Dear Family and Friends,

Fond-des-Blancs truly blossomed this Spring. The farm project has been in existence for seven years and has mostly been successful in spite of a few drought years and a few hurricane interruptions.  This year we had just the right amount of rain and sunshine to make everything grow properly.  From the flowers in the school yard to the mangoes to the crops at the farm.  We are grateful to a Canadian farmer who visited to make sure our tractors and planters were properly calibrated for best results.  The largest crop at the moment is sorghum.  The farm helps us feed close to a thousand students every school day.

May 1 is a national holiday and we had lots going on at the school.  It was like a mini exposition.  Many ladies from the community made large batches of their favorite recipes and sold portions to customers looking to see what was available.  Others brought sewing projects to sell.  Also someone in the area has a hobby of colleting small animals not native to Haiti.  He had peacocks and other birds and rabbits and long-horned goats to exhibit.  It was a very interesting display for everyone to visit.  There were also games and entertainment supplied by the students.  The weather was perfect and everyone had fun.

May 18 is Flag Day and we did many of the same things on that day, but on a smaller scale.  Most schools do their own Flag Day celebrations.  There were inter-class soccer games that afternoon between L'Exode students and a team from outside of Fond-des-Blancs plus a basketball game.

Mother's Day here is not celebrated until the last Sunday of the month.  The kindergarten and primary students are given supplies at school for making their moms a card for the occasion.

Another event in May is registration for 3 year olds who want to attend the L'Exode preschool next year.  We only do registration one day a year because on that day we always register more than the capacity the current buildings can hold.  If the parents come on that day, we do not turn them down so in the beginning the classes are a little crowded.  We had around 90 three year olds register this year.  We have begun fund raising so the new buildings can be built.  We have architectural plans drawn by architectural students from the University of Tennessee/Knoxville.  Students from there have designed all the plans for the secondary school and we are excited to watch the plans for the kindergarten/preschool come into being.  All of us will be happy and relieved when we can move the students from the old dreary and crowded buildings into the new, brighter, larger rooms in the design.

In June there will be exams and graduations at the schools.  We have a small group of Haitian/American ladies coming to help with the graduations.  They are coming from a church that Jean's mom attends.  The leader of the group has brought a group before and we are glad she is returning.  We are always open to individuals, families or groups to come visit and give a helping hand if possible.

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and donations for us and all the Lord has given us to do.