Life of a 17 Month Old

The other day, someone commented to David about Orrin,

"He's really busy."  Yeah.  Pretty much sums up this toddler.

We have a Brother from Bluffton here working at the Hospital

for a few weeks who spent 30 years as a photographer.  We had him

over for supper one evening, and learned about him and his photography

business.  He came back one afternoon and took some shots of Orrin.

He started out by trying to get a family pic of us all sitting down, to

get Orrin used to the camera.  Orrin did not want anything to do with sitting!

So...he shot pics of him on the go :)  

I thought he captured his personality pretty well!

Ok, so I can't believe I just now figured out the wonders of

the YouTube Babysitter!  I pulled up a Freddy (??) the Fire Engine

video on YouTube and set Orrin in front of it while I got supper made.

He thought it was great...and so did I!!!

One morning, Orrin wanted me to put his bookbag on him...

and then he wanted to go outside.  And whenever he gets outside,

he heads straight for the gate.  If it's open, he is off like a rocket,

halfway up the hill before I catch him :-P

Or if it's closed, he likes to have keys to play with and try to 

put them in the padlock.  This morning, he went to the gate and 

watched the other kids as they went past our house to school.

 The gate is one of Orrin's greatest toys.

He even takes to swinging on it :)

I thought this picture was too cute to not share :)

And we can't forget the other thing that's huge in Orrin's life...the "Hi"

He LOVES the phone and whenever he sees one, he calls it a Hi :)

David was trying to look at his phone, but Orrin must have thought

he needed to see it more!

Week in Dumay

Dad and Mom Zimmerman were working in Dumay, Haiti for three weeks.  

We rode a bus from our area to Port-au-Prince, and met up with them.  It was a 

long bus ride...about 6 hours...complete with a roadblock, teargas, and a traffic jam.

Finally got to Dumay...it is a beautiful area!!  

We spent a week with them and a work team there from Elgin, IL.

We had a really good time and we were thankful to spend the week with Grandpa and Grandma :)

Orrin loved to ride the tractor with Grandpa!!

Whenever Orrin went outside, he got completely smothered

by all the local kids!  He would be picked up, patted,

carried away, and he started hitting people in defense :)

Here he is surrounded by his fan club :)

The project for the week was putting up houses for widows

and those affected by the earthquake in 2010.  After the walls

and rafters were put up, Paul, David and I would work on putting

the tin on the roof.  It was great to get outside and work in the heat :)

A new friend :)

Orrin and Grandpa snacking on popcorn one evening. Yum, yum!

Roslyn and Vanya are girls who were living at the orphanage

when we went there in 2009.  They are now living in an 

apartment near Port and are going to school.  They come

to the guest house every weekend to cook and clean for 

Pastor Nathan.  It was really good to see the girls again,

and they loved Orrin!

One of the women who received a new home.

Thought this was an adorable picture of Orrin and the kids

in front of one of the new homes.

One evening we went to the church while they were having 

choir practice.  There we probably 100 people singing four-part

harmony, and it was beyond amazing!

This was one of the biggest highlights of the week.

I felt like the music could just lift my soul all the way up to Heaven.

Congrats Wes and Kinsey!

 One thing about being so far away from everyone, is well...being so far away :(

Today our friends are getting married, and we would love to be in Illinois

to share in their special day, but we are there with them in thought and prayer!

We have had a lot of great memories with Wes...

David and Wes in tech school together...

working on our shop...

and saturday pizza days that sometimes turned into work...

but always turned back into fun :)

God's blessings Wes and Kinsey!

We love you guys!

First Construction Team

We have had teams here since we arrived, but this is the first construction team.  

David works more with them than the medical ones since he is helping 

with maintenance/construction.  This team came from Sardis and Rittman/Smithville, OH.

We really enjoyed being together with them for the week.  They came in on Saturday

and we had supper together to be able to meet them.  Then David stayed for a meeting 

with them to discuss what they would be working on.  We also had church together Sunday and Wednesday night, sang at the Hospital Tuesday night, had supper at Rick and Komari's Thursday, and then Friday night we had a meeting to say goodbye and so they could share how their week went.  We aren't bored here :)  

This building is the "Gro Depot" or Grand Depot.  It was a storage shed for extra medical and construction supplies.  There was another room for medical supplies inside the hospital.  Now they are moving the supply room out of the hospital building and into the Depot.  This will help keep all the supplies organized.

Through the week, the team worked on some electrical projects in the depot.  They also cleaned out the front half.  Then the supplies and shelving units all had to be moved out of the supply room in the hospital.  The shelves were repainted and moved into the Depot.  Just a few more things to do and they will be in business!

Friday afternoon, several wanted to hike down to the hydroelectric plant to see it.  We left Orrin with Komari and kids for the afternoon (ahhh) and took the truck down to the reservoir, then made the half hour hike down the hill.  

When we got to the hydro, no one was there....David knew someone had to be there at 5pm to start it up for the evening, so we had a little while to explore.  The stream running at the bottom of the hill was beautiful.  David had heard that there were some waterfalls and maybe a natural pool area somewhere, so we decided to go creek stompin! :)

 David, myself, Matt Brake, and Matt Maibach went down the creek a ways.  

The water was warm and beautiful.

 Then we had a great find!  A natural pool, clear blue and beautiful!

It was like a tropical paradise :)

Matt M and David emptied their pockets and jumped in.  

