Inside view of Our House of Hope

I had to laugh this week when someone commented that they didn't think I needed financial support for my trip to Haiti since I was going to be living in a 14 room tropical "mansion". As I shook my head in disbelief, I realized that they had only seen a Facebook picture of the outside of Our House of Hope, so today I would like to share some pictures of the inside of our "mansion"  that Jim and Deb took when they picked up the keys last week.  

We do not have a stove or refrigerator in our kitchen yet, only lots of worn out, broken cabinets. We will be cooking on the burners of a camping stove. We look forward to the possibility of a microwave if we can get the electricity up and running. Thought you might like to see our current electric box.

Thanks to a hardworking mission team crew last week, we do have 2 bathrooms that have been repaired and will soon be functional with our cistern water supply, but the plumbing is a bit archaic and needs some serious work. We will now begin working on the other bathrooms in the house so that they will be ready for future teams. As you can see, it may take a while.

The house sat abandoned and neglected for years.  The 2010 earthquake did a lot of damage, and while our house has a sound foundation, there is lots of work to do repairing broken walls throughout the house.

We still have to build our bed frames, so we will be sleeping on air mattresses this trip. Jim promised to work on getting screens across my open windows this week to keep  the mosquitoes out. In the interim, I will be using a mosquito fogger and lots of Deet.

We look forward to offering our pool to the local pastors for weekly baptisms, but we have a lot of work to do cleaning out the filth and contaminated water before we can make that happen.

Okay, I think you get the picture.  This is definitely not a luxury vacation. It is a work of great love and dedication and we need your help. I ask for your prayers, financial support, and skills. If you are a plumber, electrician, carpenter, painter, construction worker, mason,  physician, nurse, dentist, chiropractor or hard worker - consider putting together a mission team and come join us for a week of joyous ministry.

Our hearts were encouraged as the first medical team held a clinic in Our House of Hope last week.  One day soon we hope they will return and be able to stay in the guest rooms.



 I can't wait to get to Haiti to get started on restoring this once beautiful house into a loving sanctuary for people eager to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus in Haiti.    I will keep you updated on our progress through this blog.  I leave you with pictures of two of my favorite items in the house....a winding stairwell and a beautiful mural of an angel in the front hall.

Looking at these beautiful features gives me great hope as I cast a vision of what Our House of Hope will look like in one year as we celebrate our purchase of our ministry house.  How's that for positive thinking!

Thank you for your prayers, love and support.
I am standing on His Promises!   Love you.