A Testimony of His Care and Provision!

 In my last few posts I shared with you all that we were praying for a house, job, school, and church for our family to settle down. We have been praying and knocking on many doors, trying to find God's will for our family. Last I blogged on here, we had been told that we could stay in the house that has been such a blessing to us in Gas City, IN. We were thankful and began to unpack, yet we were concerned about a job and school. After putting in several apps and receiving no calls, last Friday we received a FB message from some acquaintances in Salsibury, NC. They told us about a house they had for rent and a possible job, school, and church. After praying, we felt that God had opened this door and when the money was provided for the gas expense it was confirmation and we made the trip to NC. Within 2 days of arriving here, Danny has been hired for a full time job working for a Christian man who own a property management company. Danny will be his maintenance guy. We have a good sized house to rent with a front and back porch. There is a wonderful school just down the road, with a church around the corner. It is a beautiful neighborhood with several christian families with children. God has been faithful to answer every request!
  
   As you can imagine, we have mixed emotions, we will be very sad to leave our church, family and friends in Gas City. We are so thankful for the time God gave us there! He has truly used each one of them to be a blessing in our lives as we have gone thru this hard transition time! We will be saying some very hard goodbyes next weekend as we move. Yet, we want to focus on the good times ahead and how God has seen fit to bless us once again! We know that several of you have been praying for us that we would find what God wants for us and we have felt His seal of approval and leadership as He has guided us to North Carolina. We love being His children and have experienced once again that He will never forsake us!
                                                     Our new home!

     
                                       

Caleb turns six and we have a place to live

Thanking God today for the 4th little blessing He has given us! Our little Mr. is six today! He has been asking for days now.."How long till my birthday?" ;o)
  When we look back on this past year and how far we have come from his fall and concussion on the 12 of July last year, we stand amazed at how God has helped, healed and touched him thru all the scary tests, waiting and his diagnosis of NF1. Today, Caleb is a lively bundle of energy who loves to ask lots of questions (hard ones at times), play games, do whatever big brother is doing, and snuggle with his raggedy, torn, but-much-loved 'B'. He keeps us on our toes and I know God was not making a mistake when He made Caleb our last child..whew! He plain wears me out at times! We love him so much and do not know what we would do without him! He completes our family and we are celebrating him today :o) We are in the middle of VBS at our church and so we made lots of fun cupcakes with gummy bears and sour patch kids on top to share. We have a lot going on right now so we will have a party for him later.
  Last blog post I shared that we were packing to move but did not know where. Well, God did! He worked it out that we have been offered more time in the house we are staying in. Victory Acres has another house that they feel will be better suited for the Nehemiah Project and have graciously offered to continue renting to us. We are still concerned about schooling and are continuing to pray for God's direction. Danny has applied for a good position at a local college and we are praying for God's will to be done. We are happy to be able to stay at 'our' church and looking forward to what God has in store for our family. Next week we will be going to Danville Bible Methodist church and teaching a VBS for them. Appreciate your prayers as we attempt to teach the boys and girls about how to be good Soldiers of the Cross and we are praying that some of them will want to 'enlist' in His army and give their hearts and lives to Jesus!
 The next week we will be going to Heartland Bible Methodist Youth Camp. Becca and Ben will be campers and we will be helping out wherever needed. Looking forward to a fun week!

Visit our Facebook page to see pics of his birthday photo shoot.
https://www.facebook.com/dannynlizhirschyf/media_set?set=a.751010808278233.1073741869.100001079620051&type=1

 

 

Learning to wait and leaning on Him

I realize that it has been two months since I last up-dated this. We have came to the end of the time to live in the Nehemiah House here in Gas City, IN. We are very thankful for the huge blessing it has been and really appreciate Victory Acres for renting it to us. We have enjoyed attending Community Bible Methodist and making and strengthening wonderful friendships here. Living here has truly been a positive experience for our family and we have made lasting memories!
  We really need your prayers as we are praying and trying to figure out what and where God wants us. After much discussion and prayer, we have came to the conclusion that we really need to put our children in a good, Christian school. We have had 2 very unstable years of homeschooling with all the travel, sickness and moving around that we feel they need a stable school environment. Unfortunately, there is no school here that we are interested in sending our kids. We have also decided that after being blessed to spend a wonderful week at Heartland Bible Methodist camp, where I grew up, that we want to keep our family in the Bible Methodist connection. We love the Bible Methodist and feel at home with the people and churches and we want our children to stay in this wonderful circle of influence. We also would really like to stay in ministry. To know that we are helping in some way to teach, love and mentor people for God's Kingdom is our goal.
  We have looked for housing around here and have ran into a few problems. First of all, even though we are virtually debt free, because we have been out of the country and have only had a steady job for 6 months, our credit is too low to get financing on anything. We were blessed to go to Florida and pick up the rest of our household things that have been in storage for over a yr., but the trip took everything we had financially and we do not have a nest egg to use for renting a house as most people require a deposit. We have come to the conclusion that we need a job that furnishes a house and schooling for our kids, so we have looked for and applied for jobs as maintenance/groundskeeper and are waiting to hear back from a few of them.
  At this point, we are planning on moving out this weekend, renting a storage unit and living in our camper. We truly feel God has a plan and ultimately we want it to be HIS plan and not ours. So we will continue to wait and trust in Him and His timing. When we were in Haiti, we were so happy and at peace because we KNEW it was where He wanted us, even though the living conditions were less than ideal and everything was different and new to us. We desire to have and feel that same peace again as we pray for His direction. A dear pastor of ours once told us that when you are waiting on God, that you are in the center of His will at that time for your life. This thought and God's amazing strength and grace keeps us sane! So that is what is going on with us. Thank-you for your prayers!

