Posts

Posted on

Mèsi May!

We are giving thanks (mèsi) for a great first week of May! Here are some of the highly anticipated happenings we were blessed with this week! 


May 1st is a holiday in Haiti and there was no work or school. So we headed to the beach with another family and their 6 kids to enjoy eachother, the beach of course, and spend some time visiting other dear friends that live out there. Eric has been teaching our girls how to swim and we are proud to report that they are now swimming on their own in the deep end! While Eric was busy with swim lessons, I got to spend some time with dear friends talking Haiti orphan and adoption politics, and sharing struggles and encouragement with one another. Then we headed to the orphanage our friend Heather runs and we were reunited with some of the little ones we love and pray for. There are four babies that are currently in need of temporary foster care in order to wean them back to health. Our friend Whitney (who is a nurse) has committed to taking one of the babies for the next month before they leave for the states. I was asked to help find others currently living in Haiti who would be able and willing to help meet this need for the remaining three babies. If anyone knows of anyone interested please let us know. 
We headed home from the beach and apparently EVERYONE else in Haiti was celebrating May 1st as well. It took us four hours to get home. Our car was surrounded by thousands and there was simply no getting through. But we eventually did (after a bottle was filled with pee and pants were soaked by those that don’t have bottle peeing skills)…but that was not one of our highly anticipated events. Just threw that in as an extra thankfulness that the road did not go on forever and the party finally ended. That was all on May 1st! 

May 2nd was also a great day (even though it was a work and school day)! Our RCE, Intl. (Resourcing Christian Education, International) mission reps were in Haiti to check out Quisqueya Christian School and meet our family! We had a meeting in our home where they were able to share the vision of RCE with other teachers that may be able to benefit from this ministry as we have. We are so blessed to be on the RCE team and had a wonderful time learning even more about RCE, hearing John and Brett’s stories from their travels around the world and just being so encouraged by their visit!

May 3rd we got to step out onto the brand new soccer field that has been under construction for many months! We will not miss the clouds of dust that made their way into our house and ruined all our kids clothes, nor the machinery that was previously there. We’ve heard there once was grass but the field space was used after the earthquake and the grass was never seen again. No need of grass now! We have played on the field every day since! We are so excited about the future opportunities the new soccer field will bring both for Quisqueya and our Haiti community. Mèsi Jezi for this wonderful provision!
Elita Marguerite (shown) and Esmée brave the deep end!
We got to try out these new water trampoline things.
After beachtime the day just got better when we got to see some precious babies we love.
Esmée with Mercy (one of Giving Hope’s hydrocephalus babies) our family has been praying for.
Praise the Lord that Mercy is doing much better!
Please pray for little Daniel.
He is one of the babies in need of fostering.
The other three are currently in the hospital.

RCE, Intl. reps treated us to our first taste of Chinese food in Haiti!

We are very excited about our new backyard!
Wanna come play?

Posted on

Swinging in the rain

It is rainy season in Haiti. The past two weeks have brought a good deal of rain. We have a leaky roof that reminds us of all those living under pieces of tin, tarp, and tents. We pray for those and count our blessings. We are missing our loved ones back home very much and dream about the day we will see them again…

…though circumstances have leaked into our lives that may prolong that day. 

We think about all our loved ones here in Haiti and that many of these will never ever leave this little island. 

We count our blessings once again. 

There is still much rubble all around us.
There is also much new construction, removal of trash, recycling efforts, and fewer tents. We are thankful we were able to see Haiti a few months after the earthquake so that we can share in the joy of how far she has come. 

When the rains come it is easy to forget how far we have come. 

We can stay inside, try to stop the leaks from coming and miserably endure…
or
…we can count our blessings, and go out and dance in the rain. 

We can sing in the rain with the joy built up in our hearts. 

We even often swing in the rain. 


And the rains came down and the floods came up,
And the rains came down and the floods came up,
And the rains came down and the floods came up, 
and the house on the rock stood firm.
Matthew 7:25

Posted on

Because He Lives…

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future…

There’s a place out there for us,
More than just a prayer or anything you’ve ever dreamed of.
So if you feel like giving up cause you don’t fit in down here,
Fear is crashing in, close your eyes and take my hand.

