Share Count Up-date and Special Prayer Request

 We are so happy to let you all know that we have gotten in more shares and only have 16 to go! It has been fun to watch them come in and we have no doubt that God will bring in the remaining 16 as we continue to get closer to Haiti :o)
  Two weeks ago our family got to enjoy IHC in Dayton, OH and we loved getting to see a lot of YOU! We appreciate you all so much for how you have supported us with your prayers and investments into God's ministry in Haiti! You truly keep us going! Thank-you!  The bad news is that we all apparently caught some kind of yucky bug and it has done a number on us causing ear infections, high fevers, sniffles and even tonsillitis for one of us! We are beginning to feel much better now and thank the Lord as we NEED lots of energy to make it thru this next week! Lord willing, this will be our last week in the Hoosier state for a long time. We have MUCH to finish up with the packing and storing and last minute appointments this week. Would you please pray for God to give us all a healing touch and a huge dose of strength?! Thank-you! Also, please remember Danny as he is having an MRI Tue. morning to check out why he has swelling, pressure and loss of clear hearing in his r ear. We have put this in God's hands and are trusting Him for the outcome. He is faithful!

  Yesterday we had a large Haiti Benefit Yard/Bake Sale at our church parking lot. God gave us a beautiful day and we made a good amount of needed funds for our move. Our church family at Grace were very generous in the way that they donated items and baked goods to be sold. And several of them also donated their time and energy to helping out with the set-up, running the sale and the clean-up! Another HUGE blessing was that a local motorhome company donated one of their motorhomes to us to use for shade and ect. during the day. It came in very handy as most of our kids were not feeling well. They were able to rest in the motorhome while we worked the sale. A big relief for us and them! God is so good to know our needs even before we do!

  Today was our last Sunday at Grace and it was an emotion packed time! Our pastor called us up front and presented us with a card that the whole church had signed! So special! And then Danny shared with everyone where we are at with our shares and our plans. Lots of good-bye hugs were exchanged after the service. There a lot of precious people at Grace whom we love and appreciate very much! They have been with us since the beginning of this exciting Haiti journey and have been supportive all the way through. Having a good church family is indeed a blessing! We also claim Hobe Sound Bible church as our other church family too so we are doubly blessed!

 Thank-you for your prayers this coming week! We VALUE and NEED them! Blessings to you all!

                                       
                                         

Introducing Tape Designs By Becca!

 Our oldest daughter, Rebecca, is very creative and has designed adorable flowers out of duct tape :o)They are in different sizes, colors and designs and can be worn in your hair or to dress up your outfit. She has been selling them and we have just created a Facebook page called Tape Designs by Becca. All the money that comes from selling these will be put in a fund to use for our children's needs while we are in Haiti. This will help Becca come back to the States for youth camp and fund other things/events that come along for Becca, Ben, Abby and Caleb.
  The flowers can be picked up in person at our booth at IHC or you can order them through the mail. The prices are very reasonable and when you wear a flower by Becca you will be helping support us in Haiti too! Thank-you for checking them out!

 

 

Praise Note!

Praising the Lord for #31 share that came in last night! God is good! We are expecting #30 anytime! Ask God what He would have you do to support His work in Grande Riviere, Haiti!





We are putting out a challenge...will you join?!

  Our God is amazing and we are so excited at the way He has been moving the last few days! When I last up-dated we were just 40 shares away from having all our support in. I am happy to report that we are now 31 shares away! Danny and I have been praying about those remaining 31 shares and we BELIEVE God wants to bring them in! We are putting out a challenge to YOU! Is God leading you to sign up to support His work at Grande Riviere du Nord, Haiti?

 A full share is $20 a month for two years or a one time donation of $480. A half-share is $10 a month or $240 for the two yrs.
 We are going to pray in each and every one of these 31 shares that are left and we need you to help us PRAY and GIVE if God leads you. We are excited to see how God is going to bring these in so we can get to Haiti! God started this work in Haiti a long time ago and has asked us to be a part of it and we are HONORED that He would call us...this is SO much bigger than us or anything we could do or say! God is GOING to fund His work and He has and is going to use those who are obedient to his leading. Where do you fit in? Are you ready to be a part, to invest in souls for His Kingdom?

 We will be up-dating and letting you know as the shares come in. If you give through our 'donate now' button, please email us so we can count your share and let everyone know that another share has been covered. our email is flowersinhaiti@gmail.com

Up-coming Events



                                           

 Another work trip has been planned for May 9th-21st. We presently have 5 men going to get the interior work done in our house and make it as livable as possible. We hope to set a moving date soon after :o) Please help us pray as the details come together for the trip.
  In the meantime, we continue to sort, pack and store our things. We have a large yard/bake sale planned for the 27th to help raise funds for moving expenses. If there is anyone who lives locally and would like to donate items to sell or baked goods then please contact us. We would welcome your donations! 