Our camper that we are thankful we have!

Abigail turned 10 on May 24th so we now have 3 kiddos in the double digits! We had a fun, little party for her with a Tangled party theme. I made her a cake with a tower on it with Rapunzel's hair hanging out of it. She loved it!

 

Taking it one step at a time...

 Many of you have sent us personal facebook messages, emails and phone calls letting us know that you are thinking and praying for us during this time of transition. Thank-you!! Your kind words and support have meant more to us than we can ever let you know! The decision to not go back to Haiti was not made lightly and was an even harder decision to make than it was to go. Please understand that God directed both decisions and we have a sweet peace that we are in His will by NOT going back at this time.

  Does that mean that it has made things any easier? NO! I can not count how many buckets of tears I have, personally, shed over this decision. Some days it really hits me that we are not going to get to live in the house that we have been working on for a long time. The house, that we had envisioned how we would decorate each room, entertain work teams, cook yummy Haitian meals in the kitchen, and live together in as a family. I think of each child at the compound and the relationship that God helped us to form with them. It hurts to realize that we will not be there to encourage and love them as they continue to grow to adulthood. Each one of them are so special! I think of Pastor & Madame Dominique and how much they love God and share what they have with others. Madame and I became fairly close, considering the language and cultural barrier. She was so sweet to find little things for me at the open market when I had mentioned that I was needing a new hat to keep the sun off my head, or some flip flops for the shower. One time I told her I would like a plastic tablecloth and she came back from market with one and a very nice linen one as well. She loved to buy conips (a Spanish lime) for Caleb and would have a big smile on her face as she called to him to come and see what she had for him. She loved Caleb and spoiled him rotten! She even had a little teacup that she used for his drinks at meals. The cup had a fish on it and Caleb loved it and felt very special when she served his tea in it :o) Yes, I miss her sweet, quiet ways and her amazing cooking. The last night we spent at Grande Riviere before flying back to the States last October was a special one and it is even more special as we realize it was our last time with these dear friends. Madame fried plantain chips for us and we got out our collection of flavored teabags and brewed some water. The boys enjoyed tasting the different flavored teas and we sat around eating, drinking and visiting. When we were finished there were some teabags left and I told Madame she could have them to enjoy. Her face lit up and she replied, "Merci, Madame Danny!" 
   It is not an easy thing to think you know how your life is going to go for the next two years and then suddenly to have God reveal to you that the way you thought things were going to go is not part of His plan at all. Even though, we do not understand why He told us to stay in the States, we choose to TRUST that He knows what is best. I am thankful that our Heavenly Father sees the BIG picture of our lives and knows what is best for us. I am thankful that He is able to be trusted and his track record has no failures! We are so thankful for the short time He allowed us to be a small part of the orphanage in GR and we will always cherish our time there. Well, maybe not the part with the huge spiders, mice and crowing roosters! ;o)
 Please keep the orphanage in your prayers and that God would call someone really special to live and serve there. Please keep us in your prayers as we pray and attempt to discover what God has for us. We plan to serve Him in whatever capacity He has for us and we are open to His leading wherever that may be.
 Below are a few of the memories:

How God is leading us...

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We want each of you to know how much we have appreciated your prayers and support as our family endeavored to follow God’s calling. It has been a privilege and honor to follow Him as He lead us to Haiti. We thank God for the help He gave in allowing our family to reach out and minister to the Haitians. He put a special place in our hearts for Haiti, and especially Hope International Missions’ orphanage in Grande Riviere.