We can be the kings and queens of anything if we believe.
It’s written in the stars that shine above,
A world where you and I belong, where faith and love will keep us strong,
Exactly who we are is just enough, there’s a place for us,
there’s a place for us.

When the water meets the sky,
Where your heart is free and hope comes back to life,
When these broken hands are whole again,
We will find what we’ve been waiting for,
We were made for so much more

Narnia Theme Song “There’s a Place for Us”

The kids dressed up in their “Narnia costumes” on Palm Sunday and ran around the Quisqueya school campus shouting “for Narnia…and for Aslan!” I thought about Aslan…about how Christ suffered for us so that we can reign with Him. I thought about where our children are…where we are. 

Haiti. 

And the question we always get…”Is it safe?”

I think about the how and why of so many crazy/good reasons we are here and that the only explanation is that it’s only because of Him. The One who first loved us. 

And “No, He’s not safe. 

But He’s good. 

And He’s King”. 
-Chronicles of Narnia 

I was glad to be reminded of that this week because our weeks have been understatedly hard lately. So this was a really good week to intentionally focus on what Christ intentionally suffered for us at Calvary, and that it wasn’t just about the suffering. It was about hope. That Saturday when all hope seemed lost, hope soon came back to life! But it feels like we have been stuck in the Saturday before Resurrection Sunday for the past two years. Hope is not lost. Just deferred. And our hearts are sick. 


Waiting. Painfully waiting. 

Waiting and trusting. 
Trusting that in that place of pain we will find true fellowship in His sufferings
and the unexplainable joy that is found there. 

I recently read this quote written by a fellow Haiti dweller that totally resonated with my broken spirit. 


“…And as much as I hate that Jesus didn’t power up and come off the cross and “wow” people, or say to his disciples “now’s the time, grab your swords”, or do some spiritual jujitsu …. Once in a while I am grateful that our faith leaves space for Saturdays-the unanswered questions, the impossible hopes, the disappointment and frustration and sense of betrayal. If only for the fact that I can know I am not alone.  
We’re Saturday sorts of people.” 
-Sarah Dornbos


I think we’re Saturday sorts of people too. But we cling to Sunday. 

And so until…

“When the water meets the sky,

Where your heart is free and hope comes back to life,

When these broken hands are whole again,

We will find what we’ve been waiting for…”

Until then…

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” -Mt. 6:10

 Because He isn’t safe, but He’s good. Because He did not abandon us on that seemingly hopeless Saturday…nor any day since. Because He didn’t leave us alone in this life while waiting for the next. Because we know there is a place for us. Because hope is alive. Because the grave could not hold him. He has risen! He is alive and has given us abundant life.

And we know…

Life is worth the living just because He lives!


“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of you faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at that revelation of Jesus Christ”. 
1 Peter 1:3-7

Posted on

KOFAEL

KOFAEL [ko-fi-el]
(KOdinasyon FAmn Endepandan Pou Avansman Lakay)
Cordination of Independant Women for Advancement of the Home

What’s in a name?

I want to tell you all about KOFAEL. Let’s start with the name. In case it bothers you (as it bothered me at first and has seemingly bothered others who have already gone out of their way to point it out), the acronym KOFAEL only loosely follows the Haitian definition. We have decided not to make an acronym out of the English translation which would have begun with “COW…”. Thank goodness I was able to squash that idea by saying that the acronym COW representing a womens organization wouldn’t go over too well with English speakers! So let’s just roll with the Creole version! Loosely following and adapting is what Haitian Creole is all about. However, because I am an English major and prefer to at least loosely follow rules of grammar (and because we strive for a little professionalism), I double checked to make sure we were doing that with KOFAEL. Low and behold it isn’t just a Creole issue. Here’s what I found. “Some acronyms are formed from the first few letters of a word, instead of just the first letter. All initialisms are acronyms, but not all acronyms are initialisms.” Great. KOFAEL passes. No more issues there. But how did we choose the name? We had a list of potential names that went along with the purpose of the organization. KOFAEL was one of several names on the list that the women had suggested at Saturday meetings. These names were turned over to the ASSAIRES (social affairs office) with our application to become an official organization. Social affairs declared KOFAEL as the winner when the paperwork came back to us. We are official! If you understand Haiti even a little, gaining official status through a government office is often quite the ordeal. We are so thankful for the special guy who worked very hard to get this done. 

How did KOFAEL get started?

KOFAEL was birthed in an effort to help women affected by the January 12th, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Julienne Pierre, a young Haitian university student, began praying about a way to improve the lives of the women she knew would be most vulnerable after the earthquake destroyed their livelihood. She knew many of the women from her church, and from contacts at another church nearby. Her desire was to see these Haitian women come together as the body of Christ to help meet one anothers needs. Julienne began seeking out and visiting with women that were found to have the greatest need. She spent several months collecting data in order to gain knowlege as to where these women were before the earthquake and what they were doing there in contrast with where they are and what they are doing now.
Some of the paperwork collected on the KOFAEL women
Julienne began this process in January of 2011 (one year after the earthquake) when it became evident that promised progress to improve the lives of women like these was going to be tragically slow. The women were desperate. They needed hope to keep going and they needed it NOW. Julienne recruited Franz Osier to help. Frantz also has a huge heart for these women and others in severe poverty situations. He has devoted his life to serving those who are poor and oppressed. Frantz and Julienne don’t have much, but I have watched them give of everything they have because of their love for the Lord and people. I first met Frantz at an orphanage where he works as a pre-K teacher five 1/2 days per week. I know the pay isn’t much, but I’ve seen him spend it on others who have even less. Frantz is a talented young man and speaks four languages well. He has translated for us many times, has tutored us in our Creole lessons and now also tutors our girls in ESL after he finishes teaching at the orphanage each day. We have so enjoyed getting to know Frantz and have learned so much more about Haiti from him as well. If you have come to visit us in Haiti, you have probably met Frantz. He is part of the family now and has informed us that he might have to just move in with us next year after his roomate gets married. We are also plotting how we can bring Frantz back to the states with us for a few weeks so that he can share about KOFAEL and Haiti with others…which he can do so much better than me! 
Frantz and Julienne officially started meeting with the group of KOFAEL women collectively on June 18th, 2011 after collecting information about the women for six months. There was a school drive held October 5th, 201l to benefit the children of the KOFAELwomen. 
Some of the school supplies given by leaders to KOFAEL children on October 5, 2011
Presidential orders did not allow Haitian schools to commence until October in 2011.
We might call it a “drive” but really it was Frantz and Julienne that spent their own earnings to purchase the items for the children of KOFAEL women in order to give them a dose of hope that they would be able to send their children to school. Many are often inclined to just take care of themselves (and for some that is truly all they can do) in this survivalist society. What an encouragement to see two young people like Julienne and Frantz spending their free time and limited personal resources to care for many others. 
Smile of hope after receiving items for her children to use at school.
Frantz and Julienne asked me if I would come to the first November meeting to speak to the women of KOFAEL. Frantz used this as one of my Creole lesson assignments as my first public speaking engagement in Creole. I began to ask many questions about the KOFAEL womens organization and soon began to love these women too. 

Me, Julienne, and my friend Audrey who came to my first meeting with me serving refreshments

Frantz, Julienne and I began to discuss more concrete goals and direction for the future of KOFAEL and the paperwork process that remained to become an official organization in order to better serve the women. We sought wisdom from business professionals who have worked sucessfully in Haiti for decades and began to write a business plan for KOFAEL. We formed a board and got busy to complete the paperwork process for the organization. We included the women in decision making during meetings discussing potential options with them and listening to their critiques which told us which roads they had been down before and what they were for and against…basically what was going to fly and what wasn’t. We didn’t have much to start with but decided we needed to just start. So we started with prayer.

KOFAEL meetings always start with prayer request, praise, and worship.
The women gather for meetings 2 Saturdays per month.
They are required to be present at meetings to remain in the organization.

Next we started with the direction we felt the Lord was leading…with small business loans. The women of KOFAEL are hard workers. Each had her own small business before the earthquake that would provide for her family and pay for her children to go to school. Even though they were poor compared to other standards, they lived with dignity and contentment with the work of their hands. These women really just want to be able to achieve that dignity and contentment once again doing what they already know how to do well. For most of these women it looks like this.

