Updates!

A special thanks to Justin Aday who painted the office for our new social worker with the Alabama Baptist Children's Home. The Montgomery Baptist Association is providing her with office space and Justin helped to spruce the room up. She will be in Montgomery soon after being trained at the ABCH.

Things have certainly changed on our land in Jacmel over the last couple of months. The effort has been led by Charley Elgin with Pathfinder Mission. Charley has given almost every waking hour to this project. When he shared with Pastor Paul that Oct. 1 was his deadline, Pastor Paul just laughed knowing that the wheels in Haiti turn very slowly. Obviously, Pastor Paul underestimated Charley! Charley and his wife, Martie, give all the credit to the Lord and their purpose in life is truly bringing glory to God. We are very grateful to the Lord for sending the Elgins our way.

As I write this, David Payne and Hale Keene should be arriving home from Atlanta. They spent the week in Jacmel helping Charley complete top priority jobs so the children can move in Oct. 1. They worked extremely hard and once again God sent just the right people at the right time.

Thanks so much to these two men for all their hard work and their willingness to be a servant in a difficult place.

David Payne

Hale Keene with the children.

David entertaining kids with his phone

Charley on the tractor

Hale on the land - boys' and girls' dorms in background

Phase I Update

What a transformation from just a little less than two months ago. Below is the container that will be used for the kitchen. Notice the screen in area - this is where the children will eat. There is also a pantry for storage. A team from Hillcrest Baptist in Enterprise was in Jacmel a few weeks ago and they volunteered to raise money for two badly needed stoves for the orphanage. What a blessing! Also, FBC Decatur gave a donation to purchase new mattresses

for the children. There are no "real" mattress in Jacmel, so they will be purchased in PAP and trucked over. Hopefully, they will arrive by Oct. 1.

Below is Tommy's creative mind at its best. Each child will have his/her own cubbie along with a name plate to match the trim of course! Joy helped with the painting.

Wouldn't it be great to have a set of these cubbies for your children?

Just a side note: Two of our goats are expecting! A neighbor brings his cows every morning to graze on the grass at the orphanage and then he takes them home in the evenings. Not only do they get juicy green grass but we get free grass cutting!

September Updates

Thanks to Jay and other staff members at FBC who contributed to a very special Children's Hope Sunday. We owe a big thank you to Dr. Russell Moore for reminding us who we are in Christ - sons and daughters adopted by the King! As Christians, we were not left as orphans but have been adopted into the family of God with an inheritance like no other! For this very reason, Christians have a great responsibility to care for orphans.

I want to share something on a personal note. Most of you know that we adopted a precious girl from Moldova a little over two years ago whose name is Hope. The other day she saw a picture of Jesus and she say very excitedly, "Jesus died on the cross!" Today she was on the trampoline and out of no where she said, "Thank you God for my trampoline." Caring for orphans not only allows us to carry out James 1:27 but the Great Commission as well.

Many of you have asked about the six children that had malaria. They are completely over it and doing well. They have all been registered for school and uniforms are being made for them.

No one is really sure when the first day of school starts - gotta love Haiti! Still waiting to buy books for the kids, because the government hasn't set a price yet. Joy, Tommy, and some mission team members from Hillcrest Baptist , Enterprise took the kids swimming again this week. Joy said none of them were timid this time but jumped right in and had a great time. They took their clothes off and swam in the underwear!

Hillcrest Baptist has also had a group to help Charley this week with construction and much progress has been made. See pics below. FBC has set four trips in 2012 and those dates are:

Jan. 29 - Feb. 2 (construction)

May 3 - 9 (construction/orphanage)

July 7 - 13

Oct. 4 - 8