Christmas Hope

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Despite the very frigid temperatures in New England this time of year, I am totally enjoying seeing all the decorations in the area and especially seeing the decorative lights on the trees and homes at night. Somehow it just makes me feel warm fuzzies on the inside.

You can tell by the pictures that the kids in Haiti are really excited about Christmas, too. Christmas parties and gifts preceded period exams. Hopefully all those warm fuzzies help with the students' performance on those tests.

Our friends at World Wide Lighthouse Missions in Manchester, CT, gather supplies for us year round. Their latest shipment of twelve barrels arrived in time for Christmas.

We also received some additional (and very heavy!) equipment for the dental clinic from our friends at Mission USA. We so appreciate their efforts, as well as Pastor Hakine's efforts to get all these heavy things into and out of the truck!

We are working on separating the medical and dental clinic from the school yard. We have started construction on a new waiting area on what is currently the back of the building. This will become the front and we will be cutting new doorways in from that waiting area. Here working are the dentist, Dr. Myriame, and our medical doctor, Dr. Yvens

We are making a new location for the loud dental equipment, outside of the actual dental room, as well as bathrooms for our patients. We are also extending office/waiting space for Marie Ange, as her responsibilities for inventory control and fiscal accountability require added room.

I know it's a busy time of the year for most of us. I hope that you are able to take a moment to relax and reflect on the goodness of God in your life. For me, it was a very challenging year, and yet I am so grateful that Jesus was with me in the midst of it all. I believe strongly that He has a big plan and the end is greater than the beginning.

If you are alive, then you are undoubtedly facing challenges, too. I encourage you to look for hope in the midst of those difficulties. Don't let problems have the upper hand. A bad attitude will not make them any easier to handle, but putting your hope in Jesus certainly will. (It will likely help your relationships flourish, too!)