Finlayson Newsletter

August 21, 2005

Dear Friends:

Just a note to let you know what's been happening at HOPE since March month. Well, Easter Monday was a big hit with the children. We took them on a little picnic and flew kites and hunted Easter eggs. Funny thing...one little boy who had not been with us very long and knew nothing about hiding Easter eggs did not see when Troy and Stacey (our friends from CO who were with us for a week with their two children) hiding the eggs. When all the eggs were in place and the children were being gathered up for the big hunt, I turned around to find this child running to me with his hat full of eggs. He was so excited that he had found so many eggs just lying about in the grass. He hadn't a clue why they were there. He also thought I was very strange to take them from him and re-hide them!! He caught on when the others started out and had a blast on his first Easter egg hunt.

Our friend John from CA visited us twice this summer. The first visit I'm sure was just a blur and one that he probably chooses not to remember. For his first trip, he traveled whole day and then experienced two time changes which left him exhausted upon arriving Guyana. We stopped at Pizza Hut on the way home from the airport. I was called away to the hospital with one of our children while Kenneth took John to the hotel. Well, the next morning, we were knee deep in water!!! Needless to say, John got the next flight out of Guyana! Boy that was an expensive pizza!! That was not enough to keep this good man down. He was back with us in Guyana within just a couple of months. He enjoyed his 2 week stay and helped us do some odds and ends as well as getting acquainted with the boys at HOPE. John is working hard on helping us get a play yard set up for the children.

We were privileged to have 3 lovely young ladies, who are British University students, to be with us for 6 weeks at HOPE. They assisted us in holding school classes for the children. Working with them in various areas such as Math, English, Art and Music as well as some physical education classes. Before their departure, we welcomed the 2 British University guys, Martin and Daniel, who came last year to work with the children in Sports. They brought along with them this year another friend Jason who has proven himself with the children. Last years Sports efforts were tremendous and this year is no different. The guys extended their stay this year in order to get in more practice sessions with the children. They have had a strong emphasis on the idea of working together as a team and not focusing on being on the "winning team" as so often is the idea. I am so impressed with these guys and their desire to work with our children for such a long period of time. They have given up their entire summer holiday for our little athletes. We will be hosting another big Sports Day again this year. Last year's sports day was FANTASTIC and the children gained so much from it. I'll tell you how that goes in the next newsletter. Thanks guys for a job well done!

July was a busy month for HCH as well as the Church in Enmore. We are so thankful for the three teams (Mayfield, KY team 1 and team 2 as well as Vero Beach team 3) who worked along with us to accomplish much in many different areas. For those who worked directly with our children, we are so very thankful. You will never know the impact made upon these children simply because of your touch or your kind words to them. Thanks to all those who made our 4 children feel so loved and very special. That means the world to me. John, thanks for getting those shelves going for me. What a blessing! Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

July 24-26 was an incredible time of learning for myself, some HOPE staff and my new school teachers. We were so privileged to have with us Brother Nat Cooper and Bob Bracket. Brother Nat has been heavily involved with the Character Counts program for the past several years. He knows it's potential to change schools by instilling character within the children AND all who are involved with those children. He donated 15 hours of his time to train us in this program. We are indebted to him for all that he has given us to work with. We are expecting great things to come from his and our efforts. We would like to say thank you to his colleagues who so graciously donated many guides and visuals to help us get started. Bob and Sandi, thanks for the Character Counts pillows that will be a constant reminder to each of our children that Character does count!!

That takes us up to where we are TODAY! For those of you who may not know, we have made the decision to open up a private school starting September 2005. This decision was made after much prayer and discussion. We have, over the past 4 years experienced many problems in two different school environments. After many efforts of trying to correct, understand and/or ignore these ongoing problems, the decision was made to begin HOPE Christian Academy. We are ecstatic about the possibilities that are there for our children. Our prayer is that these children will grasp what has been accomplished for them and therefore, make the most of the situation. As has been the case for us many times over, God has provided what we needed...when HE knows we need it....in HIS time! This situation is no exception. Susan, who is a member of the Church in Chattanooga, TN, and I met through the internet. WOW!!! What a God send she has been to me. Thanks to her and her wonderfully loving husband, Butch, we now have our complete curriculum for this school year. Much thought and prayer went into making those decisions not to mention the time involved. Thanks to you guys for all that you have done for us. May God continue to bless you as you turn and bless others.

Many of you have asked and I'm sure there are others that are wondering but have not asked... where are we with our new building project. Well, it's a very long story and I don't want to bore you with all the details. Hopefully, the following will help you to know where have been with this and where will are going. Before we left for the US in October 2004 we submitted our plans to Ministry of Housing for approval. The big flood took those plans away and we were forced to re-submit again in March 2005. There were some corrections that needed to be made and we took care of that. We were told that we had to ask for a waiver in order to put the house across the two lots that we own. We were told that it would take 4-6 months for this to be approved. Somewhere in the process, the paper work got into the hands of someone who realized that waiver was not necessary as our building is sitting on one lot only. Because of the teams here for the past 3 weeks we have not been about to run with this land story. We are so close yet so far away. Another problem occurred recently which has stalled our putting up of fence and drainage. A person in the village is claiming that he owns a piece of land that goes down along side of the land we own. He has put his fence on our property and we, therefore, cannot start fencing until we have this matter settled by the Minister of Housing. He is currently out of the country for the next 2 weeks. Please pray that God's will be done in all of this. We know that He has our best interest at heart.

The Finlayson's are doing great! Life is never dull in our house or wherever we might be. We thank God for you and all that you do to help us in the work here in Enmore, Guyana. HOPE is expanding it's borders. Without you we can't continue on the path we are now on. Please continue to pray for us and the work we are involved in. I know that God has Mighty things in store for us!

Because of HIS love,

Samantha Finlayson