Packing and Seeking God's Timing

My mind reflects back as I type this post.  The time that we are at in our lives right now is very similiar to where we were in 2008. We were living in Bluffton, IN and felt God opening doors for us to move to south Fl. Danny ended his lawncare and landscaping business, we packed most of our house up and prepared to move as we had an interested buyer in our home. We felt sure that it was God's will for us to take this big step and we were ready to go. Then the sale of our house fell through. And then we had another interested buyer and thought this would be the one who would buy. Once again, we mentally prepared ourselves to move far away feeling like this was definitely God's will. Then...you guessed it...that potential buyer could not get a loan due to their credit and we were back at square one. This same disappointing scenario happened over and over through out the next two years. We would pray and ask God if this was really what He wanted for us and and if it wasn't then to please take this longing to serve Him on the mission field out of our hearts. We asked Him to help us be content where we were and kept up our involvement in our home church, yet, not only did He NOT take away the desire to go to the mission field, but He intensified it!

  Danny took whatever odd jobs he could find as he felt reluctant to find a full-time job that he would soon have to leave. As a result of this, money was tight and some times non-existent. When we look back at that time, we can see that God was teaching us to Fully Rely On Him and increasing our faith as He supplied our daily needs. He used some very creative ways. One example of this is one cold, winter night I was driving home and a deer jumped out in front of me and I hit him.  Thankfully, Caleb, who was strapped in his carseat and myself were unharmed. Our insurance company pronounced our van totaled and settled up with us. We then turned around and bought our van back at a cheap price and ordered a new hood, which had been destroyed, and replaced it ourselves. We then took the rest of the money, caught up on our bills and drove to Hobe Sound, FL for Seabreeze Camp. It was while we were at Seabreeze that we were approached with the idea of going to Haiti as teamleaders with Touching Lives for Christ. To make a long story short, after much prayer and discussion, we signed up. Then we typed up and sent out letters asking for financial support and prayer. God amazed us when one donor gave half of what we needed...$1,500! After that, we knew that God wanted our family to go to Haiti! God supplied the rest of the money needed and our family had the honor and priviledge of going to Haiti in 2009. That trip changed our lives and we will never be the same again!
   Another year passed before God finally sold our home and lead us to Hobe Sound, FL. We can see that during that two year period that God was teaching us many lessons. Not only was He teaching us to depend only on Him for our daily needs, but He was also teaching us that His timing is perfect. Even when we in our humaness feel that things are moving too slow, He is in control. It was NOT an easy lesson to learn! Many times we would pray and ask each other what God was doing? Why did He ask us to quit our business, our main lifeline of support for our family of six? Did He not understand how crazy our friends and even our family thought we were?  What about our children? What were they thinking? These were just a few of the many questions swirling through our minds. When we had family prayer, the standard prayer request was for God to sell our house and find us a house in FL. The children were sad to leave our family and friends, yet they seemed to understand that we were waiting on God and this was His plan for our lives.
   God gave me this verse: Psalms 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, Wait,I say, on the Lord!"
   My Wesley Bible had this footnote to say concerning this verse: The idea of waiting on the Lord is prominent in the Psalms. Although it contains an element of time, there is more to it than time alone. Waiting expresses that complete dependence on the Lord which does not run ahead of Him making its own plans and relying on its own strength. To wait on the Lord is an expression of COMPLETE TRUST. It is better not to rush into doing something today if the doing is an expression of dependence on our own strength and on our own sense of timing.
 Wow! I copied this verse and the footnote onto a 3x5 index card and taped it on our bathroom mirror. God used that verse over and over again to calm and reassure our hearts as we waited on Him.

   So here we are now. Fast-forward a little over 2 years. God has helped Danny to complete college, Paid off $18,000 of our debt in 5 months, gave us His help, strength and annointing to go through almost 9 months of deputation, with just two services left, and has provided the entire $30,000 to build our house in Haiti. He has given us a strong, burning passion and excitement to serve Him in Haiti. It seems that, as each service that we speak at passes, God intensifies our excitement and passion and we are so ready to go!
   Yet, here we are...waiting on God just as we did those long two years back in 2009-2010. Is it any easier? No, yet, we have learned that this is the best and only way. God sees the big picture and He, in all His finite wisdom, knows what is best for our family. He knows exactly when He wants us in Grande Riviere du Nord and we do not want to be there a minute before He wants us. God has lead us down this path and we know that He does not make any mistakes!  We need your prayers as we pack, sell and give away our stuff. We need your prayers as our Regional Director and ourselves seek God's timing for our departure date. We need your prayers in putting together a team to go finish our house at the end of April.