This KOFAEL woman’s trade is to sell bananas.

She also sells things for a living.

In case you are wondering how in the world someone could provide for their family and pay to send their children to private school (there are no public schools in Haiti) by selling bananas and odds and ends on the Haitian street market, you are not alone. I have asked this question many, many times. I know it is difficult to comprehend, but the answer I always get is…”They really can!” I probably wouldn’t believe it if we didn’t personally know street vendors who have been selling things like sodas on the street for years and who never seem discontented, and couldn’t believe we didn’t own a television when they have two in their modest but functionable homes. 
We did throw around the idea of teaching the women a new trade (like making jewelry…but found some of the women actually do already make their own jewelry and sell that too), but that idea was met with much opposition as the women already felt strongly that they were skilled in their trades and didn’t want to start a new thing, just wanted to be able to do the thing they did before the earthquake. They only want to be able to continue to work and grow their business in order to improve the quality of life for their families…most of which are living in deplorable conditions among the thousands still in tent cities. 


So how can we help them?


The last thing my white American self wants to do is try to sweep in and “help” these brave, strong women who I respect so deeply. The last thing I want them to think is that I am going to bestow American blessings upon them to improve upon their lives I couldn’t imagine living. They asked after the first meeting if the blan (foreigner) would be back? I’ve come back and the women may be starting to trust me a little. Other than helping Frantz out with some of the paperwork costs when he comes up short with a deadline approaching, I have contributed very little other than time, counsel, and prayer. I’ve told the women that I will share their stories and that others around the world are now praying for them too. I’ve also encouraged them to trust the leadership of Frantz and Julienne because I’ve seen how hard Frantz and Julienne strive to help them and because I know how much they truly care and intercede on their behalf. I know some of them have asked when the blan is going to do something (because they are desperate) but we have asked them to be patient as we seek the Lord for the best way. We believe the best way to proceed is through small business loans. 

These are among the 18 selected for our first round of small business loans. Here they are filling out the paperwork and signing the contract agreements for receiving and paying back the loan.

Why small business loans?


When we first began to discuss that small business loans would probably be the best fit for this ministry, it was hard for me. It was hard mainly because Eric and I spent many years on the Dave Ramsey plan climbing our way out of financial debt and the word “loan” doesn’t sit well with us now. So it is hard to imagine how giving a loan to women already in slavery to poverty could possibly help them. The last thing we want to do is enslave them further. The next last thing we would want to do is to create dependency. So we started small with a very small 0% interest loan just to see how this would go. Frantz took out a loan himself that would provide 18 of the KOFAEL women with a small business loan equivalent to about $65 U.S. While this amount is more than these women make in a month, it is only a fraction of the $250 it would cost for purchases needed to fully re-start their small businesses. But $65 for 18 women was all we had, and we had to start somewhere. 

Julienne helping some of the women fill out the paperwork for their first small business loan. 

Frantz (standing) and explaining for the 15th time exactly how the loans will work.
The man seated is one of our helpers at meetings. 

How will the loans work?


The women will have 5 months to pay back the $65 loan they received in January 2012. They will not be charged interest on the loan, but are expected to fulfill their payment on time each month. They will use the money to purchase items for their small businesses. They need to show that they can do something with their little and be trusted to pay back their loans before they are given more. This is the agreement. 

Frantz handing out the loan money.

Lifting their loans in praise for this great provision.
I saw many tears of joy on this day.

What’s the next step?


February meeting came and all 18 women who had received the loans made their first payments! There are 40 women in the program and the 22 who did not receive loans have been waiting for their turn. We have set aside the money received from the first round of payments and are ready to use that to grant 10 more women their first $65 loans. Next month Frantz will need to save all the money from the payments to begin payback on the loan he took out in order to begin this process. We are praying for a way to provide beginner loans to the other 12 women. The women who have been coming to monthly meetings at KOFAEL the longest and the ones in the most dire need were the first to receive their loans. 


