Guelce Family Blog Spot!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-30T17:44:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all., a set on Flickr.

Tech Mission accomplished in Belle-Riviere, Haiti

2011-12-20T09:01:00.000-05:00

After my 2007 trip to Haiti, Irealized the need to give back to my country I love so dearly. I began to prayto the Almighty God and told him I wouldn't return to Haiti until I can make acontribution. After the January 10th earthquake, my prayer was answered and I was given a task to fulfill my next trip to Haiti. Fortunately, thiscalling wasn't that demanding, after-all it was to share my gift oftechnology with my countrymen and women.

By April 2010, Ididn't quite know how I was about to share my unique skill withmy country, but I was eager to do what the Lord was calling me to do. Iconsulted my former co-worker for some computers and out of my wildest dreamsshe offered to contribute to the cause. Wow, this was actually coming toreality.

Now that I hadcomputers, I needed to figure where these computers would land. I contacted myformer elementary school in Cabaret, Haiti, unfortunately, they were so awfully affected by theearthquake that they wouldn't be able to accommodate the computersand it wasn't a priority for them. I contacted another place closer to my villageand they didn't seem interested either. Well, by this point, I wasstarting to think, I might not have a place to send these computers after all.

In June 2010, I was invited to a Provocate Haiti meeting here in Indianapolis, and Ioverheard many local NGOs give talks about their projects involvement in Haiti.I was especially touched by Don Miller's talk on Friends of Belle-Riviere (FBR) project.They had just completed a community center in Belle-Riviere, a small village insouthern mountainside Haiti, located 20 miles from Miragoane. I chattedwith Don following the meeting and offered the computers and my assistance toinstall and train the locals. I don't think he understood how committed andexcited I was then, but he would soon find out!

Following thatmeeting, we begun to work out the details of the project, from installing solarpower on the roof, shipping the computers and finally, to traveling to Haiti toinstall the computers and train the Belle-Riviere's student/staff on the newtechnology. This all started in August 2010, Don surprised me and calledto say FBR has raised enough money to install the solar power on the building andthe equipment along with computer would be shipped in April 2011 and wouldlikely take the trip to Haiti in December 2011.

Fast forward a fewmonths, in September 2011 we began to put the final touch on the actual trip toBR. We work on the actual date and connection flights between Indianapolis andBoulder, CO and narrowed down the date to Dec 2^nd with layover inMiami and arrival in Haiti on Saturday Dec 3^rd.

In the meantime, Ibegan to construct my training schedule and content for the trip.Unfortunately, we decided it would not be conceivable to implement Internet accessin the community center on this trip. Therefore, I was putting together slideshow and visual for the training. In addition, I was planning to visit my Haitifamily on this trip. So, I notified them of my trip and when they should expectme in Cabaret (45 miles north of Port-au-Prince).

We arrived in Haition Saturday morning (bright and early). Our drivers (Gy and Jeanty) wereawaiting our arrival. We ran a few errands in the city and hit the road for BR.This village is 120 miles/4 hours southwest of Port-au-Prince. We didn’t arrivethere until 6pm.

Although it wasalready dark outside, I was surprised upon my arrival to the community center.This village is high on the mountainside, we crossed 3 rivers, the road wasvery uneven and many mud houses, but that wasn’t why I was surprised. I wassurprised to see this magnificent (state of the art) 2 story building with 24/7electricity, well secured and running water in this village.

Well, this is wheremy Haiti trip begins. We arrived to awonderful meal prepared by a young mother hired to cook in the communitycenter,

She prepared 3 mealsper day for us. The word meal is an understatement to describe her cookingabilities. She’s a fabulous cook and her personality is even better than hercooking. She’s always smiling.

In the morning weattended church service, which was interested since it has been awhile since I attendeda catholic mass. Nonetheless, it was great to see the most of the communitythere to uplift up the Almighty God in melodies and prayers.

Don introduced us tothe community and we socialized with them following the service and we went on our way.

