Earthquake

A major earthquake hit Port au Prince today.....headlines make it sound pretty bad in the city- lots of collapsed buildings and homes. We received an email from Chris to let us know that a wall fell down in the orphange and they don't know if the building is safe, but NO ONE GOT HURT!- all the kids are safe, although they are going to be sleeping outside for awhile....
Please pray for them- supplies are going to be hard to get, and an already desperate and not so safe place just got a little scarier. Chris and Hal are back after Christmas Break, so we know the kids are in capable hands.
Pray, Pray, Pray- they are gonna need it.

Getting ready to ride

Hey all,
November and December have been some very busy months for us. We are in the process of organizing the Michigan spoke of the H.I.S. Home 300. This is a 300 mile bike ride to raise funds and awareness for H.I.S. Home. The ride originated four years ago with Tony Scott from Joliet, IL. to Harrod, OH. Last year a route was added from Champaigne, IL. to Harrod, and this year we will be organizing a route from Rockford, MI to Harrod, Ohio. We have started a blog to keep everyone up to date on what is happening with the ride, and will have all pertinent information linked to that site- follow the link to H.I.S. Home 300 Michigan Route. (we are still under construction)
We bought tickets to Haiti a couple weeks ago. We will be there from Feb. 16- 23. We are linking up with a team from Illinois and will be working on the sponsorship packets (visit www.hishomeforchildren.com and follow the "sponsor a child" link.
We are also planning on spending a lot of time with two certain young ladies there as well.
We are packing heavy thanks to First Jenison CRC. in Jenison, who had a baby shower for HIS Home just before Christmas. We are hauling 300 lbs. of formula, vitamins, socks, underwear and medications. Thank you First Jenison!
The girls are doing well- we are missing them terribly and are praying the next few weeks will go by quickly....
Thanks and blessings!

Merry Christmas Skype

Skype snapshot

It was so good to see the girls smiling and laughing on Skype today. Grace is now able to walk holding on to fingers. Praise the Lord! We did not know if that would ever be possible when we first met her.

Time

October 31 was the one year annivesary of our dossier's arrival in Haiti. It feels like a huge victory to have completed a full year of waiting. On our imaginary timeline (though in truth it means absolutely nothing), we are halfway through the wait. Thoughts start coming like: this may be our last Thanksgiving without the girls here... the last Christmas... Geoff finished the girls bedroom. We are ready and eager for their arrival.

At the same time we found out a close family member has stage 4 cancer. Quite a surprise. Once again we find ourselves surrounded with new senarios and terminology. Not nearly so fun as trying out Kreyol. Thoughts start coming like: this may be our last Thanksgiving... the last Christmas...

How is it possible to want to miraculously speed up and miraculously slow down time all at once.

I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, "Lord, this causes me such heartache." To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hinderance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Oswald Chambers

September 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Daphna! Our princess is now 2.