Frustration here

Not sure what blogger is up to, but I can't post my last entry.  It gets frustrating when these techie things don't work for me.  

Just so you all know,  prayers are needed for Don and the accident he had.  He is not injured, and the other man had minor injuries.  Now the wait is on for us to get the truck back from the police and also Don's drivers license.  

Pray also for Savanah's adoption.  We did go to Port au Prince.  Had a good trip on surprisingly good roads.  Found out what we need to do now, and are working on it.  But we also know God is in charge of ALL things and we are depending on Him for guidance and firm direction on what to do and when to do it.

Thanks for your prayers... we will try to post again REAL soon.

Prayers needed

Before I share our prayer needs, I need to fill you in a bit on what's happening here.  This adoption has progressed so quickly it has me in a spin.  But I wanted to share a couple of special pictures with you.  I have shared that Jane and Bud have little Sammy.  But I've not shared any photos of him.  So thought I'd do that.  This is Sammy doing what Sammy does best...laughing.  And then Savanah gave him a kiss (they are both kissing cousins, I guess).  Then Sammy kissed her, and the pause in the camera, it didn't take until she had pulled away.

This last picture is Sammy last November when Bud and Jane got him.  He was 10 months old and weighed 8 pounds.  Now you can see why I call him "Chunky Charlie"... he is about 17 pounds now and doing fantastic.  He's a cutie.  And Savanah loves him.  She treats him like her little guy.

Now, on to our prayer request.  This is what I had sent in an email earlier today.
 
I'm not sure where to start... my head and mind are spinning a mile a minute.  I have shared about this adoption and how all of a sudden, things are happening.  It is just over a week since the real moving on it has begun.  And yet, wow, things are really moving.  We have accomplished in this week what would have taken us months or even a year or two to do on our own. This is very definitely the Lord's moving things.  Not only are doors opening, but God has placed Christian people in the doorway to help us and walk us through things.  I really praise God that He had put Jane and Bud in our lives, and little Sammy, too.  THEY are the reason we have been able to do this.  Jane has asked those she is dealing with to consider Savanah's papers, too.  And it's working.

Okay, today we got word that a woman, pretty high up in this process wants to see Jane and Sammy and Savanah and I, down in Port.  We have our meeting Monday morning with Savanah's mom at the psychologists.  Pray for that meeting.  And then PLEASE pray as on Wednesday Jane, I and the babies will be driving to Port for this meeting.  Pray for safe travel, pray the kids will not have problems with the trip. Pray that the meeting goes according to the Lord's will.  And please, pray for things to get accomplished that need to be done. 

Every time I think about how long it took our grandson to get home to his new parents, I am amazed at how quickly some of this is getting done.  ESPECIALLY with the new laws here.  I know that both of these adoptions are exceptions, since it is private (no orphanage involved) and that the adoptive parents are Haitian.  (In our case, one of the parents).  And also, with our case, it is a family adoption.  But it still amazes me how things are moving. 

So, please, pray, and ask others to pray that the Lord will go before us, go with us and surround us with His love and care for the whole trip.  I am not afraid to go, that is not the case.  I really don't have any concerns, except that the children may have problems.  I have total confidence that the Lord is orchestrating all of it.  But I would appreciate the prayer backing of all of our friends and family. 

Thank you and God bless.  He is a mighty God who can do mighty things.  And we praise Him for all He is doing. 

I'll update as possible.  Not sure if I'll have internet access while in Port.  But I'll try. 

A clarifying update

Well, you all probably thought I had gone a little crazy, huh?  I was trying to get so much done in a short time, I simply forgot to post some things in the blog.  Several of you have sort of "reminded" me to be a bit more specific.  THANK YOU!! 

I looked at the blog and i can't believe so many things were messed up... the font...how did it change?  No idea.  And although I had mentioned in our emails, I didn't post on the blog that the "surprise" party was for us, for our 50th wedding anniversary.  (It isn't till next month, but we will be stateside, so our good friends planned ahead and set it up as a surprise).  We really do work with some wonderful, thoughtful people.

And our meeting with the case worker and the lawyer concerning the adoption went so well.  They both reviewed what papers we had, and let us know what else we would need, which helps a lot.  The other neat thing is that our case worker and our lawyer are sister and brother.  And both Christians, and both so very nice.  We are working on getting what we need, but we were told that once we get all things together (including all the paperwork needed from Canada from her adoptive parents) things should progress very quickly.  This because it is a family adoption.  Guerline (adoptive mom) is the biological aunt of Savanah.  The baby's birth mom is Guerline's sister.  

