Wedding photos

Well I finally figured out the problem, and yes, it was the operator. I guess I was just so exhausted I wasn't paying attention. I did want to share with you some of the pictures and you can see how happy Betty and Ronald are.

Yesterday we got a call from them, in the Dominican. It was good to hear from them. They called simply to say thank you for the wedding. They will probably be gone a week, Ronald said.

Don's been busy working on getting the material for our team coming in a little over a week. The fun never ends here. And we have another team right after that one. Teams are a blessing to the Haitians as well as to us. They bring us new insights to things, and fun and laughter and of course, they accomplish a LOT of work. And God always uses teams to bring us encouragement and they help uplift our faith.

Well, just wanted to get these few photos out and let you see them. What a blessing technology is to us, to be able to share with you so quickly.

For now, will close and get ready for church. You all have a really wonderful, God centered day. Our love to everyone and we thank each of you for your support and care for us and for the people of Haiti.

Time to regroup

Hey to all,
Well, the wedding is over. It was such a wonderful time and the bride and groom were awesome. But they are on their way to the Dominican for some time alone...don't we all wish we had that? Really, it was a great time. But now it's time to relax a bit then to regroup. This has been a tough couple of weeks, but we are back on track now.

This last week, we have had some really awful rains and thunderstorms and lightening strikes. Praise God we weren't hit, but we heard it hit elsewhere, close by. Our ground is saturated again. We either have feast or famine...and it seems we are never happy with either. When it's really dry, we pray for rain, when it rains and rains, we pray for it to stop. It would be nice to be in the middle somewhere, but we won't complain anymore either way...right now we are thinking of an ark...yet we know God said he wouldn't flood the earth again, right? Maybe just Haiti???? We are on our way there it seems.

I'll sort and get some pics put on here of the wedding in the near future. I tired to put one, but something isn't working right, probably the operator. In the mean time, have a super great God filled day. Remember to keep Him at the center and front of all you do.

Life and it's hills and valleys

Hello to all,

I've been back in Haiti since Tuesday. Hit the ground running... so much going on and so much to do, it's hard to leave even for a week.

The funeral was sad but the pastor gave a wonderful salvation message. There were so many people there. It was great to see so many come to pay their respects. The meal following the service was really nice. We were able to spend time with family and friends we haven't seen in a long time. Some of the people I haven't seen in over 30 years. Boy, time sure flies. We are now praying that the message that was shared will soften hearts and lives and that people who were there will open their lives to the Lord. LeAnne's wish was that she would get to see everyone again in Heaven. That is our prayer too.

I came home and started working on the wedding dress. I had left it in pieces. Making a size 12 into an 18 has it's challenges. A LOT of challenges. But today I have it almost completed. I have two more seams to do some minor work on, and it will be done. A good friend had offered to make Abbie's flower girl dress. It came and it was so beautiful. I was so happy with it. But, it was not long...and they wanted a long dress. I did everything I could to use what was there and extend it, but could not work it out. I praise God that the bodice was all done, and the zipper in...that would have been another challenge for me. All I ended up doing was adding a long skirt to it. (But I sure would have rather she used it as it came, it was BEAUTIFUL!) Now I will start on the flowers... those might take me a bit, since I'm not sure how many for people, how many for the alter, and exactly what they all want. Challenges never end here.

Today, our friend who installed our satellite system came. We were so happy he had returned from the US, so we could at least find out what was wrong. Well, our system was NOT hit by lightening. Our wireless antenna pulled in static from the lightening, and fried our wireless connection and our modem. He installed a borrowed modem for us to use until we can get ours replaced. So, we are on slower service than we had, but Praise God, we have Internet access again. Then the next chapter came.....

