for mom

these are for you mom:

crazy zoo stamp on my cheek

i’m crazy

sweet baby girl

ummm…i have no clue

this is the face they are used too

doh

look at my stamp mom

ahh yeah…your manly husband

i’m all ears

as if his head wasn’t big enough

ohh i could get in trouble captioning this one

me and my twin

what?

sweet baby girl

cyclops

nice

i miss you mom

i think you need some kisses…

…or some licks

i actually looks like she is laughing here…these are screams

by-by mommy!

urgent prayer request update

from Stacy:

This morning has been long and sucky and draining for everyone.  We found out that one of the pregnant mom that came to the clinic on Monday, delivered her baby Tuesday morning at home and then the mom died shortly after.  The dad brought the baby in for formula.  Horrible.  Then a friend of everyone’s in the clinic was diagnosed with HIV.  That was all in the first 20 minutes and there are just so many people to be seen today.  It is very busy.  Luckily none of us are sick, but we are all pretty tired by now and we have one more day.  Yikes.  Lunch was a good recharge and I think everyone is pulling it together to get through the afternoon…

…Thankfully a lot of really sick people have come in to the clinic this week and we are glad we were here because they may not have had the means to treat them if we weren’t.  So that is good!   I am already looking forward to Sunday, but trying to cherish my last 2 days in clinic.  We leave here later Saturday morning, hit the beach, then sleep at a hotel outside of PAP.  I think we are all looking forward to some R&R…even though the last couple of afternoons have been pretty posh

 

to those that have been praying, thank you guys.  you may never know on this side of glory how much your prayers really mean.  thank you, thank you, thank you…

urgent prayer need for Stacy

good morning to all of you who are following this blog update for Stacy.  i got a text at 8am this morning from my wife saying:

Please pray for us all.  Very hard morning.  Lots of tears.  I feel a very heavy pressing spirit of us.  Pray that we fell hope as we try to give hope.  

i can only imagine what would spark this kind of send.  please pray for this team today…now!  

i must confess to some of you that i have gotten lazy in my praying for this team.  i think it’s easily done when all you are hearing is good news.  gosh forgive me God and forgive me team.  i am thankful that God has protected them up to this point.  i am very thankful that i have gotten to talk to Stacy every day that she has been at the clinic.  join me in praying hard for these next 4 days.  pray that God would bring this team hope, that God would be their peace, that through suffering God would draw this team to Himself.    

 

i beg you God to weigh heavy on my heart this team that i would be drawn to pray for them hard these next few days.  i have no clue what they are facing today but they are begging for us to pray for hope.  we are so thankful that our hope lies in Jesus Christ and through Him we have perseverance no matter the circumstances.  remind this team that everything they are seeing or witnessing or encountering has been brought by You for You.  God you tell us in your Word to “put Christ to the test.”  you continue to encourage us and promise that “no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”   i pray that through suffering and mental anguish that You make Yourself known.  i pray you make Yourself known to this team as well as the Haitians around them.  as the tears flow, let sadness and brokenhearted-ness flow, and i pray that in the depths of their being they are trusting you.  

 

*** i got a text from the teams twitter that says: “sad morning at clinic.  1 aids diagnosis, 1 infant whose mom died at home tuesday 10 hours post birth. The child is malnourished.  please pray.”

 

pray, pray pray!!!

Stacy monday update

fortunately i have had the privilege to talk to Stacy everyday.  she and the rest of the team are doing really well.  it’s quite hilarious talking to her on the phone because there is about a 3 second delay some of the time i can only hear every other syllable.  frustrating at time but amazing to be able to hear her voice.  it seems they were pretty busy this morning in the clinic but when the afternoon came she said that they had no patients.  this is unheard of.  i think they took some time and hiked the area and got a better feel for Terre Blanche.  about an hour before she went to bed she said that the line outside was already starting to form.  i can’t wait to hear how tomorrow goes.

politicians

i think ever politician and journalist should be required to take a ‘mission’ trip to a third world country a minimum of one time every 5 years they are on duty…and start their serving in office/job with it.  the crap going on in our country is ridic.

from the field

Sunday: Email #1

(i left out the personal stuff that lead up to this) the clinic was hard work…overwhelming.  I feel pretty dumb, and timid.  Hopefully it will get better…I’m sure it will.  I just can not say enough about what Haiti looks like…it is crazy.  Mountains every where.  The people of Terre Blanche will just follow us everywhere we go….sometimes holding our hands and taking pics with us.  Their houses are seriously the size of our pantry…ridic.  I am going to appreciate all the pics I see online so much more now that I have seen in for the reals.  I do not even know if I can pin-point one thing God has taught me…there is just so much.  Jason did great this morning.

