:)

HEADED HOME!!!!

And love to you Maria!!!

Maria....

Anderson Cooper from CNN is following the story of Stephanie Thacker, Maria O'Donovan, and the 6 children from Children of the Promise (Jac's orphanage) being detained in a UNICEF camp.

You can read it here.

Please, please pray for Maria especially. Maria loves the COTP kids and is very dedicated to them. I had just talked with her right before this incident, asking her to check on something with Jac's family for me. She had said that she was in Port-au-prince with the 6 kiddos but that she would get the word to the correct people.

Then this story broke.

I was and still am so shocked and angry and worried for Maria. She has begged to be allowed to stay with the children until things are straightened up, but instead UNICEF is only letting her see them a few short hours at a time. The children are being cared for by other children and it is the most heart-wrenching thing I have seen.

(Maria with Jac, 2007)

Please pray for Maria and for the waiting families. Pray that justice will prevail and that Maria can find peace and comfort as she fights for these kids.

(Maria at the UNICEF camp with the kids)

UGH UNICEF!!!

THIS IS THE FALL-OUT OF SOME ST*PID PEOPLE DECIDING TO TRY ILLEGALLY GET KIDS OUT OF HAITI AND UNICEF STEPPING IN (click on each title to be taken to the story)....

Orphangage:Children of the Promise: "URGENT PRAYER NEEDED!! CHILDREN TAKEN AWAY IN HAITI!" and here: "This Could Get Long"

Orphanage:God's Littlest Angles: "UNICEF Visits the Orphanage without IBESR"

And finally:"Power Corrupts"

*edited to add this terribly disturbing link: "Rape on the rise in Haiti's Camps"

I AM SO, SO ANGRY!!! Welcome to your front-row seats of "UNICEF IN ACTION". Please, please pray for these kiddos and their anxious families!!

A prayer for the weekend...

Come Together Now (Music City Unites For Haiti) from Music City Unites For Haiti on Vimeo.

Need:Crutches, Bumbo seats, etc

Real Hope for Haiti is in need of used crutches, wheelchairs, bumbo seats (can be purchased at WalMart), and hospital bassinets for the people they are working with. If you have any of these that you no longer need or that you can purchase, please send them as soon as possible to:

Debbie Woodward
Northrup King Building, Main Office
1500 Jackson Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Debbie is organizing a semi-trailer that will be bringing much needed supplies to Lori and Licia very soon here.

God bless!!!! :)

ps-I hope to update soon with our Guatemala stuff. Not much news, but I want to keep you all up to date.

God is waiting...

Jemima and Ezaye...

"We’ve all seen pictures of starving children on TV. But this is the first time I actually saw, touched, and held a truly starving person. It wasn’t that great for me. Barton was the first to cry. Tears poured down his face in silence, dripping onto the blankets they were wrapped in to keep them warm. He whispered to Ezaye, “Go home. Just go home. You won’t feel pain any more if you just go home. It’s okay. God is waiting for you there.”"... (click on the link above to read the whole story)

"Both Ends Burning"...

Hat tip to Liz for this link...

"Juntunen sold his company and set out to live the good life of retirement at the age of 40. Hanging out on golf courses and enjoying a country-club lifestyle, he began to feel "chronically empty." After a friend told him about adopting two girls from Haiti, Juntunen became fixated on visiting the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

The book tells the story of how Juntunen, at an orphanage outside Port-Au-Prince, met the three children he and his wife Kathi eventually adopted. An emotional story of hope and redemption, Both Ends Burning is a powerful reminder of our responsibility to reach out and help children.

"Kids are kids -- all they need is a home and a chance," Juntunen said. "That's what Chances for Children is about, that's what my book is about, and that's what our family is about..." read the rest here...

...

This is the best video, tying everything in Haiti together...UNICEF, the missionaries that tried take the children out illegally, and the near halt of medical evacuations.

I don't agree with everything he says, but he pretty much tied it all together in one place. You must watch this to understand the horrible crisis that is happening.

Special Field Report: Haiti's Orphans Held Hostage from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

On another note, one of my dearest friends is on her way to Florida right now and from there will leave for Haiti tomorrow a.m. Things have providentially fallen into place for her to serve in Haiti. She is an ER Trauma nurse who has never done anything remotely like this trip she is undertaking. Yet she felt God calling her and she took a huge leap of faith and went. To say that this overwhelmed me would be an understatement. I struggled with my own feelings of desperately wanting to go, but yet knowing that I can't leave while waiting for a call from Guatemala. So instead she is taking a little bit of my soul with her. My tears of gratitude and love just keep coming. Last night as we prayed and cried together, we felt the peace of God moving.

