Shirts are here!

We have t-shirts available for $10. All proceeds will benefit getting Guerryg home!

Colton is leaving for Galveston!

Our oldest, Colton, is leaving today for his first mission trip! They will be there all week working to restore damages caused by Hurricane Ike. I'm so proud of him.

Joseph is in Brazil

Joseph, Courtney and Tim made it safe and sound to Brazil afer a delayed flight out of DFW and then a 9 hour flight from Miami. Once they landed, they were faced with a 9 hour bus ride to the first town. Joseph has broadened his eating habits! :) For those of you that know him well, he is a very picky eater. He ate pizza topped with hard-boiled eggs one night! I'm not picky and even I would not eat that! Please keep praying for well bodies, safety and most of all the spreading of God's word!

Brazil

Joseph will be leaving for Brazil on July 16 with other members of our church: Courtney Poole, Tim Hale and Jairo Campos. Please keep all of these men in your prayers as well as members from other churches that will be on this trip.

We have been called to our most challenging mission thus far...

While I was in Haiti, I texted a couple of pictures of a baby boy to Joseph. He wanted to know what his name was, but I didn't know. He light-heartedly replied, "we'll just call him Hamilton." (we love Josh Hamilton in our house) A day or so later, I found out his name was Guerry H. The baseball in me immediately said, "we can name him Guerryg Hamilton. Although it is not the correct spelling of Gehrig (Lou Gehrig), it was close enough and we would not be completely changing his original spelling. The H would stand for Hamilton. It was all trivial, really. I was getting attached to a baby that I probably couldn't have. Holley and I had already been told earlier in the week that we probably were not old enough. Apparently you had to be 35 and I figured he was probably claimed anyway. The day before we left, I went to hold him one last time. I cried all the way to the airport while texting Joseph. He had to know how heavy this was on my heart. When I got home, we discussed Guerry and what it would take to adopt him. I called Dr. Bernard in Haiti to find out if we would be able to adopt even if we were not 35. Because, we have been married for at least 8 years, Dr. Bernard said it could happen. I let him know that I felt like God drew me to Guerry and wanted to know if we could somehow claim him before the process even started. To my surprise, we could claim him! It ends up costing a little more but I felt like this was the child God placed on my heart. SO WHAT NOW... We have a very long journey ahead of us in order to get Guerryg home. There is alot of paperwork involved and just like any other mission we have to come up with the money to make it happen. Please keep us in your prayers!

FBC Midlothian Team

We all gathered on the last night after worship to have a group picture made. We would be leaving bright and early the next day.

And more baby time

This was the last day with the babies.

Church in Haiti

The people of Haiti will walk for miles in their nicest clothes to worship God for hours. We had the opportunity to worship at the church Dr. Bernard attends. Brent led the service and Dr. Bernard translated into Creole. Earlier in the week, during our evening worship, we learned the creole version of Open the Eyes of My Heart and we sang it in church on Sunday.

Baptist Mission

We took a day off to visit the Baptist Mission. They have a zoo, a museum and a little park.

Building Picnic Tables

Brent Gambrell used to take his teams to Leogane but that facility was destroyed in the earthquake. He partnered up with Dr. Bernard, the owner of New Life Link Orphange and is now taking his teams to Dr. Bernard's guest home. There is still alot to be done to prepare the guest home for these large teams. Having plenty of dining space for everyone was one thing that had to be resolved.

Earthquake Devastation

There are still crumbled buildings and rubble everywhere. Many people live in what they refer to as tent cities.

Around Port Au Prince

Swimming with the kids

Cleaning at the guest house

After cleaning, we hung out by the pool :)

For those who know me well, this was right up my alley. A group had just left that morning and Brent wanted us to help the house staff "flip" the house. We changed sheets and cleaned rooms, and then we helped wash sheets...by hand!

Village of Canez

After we all got back, the guys stacked the rice and the people lined up. Brent let everyone know that this was a blessing from God.

While we waited for all the groups to get back, we played with the kids. They loved having their picture made and then being able to see it.

This little guy stayed attached to Holley's finger while we were walking from hut to hut.

The huts that we visited were right on the water. But, because it is part salt water, they can't drink it. They have water right in front of them but have to walk miles to get water they can drink.

After we gave them the bag, we would ask each person if they had been converted (or what we commonly refer to as being saved). Everyone that our group visited had already been converted and attended church. We gave each person a keychain to use as a tool to help explain salvation to other people.

We all divided into groups with a translator and went to visit each home. We presented them with a family bag, one ticket for a 50 lb bag of rice (food for a month) and a ticket to be seen in the clinic.

When we got down to the village, the guys set up a tarp between the bus and the tap-tap to provide shade for the clinic.

Once we came off the main road and made our way to the village, we found ourselves in the midst of a dessert. A dessert that had a view of the mountains that separate Haiti from the Dominican Republic along with a huge body of fresh and salt water combined. It was absolutely beautiful!