

A team of five men came in May, after Mom and I had left, to help with some electrical things in our house and the feed depo, and to start setting up the milking center. They poured the floor in the milk room and also put together and poured the cement for the milking stalls. Since we've been back Dad and some men here have poured more concrete around the outside.

We are so looking forward to seeing these stalls full of cows!

This is in the middle of the process of putting up the form boards in preparation for pouring the roof on the second story of our home.

On the 18th of June, around 60 men came to pour the roof in one day. It was very exciting!

They had quite the assembly line going. With two cement mixers, many many hands, and approximately 400 bags of cement, they got the job done in just about 9 hours!

I've been soooo enjoying spending time outside with the heifers and my dog. It is wonderful to have so much open space!

And one more thing - I don't think I will ever grow tired of the beautiful sunsets here in the country! God is the most amazing artist! 

With all that being said, I can just say, God is good. We are thankful. Also, when the guesthouse is done hopefully later this fall, we would love to fill it with guests! ☺️

~Lana