When I returned backto the community center, I had a gentleman by the name of Alex there toassist with the actual computer setup. Fortunately, Alex has been exposed tocomputers and was a great help with the setup and training. The computer setupwas done in no time.

By Monday morningthe computer classroom was setup and ready for local kids. You can always tellhow excited people are about something by their arrival time. Well, the trainingwas scheduled for 8:00am, by 7:40 people started to trickle into the classroomand by 8:10, we had a full class!

Let’s begin ourcomputer training class. A former introduction and how this project came about.With that said, we dug into the ins and outs of computers. The kids were extremelyquite at first glance, then I offered to give out prizes for good questions,well, I should have defined “good questions” all of a suddenly, questions beganto pour out of these clueless kids about computers. In honesty, some of thequestions were good and the others were simply to get prizes!

By the second day ofclass, we had more kids than the class can accommodate. Truth be told, theclass can accommodate them, but we didn’t have enough tables and chairs to placecomputers. Nonetheless, that wasn’t such a big issue for me or the kids. Theywere glad to share with their fellow classmates.

By Tuesdayafternoon, we have come to the end of the training session and it was time togive out some top prizes. I already gave away T-shirts, Hats, Flash Drives,Digital Camera, etc. However, the top prize was 2 iPod Videos. In order to befair to all, I decided to do a drawing, without anyone knowing what the prizeswere, I had them write their names on a piece of paper and put it in a hat. Ithen had a non-participate shake the hat and draw out 2 names for the top prizes.

Well, you haveheard, Haitian doesn’t like to smile for photo, that’s especial true here. Asthese kids were excited about the iPod, but when we say let’s take a photo,they stopped smiling immediately!

Summary, this wasjust half of my trip in Haiti, but it was the most excited part. It wasespecially great to see these kids plowed into the computers eager to learnsomething new. For some of these kids, this was the first time seeing acomputer, let alone an opportunity to play with them was marvelous experiencefor them. Some took the time to express their excitement and appreciation.

You might be asking,now FBR delivered, setup and demonstrated the computers, what’s next with thecomputer classroom and the local kids? Well, on the way to Belle-Riviere, westopped at Miragoane to meet up with a local computer trainer and discussed thepossibility of him coming to BR and provide training to local kids, teachers,and adults. He agreed to do so, but funding will dictate whether they goforward with that project. Other option is to periodically take others to BRto provide training in the near future.

This was definitely aprofound experience for me. As a disciple of Christ Jesus, I was able to sharemy experience with BR in a way that’s priceless!

The School bus!

Thank you to allwho supported me on this trip. Special thank you to Sayuri and Yves for yourlong-suffering..

Belle-Riviere Missionary

2011-12-15T07:27:00.001-05:00

Belle-Riviere Missionary, a set on Flickr.

Merry Christmas

2011-11-30T21:56:00.001-05:00

Guelce's photostream on Flickr.

Electronics for Haiti

2011-11-27T11:46:00.001-05:00

Greetings, Friends.
As you might already know, I’ll be traveling to Haiti on Dec 2nd for a missionary and family visit. In preparation for this trip, I have been reaching out to family and friends in Haiti and the #1 request isn’t food (surprise) but electronics. Therefore, I’m reaching out to you to see if you have used electronics you’d be willing to donate for this trip. Don’t concern yourself with the condition; if it work or once worked, someone in Haiti will be glad you thought of them. In addition, no need to purchase anything or offer money just used items.

Item List
Cell Phone (#1 Request) any carrier or make/model
iPod/MP3 Player
Digital camera
DVD Player
Headphone
USB/Flash Drive
Etc..

Although it has been said, beggars can't be choosers, please make sure these electronics include the chargers!

If you have any of these electronics laying around your house or office, please consider donating them to this trip. Please let me know and we’ll make pickup arrangement.

Thank you in advanced for your kindness.

Thanks for giving...