   You may wonder why I have shared all this? Simply to let you know where we are right now and how you all can pray for us.  Please help us to pray for the rest of our shares to come in. AT THIS TIME WE ARE JUST 40 SHARES SHORT!  Help us pray for the $5,000 that we need for moving expenses. Pray for us to have clear direction and wisdom as we wait on God. Thank-you for coming on this amazing journey with us! Your prayers and financial support mean more than we can say! Please feel free to leave a comment or two as we enjoy reading them :o) Blessings!


       

 

Happy Easter from our family to yours! He is RISEN!

God is meeting the need for His work in Haiti!

 We have been in Warren, Oh this past week. The Warren Bible Methodist church opened up their furnished fellowship hall to us and stocked it with food as well. I really enjoyed being able to cook for our family again as that is not something I get to do very much since we are often hosted by others for our meals. We love being invited over to someones home and sharing a home cooked meal with them and it is nice to have a break from doing all the cooking like I do when we are home. But, deep inside of me is a cook/baker and if I do not scratch that itch often than I get antsy to get my hands on some baking ingredients and turn it into something yummy like a pasta salad, cream puffs or a tasty meatloaf! So, I was able to happily scratch my cooking/baking itch and it felt good to be in the kitchen again!
 We enjoyed spending time with the Paul Young family who pastor there and had a very nice week. They had us over for a delicious lasagna dinner one night :o) Another day we went with the Youngs and the Pinkerton family to a really cool toy store called Kraynacks. The Pinkertons have 7 children, we have 4 and the Youngs have 2 so we made quite the childrens parade going into the toy store! All the children behaved well and we had a wonderful time checking out the cool toys and looking at their beautiful Easter display. Check FB for pics. Thank-you Warren Bible Methodist for allowing us to stay in your fellowship hall and giving us a fun week!

  Saturday afternoon found us driving 3-4 hrs to the snow covered mountains of Pennsylvania. We arrived in Osterburg around 7 pm and a very nice man named Charlie who attends the church helped us unload our things into a nice camper that we are now staying in. It is the pastor and his families. Charlie then had us follow him to his house where we met his sweet wife, Judy. They had cooked us a delicious spaghetti dinner with a homemade meat sauce, garlic bread and a fresh garden salad. It was all so good! Then they brought out an amazing Coconut Cream Pie piled high with meringue and of course it was homemade from scratch as well as a creamy Egg Custard pie and some very soft, tasty Sour Cream cookies for our dessert. Mmmm! We had a wonderful visit getting to know them. They shared that they had recently gotten saved and it was great to hear about how God showed them their need of Him and how He changed their lives :o) Thank-you Charlie and Judy! We appreciate you and your hospitality!

 This past Sunday morning we spoke at Community Bible in Osterburg, PA and had a wonderful service and enjoyed meeting the friendly people. Pastor Weaver and his wife, Bev, had us over for a delicous roast beef dinner. Then we drove up to Mahaffey for our evening service at Osterburg God's Missionary Church where Steve West pastors. God gave us another good service and we met more wonderful people :o) God moved on people's hearts and the generous offerings overwhelmed us! At this point, God has provided the rest of the money needed to get our house built and furnished in Haiti! We just lack 70 share supporters and $5,000 to get our belongings to Haiti, This includes  our airfare as well. If you feel God asking you to join in with His work in Grande Rivierre just click on the donate now button through paypal. Thank-you! We know God is going to supply this need and are excited to watch how He works!

  We are presently staying with the Neil Weaver family in PA and we are really enjoying visiting with them! We had a winter weather snow storm today and our kids enjoyed going sledding with their kids. They have 7 children, ages 17 down to 5 yrs. old and there has been a playmate or two for each of our kids and they are having a great time! It has been a restful day and we have enjoyed just hanging out with their family and watching the snow fall down :o) They have been feeding us yummy meals and making us feel at home here. We are so very thankful for ALL the wonderful hosts we have had since we began this deputation journey!
 
  As long as the roads clear up, we are planning on speaking at Mt. Siniai in Blue Knob with Pastor Van Dorman this coming Wed. evening. Please pray for God's help and annointing as we finish up our deputation time. Here is the rest of our schedule:

 March 20  Mt. Siniai God's Missionary in Blue Knob, PA
            24  Holiness Missionary in Vassar, MI-am
                  Greenville Bible Methodist in Greenville, MI-pm
April   7     Grace Fellowship in Decatur, In

          14    Bible Methodist in Gas City, In -pm

          16-18  IHC  (Look for our booth!)

