YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN HAITI when your wife casually comes in to the living room and asks, "Could you help me with something? There's a giant tarantula in my office."


You shouldn't have any trouble spotting the "little" guy!

ORCHIDS. Scott bought a beautiful orchid plant for my half birthday. December is our birthday month with both kids and Scott celebrating. He insists on including me in the festivities. We are going to try to keep them alive, and we've been told they are hearty plants. We'll see!


Any orchid experts out there know how to identify these?

WORD POWER. Okay, I think this a cool website. You get a new word each day to help you build your vocabulary. Merriam-Webster Online

BIRTHDAY BASH x 2. Tis the season for Birthdays around the Stargel house. Becca celebrated five on Tuesday, and Nicolas turned seven today (Thursday). Linda went all out decorating the house and preparing party games. Come back soon and hopefully I'll have a link with some pictures from the parties.

THEFT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. It was a very discouraging week. After the dorms closed last Thursday, we had two break-ins. One evening the theives stole the motor off of a ciment mixer and then Tuesday night, they broke into a dorm and stole 6 beds and mattresses. We have extra mattresses, but it's going to be a struggle to come up with six extra beds before second semester opens. But God is good... all the time!

LINKS LINK. One of our LINKS churches sent us a link to their home page. Thought I would share it with the rest of you. Thanks Bernie and the folks at Nainamo Church of the Nazarene. Click on the name to visit their site.

CRUNCH TIME also known as EXAM WEEK. You can feel the tension and energy in the air. The students are pulling "all-nighters" (staying up all night studying for final exams). The semester is over tomorrow, so there is that weird mixture of excitement (finishing up a semester!) and stress (passing those exams!). I always enjoy the lull after a semester. The pace around here slows a bit and it allows us to get caught up on other work. A good thing.

DOUG TO THE RESCUE. When it rains it pours. The beginning of December came around and all passenger vehicles on campus needed work. Five were down and out, not even drivable. The three that were running had problems of their own. So we sent out an urgent "HELP" call to Doug Windham of Lakeland, Florida. He hopped a quick plane down here and has gotten us up and running again. He came on Saturday and leaves tomorrow (Wednesday). He's been a blur of activity getting things whipped into shape here. Thanks Doug!



Doug Windham at the shop, his home away from home.