They went swimming down stream, and said there were more 

and more pools.  Looks like we are going to have to go exploring 

some more sometime :)

The guy came to turn on the hydro at 5.  The

guys were all interested in how it all worked, so they got to see

it in action a little.  Then we had to head back up the hill before it got dark.

 We got to the top right at sunset.  The view was a fantastic way to end

some great exercise and spending time in God's great creation together!

First two weeks

Two weeks...wow that went fast!  We will try to show you a little of what we've been doing.

Going grocery shopping is not the easiest thing in the whole world, so usually someone stays home and watches the kids.  The ride gets long, hot and bumpy for them :( and it looks like everyone had a great time staying home and playing together.  These are most of the "AC" kids that are at Bonne Fin now.  Rick and Komari's - Mara, Krae, and Selah.  Eric and Jami's - Leah, Gracie, Conner, Quincy and Gideon (not pictured).  And of course Orrin...who is right in the thick of it along with everyone else!  By the way, he has been doing great, and seemed to adjust pretty good.  He runs around like he owns the place, and even gets out the gate and tries to go up our hill by himself :)

Mr "I-can't-sleep-at-night-without-a-sound-machine-perfect-routine-and-pat-my-back-sometimes" has surprised us enormously!  He is sleeping through roosters and chickens and neighbors making noise right outside the house...with the windows open!!  Good for him :) 

The other night, I was trying to put him to bed and he finished his bottle, wiggled out of my lap, took my hand, led me to the kitchen and tried to open the door to the fridge.  Mom, I want more milk!  Well, he knows where stuff is already and he gets his point across!  

Even though it's a lot like summer here, it feels a little like fall too.  The trees drop leaves constantly, so it's quite a bit of work to get it all cleaned up.  Yesterday I raked the leaves and today I was going to burn them.  Orrin was walking around another part of the yard, and he decided to crawl down the hill to come help me.  Then he started crying.  I got to him and there were ants all over his hand...and they bite!!  Poor Orrin...his hand got all bit up :(

Orrin getting ready to crawl down the hill.  Our house in the background.

Ant bites :(

David was working with some electrical issues around the Hospital campus last week.  This week they have been focused on what to do about the electrical generator problems.  The main source of power is supposed to be a hydroelectric generator.  The picture below the the reservoir.  It needed to be cleaned out and the lining patched so it wouldn't leak.  About 75 guys were hired to clean it out and it got cleaned and patched in one day!  Then we prayed for rain.  And Wednesday evening it POURED!!  Thankful for what we got, but we will take more :)

David also worked a few days in our kitchen.  The old kitchen cabinets were falling apart so they decided to put new lower cabinets in.  They were in place when we moved in, but no countertop or sink.  So for the first week, we ate lunch and supper with the work team at the guest house.  Then we got the countertop and sink put in and we are now in business!

Other pictures of our house, so you know where we are :)

Orrin's room even has a spare bed for company, in case anyone wants to come visit :)

It's been a good few weeks.  Still asking for your prayers so God's work and not ours will be done.

Until next time!

New Contact Info

As I'm sure you know, our phone numbers have changed with our move :)  The options for contacting us are pretty good...do what works best for you!  Our time zone right now is the same as Florida, so Eastern time (that's an hour ahead of those of you in IL and IA :)

If you have an international plan, this should reach us at all times. Our cell phone numbers are:
David - (011) 509 3446 2800
Janella - (011) 509 3446 2682
(And yes, you have to dial all those numbers :) )

If you don't have international calling, we have an internet phone number that will ring to our cell phone if we have internet at that time...kind of sketchy, but it's a US number so shouldn't charge you to use it..
David - 010 660 4895
Janella - 010 667 2224

Also another option is email.  Our addresses have stayed the same:
David - dlzimm4@hotmail.com
Janella - nella.gerst@gmail.com

Skype - under Janella Zimmerman

Facebook - under David Zimmerman...

and last but not least...good old snail mail...
This is kind of complicated as the USPS doesn't just deliver mail to our door in Haiti...
so..what basically happens is that any mail would be sent to an address in Florida, and flown into Haiti through Agape Flights.  This is a long process and we do not have this set up yet.  If you have questions of how to do this, please contact us or one of our parents...we will give them the instructions of how this works when we get it all figured out. 

Hope to hear from you!!

Safe home in Haiti!

Left home at 115am Saturday.  Troy Slagel and Troy Brown drove us up to Ohare, and things went smoothly getting through checking our bags and security.  Wow we have so much stuff!

Orrin thought the airport was a great new experience!  He looked at everyone and tried to run away numerous times.  He did great even though it was 4am!

He did great on the flights too!  Slept about an hour on each flight. Praise the Lord! :)

 He thought Haitian driving was pretty much awesome too!  

Our drive to the hospital took about 5 hours, arriving at 8pm.

Wow, we are exhausted!!

After a good night's sleep, we went to church. 

Orrin only made it halfway through (one hour :) ) before having to go home 

for a nap (and opening the cap of his bottle and spilling milk all over 

the pack n play and then wetting through his diaper in bed..sigh).  

He changed clothes to a tank top and shorts and flip flops.  

Loving the 80 degree weather!!

Thanks again to everyone who has sent their love and prayers with us on our journey this far!  We can feel your prayers already and ask that you continue entreating the heart of God for us as we will for you!