The first round of women will have paid back their loans in full by June. Our hope and prayer is to be able to provide them with a real business loan of $300 U.S. at this time. $300 x 40 women is $12,000. This is A LOT of money to Frantz, Julienne, and for our family. But we do not believe it is beyond our God, and we believe He cares deeply for these women. We have thoroughly discussed how this could possibly be accomplished and have come up with the following idea. We do not claim to be experts in this and are open to questions and better ideas. Here is our idea. 


40 individual ONE TIME sponsorships of $300 each raised for the women. $250 of this will be to start/improve her small business. The other $50 will be a gift to help her family and encourage her in her new start. The $250 sponsorship will not be a gift for the women, but another 0% interest loan they will pay back within 6 months time. However, it will be a “gift” to the ministry of KOFAEL as a whole. We will recycle the monthy payments made by the women to grant others loans and pay for the minimal operating costs of the ministry so that Julienne and Frantz can also make new starts in their own lives. Our operating costs are minimal, but we do have to pay partial rent on the small building used for meetings as well as continual paperwork fees for the organization. We also spend money on copies for the women, tap-taps (transportation), and drinks (sometimes snacks) for the women at meetings. We will cash flow the sponsorship money to keep KOFAEL going without taking out more loans or continually asking for more money. We will also hold a school supply drive once a year that will benefit the many children represented among the KOFAEL women. We want to continue to encourage the women in their hard work and make sure the children are able to stay in school. Sometimes expensive school supplies are the only thing keeping a child home from school and we see no good reason that this has to happen. We will gladly accept donations of school supplies, backpacks, and shoes for the children to be given out at the fall family meeting/party in August. 


How can you help?


Pray for the KOFAEL women and their families.
Pray about sponsoring 1 or more of the 40 women.
Share about these women with your friends and family.


Current Needs?


We are in need of a person that would have the talent and time to help us create a website or blog for KOFAEL. We have photos and bios on each of the women in the organization and information for the website. I can do the update post as they come for the website but I am looking for someone who can help with this project. If you are interested please contact me by e-mail at eeream@hotmail.com as soon as possible. 


Our other need is to raise awareness and sponsorship commitments before June comes. We are waiting to see what God will do in answering the fervent prayers of the KOFAEL women. Will you be part of that answered prayer that could truly change the life of a woman and her family?


Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please take a few more minutes to pray for these women and the future success of the KOFAEL ministry.


By His Grace,
Elisabeth

Posted on

The Latest News…long and overdue newsletter

Ministry Work

Eric teaches  7th, 8th, and 9th Bible classes at Quisqueya Christian School and is also in charge of weekly chapel services. He has 75 students that attend his classes and these keep him quite busy along with his 9th grade discipleship group. 
Students in one of Eric’s classes performing Walk Through the Old Testament
A group of 20 year old college guys have sought Eric out on a weekly basis for discipleship as well. We can count on them to show up on our doorstep each Friday night. They attend an English speaking college nearby where Eric has been invited to speak a few times and has been asked to come as often as possible and share whatever he wishes! These young men desire to grow in their relationship with the Lord and in their English fluency. We use God’s Word to accomplish both! This is also another opportunity for Creole practice in addition to Eric’s Creole class three nights per week. He is now in level 3 and our Haitian friends often comment on how good his Creole is in such a short amount of time!
Elisabeth with 4 of the KOFAEL women
Elisabeth keeps busy attending to the needs of family, hosting all our many houseguests, visiting orphanages and nearby ministries often, subbing and volunteering at school, taking Creole lessons, and working with a grassroots women’s organization called KOFAEL. This ministry seeking to help women affected by the earthquake was started one year ago by two Haitian friends we have come to trust and love. KOFAEL provides small business loans to these women so they can purchase the goods for their little businesses in order to provide for their families and send their children to school. We are in the beginning stages of helping to get KOFAEL off the ground. Elisabeth serves as the only American on the Haitian board for this ministry. Her role is primarily to provide direction, facilitate meetings with those in Haiti who can give sound advice in business matters, help with the translation of documents in English, work on a KOFAEL blog, raise awareness and support, and attend monthly meetings with the women. These women are primarily older women whose husbands are physically incapable of working, widows, and single mothers whose already meager livelihoods were destroyed by the earthquake and who have since been living in tent cities surviving on faith from day to day. It has been a blessing to watch how even the small efforts of KOFAEL have brought them hope and encouragement. We pray that God opens the doors to be able to bless these women with greater sustenance in the coming months.
KOFAEL women praising the Lord for the loans 18 of them received in January.



