March Update!

We are so thankful to announce that Eastmont Baptist Church had a very successful trip to Jacmel, Haiti! They completed the security wall around the rental home for our orphans and assisted another local pastor in the construction of his church. Thank you Eastmont! Hopewell Baptist Church (Andalusia) recently visited the children while on a church construction mission. They provided the children with monogrammed bags, the pastors with ties, and other supplies. They have plans for further involvement as well. Thank you Hopewell! What a blessing it is to be part of God's family.

Many others have asked if they can send clothes and other items to the children in Jacmel. We really appreciate everyone's interest, but for now, we are very limited in what we can take due to travel challenges and Haiti's lack of infrastructure. Hopefully, there will be a time when we can overcome some of the roadblocks and send in a large shipment of items. At that point, we will need a lot of help! We will certainly let everyone know of the needs. Again, thanks to all of you who have such a heart for these children. In the mean time, a mission group at FBC Mtg. is

sponsoring one of the children. The cost is $35 a month to sponsor one of our children, so if your mission group, Sunday School class or family is interested, please let me know.

Our first foster care training class will completing the course in two weeks. They will continue to work on other accreditation issues over the summer months. Extra blessings to these families/singles who are beginning this journey - I can't imagine a higher and more noble calling!

Many people consider adoption as impossible due to the financial costs associated with it. If you sense the Lord leading you in this direction, please do not limit God in what He wants to do in your life. I have read so many adoption stories where families trusted the Lord to provide, and He did. There are resources available to help with the cost, and these will be discussed Sunday night at FBC Mtg. Please join us at 5:00 in room B408.

Prepare to be Blessed!

A couple of months ago, I received an email from Chris Anderson at First Baptist, Mtg. who received the original email from her brother in Birmingham. The focus of the email was a precious 12 year old young lady named Mattie who had been adopted from China. Due to no fault of Mattie, the adoption was interrupted leaving the adoption agency looking for a new home for her. Can you even begin to imagine the thoughts and emotional pain that Mattie was experiencing?

As a response to Chris' email, I sent the information out to our 250 people in the Children's Hope yahoo group. Lisa and Reese Hamn (friends in Decatur by way of Chip and Christy Colee) are a part of this group. Lisa shared the story of Mattie. As a result, a family (the Ponters) in her church is now in the process of adopting Mattie! The story gets even better. As you know, adoptions cost money even in this unusual situation. Another family in the same church has been led to help raise money for Mattie's adoption. For more information, see http://pattersonposts.blogspot.com .

We are so thankful that Mattie now has a home and that the Lord let Children's Hope play a small role. Isn't it humbling to see how the Lord uses us to be a part of His work. Please continue to pray for Mattie and the Ponters as they adjust to each other and pursue the adoption process.

Clothes and more clothes!

A couple of weeks ago, Children's Hope was given the opportunity to have all of the left over childrens clothing from the Spring Children's Clothing Exchange. Kelley Phelps and her precious, Lottie, helped me load all of the clothes into our vans. A number of you helped organize, remove tags and hangers, and box the clothes up this past Sunday. A big thank you to those that helped. On Wednesday, I delivered the clothes to Mtg. County DHR and they were so grateful. They kept saying thank you over and over. Hopefully, this process will be something that we can repeat with future CCE. We received a lot of clothes for children sizes 5 and below and shared with the Caring Center as well. If anyone would like to organize a clothing drive for children's sizes 6 and above, I know DHR and the Caring Center would appreciate the extra clothes for kids.

This Saturday, a mission team from Eastmont Baptist Church will head to Haiti. The team will be constructing a security wall at the side of the rental home for the orphans. There is currently a walking path/cut through there now where a lot of people pass each day. Once this wall is complete, the house will have security walls all around. We are so grateful for this team's willingness to go! Please be in prayer for them.