A Different Perspective

Sorry it's been a while since we last updated. We have lots to update on this post, so please bear with me as it may be somewhat long. We returned to Haiti last Monday from a wonderful visit in the states. We appreciate so much the love and support we received while we were there. We appreciate the time we were able to spend with those we did, and are sad our time ended so soon that we couldn't get around to doing and seeing everyone we wanted to. We appreciate each of you, your love and your support for us. 

I am actually writing this post from the Dominican Republic as we are here helping out at Chadasha's site here. They had a missionary death on site about a week ago, so we are here helping out at their children's home while their family has traveled back to the states for the funeral. Poppo was living here with his son and wife and was like a grandfather to the kids. He was a handyman, and just from meeting him twice, he was full of love. Everyone is sad he is gone, and he will truly be missed. 

On a lighter note, we have been enjoying the time with the kiddos here. We live on site with them, so it is much different than managing our children's home. They also have twice as many children living here, plus about 20 more kids who come during the day for school. Whoa! We had fun taking the kids swimming at the river yesterday. Sharles loved it too! 

We also have lots of other exciting things going on. I will start with our heart surgeries; we are having our first round of heart surgeries in our (Chadasha's) hospital in Jimani, Dominican Republic. The first surgery is happening as I type this. Since the boarder has recently just reopened for Haitians to cross into the DR, and we didn't have time to get visas for our Haitian children before the surgeries were scheduled, the children receiving heart surgeries this round are from Guyana, South America. Please be in prayer for the doctors, nurses, hospital staff, children and families as they begin surgeries today. We usually get to meet the patients before surgery, but it has been really neat to meet the people who are actually performing the surgery this time too! We are so thankful they so willing give their time and knowledge to help children all over the world. 

This is Samuel, an 18 month old boy, who will be receiving surgey in the next few days. 

We also attended our first Haitian wedding over the weekend. One of the ladies we work with got married over the weekend, and it was so much fun to celebrate with her! We even got to drive her to her house after the wedding, and I got to see her new house! I am so excited and proud of her! She and our security guard at our children's home also got baptized on New Year's Eve! We are so happy for them! 

We appreciate your continued prayers through all that is going on, and lets join together in praising God for all the wonderful things He is doing also! I think so often we forget to praise Him amongst all the chaos we feel in our lives! So I ask you to join me in taking a different perspective, and have a joyful heart, a thankful heart and remember to praise His name among the stress and heaviness we all feel at times.