Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thoughts from the heart
"Lord, I sit here beneath my roof, inside my house, with all my needs met. Meanwhile, only a few thundered miles away, hundreds of thoursands of people are homeless; many are starving, dieing. I long to do something besides praying and giving. I want to use my hands and feet; I desire to go. But I know my place right now is here, taking care of my own family, caring for my own dear children, while close by so many thousands of children have no one to care for them. So for now I wait, and ache, and pray, and try to be patient..."
And we're still waiting. And praying. Please continue to lift up Haiti in your prayers!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Blog of Missionaries in Haiti
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Praying for Haiti and Organizations that are helping
Many of you may already have contacts with people or organizations that are working to help Haiti. However, for those of you who do not, here are a few suggestions we have of organizations that are helping with the relief effort. Each of these ministries already have relationships with Haiti:
-Missionary Flights International- The same organization that brings us our mail also takes mail to Haiti and participates in disaster relief. They have been posting about their status and work here. If you desire, you can donate to their work under "disaster relief fund" here.
-Kids Alive- We have many close missionary friends that work with Kids Alive here in the D.R. Besides moving some children to their ministry sites in Northern Haiti, Kids Alive is arranging with the Dominican Government to bring some of the displaced Haitian children to their orphanages here in the D.R. If this takes place, the children could arrive as early as Monday, some to the site here in Jarabacoa.
Go here for more information.
-Finally, Compassion International also has ministries in Haiti and are contributing to the relief effort. Read more about their efforts here, and/or donate here.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Thoughts for a new year
Lord, I thank you for a new year- a reminder that You are in control. Who knows what 2010 will bring? You do. And you have gone before us to prepare the way. I don't need to fear a new year. This past year has taught us that anything can change suddenly, even when we think we are secure. But with you as our captain, we can look toward the future with a sense of adventure. You are in control. When I try to control my life, I end up anxious, worried, stressed, and have my priorities all wrong. When I surrender control, You fill me with peace, joy, freedom, assurance, security, and straightened priorities. Thank you that each day can be new; I don't need to wait until next year!
The other day I listened to a song that expresses this; everytime I hear it I laugh inwardly as I am reminded of how often I try to take control instead of letting go. Praise the Lord He is in control. So many times He has blessed me by giving me exactly what I thought I didn't want!
It's out of my hands- Carolyn Arends
And so I stand here
Looking at all that I have made
Fallen in ruins
And it would seem that
It's out of my hands
There's nothing I can do
The best laid plans
Again have fallen through
I thought my world
Was under my command
Now I can't believe
Just how glad I am
It's out of my hands
My favourite delusion
I must control the universe
Failure brings freedom
You are God, and I'm not so
It's out of my hands
There's nothing I can do
The best laid plans
Again have fallen through
I thought my world
Was under my command
Now I can't believe
Just how glad I am
It's out of my hands
And so I stand here
Looking at all that You have made
Learning to place my
Life in your keeping
It's out of my hands
I know this much is true
The best laid plans
All belong to You
When I know my world
Is under Your command
I can't believe
Just how glad I am
It's out of my hands
The best laid plans
Again have fallen through
I thought my world
Was under my command
Now I can't believe
Just how glad I am
It's out of my hands
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Happy Kings Day!
We also decided to give Jeremiah his main gift from us today. It seemed silly to take it to the U.S. and bring it back, especially since we hadn't made it yet. So in the U.S. we gave him a few clothes, but today we're giving him a matching/memory game we made. Daniel took some extra wood, cut it into small squares, and painted it with white oil-based paint. Then I used puffy paint we bought while we were in the States to paint numbers, pictures, and letters to make two sets of a matching/memory game. The idea is for him to learn to match the numbers with the number of pictures on the squares, and the capital letters with the lower-case letters. Later we can turn it into a memory game (using some at a time). We only have letters A-O right now. But that's still a lot of squares!
Here's a picture of the completed squares:
In other news, we're going to Pizza and Pepperoni tonight along with other staff to welcome the new staff arriving from Marion!
Christmas Vacation: Part II
The Peterson boys!
Wednesday we played in the snow with Grandpa Howie and went sledding.
Family Photo
Saturday we played in the snow.
Sunday we had dinner with both families and then headed back to the D.R. on Monday.
It was a whirlwind of a trip, but we had fun!
And now for all the photos: