Friday, June 25, 2010

Goodbye to Max and Berothie

Today we said goodbye to Max and Berothie after having them here for 4 1/2 months. I think it will be a bit strange not having a packed car everywhere we go and leaving church without a train of people. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with these great kids.
They experienced their first snow, first spring season filled with crazy PA weather, first time mini-golfing/driving golf balls, first trip to Hershey Park (thanks to Jeff's parents...great Easter gift).
Berothie says the only bad memories she has is snow in her boot and the Storm Runner that Doug talked her into getting on at Hershey. It caused nightmares. Max enjoyed it all except for being limited on his screen time. We've had some good laughs over accents (both theirs and ours), culturally normal things for us and them (us-eating pancakes for breakfast, them-eating ketchup on everything).
Our kids have had a great time playing games, learning Kreyol, swimming, and learning each other's cultures a bit. Colton and Max began acting as brothers a while ago, but more so over the past few weeks. As boys do...picking at each other, competing with one another, and making up games.

I got a great kick out of the 3 teens getting into the car. No one ever wanted to sit in the middle seat. We would see one of them sort of hanging out in the garage a little longer thinking they were being inconspicuous. Occasionally we would witness Colton jumping in and locking the door so the others were forced to go the other side inevitably making another go to the middle. Today alone I saw 2 events unfold. The first was Max bending over tying a shoe for what seemed like 5 minutes until Colton finally just got in and slid over. The second one was the icing on the cake at the end of the day. I had taught Max and Berothie to use the word "shotgun" when there was only one adult traveling. All this time, it was never used, Colton always just sat up front. This time though rather than peacefully getting into the car or even using the word "shotgun", it was an all out pushing fight to get into the front seat. While the boys were distracted getting the other away from the door...out of nowhere...Berothie climbed in from the back and filled the spot leaving both boys stunned. Way to go B!
Thank you to all of you who welcomed them into our community and church family! I know they felt very comfortable here.

We'll miss you guys!!
Manmie Deb

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sea Container...finished!!!

Friday June 11th at 7:00pm, the sea container pulled away from our church loaded with many items from our home and for the orphanages. We along with a great team of people worked 3 evenings prior to package, label, and prepare everything. Friday was a relaxed enjoyable day because we had so much help and we felt such a great sense of support. It was all material possessions that we worked so hard over, but they represent much more than that. They represent the God-given mission our team is trying to carry out, they are a symbol of love for the children we work with in Haiti, and they are a representation of Jeff and I following God.
We always said we wouldn't go until our house sold, but here we are as I said last week finding that our plan was not God's plan. We have to constantly be open to HIS agenda, not our own. For me personally it was comparable to laying an offering at an alter before God.

Thank you again for all of you who donated, organized giving, helped package and load the container. I can't say enough what it means to Jeff and I to have so much support in our church, our leadership team, and friends & family.

We ask that you join us in praying for the container to arrive in Haiti and to be released from customs for our teams traveling to unload and work the last two weeks of July. We pray this remembering we are not in control. Our agenda has to be in line with what God has planned. We also ask for prayer as we seek to follow God's guidance as a team.

Much Love,
Deb

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Sea Container

We have been packing and loading a trailer the last two days to send items for the orphanages, our house and the guest house.

The loading continues:
Thursday evening at CBIC 6-9
Friday at CBIC 10am-5ish???

Please let us know if you are available to help. We could use a minimum of 20 for Friday.

THANK YOU to all who have helped to wrap, label and load so far!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Learning to depend on God, not ourselves

I thought after we returned from Haiti, I'd spend more time updating information, but it has been a whirlwind since we got back.
We came back having learned a bit of Haitian culture...our way of working is not the Haitian way of working, we want to get as much done as possible. If something doesn't go as planned, we keep working at it until we get the desired result...not the Haitian way. We saw patience in the haitians to wait for the right time to do the work that needed to be completed. Very frustrating to us Americans who wanted to get this work done at the guest house when we wanted it done. Now we see they were right and the work will get done, just not in our timing.
Our team was determined to get all the necessary work finished and move kids into their new homes. Only we didn't seek God's timing in it and depended too much on ourselves. The work was too much, too involved and it couldn't possibly get done.
Now we plan to go back and finish the work at the end of July and move the kids then.

For now, we are packing up our house to add to the sea container of supplies going for the orphanages and guest house. After this week, we will be hearing our echos throughout the house.

I really thought this week would be very hard and emotional, but God has given me peace. Seeing our house in Haiti has sealed the deal so to say. I did a jig to break the house in and was then joined by the other ladies on our team and many of the girls from Good Sam. They couldn't figure out why we were dancing around a haitian broom(which is quite interesting), but they laughed and danced anyway. This dance was the beginning of our 3 day cleaning frenzie.

Now we continue to learn to depend on God and not ourselves as we wait for our house to sell. We have said all along we couldn't go to Haiti until it sold, but here we are sending furniture, beds, and our kids special toys on Friday. We feel God is asking us to have faith and trust him and prepare to go. We don't really know what this means with our house, be we said we would follow and be obedient to what God was asking of us so this has to be no different. It doesn't come without a bit of anxiety, but we continue to ask for our house to sell and for guidance in how to move forward. We know many are praying with us for our house to sell. Thank you for joining us not just in prayer, but also in learning to depend on God and not ourselves.

praying together,
Deb