2011-11-25T23:25:00.001-05:00

Guelce's photostream on Flickr.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I love you Dad

2011-11-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

My father was an extraordinary man who only got to live for fortyfive years of his life. His departure hadsaddened me and my entire family, but our lives went on and it has already beeneighteen years since he passed away on November 5, 1993. His absence makes mefeel that my fourteen years of life with my father was longer and more fulfilledthan my past eighteen years of my life without him. It took me really long time to believe thatit was simply his time to depart. SteveJobs beautifully stated in the commencement speech at Stanford in 2005, we willall die one day, and we can’t get away from the death. In Buddha’s principle teaching is our desireis the cause of our suffering. When welose someone we love, it hurts and our desire to be that person causes great emotionaleven physical pain. Amazingly, my love and respect for my father still remainsin me strongly today. That made me go onto live my life with the dignity my father had shown me by living his own life.I would like to take this special day to remember my incredible father who shapedme to whom I am today. I miss you,Dad. But I know that you continue towatch over me from the heaven.

Shed Blueprint!

2011-10-25T21:03:00.001-04:00

We've lived in this house going on 6yrs and for 6yrs I've been dreaming about getting or building a yard shed. As you can see we have one now, thank you God. But it didn't just appear there one day. This summer I decided it was time, so I researched building versus prebuilt units. Let's just say I wasn't pleased with the prebuilt the home improvement stores had to offer and for the cost, I figured I can do a hack of a better job! Thanks to a good friend who got me three-quarters of the wood needed. With lots of help from friends like Garth, Phillip, Jason and Williams, I was able to complete the shed in 3 weeks. But we won't discuss the budget piece, except to say, I'm a very satisfied with the end results.

I’ve learned a lot about building a Shed (or house), things such squaring and measuring to a “T”. Most importantly I got over my fear of roofs. I was always afraid to get on top of roof until I had to put up the shingles on this shed. Like everything else, I realized it isn’t that bad as long as someone is there to call the ambulance in case you fall off the roof!

Thank you God, another project completed!

Canal Walk

2011-10-25T20:51:00.001-04:00

This seems like a family tradition to take a stroll on the Indianapolis Downtown Canal immediately after finding out we're expecting. The last one was when we were expecting Mr. Yves in 2006. Yves really enjoyed walking the canal with us this time. Too bad he’s too young to understand we did this walk when we were expecting him. I also enjoy taking photos of him on the elephant sculpture behind the State Museum. Lata!

Canal Walk, a set on Flickr.

New Addition to the Family!

2011-10-25T08:30:00.000-04:00

Yes, you read it right, we're expecting! We recently found out we'll expecting a new addition to the Guelce's family in early May 2012 (God willing). We're very thankful the Lord is blessing us once again. Yves has been a great gift to this family and to bring another to this family is without doubt God’s way of blessing this family. At this early stage, we do not know the unborn sex and mom would like to keep it that way, but I think it's silly not to found out! You know what that mean, when I find out, I can’t share with you -:)

Sayuri @ 11 weeks

This is mom at 11 weeks, we're also expecting this body to transform within the next several months, but she remains beautiful. If you think I'm kidding, I’ll post some photos from the last go around; I don't have them online now. Oh well, you have to take my words for it.

Thank you and keep us in your prayers. As some of you women may confess, the first trimester hasn’t been pleasant, but we’re praying and remain faithful to the almighty God. Have a Bless God's Week.

What's new?

2011-10-21T13:23:00.000-04:00

Instead of spending time on Social networking sites, I am reconsideringwhat I should be doing with my spare time. I’ve numerous ideas such as studyingthe bible, blogging, study for technical certifications, branching intophotography and volunteering. Although that may seems like a lot, some might bethinking, do you really spend that much time on social network sites? Well, notreally. The fact is, just because you’re not on the site that doesn’t mean youaren’t thinking about it. Anyway, I’m not asking for any suggestions, butwanted to share, just in case you don’t see me hanging in your circle offriends!

And yes, spending more quality time with the family… that's giving!

Love Y’all -:)

9/11 Remembrance

2011-09-09T15:20:00.001-04:00

We’re just days away from our 10 yearsanniversary of this awful tragedy. It’s great to reflect on the words I sharedfollowing this event. Truth be told, I feel the same way today and I would not havechanged a word I shared then.

