The Orphanage

Jeremiah
Sam

Matt

Leah

Paul and Jason

Jami

Brent

The Day with the KP Kids

Pictures from the Infermery

The Manchester Infermery
Marie visiting with one of the residents

Sam making this womens day by dancing with her:)

Jeremiah sharing his song book

Jami visiting with one of the women

I love how God works. I know that when the team visited it brought so much JOY to the lives of the residents there at the infermery. And I know without a doubt after hearing their stories and experiences how touched and blessed the team was by the people at the infermery. What a great God we serve. Have a great day I love you very much.

Be blessed and be a blessing

-Erin-

Randomness

A quote I would like to share because its my desire for you all

"I want to help you to grow as beautiful as GOD meant you to be when He thought of you first"

-George MacDonald-

So we are now on round two of ring worm. I don't know which one of my kiddos has it but they keep blessing me with it. I am in contact with at least 50 different kids a day so I have no idea who keeps giving me ring worm or who to be more careful around so that I stop getting it. I praise GOD that this time I realized what it was and did not scratch it like last time. The first time i had it i thought that it was just some mutated bug bite that if i scratched it enough it would go away:). However that was not the case and thanks to some special cream from mom we got that taken care of. THANKS MOM!

(Sorry this is not a very good picture)

So ever since the last team left there have been crazy thunder storms/ lighting storms everyday/night. Its really cool to watch the lighting looks so close and at times the thunder is so loud it just vibrates through all the brick buildings setting off car alarms. I LOVE STORMS!

With the storms I don't know what kind of bugs they are but they swarm. with all my windows and doors closed they still come in the cracks and not just one or two but hundreds. I was sitting in my chair the first time it happened trying to be productive after a week at JDV and at first I just sat and watched as a few crawled through the cracks and started flying around BUT THEN they started landing on the computer and my arms and hair and cloths and not only 1 or 2 but 10 or 20 so then they started to freak me out So I started brushing them of me and i found out they are very flimsy because you touch them and they fall apart and die. So with this knowledge I grabbed a flip flop and started swatting at any and all I could reach. That was NOT a fun mess to clean up after all were finally taken care of.

Thanks for letting me share its time to go chat with the kiddos. Have a great week. I love you. Be blessed and be a blessing -Erin-

The Team That NEVER Sleeps!

I LOVE THIS GROUP! That in a nut shell says it all. This is one of the only open groups that still comes to Jamaica on a yearly basis. There were around 42 people on this trip and around 18 different churches represented. I have never in all my 7 years working on work teams and with work teams seen the spirit working so much and so quickly through a group. We had two people come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior, One come out after 2 years of being a "secret" Christian and now holds his light up for all the world to see, And one who rededicated his life to Christ after some difficult times away from the Lord. Praise GOD! The team left yesterday and the only way I can think to describe it is my heart aches for them. They uplifted me and blessed me in such a way... its just indescribable. I pray they can take the energy and experiences from this week and spread it around back in the states where ever they are.

The Group Shot
The Boys

The Girls

The Peoria Group

The Morton Group

The Kansas Group

The Denver Group

There are many more pictures to share and through the week I will try to get more of them on here. My goal for this week is to catch up on sleep. I think my earliest night this past week was around midnight and my latest was around 6:30 a.m. This group goes strong like no other! Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support. Be blessed and be a blessing. -Erin-

Chick fil A

The new saw for the wood shop
a new mixer for the kitchen

This is the Chick fil A team. I think the majority of them were restaurant owners but one or two worked at the corporate building in Atlanta. WOW. this team blew me away with their generosity. They were not a work team but just came to see what the ministry was all about. They went around asking teachers, if they could have any thing to help them in the class room what would it be? The teachers named it then today before they left the Chick fil A team went around and delivered those things they wished for. It was truly Amazing to watch the teachers get so excited, Tony the woodworking teacher just plugged in the new saw they got him where they left it and he and the boys went right to work making legs for dressers and tables. Praise God for his goodness and faithfulness. I hope you all are having a great week. This afternoon I am off to JDV for the week so please keep the Plattners, I and the work team in your prayers that hearts will be softened and open to accept Christ.

I love you.

Be blessed and be a blessing

-Erin-

Team Work

Good After noon, Tuesday night the kids were working on team work. The older girls got 4 of the older guys to try, sitting them on chairs then when they leaned back onto the legs of the guy beside them, the girls pulled out the chairs and they saw how long they could hold.

Once it was done the first time everyone wanted to try. Here are some pictures.

