Update and pictures

Hi again,
Well, I did promise some photos of Disney and an update, so here goes....
We thought we'd get a rest after our last team left, but we've been REALLY busy trying to catch up on things that didn't get done while we had teams. Never ending, huh? One of the problems we have had was 13 days straight of heavy rains. A couple of times we thought it had finished, but we got it full force later in the day. Today we had a FULL day of clear skies and sunshine. What a wonderful treat!! And it is surprising how quickly the roads dried out, even if the ground everywhere else is still over saturated. And the road...well, what can I say. We had thought we were doing so well, they had graded it, and it was pretty smooth. Then the rains came...oh did they come. In over 25 years of being here we have NEVER seen the road to town so bad. One or two miles per hour is about the limit in some of the places, and then you are thrown all over the vehicle.

We are quickly distributing the Christmas Bags...and there are a lot of happy people. The reason we are really pushing this is because we have received word that "possibly" we will be ready for inspection on our next 40 foot container. Keep praying. Somehow the paperwork got messed up. Our broker has been trying really hard to get this all straightened out. (A note: this is our second December container). We should have had this one the end of December or the first of January...well, we are in Haiti...and things are just never easy or quick. But we can praise the Lord it IS on the docks here and things MAY be working out!!

Well, on to some photos from my trip to Disney with our daughter and her boys. This was a special trip arranged for Donny. He has CP and a group in central Wisconsin called, "Every Child Has A Dream" put Donny on the list, and we had 6 days at a Disney resort and access to all parks. For grandma, 6 days is a LONG time to do parks, but we sure did enjoy the time together. This first picture is the group goofing off trying on hats...But it was fun, anyway.
This one is our first day at the Magic Kingdom. Abbie claims the castle as HER house. Every Disney movie we have, when it comes up, she says it's her house. So, she was thrilled I got so many pictures of it for her. And she tells me on every pictures of the family, who is who. When we still had Skype, she would talk to each of them, and now she has pictures to identify them with.
Donny ended up "smitten" with Minnie Mouse. Everywhere we went, she paid special attention to him. He didn't like Goofy, maybe because he was so tall and overbearing, but he sure did like Minnie and Donald Duck.
Within a week of when we were there, it was Christine's birthday. They gave her a birthday pin, and everywhere we went, she had staff wishing her the best. Then at breakfast with Goofy, all of the characters wanted everyone to sing happy birthday. Donald Duck was the one who brought her a cupcake with a candle and then everyone in the place sang to her.We got to the Egyptian area and the boys wanted a picture of mom and grandma. I guess to prove I was there with them. On the Safari trip, we got pretty close to the lion and lioness. Glad they were tired and sleeping. But it was awesome to see the things so close up. Even the alligators and rhinos were pretty close. Glad we were in a moving truck!!
Well, I should include our prayer list here. The first is for the paperwork to move along on the adoption of our grandson. The frustration is getting to everyone. And they want him HOME. Put that at the top of your list.

The next one is for Missionary Flights. They have had one plane in the Bahamas for the last 6 months, waiting for an engine for it. HIGH PRIORITY!! And the turbine was down for an inspection and had a part that needed replacing... HUGE cost...and have to wait for it to get there. Then last Tuesday, the last working DC-3 headed home and landed in Exuma for fuel on one engine. Additional cost of getting the passengers to the US on a commercial flight, then getting the plane home the next day. They have to do some work on that now. AND, add to that, passengers and cargo that need to get to Haiti and home from Haiti. Dick came down with a couple of passengers in the small plane (N911MF), but they had to charter Lynx Air to bring the teams down, and pick up the ones heading home. Another HUGE expense. Well, circumstances never run like expected here. There was no avgas for the Lynx plane. They had to stop in Exuma for fuel, and they didn't get in here until AFTER 5 last night. (The airport closes at dusk, 5:45 PM). Today, one last passenger had to get to Pignon, and I went to the airport with him and to get his cargo out of customs and cleared, so he could fly up there. With these roads so bad, this has been really hard on me. Not only MFI needs major prayers, but I do for my back and neck.

Don has been delivering food and scriptures and hauling sand for a home being built. And he is on those awful roads, too. So, keep him in prayer.

Like every other American, we are in the process of doing taxes...yuck. That ends up on my plate, so I have my work cut out for me for the next few days. But it has to be done in between pastors and missionaries coming in for their Christmas Bags. I have to keep a count of all that goes out and who gets it. The same with the food we deliver for "Feed My Starving Children". As you can see, we are really busy and trying to catch up, and keep up with the things the Lord has us doing.

Keep all of our family in prayer. It seems each child has some major problems, and my sister's health is not good at all. We really thought we were losing her two weeks ago. But God is good, as always. She is ready to go meet the Lord, but wants to see her son and his family come to know Jesus as their savior.

We do have so much to be thankful for. God is keeping His hands on us and helping us in so many ways. And He is providing in ways we could not comprehend. We have learned to totally trust Him to provide for the things He has called us to do. It was a hard lesson, but we are learning.

For now, keep your eyes on Jesus, and we pray you will learn to trust Him for all things, too. It's in Him we live, and breathe and have our being!!!