Thanks Jenna!

9/11 Through Our Eyes

http://911throughoureyes.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/yvel-guelce-indiana/

Family Camping

2011-09-06T13:35:00.001-04:00

Guelce's photostream on Flickr.

Guelce's photostream

2011-08-30T20:18:00.001-04:00

Guelce's photostream on Flickr.

Untitled

2011-08-17T21:59:00.001-04:00

Posted via email from Yvel's posterous

Home Projects

2011-07-14T09:07:00.003-04:00

Home Projects, a set on Flickr.

Rudy and Jorane's Wedding

2011-07-14T09:07:00.001-04:00

Rudy and Jorane's Wedding, a set on Flickr.

Venice, Italy

2011-06-20T15:24:00.001-04:00

Venice, Italy, a set on Flickr.

US Pavilion installation in Venice,

Guelce's photostream

2011-04-24T20:14:00.001-04:00

Guelce's photostream on Flickr.

Vacation Bible School - Monday

2010-07-19T21:39:00.001-04:00

Free slideshow created with Smilebox

Words that make a Difference.

2010-04-16T02:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning (Thursday) I woke up from barely getting an hour of sleep the entire night. So, I sat on the end of bed contemplating about going back to my bed and just at that moment Mr. Yves (my son) walked into our bedroom and normally he would say “Good morning daddy” but this morning he said “daddy, I love you” I immediate said to myself “WOW” and grabbed him and gave him a big hug. Little did he know, that was what I needed to get me off the bed and get my butt in the shower. But what does he know, he’s just a 3 year old learning to put words together and wanting daddy to feed him breakfast.

Thank you Yves, you made my day, just so you know, daddy love you too and will always do.

I love you too Yves!!!!!!

Thank you for your support

2010-01-14T20:37:00.004-05:00

To all,

I would like to thank everyone who called, emailed, texted and Facebook me and asked me about my family in Haiti past two days. I was able to communicate with my family in Haiti this evening, and with minor damage to their property, they are safe. As all of us see how horrible things are, I had to tell you how relieved I am to hear the news.

If you would like to help people in Haiti, your prayers and contributions are so helpful. I have listed below organizations you can give your contributions for the people of Haiti. Please do not feel obligated.

We would all want to hope that people in Haiti will find their way to rebuild their life after such a disaster.

Again, thank you for all of your prayer. God Bless Haiti!

Sincerely,

Yvel Guelce

Redcross – For Haitii
Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
http://www.redcross.org/

Mercy Corps
http://www.mercycorps.org/

Yele Haiti
Text YELE to 501501 to make $5 donation
https://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=23093

Support Disaster Relief in Haiti
Unicef and Care
https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6680&6680.donation=form1

Partner In Health
https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake?source=earthquake&subsource=homepage

What Obama's New Order Means for Green Buildings, Green IT | GreenerComputing.com

2009-10-14T09:15:00.001-04:00

What Obama's New Order Means for Green Buildings, Green IT | GreenerComputing.com

Shared via AddThis

Thankful Thursday On Friday!

2009-07-17T18:05:00.002-04:00

I would like to thank everyone who welcomed my mother in law from NY to visit us this past weekend. It was her first time visiting Yves since he was born. She is not a great traveler; however she overcame the fear and made it to Indiana to spend time with us. I did not realize how special bonding Yves and his grandmother felt when they started hanging out together. It must be really special for her to see him right in front of her, not from the picture. We do not get to spend time as much as we want because my in laws live in NY and they are not the traveler and my family live in Japan. However that distance made the visit so special occasion because we do not know when we will get to spend time together.

It was such a joy to put together a birthday party and she told us it was her first time celebrating her birthday. Two days later she left town, she called and told me, “Thank you, Thank you and Thank you for everything!” It was such a wonderful gift I could ask for my special mother in law.

Yes honey, it was a joy to have Florida visit us this past weekend. She really shows her appreciation for everything we have done to accommodate her. She’s such a joy to be around. I’m very thankful that she was able to travel to Indianapolis for her birthday. This will remain in her mind and mine as one of the best times we spent together as a family without doubt.