I had signed on to yahoo, to see if any of our kids were on. Our daughter came on and immediately told me there was some problems in Wisconsin again. My sister-in-law was back in the hospital in intensive care. This time it is her heart and kidneys. Our daughter didn't have a lot of information at that point, so I called my brother's cell phone. My niece filled me in on what they know so far. It seems her kidneys are starting to work again and they are doing more tests. So, our request right now is to PLEASE KEEP BEV IN PRAYER. We don't know the extent of the problems or exactly what is wrong, but she can sure use some prayers on her behalf. Her family can use prayers too. They have all of our phone numbers here, so they will keep in touch. My heart goes out to all of them. I wish I were there to pray with them and be with them, but I can't at this time. But that won't stop the prayers from going out.

As soon as I finish the dresses, flowers and some other minor things, I have to start on the food for the wedding. It is next Friday morning at 9 AM. You know the saying, "No rest for the weary!"...well, I sure do fit in that category right now. But I do have the Lord to lean on and I sure am doing that. I don't know what people do who do not have that solid rock to depend on in times like these. HE IS my rock, and my salvation and I lean on Him a lot.

Again, it's back to Isaiah 40:31... "...they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint..."

Blessing, and keep praying...

Problems abound

Times are tough. I got word last Sunday evening, Sept. 6th, that my sister would probably not make it through the night. She had been in intensive care for over a week. I had talked to her nurse that gave me the news. I called my daughter and let her know what he said. She immediately left to drive the 32 miles to be with her. I told her as soon as I had made flight arrangements, I'd call and let her know. I signed off with her and a huge storm hit. We don't have Internet when we have a storm. Well, it was a BAD storm. Lightening hit and we are not sure if it hit the modem or if it hit the satellite dish outside, but we are now without Internet. This is a very difficult situation for us, not to have communication with the US now.

The next AM I called our daughter via satellite phone (very expensive). I found out my sister had gone to be with the Lord at 5:46 AM that morning. She had been in pretty bad shape for a while and this was a blessing for her, but a hard, hard time for the rest of us. I made all the arrangements and flew out of Haiti on Tuesday.


When we flew out of Haiti, by a miracle, it was a very early flight. We arrived back in Fort Pierce at a little after 3 PM. When we were taxing up to the immigration building, I noticed one of the props was not turning. Found out a while later that the engine had quit. Now MFI is down to only ONE plane flying. Two of them have an engine out. MFI needs a whole lot of prayers. I ask that you put that high on a prayer list. And share that with anyone willing to pray.

On Wednesday I flew up to Wisconsin. When I got here, I was informed my brother's wife was taken to the emergency room, and admitted to intensive care here in town. They said her heart was not beating right. But had a hard time figuring out exactly what was wrong and what to do about it. All I kept thinking was, what else can happen? They transferred her to another hospital and they did something called a TEE...inserting "something" down her throat and to her heart. They sort of "jump started" the heart. (Can you tell I have no medical knowledge and don't really understand all that happened?) She is doing fine now and came home today. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

I am slowly coming to grips with LeAnne's passing. It's hard. She is my only sister and we were really close. But she is without pain and praising God now, and it is US who are here, very sad for ourselves, but not for her. Keep me, my brother, and LeAnne's family in prayer. Our kids were close to her too, so they could use some prayers as well.

So, now you are caught up on my side of the family. Don is in Haiti, taking care of Vero, Betty and Abbie. Well, actually they might be taking care of him. He is continuing with all of his work, so he can use your prayers, too.

For now, praise God for His goodness, HE IS IN CONTROL!!! He knows better than all of us what is happening and what we need. I return to Haiti on Tuesday, so from that time on, until we can find a way to fix our satellite, we will have no communication on the Internet. Keep us all in prayer.

