Thank You!

Rusty and I would like to thank you for all of the kindness and support that you have shown to us over the last four years while we were serving the Lord in Haiti. We have resigned and are no longer working with JBA on their mission in Haiti. We were so incredibly blessed to witness God's hand at work and are sincerely grateful to you for your part in that blessing. Without your gifts and prayer support we would not have been able to serve. Your friendship is a treasure to us. Please continue to support the mission and these children we love so much. I will post photos of the orphanage children in the next few days which will remain on the blog as our closing entry.

God bless you,

Cheryl

Thanks Shelly & Lexi !

Thanks Shelly & Lexi!

You poured yourself out as a living sacrifice- wholly and without reserve- to love and serve those you did not know- yet precious to Him. And we were blessed.

Psalm 40

^4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,

turn your backs on the world's "sure thing,"
ignore what the world worships;
The world's a huge stockpile
of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one

comes close to you!

I start talking about you, telling what I know,
and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words

account for you.

⁶ Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
that's not what you're after.
Being religious, acting pious—
that's not what you're asking for.
You've opened my ears
so I can listen.

^7-8 So I answered, "I'm coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I'm coming to the partyyou're throwing for me."
That's when God's Word entered my life,
became part of my very being.

^9-10 I've preached you to the whole congregation,
I've kept back nothing, God—you know that.I didn't keep the news of your ways
a secret, didn't keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
I didn't hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
let the congregation know the whole story.

Pictures from the last few days.

Tuesday was the first day of VBS. We learned that God made the World :)

Another blessing was that we were able to purchase 2 new washing machines. These might help washing laundry for 43 kids go a little bit faster.

Last night, some of the kids opened gifts that they got from their sponsors. Many of them got new clothes and toys.


The team is beginning to feel the effects of very hot weather and less sleep but we all can attest to the great things God is doing in Haiti.

Day 2

The computer won't upload pictures tonight. I was going to show you the beautiful Haiti sunrise, our group preparing for VB S which starts in the morning, some of the team helping teach an English class, our group loving on the children, the men spending the day looking for washers and hardware, treating a child for pink eye, giving a child a guitar lesson, and a climb on the roof to fix a leaky roof.

Hopefully technology will cooperate tomorrow.
We love all our family and friends. We wish you could be here with us!

AUGUST TEAM ARRIVES

We arrived in Port-au-Prince, the beginning of our journey.

Here we are waiting to go through immigration.

We arrived at the orphanage and began unpacking the 32 duffel bags we brought full of supplies. Lots of organizing to do!

Tomorrow we will begin our work and get to visit with our precious children. There's VBS, clothesline to construct, washers to buy, and English classes to speak to.

Thank you Lord for allowing us to be here in this country of beautiful people. Help us to be Your hands and Your heart.

Birthday Party, Team Departure, and Market Day

Last night we had a fun, yet very chaotic time celebrating July birthdays. It's always great to hear them sing over and over to each individual child ... last night, I believe, there were 7 birthdays. After lots of singing and cupcakes, we all sat (well, some ran around) and sang songs together for quite a while. A good way for the team to end their week here.

This morning was time to say goodbye. I've never done well with goodbyes and let's just say this certainly was not one of my easiest. Many treats were given out to the children this morning, many kids up here "helping" ... it was chaos at its best ... but we did have a few special moments and love-on-the-kids moments before we left for the airport. I had to reassure MANY children that Mama Shelly was indeed returning from the airport and not going to America with the team.

I had promised the older girls at the beginning of the teams stay that I would take them to market after the team left. They took me literally ... and were all dressed and ready to go when we arrived home from the airport. I'm a big ole softy sometimes and a bit emotional today anyway, so how could I think of saying no?? I even spoiled them a bit by buying them a couple of "out of the norm" treats. Someone's gotta do it. :)

We had a great afternoon once we returned from the market. I think I counted 18 children up here at one point ... just hangin out. We had 10 of them up here for dinner and have MANY girls looking forward to a big ole slumber party with Shelly and Lexi tonight. Great fun, that's for sure. I just heard that the team is safely in Miami, awaiting their flight to Jacksonville ... best wishes and safe travels to you all ... and thanks again for a great week together!!