The younger girls

the older boys being able to hold it for a 1.5 min before they fell

the girls being able to hold it for a min before their legs gave out

the gathered crowed to see who can hold it the longest

Have a great day. The Random A.C. team comes tomorrow for the next week. Please keep them and us in your prayers as we serve together this week. Be blessed and be a blessing -Erin-

Tuesday Morning Quote

" Open your heart to the LOVE God instills... God loves you tenderly. What He give you is not to be kept under lock and key, but to be shared." -Mother Teresa-

Good Morning everyone. So far this week is going great. After a month and a half break of work teams they start up again today. The team that arrives today is not a work team but an evaluation team from Chick Fil A. Even though they are not working I am still responsible for hosting so we have been trying to reorganize after our break and find a routine again to get things ready for work teams. Friday the Plattners and I go over to JDV for a week+ to host a random A.C. team. There are people coming from all over to work for a week and I am so excited! Many of them I know so it will be great to see familiar faces, and to be able to have a social life for a week will be WONDERFUL as well. Thanks for all your prayers love and support. If you could please pray for wisdom, safety, and open hearts as we start working with teams again that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a great day. I love you all. Be blessed and be a blessing -Erin-

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to wish all those mothers whom I love so much all over the world a most Wonderful Mother's Day! I hope you have a day filled with many JOYS and BLESSINGS from above.

Be blessed and be a blessing

-Erin-

Milk Box

Milk has been something I have had problems with since I have gotten down here. At first I could not find any, then found boxes on the shelf (not refrigerated) of milk but once you opened the box you then put it in the refrigerator and had 3 days to drink it. I could not drink that much milk and it went bad and since I didn't want to waste I switched to soy milk. Soy milk is also found on the shelf and you only refrigerate after opening but it can be open 7-10 days before going bad. That lasted for 5 mos. until I went back to the states and had real cold milk always available and it was great! I could not go back to soy. Before I had only used it in cooking and in cereal because I could not take the taste of it if it was not mixed with something else. On my venture to the grocery store this week I found these.... Milk boxes! they are just like juice boxes back in the states but are milk. They come with a straw and everything and they are the perfect size and very doable to drink within a 3 day period! How fun! Have a great day. Be blessed and be a blessing -Erin-

Quote of the Day

"You always grow to love the people you pray for. That's because you develop God's heart of love for them. Don't pass up the chance to experience that." ANON.

I love you and am praying for you. Have a great week. Be blessed and be a blessing -Erin-

Small Victories

Good Morning Everyone. I hope your day is going great! I had a small victory today and wanted to share it with you. Since coming back to JA I really felt like I needed to try something different with the kids I was working on speech therapy with. So instead of weekly going over the same things and having kids quickly lose their motivation and just stop trying I have now started focusing more on where most of them struggle academically and started using that to help them both with school and speech. Most of their struggles are with reading or writing. I have started working with them more on that and as we are reading, or going through dolch cards I have them voice along. This way they work both on reading comprehension as well as having an opportunity to work on speech and use their deaf voices if they want. Today after 7+ months of working with one of the girls (who had yet to voice for me. she would always copy my mouth movements but never make sounds) we were going through a words book and as we were reading (signing) the words together she just started using her voice! She used it for about 3 pages and then went silent on me again. I don't know what triggered it if she is just now starting to get comfortable enough around me and starting to trust me enough to hear her deaf voice or what, BUT I praise God for this small step that was taken! I'm off to unload, sort, and put away donations! Be blessed and be a blessing. -Erin-

Sunday Afternoons

As they say in Jamaica Good Night everyone, In the states we say Good Evening. For the past month I have gotten to spend my Sunday afternoons with my team down here after church. It's a great time to relax, talk, play games, eat food and just enjoy some down time with each other. Today we had our final Sunday afternoon together before the Hubers fly back to the states on Wednesday for a 2 month stay before coming back to the island in July. Please pray for the Huber family as they travel back to the states on Wednesday and transition back into the states. I hope you have a great week! Be blessed and be a blessing. -Erin

My week

The weekend is here and I am praising God! It was a great week but very very busy and I am thankful for some time just to get out of the school and away from the sea container boxes I have been unloading, organizing, and putting away all week. Its been so great to get back into my routine with the kids again. I have been so busy since I have gotten back that today I had to do some MAJOR cleaning of my apt. Wednesday Morning I woke up with a tic on my shoulder (who knows where it came from or how it got there) but after that I knew I needed to start cleaning, and doing some laundry but this morning was my frist chance. The picture is of a couple of my little guys who are entertaining themselves. They had a couple of old desks and an old plastic containter they were racing around the court yard. Some of the kids would sit on the desks while others would push them around. For some reason I have been having trouble putting pictures on my blog so I will have to post one picture at a time. Have a great weekend. I love you and miss you. Be blessed and be a blessing -Erin-