We did find out we needed to have a psychological evaluation done on Savanah.  My first response???  How in the world can they do that with a 16 month old child?  It sounds like it isn't real involved.  They simply want to check more for emotional "scars" than anything else.  For instance, is the child responding to normal stimulus, is there unusual fear of people/things, that sort of thing.  The fun thing is, we have an appointment to see the doctor on Wednesday at 6 AM in town... have to leave here by 5:30 to get there.  This should be fun!  But we also found out today that 99% of the paperwork for Haiti has to be done here in Cap Haitian.  What a blessing that is for us.  I rather dreaded making several trips to Port with her.  The final paperwork will be done in Port.  

I don't know if you understand that this whole thing has been God led, God blessed and in God's timing.  God is keeping His arms around Savanah in this adoption.  There is no way we could have accomplish any of this in a timely way if the Lord were not in charge of it all.  

My focus on PRAISE and PRAYER has been showing up in so many ways lately.  God is really present in our lives in so many ways.  It's exciting to think what HE has in store next for us.  

We serve an AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME GOD, who is keeping His hands on our lives in so many ways!!!   

Till next time, may God's blessings be that evident in your lives as well as in ours!! 

What a day

 We were ready to go the party. 
 
Today started out on a down side.   I went in at 6:30 AM to take a shower, and got dribbles out of the shower head.  We had a team here (they were leaving today), but the generator was running, so we thought there SHOULD be water.  Wasn't any.  Don went over to see what the problem was.  The knife switch, to change from city power to generator was BROKEN.  It was on city, which we have VERY seldom, and we could not change it to generator.  So, no power to the well house, so no water.  Team did leave a hour or so later, then Don had to get to work and try to fix the problem.  Praise God he was able to do that before we had to get ready for our "surprise" party. 

And the party, well, it was SO nice.  The food was really great.  Everyone had given their order for food before hand.  So we all had just what we wanted.  And the hotel/restaurant gave us two cakes, free of charge.  The pineapple upside down cake was FANTASTIC! 

We were able to spend a bit of time with everyone.  We were amazed by everyone who came to celebrate with us.  Got some beautiful and some cute cards that we'll treasure.  But it was the time with those there that was special.  Had three Haitian pastors there, and that was a blessing.  We really do work and associate with some really neat people.  

These are just some of our friends who were there.  Don was a bit busy, so didn't get a lot of pictures.  Note the table settings... it was SO beautiful.  This is a new hotel/restaurant.  It has a huge wonderful pool, nice rooms, a restaurant, and special rooms for gatherings like ours.  The food was great, but the company was extra special. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the cakes... but note the plates... I really like the square ones.  The pineapple cake in on the left...it was SO good!!

I'm still in awe over yesterday's happenings with the adoption process.  We know we could not do it, but the Lord sure has been working overtime on it.  God is simply AWESOME, isn't He? 

This was short, but wanted to share out blessings with you all.  Continue to pray that God smooths the path for the adoption and that it will progress quickly.  Since our grandson's adoption took well over 4 years, this progress is a bit overwhelming.  Although the wait was long for our son and his wife, I think they are very happy to have their son home with them and he is doing so well.  No matter the wait, the child is well worth it!

Thank you all for your support and prayers.  We need them constantly.  Not sure why satan is zeroing in on us, but we have Someone on our side who is much stronger and more faithful, and we read the end of the book, and WE WIN!!  Satan is defeated and God is the victor!!!  AMEN!  He walks with us daily and keeps us in His care!

Have a great, God centered, God inspired day!!

AWESOME God

 I have no idea what is happening with Blogspot... I tried to post these photos in order, but here they are, right at the top.  Please bear with me as I try to explain what each one is.

This first one is the team bagging beans and Bulgar.

 This is Savanah "helping" the team. (One bean at a time, filling the cup.)

 Don, checking what is in each bucket and deciding if more will fit.

 Missy (Jenny's mom) making sure things get to where they need to be.

 Three of the awesome high school seniors labeling and filling oil bottles.

 What is in the buckets...  and then the team with Jenny (on the right), their missionary.

 

This is my brother Bob, his wife Bev, me and their son Dan.

And now on to the actual letter....
************************************************************************************************ 
What an AWESOME God we serve! That is such a huge statement, but such a TRUE one, too.  We have had an amazing two weeks, in many ways.  Would you like to walk through them with us? 