Family Life
Ethan and his classmate friends
Ethan is our 7 year old 2nd grader who has made an easy adjustment to life in Haiti. Ethan’s favorite thing about living in Haiti is “making lots of new friends”. Ethan has made many new friends from all over the world on the campus of Quisqueya Christian School. He is a little more reserved off campus and is very sensitive to what he sees beyond our security gate. Ethan watches intently, ponders, and asks a lot of “why’s” about other children that do not have the opportunity and privileges that he and his classmates do. Ethan sees and processes these things with the personally painful knowledge that “other children” include his own Haitian sisters whom he loves dearly and prays for daily. Ethan misses his school and friends back in TX and is looking forward to our visit in the summer months. But when asked what other things were his favorites about living in Haiti he said, “that we get to be here for such a long time”. We are thankful that our entire family considers it a blessing to be here and we pray that doors will continue to open for us to be in Haiti for “such a long time”. 
Evan attraction is inevitable wherever he goes.
Evan Daniel, our uninhibited 5 year old (whom we had very little concern about making the transition to Haiti life) says his favorite thing about living in Haiti is “going to school”. Evan started Kindergarten the morning after we arrived in Haiti so he naturally integrates his first school experiences with his first Haiti experiences. Evan preferred to use the outdoor restroom 50% of the time back in TX, and the word “stranger” has never held a lot of weight with him (He’s A LOT like his daddy). 

These and the fact that potential consequences of “wandering off” don’t hold a lot of weight with him either held the bulk of our concern. Elisabeth was very thankful that everyone who understood where we would be living kept asking about how we would cope with “living on a compound”. She would then tell them that a compound is exactly where we need to be (referring to Eric and Evan’s wandering habits)! Our campus compound gives the boys (all 3 of them) the freedom to wander and explore safely and has been a tremendous blessing during our first year of transition. We are also thankful that our campus housing is not situated out in boonies with nothing else around but is right off one of the main streets in the largest city and capital Port au Prince. This allows many ministry opportunities both inside and outside our campus walls. Eric especially makes the most of these opportunities and can often be found outside the gate practicing his Creole gospel with his “machan” (vendor) friends. We are thankful these friendships provide occasions for Creole practice, but realize they also have provided drinking too many cokes.
Eric with his buddies outside our gate!
In return for Creole lessons, Eric keeps them in the coke business. 

Our girls also love to venture outside the gate (though they are never permitted to do so without mom or dad). They love to teach mom all about Haitian street shopping, but mostly they just love feeling free. FYI: (just in case you have recently been introduced to our family) We have been in the process of adopting Elita Marguerite (13) and Esmée (9) from an orphanage in Haiti since February 2010. 
Our Haitian Princesses
Our girls are what first brought us to Haiti opening our eyes and several trips later opening doors for us to move here.  We have cherished precious time spent with our Haiti girls in the past two years and especially the past 5 months. We long for the day that they are permanently in our home and we believe that day will be here very soon! We recently received word that we have an Adoption Decree (meaning that the girls have been legally adopted in Haiti). We are now awaiting for U.S permission to issue the passports and visas. Once the visas are issued we will need to return to the states (since our adoption process took place in the states) and wait for documentation of U.S. citizenship. We are praying that the visas will be issued around the same time that school lets out for the summer months. Should the visas be issued before this time, Elisabeth will have to return to the states with the girls while Eric and the boys complete their teaching/school responsibilities at Quisqueya. We look forward to our return in the summer months in order to complete U.S. adoption paperwork, visit family and friends and Lord willing raise some needed support for our return to Haiti in August.
We have a wonderful church family and abundance of friends here at Quisqueya and surrounding ministries. We have visited several churches nearby several times (we can’t travel far because we usually lack a vehicle), and after 5 months have settled into our growing little Haiti Home Fellowship Church. It doesn’t really have a name but we’ve heard it called that before. It also isn’t really a home church since we don’t meet in a house but at the World Relief headquarters for Sunday service. However, it does feel like we are home when we are there and we are very blessed to be a part of this body.
We do miss family and friends back in the states, but loneliness hasn’t exactly been an issue. In fact, we usually embrace the opposite. Our small house is almost always fully occupied and on the rare occasion it’s not, someone is usually knocking.  We’ve enjoyed hosting many Haiti visitors on a consistent basis (some for a few days, some for a few weeks) since our arrival in September.  We welcome these opportunities to provide hospitality, fellowship, and for others to see another side of life in Haiti. We especially welcome adoptive families visiting their children in Haiti. We have prayed about ways we can give to others adoptions and this is one way we can do this to offset their cost. The long road to a completed adoption in Haiti is mostly a heartbreaking one. We pray for opportunities to provide as much encouragement as possible for fellow adoptive families along the way.

