Week 2

 Lots of concrete was mixed by hand this week.

 All the steel was set,

 and the footers were poured,

 on the front

 and side walls

 By Friday block was being laid on the side wall, and the back

wall was almost all dug out.

 

2 weeks ago (Thursday) I got a call from

CDA informing me there was a child that needed

a place to stay. 2 weeks later he was finally

released from the hospital and Neiah and I

welcomed Tyrese Tyrone (Ty Ty) to En Gedi.

He is 3 weeks old.

 Ty Ty's first day of work at En Gedi.

 Neiah is loving having him around, and is

always ready to help.

 Ty Ty is a great little guy, that we are excited to Love on.

Prayers appreciated as I take him to court on Monday to figure

out his situation.

Blessings

1 Week Down.

God has done such an incredible job this week. Yes,

 I know He does this every week, but for me this week

it was so clear as He sustained us so beautifully through 

the first week of construction at En Gedi.

I am Praising Him! that its the weekend, but am excited

to see what the coming weeks will bring too.

Onto the pictures... Lots of pictures

 There is a little 'catchment' area for flooding and it

was full of bush so this week, that was all taken

down so they could mark out the back wall of our lot.

And now we can see the neighbors :)

 they started digging the side wall

 steel was laid in for support.

 lots of pick axing was done to get through the

rough Jamaican dirt.

 They went 2 foot deep for the footers.

That's a lot of pick axing that happened 

this week.

by today (Friday) the side wall was all dug out,

and steel in place. Next week we (and by we I mean them :) 

 will be ready to pour the footers and start laying block.

 When we bought the property there were 2 HUGE

plants that were full of wasps, and right in the line

of where the front wall needed to be. So they had

to come out. (Praise Jesus because I wanted them 

gone any way.) These were NOT easy to get rid of

It took 3 days just to chop them down (with a machete)

(Yes, there is already a front wall, but the college, that we bought

the property from, put the front wall on government land. So we

will have two front walls. That way if the government ever decides to 

work on the road in front of our house, and have to tear down that 

front wall then we will still have our front wall on our property)

 2 truck loads were filled to carry it away most of it.

We had a worker work for two more days filling wheel

barrow fulls to go dump in the bush behind the property.

 this plant had branches as thick as 

a tree.

 the root system of the plant they had to

get through to dig footers for the front wall.

 trying to pick axe through the roots

 Success!

 this week we also had to have

an electrician come in and put in 

a temporary pole. Since the house

has been disconnected for over a year

the power company requires an inspector

to come make sure everything is okay

before they turn the power back on.

in the past year new regulations have

also been put in place. So we needed

to get a new pole and move the meter

up by the road. Lord willing

we will get the inspector there next week

to approve us so we can get electricity back

to the property.

Prayers appreciated as we continue this project!

A Tour of En Gedi

The construction of En Gedi starts on Monday, so I 

wanted to document what the house looks like now,

before all that started.

(in a very random order)

 The garage/front porch of the house

 the storage/office off the kitchen.

 Neiah's bed room

 The master bedroom

 another view of the master bedroom

 the master bath

 the living room

 another angle of the living room.

 another angle of the living room

 and one last angle of the living room.

 The kitchen

 another view of the kitchen

 the hall way

 another view of the hallway

 the hallway leading into the living room

the main bathroom.

That is the grand tour.

 Hopefully things will start to look

a lot different in the next few weeks.

Prayers appreciated.

First Steps

This past Monday we were able to meet with and

do an inital walk through with the contractor we

wanted to take on the En Gedi project for us. 

This was also Neiah's first time being introduced

to the house that Jesus has given us.

Praise Jesus both initial visits were a success!

 

Neiah and I sitting outside our back door.

 Neiah getting a feel for what will be her new room.

 Ceiling tiles falling as they were tested for strength.

They clearly failed the test.

(sorry for the grainy pictures)

 Neiah took on the responsibility to take pictures. So she took a

selfie with our contractor Adrian :)

 and another...

 measurements of rooms were taken as part of the inital walk

through.

one of our back doors torn off it was basically

rotted through. 

There is so much work to do! 

So thankful that Adrian was willing to take on 

this project for us.

Lord willing work will begin Sept 12.

More Updates soon come!

Finding My Strength - The Story of Sheldon Burkett

Here we Go!

June 6th, I got a call while at New Hope. CDA 

(child development agency, like dcfs in the states) had

a 2 week old little boy at the hospital and they needed

someone to take him in while they figured out his

family situation.

I had a team that week, and a team of 50 coming in the

next week, plus 2 interns that were arriving, and an

audiology team.

But when God commands you to go... you go

So we gladly opened our home and hearts to 

En Gedi's first visitor.

 Welcome Jordain Daniel Morgan!

aka Baby J

 Neiah was beyond excited that Jesus sent us a 

baby. She was able to go with me to pick him

up, and instantly became my 'big' helper

 She was always willing to hold baby J

so I could get things done, and loved

reading stories to him.

 His first Sunday to church

 What most of his days consisted of.

 When he arrived he was so tiny (and a little malnurished)

but by the time he left he had beautiful chunker cheeks.

The face that was made after you kissed on his cheeks

We were blessed with the opportunity to run alongside

Baby J for a month before CDA was able to help his

family get everything figured out so he could be returned 

to them. 

It was hard to watch Him go, but we Praise God

for the opportunity to love and care for him in the 

time he was with us.

Please pray for Baby J and his bio family as

they transition into this new normal, and that above 

all else God's will will be done in their lives.