The Container... finally

We've had a very busy few weeks, but these last two days have been about the busiest. Our container was finally released. And the cost was not as out of sight as first reported. Our broker called and gave me the price, and I told him NO WAY were we paying that. It was so far above what we had paid before, it was mind boggling. He calmly said, I already told them you would not pay that amount, so we will wait another day and see what happens. Well, the next day he called and it was just over half of what they originally stated. What a relief!! I'm not sure why it was reduced so much, but I know the Lord had His hand on it. So, now we'll show you some of the "fun" of unloading. The guys were great, but it was a LOT of work in the heat. The driver who brought it had not been out here before, and at first we wondered if he would even get it into the driveway. He had gone beyond the drive, and instead of backing up, he cranked it around and almost tipped it over. He did make it, but everyone was holding their breath. Then it only took about 15 tries to get it to where we needed it. (Oh for the driver who had done it in three turns...) He almost hit the house, almost wiped out our bushes by the house and again, the bushes near the dorm, but eventually he did get it in there. A collective sigh went out with all 25 of us standing there. I have to say it has to be hard to get a 40 foot container into our drive and then next to the house by the containers we have here, but this fellow was about the worst we have had. Praise the Lord nothing was damaged and he did make it. I'll put pictures here so you can walk through the unloading with us. I am so thankful our guys have such a great attitude. (I guess the pay and food help, but they were a joyful lot). It used to be we used mostly the older EBAC kids from the orphanage. We did have about half of them, but the rest were others who have helped us over time and are without work. Okay, on to the pictures.... the first one is opening the container... it has to be opened VERY carefully, since traveling out on these roads tends to shift EVERYTHING in the container. But they had done a pretty good job of putting it back in after the inspection and things weren't too bad.The next few pictures are some of the things coming off...I'll explain as we go along. This was a piece of furniture for one of the boys who will be getting married soon, and is working on his house. They ALMOST dropped it, but the guys on the bottom caught it.This next one shows just some of the items on it... the buckets... what a blessing. And containers of clothing, both used and new for so many, many places. The blue you see are mattresses for the EBAC kids, the younger ones needed them quite badly. And boxes and boxes of everything you can think of.
Here are some of the mattresses being taken off... there were quite a few.
More of the buckets and some of the other boxes, and here they were starting to unload the rice meals from "Feed My Starving Children". That food was so desperately needed and Don has already started delivering it today. He even distributed some last night after all was settled down.
When all was finished, the guys got a meal. We had two gals help serve it and clean up. I get everything ready except to make the mac and cheese...I measure things out so all they have to do it mix it. One of the fellows said, we don't come for the pay, we come for the meal... so I asked, "oh then I don't have to pay you??" He sort of backed off on that one. I make them mac and cheese (huge plate each), hot dogs (at least two), brownies (a huge one each), chips, and soda. I did all the condiments, like catchup, mustard, relish, and onions. I always laugh...they put it all on the hot dogs but they put it all on their mac and cheese, too.
One of the pastors sent his driver to get his things. This time we only had one pile outside, the rest were in the dorm. Now we have to sort and stack all the boxes in there.
This may look like a lot of buckets to you, but we have already given out a LOT of them to those who need them for various things. But many, many of them will be used for our "Bucket Ministry". What a blessing these empty buckets are to so many people.This container has all the socks (and yes, they are a blessing and everyone loves to get them), and some of the Christmas bags that were ready to come when the container was loaded. We will wait for the distribution of these, though.
And last but certainly NOT least, the food... wow, you would not believe how many people will be blessed with food from this container. The rice meals, and peanut butter for protein, and corn meal...one of the staples of the diet here. We also got milk for the first time in a LONG time, due to the price. That will be a wonderful blessing, too. Now, in closing, we have a huge prayer request. Our next container, with the Christmas Bags is to be shipped the end of this month. I am asking now for everyone to pray with us for it to come in a timely manner, but also, that God will be working on the hearts of those here in customs to realize that we are here to help the people and we really do simply GIVE things away, and NEVER charge anyone a thing on this end for it. Pray for softened hearts and open minds as to the ministry we have.

We praise God for His intervention with the present container and ask that He will go before this next one and keep His hands on it as well. And Bless Stan and Gloria for all their work in getting these containers of food and needed items to the people here.

We praise God for all He has done for us and all He will do for the ministry in the future. He really is AWESOME!!