We have asked you all to pray with us about Savanah's adoption, and God has heard and is answering those prayers.  I have mentioned Sammy before.  He is a little guy that another missionary couple have taken in, until HIS adoption goes through.  Well, God has blessed us with being a part of this.  Through this couple, Bud and Jane, God has also opened doors for Savanah's adoption.  At first we thought we were only "learning the ropes" as thing apply now to adoption in Haiti.  But thanks to Jane, we are being introduced to those in charge here in the north and they are willing to help with Savanah's adoption as well.  God has paved the way and is opening doors we could never have done on our own.  Don and I are now Savanah's God parents, and as such, and with the adoptive parents permission, we can pursue and work on the paperwork for the adoption.  We have a meeting tomorrow to get things moving.  It really IS AWESOME how God is working things out in His way and time.  So, keep praying and lifting the whole situation up to the Lord.  We will keep you informed as we go along this road.  I'll try to get a photo of Savanah and Sammy for you all.  They are such a cute couple of kids.  And Savanah loves to play with Sammy and she gives him toys and wants to be with him.  And Sammy reciprocates those feelings. 

Our Wednesday night prayer meeting is still going on and is such an uplift for us.  Pastor Cebien always has something from God's Word to share and it always seems to meet the needs at that moment.  We really are praying in one accord and we can see the answers to those prayers, too.  Again, our AWESOME God at work!!

Then another missionary gal and her team (her, her mom and dad are good friends) came and did food buckets for us.  They worked one MORNING and did 24 buckets.  They had to bag the beans and Bulgar.  They had to fill bottles with oil.  They had to mark the bottles, and also mark the food packs that were included, since the Haitians were not understanding what to do.  (This was great... Americans writing Haitian Creole sentences on packs).  Then they had to count everything and make sure every bucket got exactly what was needed.  This was a team of 7 and they did it all in one morning.  Included in the buckets were two tracts, two copies of John and Romans, and a salvation coloring book.  Then in the afternoon, they were able to deliver some of those buckets.  They were an AWESOME group.  And an AWESOME God sent them to us.

On Tuesday, the day before they did the buckets, I had talked to my sister-in-law.  My brother, who is 80, has had several major medical problems.  Well, the one that cropped up just a few days prior to my calling her, set our lives in motion once again.  Bob, my brother, took a fall.  Now, he has degenerative bone disease, and has a titanium rod in his leg to keep it from breaking or causing problems.  Well, his fall (which I won't go into), caused some damage.  The first two trips to emergency rooms, didn't show anything, but the pain was severe.  Then the last trip, that doctor sent him to a hospital about an hour plus drive from their home.  All the hospitals in their area were full, with a waiting list.  How weird is that?  Anyway, once he arrived at the hospital in Lakeland, FL, a whole lot of new tests were done.  In the very middle of the cat scan xrays, the doctor found a hairline crack in his thigh. (Right next to the titanium rod).  Further tests showed a mass on the pelvic area, pneumonia and a blood clot in the lung.  Well, that precipitated a trip to the US for us.  I called MFI, and true to form, they found seats for us on the Thursday flight.  The team came and did the buckets on Wednesday and we flew out with them on Thursday's flight. 

True to form, when we flew out, a cold front moved into Florida.  We were so cold the whole time we were there (five days). Bob had surgery to anchor the titanium rod at the bottom, on Thursday. Spent time with Bob on Friday, then Saturday morning, both Don and I were under the weather (cold and yucky).  I think the pollen and cold got to both of us.  Don spent quite a bit of time sleeping, which he really needed.  I was able to get some things done there at Bob and Bev's place.  Sunday AM was church then the trip to the hospital again.  Again, the Lord was there and stepped in to help.  Bob is doing fairly well.  He's on meds for pain, of course, but he is responding to treatment, which is a real blessing.  And we were able to see our nephew, who drove quite a distance to see his dad.  They are looking for a nursing home to transfer Bob to, for therapy and to stay until he can move about.  There is no way Bev could care for him at home.  So, I will ask you to pray for both Bob and for Bev and for a place to become available closer to home for his recovery.  The hour plus drive one way is wearing on Bev.  I was glad we were there for her, even for a short time.  And she seemed pleased we had come, too.  Then on Monday we had to head back to Fort Pierce to get ready to fly in on Tuesday. 

Little Savanah missed us, as we knew she would.  But we had great friends to care for her.  The downside to that was that she got sick, and they had to deal with her upchucking and withdrawal since we had left.  She has gotten a cough that seems to have spread all over Haiti.  It's really difficult to get rid of. And she is still upchucking when she coughs so hard.  But her attitude is good.  So, please pray for her to recover totally.

