Surgery went well

I am thankful to report that Lonia's surgery went well, all things considered. It took six hours to complete it. I was able to be with her in ICU Friday evening. I spent most of the day with her yesterday, holding her and comforting her. She took some liquids and a couple spoons of jello and a cracker. She will be moved to the regular floor today. She has a catheter so the urine doesn't burn and irritate the new opening. She will still have to have it for a couple weeks after she comes home while it is healing. Something new for me to learn to take care of. We will go visit her after church this afternoon. The girls will get to go see her since she will be out of ICU. They are really excited to see her. Everybody misses her little smiling face and antics, blowing kisses and batting her eyes at us. She has become a big part of our family.

Ashley will be starting to school on Tuesday at Capital Christian School. She is in the fourth grade. Her teacher will be Mrs. Holt. She is very excited but a little apprehensive too. Please pray for her to be brave in this endeavor and that she would make new friends quickly.

News from Wilckly in Haiti reports that they received a lot of rain but no damage in our area. We praise God for His protection. Wilckly continues several projects at this time. He is building a wall, preparing for school to open at Cariess, Legend and Cupois. These are the three schools we are responsible for. Cariess closed with 185 students and we have no idea how many to expect this year. Legend had 35. We have rented a place for them to continue school this year. We had 29 pre-school/kinder. students at Cupois where Lonia is from. Please pray for us as we open all of these schools. We will pay a total of 15 teachers and staff for those schools this year. Since I wasn't able to be out raising support we were not able to buy all the needed material for uniforms yet. Wilckly will be buying books this week for the schools and the uniforms will have to come later.

Christine Stevens (Crash) arrived in Haiti two weeks ago and she is doing well. She is learning Creole. She will be helping with the administration of the mission and the schools. She will be busy doing this while learning the language and culture. She is a recent graduate of Hannibal LaGrange College in Hannibal, Missouri. Please keep her in your prayers that she would remain in good health and strong and courageous to meet all the challenges of Haiti. Go Crash!

Wilckly is handicapped right now as the truck has been broke down for over a month. Remember it is our "all-purpose" vehicle. We pick people up at the airport, haul gravel, rock, dirt, cement and other materials, it is an ambulance, a hearse and a bus. The repairs are very costly but not as costly as buying a new vehicle which we can't do right now. It will cost around $3,500.00 for parts and labor to get her back in running condition. We have had a $1,000.00 donated for this so far. If you can help in any way please send funds immediately to Fred and mark it Dorce' truck in the memo. This is URGENT. Thanks in advance.

Dee