Magical Word, “Thank you”

2009-06-25T17:23:00.004-04:00

Our late talker son with very limited vocabulary added a new one on his list of words recently. "Thank you." With his little cute voice, he repeatedly says, "Thank you" for everything we do for him at home. That came as magical proud moment for us. What a wonderful word "thank you" is! My parents taught me to be always respectable to others and they taught me not only to say this wonderful word but also to mean it when I say it. My husband always tells me "Thank you" for every little thing I do for him. I truly believe "Thank you" should be used unlimited. It is really wonderful magical word when you say it correctly. I would love for this family to remain thankful for every given moment. This is my thankful Thursday to share my joy of "Thank you" with everyone I love.

Garage sale types

2009-06-06T09:21:00.000-04:00

There are 2 types of people who have Garage sales, one who have been told by their spouse to sale these stuffs, and another who voluntarily want to clean out the garage (or house). How can you tell the different, the one who have been told, put a high price tag on every item (therefore, they’ll not sale!), the one who voluntarily, sales it cheap so they can get rid on everything.

Baby vs. Toddler

2009-05-29T14:37:00.003-04:00

Babies are all precious and innocent. They just eat and sleep. Eventually they learn to smile, crawl and walk. All the process is such a joy to watch for the first year. Then what happened?

Toddlers are still cute and fun. However they start doing things to make parents embarrassed! Like?

Oh, well, my son who is 2 year old is great at throwing a ball. It is his favorite thing in the whole world. So what does he do? He throws EVERYTHING! This morning, he made one of my student who is precious 4 year old girl cry because he was throwing a cup (At least hitting her was not his intension)and her mom says to me, “I feel your pain… even though I did not experience this, you know I have two girls.” I was so embarrassed and felt bad… for the girl and mom.

Ok, let’s face it. There are things our kids do and we feel embarrassed, right? However, toddlers also do special things in return of their bad behavior. My son runs to me so fast at full speed when I pick him up from his pre-school, He gives a big hug to my husband when he comes home. AND I get special kisses from him every day.

So I guess things are ok, then.

Thankful Thursday

2009-05-28T13:30:00.000-04:00

I am so thankful that my husband is so supportive and always on my side. Thank you for sharing everything with me.

You are so AWESOME!

Thankful Thursday

2009-05-21T10:53:00.005-04:00

Last Tuesday, Yves fell off my vanity set’s chair and ended up getting seven stitches. It was not fun experience to run to ER. This Tuesday, he went back to ER again to remove his stitches. It is amazing how quickly his wound is healing. I am so thankful because I feel so relieved with his healing and after all, this experience will be one of our stories to share with a little smile, not tears.

Thankful Thursday

2009-05-14T13:54:00.005-04:00

Thankful Thursday is something my neighbor put me on to. The goal is to find everything during week to be thankful. Well, this is my first posting and we’ll see how long that last!

This Tuesday I received the frantic phone call that working parents fear the most, it was about 11:10am when my Sayuri (wife) called me from a strange number and said “Did not get my message?”, I said no, and right away these crazy thoughts rained into my mind. So what happened was Yves fell off a vanity set chair and busted his forehead and we’re at the ER.

Long story short, I arrived at St. Vincent, they had already clean the cut, and was waiting to stitch him. 5 hours later, they gave him 7 stitches and we went home.

Mom handled the situation very well, I could see her panicking at the moment, but managed to drive with one hand while holding a tissue on the cut on his forehead all the way to the hospital, kudos to mom. Job well done!

We’re thankful today because had it been 2 inches lower, it would have been his right eye.

Sayuri:

I am thankful that Yves is doing ok after his accident. I am thankful that I was able to manage this without being panic. I am thankful that my husband came to ER and stayed with me. I am thankful that we were treated well at the hospital. I am thankful that my family is staying together stronger every day.

Summer activities..