Report from Haiti trip, Our Commissioning and...Fire!

 Hello Friends!

 This past month has been FULL for our family! Last I up-dated we were enjoying being in Hobe Sound getting re-aquainted with our many friends there and loving the warm, ocean breezes and the sunshine :o)

 The last week of January, a team of 6 men flew to our compound to work on our mission house in Grande Rivierre du Nord. The men who went were Danny, Frank Vaughn, Rob Loper, Joe Hurst, Matt Hirschy and Josh Capps. God put together a great team as they all did a wonderful job using their skills to get the roof on while they were there. They enjoyed intereacting with the children there in the compound and Danny was able to hand out some of the fun glow sticks, Hot Wheels and etc that we have had donated. A HUGE thank-you to Frankfort Bible Holiness Jr. Church and Living Water United for collecting these great items! You helped bring huge smiles to the children's faces!

   The men got to go up to the Citadel and took some beautiful pictures. We used a picture of the Citadel on our new prayer card :o) And God answered a prayer request of our families that we have been personally praying about! We have been looking for a bathtub for our house in Haiti and have not been having much success. We were told that none of the businesses in Cape Haitian carried bathtubs and shipping one in was going to be costly. Our family feels that due to my bad back issues and the younger ones not caring for a shower all the time that a bathtub is vital. We took this need to our Heavenly Father and He agreed that we needed one also! On the team's last day as they were driving to the airport in Cape Haitian, they stopped by a business to check on some other building materials and found out that this guy NOW CARRIES BATHTUBS!! The cost will be around $250 to purchase one from him and we know God will supply the money to buy it since He provided it for us :o) When Danny came home and shared this with us, we were so happy and thankful and thanked Jesus for answering this prayer request for our family! What a great faith builder for our children!

    We were so happy to have our husband and daddy safely back from Haiti as we missed him very much! A sweet, generous young lady who graduated last year when Danny did and has become a good friend of our families, offered to watch our younger children so Danny and I could have a date night :o) And we spent some time together as a family too :o) We enjoyed being there for the entire 2 week Seabreeze Campmeeting. Bro. Stetler and Bro. Mark Sankey preached good, spirit-filled messages that had altars lined in the evening services. Rebecca enjoyed being back with her friends and participating in all the fun youth activities and the other three loved the children's services with Sister Christina Black and Roanna, who do a great job!

  February 12th was Missions Day and a very special day for our family. In the am service, Danny spoke briefly about going to Haiti and the children sang the song that they have wrote about us going to Haiti as missionaries. Then in the evening service, Bro. Reiff was able to raise over $30,000 for missions in a very unique way! It was exciting to watch how God worked and be a part of it all! Right after that, our family, along with the Rob Loper family was called forward and commissioned. The Lopers to Grand Turk and us to Haiti. It was very special as we had known this moment was coming and yet it had seemed so far off. We have been following God's footsteps, waiting on His timing and going through doors as He has opened them and our commissioning was just one more step closer to moving to Haiti :o) We are very excited and ready to go! If you missed the service and would like to see it you can go to www.hobesoundbiblechurch.com and find the Feb 12th service in their archives.

   After camp ended we went up to Pensacola, FL and enjoyed 4 days with Danny's parents, visiting and relaxing. We went to the Pensacola Air Museum, took the kids to fly kites at a park and celebrated Ben's 11th birthday that was on the 14th during camp.( We had a very small birthday party for him one night after church at camp with his friends.) His grandparents wanted to have a little party for him too so they bought him a cake and let him pick out some Hot Wheels and we had a fun little celebration one night. 

 

 

      We had a Godthing that happened while we were at the park flying kites. I was doing a headcount of our kids making sure I knew where they all were and  I did not notice a spot where the cement had a small incline. Next thing I knew I was on the hard concrete on my hands and knees. I scraped and bloodied up my knees and palms of my hands where I had tried to catch myself. I was embarrassed and my knees and palms were stinging so I sat there on the ground for a few seconds when I heard someone ask if I was ok. Realizing I had been seen, I answered that I was. A group of moms were sitting nearby while their children played and they offered some water to pour on my stinging palms and knees. Then one of the ladies said she had a first aid kit and went to get it in her car. We made small talk while they were pouring bottled water on my wounds and found out that they were a homeschool group. I told them that we homeschooled as well and that we were missionaries to Haiti on deputation. They were excited to hear about that and asked all kinds of questions. The lady came back and bandaged me up with gauze and Princess band-aids :o) Then one of the ladies said that her son had a school project  where he needed to find a missionary and pray for them on a daily basis and that he had been PRAYING to meet a missionary! She asked for a prayer card and the other ladies wanted one also. I went back to the van, told Danny about my fall and how they had helped me and wanted prayer cards. We walked back over and took them each one and the lady who's son had the project remarked that God does hear the prayers of a seven year old boy and that I must have fallen for a reason! Wow! It often amazes us the people that God puts in our path as we travel! I would appreciate prayer for my right knee as it is badly bruised and hurting worse each day since I fell last week. I am concerned that I may need to get it x-rayed when we get back to IN in a few days.