And now it's back to work.  We only have a few weeks left before we leave to go stateside for a couple of months.  Don will have cataract surgery and we'll be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.  Please pray for Savanah to do okay while we are gone for that time.  It will be hard on her since she doesn't understand why we leave.

Until next time, remember to praise our AWESOME God for all He has done, all He is doing and all He will do for you and for us.  

Life, Rejoicing and Adoptions

Yes, LIFE... why is it that things seem to fly by when you don't want them to, but go ultra slow when you wish they'd speed up?  These last couple of weeks have been speeding by and I can't even tell where we've been or what we've done.  Well, in many ways, anyway!  

Carnival (Mardi Gras) is over.  We are pleased that there were NO major incidents at all.  This is so unusual and so very, very good.  No we didn't participate, but the police said there were no major problems anywhere.  Some people had reported losing wallets or personal items, but other than that, no fights or incidents that required police intervention.  And our "kiddo" Daniel who is now a policeman, said that many of the "lost" items (thought to have been stolen) have been turned into the police by people who found them.  THAT is a miracle for sure.  Made a lot of people happy, too.

A real surprise is that they continue to work on the roads and they are still improving things.  That is such an uplift for everyone.  Yes, there is a drawback to good roads... big trucks and the buses that travel from Port to Cap go way too fast and cause accidents.  But we are praying people will take extra precautions and take care.  The airport is moving along really well, too.  Since I only go once a week now, it seems they are moving by leaps and bounds.  It is really great to see things improve here, instead of decline like they normally do.  

Our "sickness" here seems to want to hang around.  Praise God, Savanah is over hers.  She really didn't understand why she was sick, but is back in full swing now.  Yup, into everything and enjoying life to the fullest.  We have a child proof safety gate in the hall, so she doesn't get into things at this end of the house.  You figured it out, right?  She can open it.  It has a lock on it and we are tying to keep her from seeing how that operates.  She doesn't like to talk... words, that is.  She can get what she wants with grunts and pointing.  I've been working on WORDS with her and she is finally catching on.  Please and thank you are the big ones.  They are sort of phonetic right now, and not the clearest, but you can understand her.  She really likes food...big time.  Not meats, except hot dogs.  And not a lot of cakes.  But anything else she inhales.  

Noufie, the gal who stayed with us until her baby was born Christmas eve, stopped by today with little Christny.  He has really grown and is doing very well.  I thought I'd include a picture of him and his mama for you.  Mama is taking good care of him, which is obvious.

 

 

 Well, that was LIFE and REJOICING... now on to adoption.  We have been really concerned about these new laws put into place here.  And actually we still are.  So many children could go to good homes, but that may be in jeopardy now.  So, prayers need to go up for all these children who could have good homes.  I do understand that they are working toward stopping the black market "sale" of children, and I am all for that.  But when a home is proved to be good and strong, these children should be able to have a decent life.

Okay, on to Savanah and little Sammy's adoption situations.  God may be opening doors for both of them.  We don't know exactly what the Lord will do, or how He will do it, but we have a peace and confidence that it is going to take place.  Little Sammy (I call him Chunky Charlie now... he has grown SO much.) is supposed to go to a good Christian Haitian couple in Pennsylvania.  They have already fallen in love with him.  And our little imp, Savanah, is supposed to go to her biological aunt and family.  They have been to see her twice already.  Through situations that only the Lord could have managed, there may be an open door for them.  While praying with Pastor Cebien, Bud and Jane (Sammy's care givers), the Lord brought to mind Matthew 17: 20b.  "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as a small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you."  I really, really felt the Lord tell us to not only have faith, but to BELIEVE in that verse.  So, we have already told this mountain (paperwork, laws, people's minds) to MOVE and we BELIEVE they will be moved.  We are standing on this verse and we do believe these things will be taken care of.  God is already working on a way to accomplish this and get it done.  We just wait daily for the next miracle to happen, and they are happening.  

What we are asking of YOU is that you pray and stand with us, believing God IS working on this and will accomplish it quickly.  We serve an AWESOME GOD, and we have no doubt about that at all.

In the near future I hope to have a picture of Savanah and Chunky Charlie to share with you.  They are an amazement to watch.  Savanah takes him toys and wants to kiss him constantly.  But he is ALL BOY... loves the toys, but back off on the kissing.  AND when the adoptions go through, they won't live far from each other, either!  Isn't that awesome, too?