2009-04-05T08:03:00.001-04:00

We're brainstorming about summer activities in the Indianapolis area and surrounding counties. Please share with us your plans for this summer and ideas. Thank you, looking forward.

Coming to America!

2009-02-26T15:52:00.000-05:00

This week (2/24/89 – 2/24/09) marked 20 years living in America. I can remember it as though it was yesterday. It was a bitter cold Friday night when I arrived, snow flurries on the ground. It was dark and I was afraid to step on the white spot of snow on the ground. This drive home was smooth and relaxing, we (little sister and I) arrived home 134 New York Ave. Westbury, New York 11590 about 9pm just in time to eat and head to bed. The next morning I was awaken by a loud noise which I later find out we live directly across from the train track. But that didn’t last long, the following weekend we moved to a bigger apartment on Swalm Street.

Proud and Thankful on Father’s Day.

2008-06-15T22:17:00.002-04:00

Happy Father’s Day all the Dads, Father’s day is a day to thankful of your father and proud of yourself for being a Father too. As a newly dad myself (1 ½) I come to understand the duty of an everyday dad is challenges but also extremely fun and warming. No matter how the day ends, it’s always great to come home and the family is waiting with open arms. Yves isn’t old even to know what a day in the office can be like, but his loving spirit when I walk in the door makes me forget about the one naggie user that called just to ask “Why do I have to start changing my password?” because Yves smile and giant hug are genuine and has the influence to end the day on a good note. It makes me want to have another one (oh no!).

Last Father’s Day, we were too busy focusing on Mr. Yves arrival that I failed to enjoy the special day. And this year I’m didn’t think about it much since they were going to be out of town. So it’s Father’s day and I got up and went to church and return home to work on my long endless task list. About 3pm (4am in Japan), Sayuri called from Japan to wish me a happy father’s day which made my day. As though that wasn’t enough, she instructed me to walk into her office and open the right closet door. I was thinking she wanted me to look up something in one of her music books, as it turned out she had gotten me a gift and it was hidden in the closet. Actually it wasn’t really hidden, but that would be the last thing I was thinking about on Father’s day since they’re out of town. I received a nice beige khakis, wrinkle free (a must), Repels Stains (what’s that?), by St. John’s Bay. Oh yeah baby! Thank you honey, I’ll save the big kiss for you.

Chinese Food for a month. Yummy!

2008-06-13T13:27:00.002-04:00

When your family is out of town and you dislike to cooking, the best solution is to turn to your favorite restaurant in town. Chinese Food wasn’t always my favorite food, but Sesame Chinese Restaurant has changed this perceptive about 4 years ago. My better half and I started going to Cheng Du (formerly named) in 2004 and when they closed the restaurant and moved to a new location, we lost contact with them for 2 ½ yrs. Since there isn’t anything like Cheng Du in town, we more or less stopped eating Chinese Food. In January 2008, a friend from Church invited us for lunch after church service, and it just so happened we walked in Sesame Chinese Restaurant. It was a happy day! We immediately made the connection.

Hold and behold, my family is out of town for a month and I refuse to power on the stove. Well, Sesame Chinese Restaurant has become a valuable resource to keep me alive. I normally call on my way home and pickup dinner and there’s a sufficient amount to accommodate tomorrow’s lunch too. It’s at the point where she known what time I’ll be stopping by and my choice of order (I only order its 7 times a week!). What are the chances I can eat from the same place and same meal for a month? Check back in mid July for an update.

If anyone is curious where Sesame Chinese Restaurant located

Ditch and 86^th Street (Next to Marsh)

1413 W 86th St
Indianapolis, IN 46260

Get Directions(317) 228-1688

Don’t bother to tell them I sent you, they will not give me any discount or awards!

Dad is on his own!

2008-06-09T23:37:00.003-04:00

The family left today, they should be arriving in Japan within a few hours. Yep, I’m on my own for a month. It feels awkward to come home and they’re not here. At first I thought it would be fine, but it only been several hours, and I’m already missing them. To top it all, it’s raining very hard outside, as though I wasn’t scared enough being in the house along.