Needs

We praise the Lord for meeting our basic needs thus far and pray for continued provision. Living in Haiti is extremely expensive yet the Lord has provided for us to maintain a very low budget for the time being. However, we are currently short $1,000 per month of our projected needs. We have been able to keep going (praise God for help from family and the sale of Eric’s car back in TX), but have now fallen behind financially the past two months.
Our tight finances will not allow us to consider the purchase of a vehicle at this time, but the need remains. We have been able to use (paying $1 per mile) the school vehicles on occasion and get rides with generous friends the past 5 months. We know the time is drawing near that we will need to have our own ride (and get to be a blessing to others who don’t have one). 
Vehicles are expensive but do not depreciate in Haiti. We have an opportunity to purchase the vehicle of friends leaving Haiti in June. They have a late 90’s model Nissan Safari in good condition, an automatic with 4WD that seats 9-10 and runs on diesel. This is exactly what we need! It would be very difficult and time consuming for us to go through the process of finding another vehicle like this that would meet our needs and we would love to be able to help our friends out by buying it from them!  The cost to purchase this vehicle is around $15,000. We hope to raise this money by June for purchase and so that we can have the summer months to secure the paperwork and insurance documents needed as well (which can also be a time consuming process).
Here is a picture of the vehicle we are hoping to raise the money and purchase in the next 5 months.
It has two rows of bench seats in the very back which allows for up to 6 more passengers.

Prayer request and praise reports

Our greatest heartache and fervent prayer is that the Lord would allow/make a way for our Haitian daughters to leave the orphanage and live with us full time.

We ask that you continue to pray for continued adoption progress for us and for many friends whose paperwork is simply “stuck” in this broken system. Many, many children we know and love are simply waiting with no end in sight. Please pray for these children and their adoptive families to not loose heart or hope during these difficult days.

Pray for the hearts of our Quisqueya students to continue to turn toward spiritual things. Pray that these future leaders will be well equipped, one day leading the country of Haiti in a way that honors the Lord and breaks the cycle of slavery that has been the tragic inheritance of this beautiful land destroyed by greed and corruption.

Pray for the 40 women (representing many children) of KOFAEL. Pray for wisdom in how to proceed in helping them rebuild their lives and for hope and encouragement to reach their suffering hearts.

We praise the Lord and continue in prayer for continued health and opportunities to share the gospel and show hospitality to our Haitian friends and foreigners visiting Haiti.

We praise the Lord for financial provisions and pray for God to lead others to come alongside us for support in 2012.

We praise God for adoption progress and for the blessing of being able to bond with our girls in their own culture, learn more about their country, their language, and in turn understand our Haitian daughters so much better.

Praising the Lord for new renters for our house in TX! Our friends that were previously renting recently had job relocation and told us they would have to move out. A dear friend contacted us (before we even thought about advertising) and said she knew someone that might need to rent our furnished house until at least the summer. God provided!
____________________________
Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we seek to serve Him in Haiti! It is always a blessing to hear how the Lord is working in your lives as well! If you would like to contact us with questions, comments, news, and prayer request of your own, please do so! Our contact information link is listed on the right side of this blog as well as our RCE International mission support info.

Much love from Haiti,
The Ream Family