When we returned to the US last October, we fully anticipated going back to Haiti in January. As most of you know, two of our children had some serious medical issues requiring surgery and testing in the first part of January that kept us here. God helped and healed. As we began to make return plans for March, we felt a check in our spirits, and God clearly asked us to wait. We earnestly sought His will through fasting, counsel, and prayer. To our surprise, God began changing our awareness of His plans for our family. As certain as we were in 2010 that God had called us to Haiti, we now feel with a peaceful certainly that He has released us from that same call. Although our broken hearts have shed many tears, we feel that for our family to return to Haiti would be out of God’s will. Our main goal in this life is to stay in the center of his will as we know that is the best place for any Christian to be.

We have shared this with our director and Hope International Missions. They support us in our decision. We are very appreciative and thankful for their support and prayers. Please keep the future of the orphanage in your prayers that God would call more workers to this harvest field. We appreciate your continued prayers as we go through this transition time. We plan to follow wherever God’s call may lead.

Satisfied Serving Him,

Danny, Liz, Rebecca, Benjamin, Abigail, and Caleb Flowers

Up-date! ;o)

 Dear Friends and Supporters,

 Hello! We are sending out this up-date to thank all of you for your faithful, monthly support for our family and to give you an up-date. We thank God for helping us thru language school last summer in Carrefour, Haiti. God was faithful to help us with beginning to understand and learn Creole. As most of you know, our youngest son, Caleb suffered a terrible fall and concussion while we were there. This resulted in troubling MRI results that led us back to the States to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. When we returned to the States last October, we had no idea the long, scary journey that was before us. Along that journey we found out that Caleb, has a degenerative nerve disease called Neurofibromatosis (NF1). We went thru a series of tests to see how the disease is progressing and as we waited for the test results, we have asked you to help us pray for God’s touch and perfect will. God has answered and at this time Caleb has a very mild form and is doing well. His doctor’s have cleared him to return to Haiti as long as we keep the disease monitored with yearly check-ups. Praise the Lord!

  God has also helped us to get our children’s passports renewed and we still feel the need and call to serve in Grande Riviere du Nord, Haiti. We are preparing to return in April, Lord willing. God has put it on a generous donor’s heart to give the finances for our airfare and we praise the Lord that part is covered! However, we have noticed a serious drop in our monthly support the last few months. We need this to come back up in order for our family to be able to live in Haiti. (Budget: $2,500 a month) We also need the finances to pay for shipping over the other half of our things. Missionary Flights charges about $1.60 a lb for everything shipped and we have about 1600 lbs that we need to ship over. ($2,500)  We are also trusting God to supply traveling expenses from IN to FL.  Thank-you for helping us pray about these important needs!

 We really appreciate your prayers and support as we continue to follow in His footsteps. God is so good and faithful and it is a joy to serve Him and go where he leads!

 

Satisfied Serving Him!

Your Haiti missionaries with Hope International Missions

Danny, Liz, Rebecca, Benjamin, Abigail and Caleb Flowers

Test results: Normal! On to Haiti!

 Yes, you read the title correctly, Caleb's test results from Riley have all came back 'normal'. The endocrinologist feels that there is no need to be worried at this point in time. He has been released to go back to Haiti :o) We will plan on yearly MRI's and eye exams to monitor his NF1. We want to thank each and everyone of you for your prayers! It has been a scary, deep valley that we have went thru since Caleb's accident, yet, we can look back and see how God has orchestrated events and circumstances for our good and His glory! Our hearts are full of praise to Him and we  stand amazed at His watch care and protection!
  We are still staying here in Gas City, counting the many blessings that God has given us, from a fantastic church family at Community Bible Methodist that have encouraged, prayed for and supported us to making and re-newing special friendships. We have truly cherished this time and now we are beginning to get back into 'Haiti Preparation' mode. We are praying and are asking you to help us pray that God will give us clear direction on a return date to Haiti. In the next few months, two major holidays for Haiti are celebrated. During these holidays, voodoo parades and Raa-raa bands are prevalent. Moving to Haiti during this time could cause a lot of problems, especially if the streets are blocked. Another issue to take into consideration is our un-finished house. We are praying about taking another team in to finish it up before we move in. If you know of someone or feel it on your heart to be part of that team in the next few months then send us an email.  flowersinhaiti@gmail.com

  God continues to re-new the excitement, passion and call on our hearts to get back to Haiti and we are ready and willing to go as soon as He opens the doors. Thank-you for helping us pray!


 Below are a few pics of our last few weeks here. Our girls had a sweet Tea Party with their new friends, we celebrated Danny's 40th birthday with a Surprise party for him and we hosted a fun sleepover all in the middle of getting LOTS more snow! And we have all been enjoying getting to know our new neice/cousin, Miss Arya. She is such a sweetie and we had fun taking pics of her and her cousins when her and her mom came to visit ;o)  Enjoy the pics!