    We are now in Pell City, AL and are staying at the Bible Methodist Campground. We had a huge scare that could have been a lot worse than it was and we so thankful for God's protection! After arriving and getting settled in the cute little apt. they have us in, Danny ran into town to pick up some sandwiches for our supper. On his way back he suddenly realized that our rear passenger tire was on fire! He quickly stopped the vehicle and grabbed out our little fire extinguisher, that his mom had bought us several years ago, and was able to completely put out the fire. He called me and I called the local pastor who came out and helped him get it back here. The Don Shirk family are caretakers here on the grounds and were very nice to lend us an extra van that they have and we were able to us eit for the weekend until Danny had a chance to check out the extent of the damage. We were so thankful that it had just been him in the van and that he was able to put it out for if he had not had the fire extinguisher, we would have lost our van! We had been traveling for several hours all day and God kept us safe and allowed the fire to happen once we had arrived and were out of the vehicle.
   We did not know how bad the damage was or how it was going to be fixed or what the cost was going to be. Yet, Danny and I both felt a COMPLETE peace about it and were not worried! We knew that God had allowed it in the best of circumstances and that He has a plan. And He did! The church we spoke at, Pell City Bible Methodist, took up a love offering for us and gave us a good amount to put toward repairs. On Monday Danny took it apart and using the mechanical knowledge that he has was able to discern the problem. Basically, the wheel axle had came out of its housing and caused the fire. Once it was all bought and fixed by Danny, the whole problem only cost us a little over $100! We thank God for His protection, help and provision throughout this mini-crisis! It was a beautiful realization that God has brought us to the place that when things went wrong that we did not worry but trusted Him! He has brought us a looooong way and we are very thankful! And we KNOW that some of you were probably praying for us on February 23rd when the fire occurred and we say a huge THANK-YOU! Please keep praying for us! We VALUE your prayers!

A work trip to Haiti and deputation schedule

Hello Friends!
  As I type this, we are back in  Hobe Sound, Florida and it feels like coming home! It has been wonderful to see friends that we made while living here for two years and we are enjoying the warm ocean breezes and the sunshine once again ;o)
  This coming Tuesday, Danny and 5 other men will be flying to Haiti to continue the work on our new house! They will be working on the roof, rafters and inside walls. We are very excited and we ask for your prayers for protection and that much will be accomplished while they are there. Thank-you!

Here is our speaking schedule:

Feb. 3-Grace Holiness in Harkers Island,NC-am
          -open-pm
Feb. 6-Faith Chapel in Thomasville,NC
Feb. 7-17 -Seabreeze Camp-Our Commissioning Day will be the 12th @ 7 pm
Feb. 24-open-am
           --open-pm

Feb. 27-Tarrant Bible Methodist in Tarrant, AL

March 3-open-am
             -open-pm
March 5-7-Planning on attending the Bus Convention in Camby, In

March 10-Warren Bible Methodist in Warren, OH-am
               -Calvary Chapel Bible Methodist in Coshocton, OH-pm
March 13-open

March 17-Community Bible in Osterburg, PA
               -open-pm
March 20-open

March 24-Bristolwood Pilgrim Nazarene in Walker, MI-am
               -Greenville Bible Methodist in Greenville, MI-pm

If you would like to have us come and share, please contact us as we have a few openings. 772.485.0149

As most of you know, we need to raise 150 shares to go to Haiti to serve for two years. We have around 60 at this point.We are trusting in God to supply the needed 90 shares of $20 a month. God is doing and wants to do great things in Haiti and we are excited and honored to be a part of it! Would you would like to get involved by pledging to help cover a share of $10 or $20 a month? We know that God will greatly bless you as you invest in His kingdom!  Thank-you for your support, continued prayers and financial investment! Your prayers keep us going as He gives us the strength and grace to keep following His footsteps on our pathway. Blessings to you all!

Support Address: Hope International Missions
                            c/o Flowers support
                             PO Box 1065
                             Hobe Sound, FL 33475

                                     Standing in front of the HIM orphanage where we will be serving for two years.

      
                                           Our display that we set up for our services.