Monday, December 19, 2005

Christmas!


Christmas!
Originally uploaded by House of Hope.
Yesterday we celebrated Christmas at the HOH. We know it's a bit early, but that's what worked out the best for all of us here. Some of the young people are still writing exams this week right up until the 23rd when Linda and I will be leaving for vacation. We had a wonderful time yesterday, it was a lot of work preparing a meal for close to 180 people by the time you add all the children, staff, and close friends of the HOH. This year we left the program completely up to the Our Hope young people. They surprised us with a home made manger scene (pictured here) and quite a few nice songs and skits. They did a really great job, and of course were thrilled after all the guest left and they received their Christmas gifts. No one was disappointed this year! Thank you so much to all of you who sent them gifts. I wish I could bottle up all the excitement that was around here and pass it on to you all!



The excitement and joy was short lived when one of our little children passed away this morning. He wasn't doing well yesterday, but we were quite surprised when he passed away. We ask you to pray for John's family, his grandfather is a guard at our hospital. Unfortunately they waited too long to bring John to the hospital, and we weren't able to get him the treatment he needed in time. His family has had a rough time lately with many members quite sick, so they'd appreciate your prayers on their behalf.



As I mentioned already, Linda and I will be going on vacation at the end of this week. Linda will be going to see her family in Cap Haitian, and will be gone a week or so. I will be in the US visiting my family in Texas and will be gone a total of 3 weeks. We are thankful for the staff members we have who will be staying here at the HOH 24/7 during the time we are both gone. Please keep them in your prayers. Some of the Our Hope kids will be going along with Linda to Cap Haitian for a little vacation as well. Please pray for Linda and myself as well that we would get some much needed rest and relaxation!



All of the other children are doing very well, coming right along in their various treatments. We continue to search for a hospital for Jackson that will treat his leukemia, but so far we have had no success. We are in contact with one that we see as last hope, but we know our true hope is in Jesus, and we continue to pray and trust him that he will do His will in the life of Jackson. Please pray that as Linda goes and visits him over the holidays that she'd have a chance to present the Gospel to him again, and that the Holy Spirit would work in his heart and that he would accept the Lord as his Savior.



We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. We'll write another update just as soon as we can!

Monday, December 12, 2005

Christmas and Mangoes!


Christmas and Mangoes!
Originally uploaded by House of Hope.
Great news! All the Christmas gifts that we had hoped would get here before Christmas have made it safe and sound. What a blessing, thank you for your prayers, and thank you so much to all of you who sent gifts to make Christmas a special time for our kids. Linda and I will be sending a lot of time getting things ready to celebrate Christmas here at the HOH. This year we will be having our party on Sunday the 18th, since the school students will be writing exams all through the next week. That is another prayer request for you all, they started writing exams today. Pray that they would be diligent in studying and would do better this cycle then they did on the last one.



We've continued to receive several new children. One of them is a cousin to Manouchka that we introduced several weeks ago. He is extremely malnourished and we are waiting for the results to see if he has TB as well. Kendly, Sabrina and most everyone else is doing just great. Thanks for praying for them. Marc Donald is pictured here enjoying a mango that a neighbor brought over for the kids. Everyone loves mangoes around here, and we don't usually get to have them at this time of year, but sure are thankful for the gift!



Hope you have a really great week. Please continue to pray as we continue to seek out research for Jackson, Linda's nephew who has Leukemia. We've come upon a lot of dead ends, and have just a few inquiries out there yet, but we continue to pray that God would open the door if it is his will.

Monday, December 05, 2005

No more Blacky


No more Blacky
Originally uploaded by House of Hope.
It was a sad weekend for us as we lost our old faithful dog Blacky (pictured here...ok, so he was a little camera shy, all I could find was a picture of the back of him!). He was very old, and was suffering a lot, so in one sense his death was a relief, but he was here a long time, and we all were used to him and loved him. So it was sad.



We are having a difficult time finding help for Jackson. The hospitals we have contacted so far have turned us down. If any of you reading this have any contacts that you could get in touch with that might be able to help us out please let us know. So, please pray that we'll have wisdom to know how far to go to find help, and when we just have to stop and say we can't do anything else, that's a hard decision to make. Also pray for him as he is suffering a lot, it is hard for his family.



We seem to be doing pretty good as far as the kids go here at the HOH this week, everyone seems to be coming along nicely, so thankyou for your prayers on our behalf. We hope you have a really great week.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Christmas!


Christmas!
Originally uploaded by House of Hope.
Greetings! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at the HOH! We have had a lot of fun decorating, and watching the surprise on the faces of the children here. They just love all the color and the lights. For some of them they've never seen anything like this before, and children who have been here for a Christmas already are eager to fill in the new children on all the exciting details...especially about the gifts that so many of you send us. That is one request we have for you this week. Many gifts have been sent, but none have made it here yet. Please pray that the boat would get here before then, and that at least some of the gifts would be on the boat. We enjoy making this one Christmas a happy occasion for the children who are only with us this one time, and of course always enjoy having the extra opportunities to share with them the Good News of Jesus born so long ago!



We had a very nice week with Jeb and Leah Bland here. (Notice I didn't say James this time all you Elverson people!). Leah helped us get our prayer letter all ready to send out, and Jeb worked with our guys to start repairing the burned out building. They were able to get some posts in, and the guys are continuing to work on that this week. We know it's going to take a while to get the building ready to be used again, but it is nice to see progress starting on it. We'd appreciate your prayers that God would supply the needed funds to complete this project.



Kendly is doing much better this week, thank you so much for your prayers. The Dr. has put him on TB treatment, so hopefully that will be the answer for him. We've had a few new children come to the HOH this past week. There are just so many with very severe cases of TB and malnutrition. Please continue to pray for Haiti and this very difficult time for so many people.



We found out last week that Linda's 9 year old nephew has a very serious form of Leukemia. As you can imagine, it has been a difficult time for us all. What is especially difficult is that there is absolutely no treatment available for him in Haiti. Our hearts are just breaking for little Jackson, he is so precious, and is suffering terribly. We are starting to look into options to see if we can find a hospital in the US that would take him and give him treatment. We know there are such places, so please pray that God would direct us, give us wisdom, and prepare the way for us, if this is His will for Jackson to receive the treatment he needs. In the meantime pray for Linda's family, as you can imagine this is a difficult time for them all, and there has been so much expense involved in just finding out what has been making him sick, it has been a very difficult time for them all.



We appreciate you all and thank God for you. May you have a great week.