I'd better close and get some work done here.  I just really wanted to let you all know that you can rejoice with us and also pray with us.  We SO appreciate everyone who stands with us in prayer and support.  God has sent some really wonderful people into our lives and we are very, very thankful for all of you!!  Blessings beyond measure go out to you all!!!  

A day in the life of....

It's been a challenging couple of weeks.  Don, Savanah and I came down with... guess it's the flu and a horrid cold.  Put baby on antibiotics and she started improving, so now Don and I are on them too.  We should be well on the way to feeling a whole lot better.  

Even with feeling sort of rotten, life goes on, so we have to keep on keeping on.  And we are so thankful for some really great friends here, too.  Our friend, Pastor Cebien, has started coming on Wednesday evenings and praying with us.  That is such a great uplift for us.  A couple of times he has brought along a few other pastors to pray too.  It's been such a treat for us to be involved in his ministry this way.  He prays for us, but we get to pray for him and for those who come along.  We have another missionary couple who will be joining us in this, too.  And Pastor Cebien also shares scripture that God lays on his heart with us.  And we've been able to do the same.  God is so faithful to put those we need in our lives when we need them.

We have had some awesome teaching at English church lately.  This last Sunday we had a guest speaker, Rob (from the US).  He shared on Job, and what he went through.  Afterwards I asked him if someone had shared with him that one of the missionaries have said we are living in Job's house.  He said nope, but the Lord knows what's going on.  He was great!!

He shared mainly on chapters one and two of Job.  While everyone remembers the trials Job had, no one remembers some of the interaction not only between Job and God, but the interaction between satan and God.  After presenting the main theme of Job, Rob went on to concentrate on what God said to satan ABOUT Job.  And He said it twice to him.  He said, "There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." (Chapter one verse 8).  Rob said, no Job was not perfect, and was not sinless.  But he was striving to be the kind of man God wanted him to be.  Then Rob asked us.... "Are you someone God can claim that about?"   Wow... that was a jolt.  Yes, Job suffered more than any of us probably will.  But, he continued to praise and honor God through all of it.  When you read Chapter one, verses 20 through 22... you see how we should be.  "At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.  Then he fell to the ground in worship and said; 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; May the name of the Lord be praised.'  In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." (NIV).   No, we don't need to tear our clothing, or shave our heads, but we do need to praise God IN all situations.  (I Thess. 5: 18).  When we were saved, God didn't promise we could not go through trials.  He promised He would be WITH us IN those trials.    Rob's message contained much more than this, but in our situation lately, this was brought home BIG TIME!  It's a lesson we needed to hear, for sure.

We have been blessed the last week, too.  One of the missions here is housing their teams in the dorm.  Why is this a blessing???  Well, in the evenings, when we have no power and have to use our small generator, we have no water.  But with the team here, each evening they use the bigger generator for the dorm, and the pump house is on that, and WE HAVE WATER in the evenings.  Not a huge big deal, but evenings is when I like to shower, so I've REALLY enjoyed it.  And giving Savanah a bath at night helps her sleep better, so it's a double blessing.

Carnival (Mardi Gras) is upon us now.  The city has been shut down for motorized traffic.  Not sure just how they are handling that, but it's what was put into effect.  They have decorations and booths all over.  I haven't seen it, but Don and some of the other missionaries were in before they shut down the roads.  This weekend is the culmination of the celebrations.  And Tuesday is the official DAY of Mardi Gras.  So, we are at home not planning on leaving the compound until at least Wednesday.  Don did make a delivery this morning, but not far from here.  This weekend is a "catch-up" time for work that needs to get done here.  We can hear the celebrations at night, but are not a part of this.  

Have gotten a couple of really good movies via Net Flix this last week.  The one that stood out was "Last flight out", about a missionary in South America.  Great movie.  We are so thankful we can get and watch some good movies.  We have our own copies of the Sherwood films (Facing the Giants, Courageous, etc...) and have shared them with others.  There really still are good movies out there if you just look a bit.

I guess my time on here is up... I hear the baby calling.  She really is good when she wakes up... she'll sit and play and talk in her crib for a while.  But then she thinks we don't know she is up and she starts calling.  Please pray for her situation with the adoption.  I have a had a couple more leads into things that may help, but don't know if it will work or not.  Only the Lord knows, but we'll keep moving until He shows us differently.  Please pray that we will have the wisdom to LISTEN to what the Lord is saying and act on His guidance.

Until next time, please remember to keep Jesus in mind in all you do.  Strive to respond like Job did.... Praising God and lifting Him up, no matter what happens.  Blessings to you all, and we are praying God will guide you, along with us, in all we do!!