Sunday: Email #2

Hey!  The phone is not working so I can’t call you 😦  It is crazy ridiculously windy outside and I think it is blowing the satellite everywhere.  Hopefully it is working tomorrow.  I hope the Mosaic Haiti nice was cool.  There is no way in the world that the food was half as good as ours…seriously it is so good.  I have eaten 2 plates each night.  Everything has been great…I don’t know what else to say.

 

*** our church had a Haiti night tonight in honor of the team that is serving.  it was really cool!  the served rice and beans, made us ‘work’ for the food, and made us walk across the campus to fetch a bucket of water.  as cheesy as it may sound it was really cool.  after we ate the leaders shared certain prayer request from the field and we spent time praying for them.  then everyone involved wrote encouraging words to the team that will be emailed out to them tonight!  

 

working for the food

fetch a pail of water

Stacy Sunday Update

the teams twitter, yesterday, “Greeted in Terre Blanche with songs, prayer, and love. Preparing to serve the sick tomorrow, at both the church (a.m) and clinic (p.m.).”

 

is it alright with some of my more conservative readers if i shout a big “hell yeah”?  Stacy called last night.  oh my gosh, i can not believe that i got to hear her voice.  she got a chance to talk to all of her babies and sounded really happy.  

HUGE PRAISE:  the whole team made the long trek to Terre Blanche alright.  i asked Stacy about her trip and she said that there was so much to look at on the journey that her motion sickness was not even a factor.  WOW, HUGE!  I asked her if it was all that she imaged it would be and she said that the destruction was a million times worse than she anticipated.  i can’t even fathom what that means, i just know that it’s bad.

the teams twitter said this morning, “Haitian alarm clock: a convention of roosters crowing and donkeys braying, announcing it’s 5:00 a.m. Good morning from Terre Blanche.”  today they were joining the local church for services and after church they were opening the clinic for the first time…a day earlier than they anticipated…but they are all very excited.  in an email that i received this morning Stacy mentioned that she was going to be a “provider” in the clinic which is way outside her comfort zone for today.  i think she feels inadequate and is more comfortable working with the OB doc doing ultrasounds but her attitude is great, she says, “I got over it (not being able to be on ultrasound today) and guess that God has something else in mind for me.”  

i pray that God gives her wisdom in dealing with the patients.  as situations arise that she may not have the answers too i pray that the other doctors and nurses would be available to help.  God, i ask that you give her confidence of You in her.  

 

till next time….

Dear Mom – night 3

trusting You

dear God,

i am finding myself ending every prayer these days with the words “trusting You” and  questioning myself on what i really mean.  You are teaching my so much about this little phrase.  when i say these words, this is what my heart is crying.  i trust You that You will bring glory to Yourself what ever the cost.  do not let me say these words with the connotation of my expectation bleeding through.  i realize that trusting You does not alway hold my wants and desires.  i am not trusting that you WILL bring my wife home safely though that is what my heart clings to.  as these words roll off my lips with the dream of my bride returning home safely to me do not let that be my emphasis.  i cry from the depths of my being that You be glorified through the service of my wife; that lives would be changed by her sacrifice (what ever that be).  our lives hold no consequence on the outcome of this trip except for the fact that when we surrendered our lives to You and place our total trust in You, that what ever You decide is praise worthy, we surrender to.  Stacy and i have counted the cost of being Your disciple and for that we say, “we trust You.”

Luke 14:25-35:

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.  34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

dang babe…

dang babe, we rich!!!!!  we got our tax return today…sweet.  i am going to buy a new mountain bike while you are out of the country.  if i pedal hard enough i might be able to get across country by the time you get back…to avoid your wrath!