Sandi, I love you.

I'm praying.

From the bottom of my heart, God bless you.

Shame on us....

Please read this. Contact someone. Anyone. This is embarrassing and uncalled for..

"There were about 6 US troops members there. I went up and asked one a questions. He said to move the F–k back and to not talk to him. I moved on to the next troop and he said he did not care if I was a US citizen to move back! We went down to the other end of the embassy and tried to talk to someone there. I told them that I was pregnant and just wanted to talk to someone. He laughed at me and said you see that line over there. Everyone of them people are pregnant-even the little kids and men and laughed. I said can you please just answer a question for me please. He said move the F–k back lady. I said please and he pushed me with his gun and said you move or I will move you. Enoch said you cannot treat a US citizen like that. He said watch me. I turned away and he then pushed Enoch into the street where traffic was. He then said he hated all the Haitian that were there and did not want to talk to any white US missionaries. He then said a string of cuss words..."

If you are US military or if you live in Indiana, please contact those in charge in the military and state government.

...

"I find it difficult to believe that the estimated death toll so far is at 212 thousand. As I drive through the city and see large building pancaked on the ground, it is clear that recovery efforts have not yet started there and that it is conceivable that the death total could easily rise to over 250 thousand people. That is one quarter of a million people killed as a result of the earth shaking for about one minute. It is almost unfathomable."

If you read one story today, read and share this...

Another answered prayer for Haiti....

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!

To Haiti with Love...

Never forget....

A shout out to Heartline, one of the organizations I love most in Haiti...

Rain is causing further troubles...

Little Ronel is in Miami! From his daddy: "Just touched down in MIA...welcome to America R!"...

The Livesays return to the US to heal their hearts...

"The message is this: Haiti was here before the earthquake. Really, it was! Things were not very easy then. Haiti will be here after the earthquake. Things are beyond difficult now. The Haitian people are strong and courageous and warm and giving. They were before, they are now, they will be. They need your prayers and help. Don't forget them. Every single one of them have a story to tell. Their stories are important... More importantly, I know you'll not forget the Haitian people.

We won't either.
Nou p'ap bliye ou Ayiti cheri."

...

Please check out the links below. Please don't forget what is happening in Haiti...

*Ronel's dad continues to fight to get him home...

*More on why NEVER to support UNICEF...here and here....

Don't...

It is things like this, that cause legitimate adoptions to grind to a screeching halt.

I understand the intention behind it, but I want you to imagine for a moment that you are that child. Imagine that you are 3 years old. Pretend that moments before the earthquake, your single mother had left you and your 8 year old brother at home so that she could go to the market (common in Haiti).

Now imagine that the earthquake struck.

Your brother was instantly killed.

You survived.

Your mother across town, had been hit by falling concrete and had laid for days unattended. When help finally came for her, it was in the form of an English speaking mobile tent hospital. They had to do a partial amputation on her leg and she continues to recover there, worried sick about you, but unable to communicate that thought to anyone.

You have been wandering the streets. Fed and sheltered off and on by people in your community, all dealing with their own suffering. Finally someone finds you and takes you to a makeshift orphanage. There you receive food and shelter.

One day some Americans come in and say they are taking you to a place called the Dominican Republic. You just want your mommy. She is still alive and she wants you too. These people load you up on a bus and attempt to take you to a new orphanage, in another country. You have no paperwork and because you are just 3, you can't explain anything. You just want your manman.

Do you see why this is a very, very bad thing?

Now imagine if this exact same scenario had happened in the US. Someone loaded YOUR child on a bus and attempted to take them to say, Canada? Imagine that you are alive, but unable to communicate with ANYONE about your child! This is what the reality is in Haiti and it is why they are being extra cautious about moving children right now.

And to top it off, actions like this ARE going to hurt the chances of leaving to children who are legitimate orphans and have paperwork. The Haitian government is definitely going to clamp down now, and the ripple effects are going to affect children who have paperwork. This is a dream come true for organizations like UNICEF.

I'm angry at what this group did. I understand their thought process (to some degree) but I'm angry that they chose to cause harm to so many families that continue to wait for their children.