Fleeting Time

Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.  I must keep reminding myself of this otherwise, I'll allow my thoughts to race way ahead of where we are and miss today.


It's nice being home.  The pace is different and it's good.  I'm enjoying times with the Lord and good fellowship with friends. 
The church services we've been in have been wonderful, meaningful. We haven't been speaking, simply participating as part of the Body and enjoying the Lord.  Picture of ice cream shop in St Marc

 
Our guys in Haiti, Kevin and Marko have patched the hole that was knocked through the block in the window on the first floor by whomever.  We thought it was a boy but Kevin isn't sure it could have been and the hole was large enough for him to get through (although  he didn't go in).  So, we still don't know what was taken.  I'm very thankful we'd planned our summer they way did.  We need to get back and solve this mystery.

Interesting note.  We live (in WV) near a railroad track.  Last night as the train went by (even though I heard the whistle and knew it was there) the bed began to vibrate a little.  My thoughts immediately went to the quake (after shocks were usually at night).  I laid there fully aware of what was causing the vibration and wanted it to stop.  It was a bit strange but as Gary said, "The impact of what happened made a deeper mark than we realized." 

We will attend a church in Quaker City, Ohio, tomorrow.  It will be nice to see friends there.  Tonight we are going to see Ezra and Audrey, play and sing at a praise and worship festival, at the church where they were married.  That should be a treat for this mom, anyway. 

If you can, get a copy of The Meal that Heals, by Perry Stone.  It is the most informative book on communion I've ever read and taking daily communion is  powerful.

Blessings to you today!

I'm a truly blessed woman. God has been so good to me!

Nicholas Beaty

We just had the best visit with the Beaty family of St Mary's WV.  Nicolas, their 13 year old son, was moved by seeing all the devastation in Haiti after the earthquake and decided to do something.  He started putting jars in different business locations, and as he worked people got involved. A Tshirt company donated T's to sell at a benefit, the school got involved, the bank helped by giving him an account.  It was a fantastic effort all generated by a teenage boy who was moved by compassion to do something.  Thank you Nicolas!  I took pictures of the album in which they collected all the ads, articles, letters to him thanking him for doing this.

Pray Blessing on this Union

Mr and Mrs Ezra John Hamilton.  Ezra and Audrey had a lovely wedding, Gary did an excellent job with the ceremony.  Everyone rejoiced over this union.  They are on their honeymoon in Canaan Valley, WV.  
Since the wedding, we've had a chance to sleep a little later (not actually, the internal clock gets me up), but it's nice to have the wedding over with. I can't imagine how the Yakopin family feels. They certainly did a lot of work.  Planning and carrying out the plans for an event like a wedding is tremendous.  God is planning a wedding as well and he's been working on it and us for a long time.

We are waiting a visit from a boy who raised money for Haiti by putting jars in stores.  He lives out of town and will be here shortly.  It's so encouraging to hear that children want to help world situations.  It was his idea and he followed through on it. We are blessed to be here to receive the gift!

We got a message from Haiti saying our house had been broken in to.  After many messages, it turns out to be a young boy.  He got in the yard somehow, can't figure that out because no one else has been able to get in the yard...over the wall....and if he came across the roof, getting down from the roof would be a feat.  But, Marko managed to get into the yard, six foot tall, strong, agile.  He saw that the louvered blocks in a window close to the ground in the back was knocked out, a small hole but big enough for a skinny kid to get through.  Once the child got in, he was not able to get out through any door as they are absolutely secured.  So, he had to go back through the little hole he made in the window.  A laptop computer could not fit through it.  Marko could see that he tried to get it through.  He probably got some little things and we doubt he went through the whole house.  But, we'll find out when we return.  The mother has been visited by someone.  She's frightened that her son may go to jail.  We pray and ask you to pray that this boy will completely turn around and become what the Lord has planned for his life.  

I was going to put videos on here (easier to do in the States) but there is no icon for such.  So, if you are on FB you can see them there.  Have a blessed day.

The Big Day is Here.....Ezra and Audrey's Wedding Day

Reading a new book, Her Mother's Hope by  Francine Rivers.  Anytime a new book comes out, I grab it because her stories grab me!

Had wedding rehearsal yesterday, all went well, but now I can't find the camera thing you use to unload the pictures.  Always something to prevent smooth sailing when you have the time to do what you aim to do.

We are looking forward to this afternoon as Ezra and Audrey wed.  He is sure one happy boy!  (man).   And, he's going to cry, I know it.  He almost cried at the rehearsal.  I told Gary, Ezra doesn't just shed a tear he sobs.  Oh, Lord help him to not sob.  It's an emotional release, of course, and it shows his heart.  We had a wedding in Haiti some time ago, and the groom cried.  Very unusual in Haiti.

Our grandson is going to Haiti with us end of June.  This is going to be an experience, not only for him, but us. First family member to join us on the field.  Aaron is 13, so the first thing he'll miss is MacDonalds, and after that, it'll be everything else.  He will have Olivie and Junior to play with...oh no! another one skating down the hall!  It'll be good.  We believe this will impact his life and steer him in a positive direction to want to do his school work and most of all, choose to serve the Lord.

Better get my wedding dress ironed.  

Christy

We are back in the States.  Yay!!!!  Both flights were good.  The lay over in Ft Lauderdale was long but now I have a Ft Lauderdale sweatshirt---we froze during the seven hour wait.  Steph, Emily and Sarah, greeted us at the airport, and I have to say, the ride home was more than a grandmother could ask.  In the back seat with both girls, simply wanting to be close.  How wonderful is that?  Conversation and laughter until about midnight made the long wait for our Chicago flight worth it.

While flying and sitting, I dug in to finish the book Christy.  If you've never read it, please do.  I was fascinated at how the lives of mountain people in TN, parrot the lives of those we minister in Haiti.  The superstitions, lack of medical care, lack of education, the way funerals are conducted, revenge battles, struggle to bring truth--all of it reminded me of Haiti. 

One time I took a picture of a little child with a necklace around his neck.  Beads around, center a small bone from a hogs head.  Voudou.  I hung it on the bulletin board at our church in WV.  The young woman who cleaned our church had a background much like those in the Christy book.  One day she approached me saying, "I know that bone!"  I didn't know what she was talking about until she took me to the picture and pointed to the necklace on the little child.  She went on to say she had a necklace just like that one pictured.  Of course, I asked her to bring it to me which she did. She told  me her grandmother made them for all the children in the family.   It was the same necklace.  The mystery remains as to how a family in the hills of WV could have the same type necklace as those in the villages of Haiti.  There is a thread that runs among the poor of the world that fascinates me and reading Christy made it even more so.  I took that necklace to Haiti and all the Haitians were awestruck when I told them I'd gotten it in the US from a white American who's grandmother made them for the children. 

Out with my friend Peggy today, tomorrow heading east, wedding date is about here.  My youngest son getting married.  I wonder if what I'm feeling was felt by my mother-in-law when Gary married me?  I'm looking forward to a new daughter-in-law and sharing in their joys and sorrows for as long as the Lord allows me to remain on the earth, but of course, I'm praying against sorrows.  We were at a Haitian wedding last week as we witnessed Daniel''s marriage.  It sure  was  hot, doubt we experience that kind of heat next Sat.

More about the comparisons of the two weddings next week.  

Touch Ministries Haiti

Touch Ministries Haiti: "Photos by carolyn, Sep 21, 2008"

Bible School Graduation 2010

Despite the earthquake, our third year Bible school class graduated.  It was a great day, Saturday, May 29th. On Sunday, the first year students at Pastor Cesar's IAM Bible school got their certificates.