Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
More News from Michael at St. Joseph's Family
Dear family,
We have a team of structural engineers who have already visited the earthquake damaged Wings of Hope building to offer their assessment. They will be meeting with our architect and I this Tuesday.
At St. Joseph's we have been able to purchase a two story house that was undamaged by the earthquake and that has a huge yard. The added bonus is that it is connected to St. Joseph's and our art center. The combination of these sites will enable our reconstruction of St. Joseph's to go wider rather than higher.
Next week we hope to begin the task of demolishing the former St. Joseph building so the architect can have a better idea of what we have left to work with. We know that the resurrection of St. Joseph's is going to be a long and arduous task, but we are remaining positive and taking it one cement block at a time so it does not overwhelm us.
We have a one month Lenten tour scheduled for March that will focus on resurrecting our St. Joseph Family. We have many people praying for us and doing fund raisers for us. All of this boosts our spirits and strengthens our determination to rise up from the rubble of destruction and become our best ever for the good of the children we work with.
To this end we have divided the resurrection fund raising among two organizations. HWH will channel all of their earthquake donations to Wings of Hope reconstruction and relief.
Haitian Dreams will channel all the St. Joseph Resurrection Funds to us specifically for reconstruction of St. Joseph's. Having a separate organization for Wings reconstruction and for St. Joseph's makes our accounting easier and our accountability clearer and more accurate.
If you want your donations to go toward the rebuilding of Wings of Hope send your donations to:
Hearts With Haiti
11503 Springfield Pike
Cincinnati, OH 45246
www.heartswithhaiti.com
If you want your donations to assist with the rebuilding of St. Joseph's make your check payable to Haitian Dreams. On the memo line of your check put SJRF ( St. Joseph Resurrection Fund)
Send that check to:
Haitian Dreams
3358 Mermoor Dr. #101
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
www.haitiandreams.org
Both of these organizations are 501(c)3 non-profit and 100% of your donation will come to us for earthquake rebuilding and relief
Thank you for all the ways you have reached out to us through your prayers, emails, letters, visits and fund raising. Together we will once again prove to the world that with God all things are possible.
Keeping the thoughts positive -----Michael and "family"
We have a team of structural engineers who have already visited the earthquake damaged Wings of Hope building to offer their assessment. They will be meeting with our architect and I this Tuesday.
At St. Joseph's we have been able to purchase a two story house that was undamaged by the earthquake and that has a huge yard. The added bonus is that it is connected to St. Joseph's and our art center. The combination of these sites will enable our reconstruction of St. Joseph's to go wider rather than higher.
Next week we hope to begin the task of demolishing the former St. Joseph building so the architect can have a better idea of what we have left to work with. We know that the resurrection of St. Joseph's is going to be a long and arduous task, but we are remaining positive and taking it one cement block at a time so it does not overwhelm us.
We have a one month Lenten tour scheduled for March that will focus on resurrecting our St. Joseph Family. We have many people praying for us and doing fund raisers for us. All of this boosts our spirits and strengthens our determination to rise up from the rubble of destruction and become our best ever for the good of the children we work with.
To this end we have divided the resurrection fund raising among two organizations. HWH will channel all of their earthquake donations to Wings of Hope reconstruction and relief.
Haitian Dreams will channel all the St. Joseph Resurrection Funds to us specifically for reconstruction of St. Joseph's. Having a separate organization for Wings reconstruction and for St. Joseph's makes our accounting easier and our accountability clearer and more accurate.
If you want your donations to go toward the rebuilding of Wings of Hope send your donations to:
Hearts With Haiti
11503 Springfield Pike
Cincinnati, OH 45246
www.heartswithhaiti.com
If you want your donations to assist with the rebuilding of St. Joseph's make your check payable to Haitian Dreams. On the memo line of your check put SJRF ( St. Joseph Resurrection Fund)
Send that check to:
Haitian Dreams
3358 Mermoor Dr. #101
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
www.haitiandreams.org
Both of these organizations are 501(c)3 non-profit and 100% of your donation will come to us for earthquake rebuilding and relief
Thank you for all the ways you have reached out to us through your prayers, emails, letters, visits and fund raising. Together we will once again prove to the world that with God all things are possible.
Keeping the thoughts positive -----Michael and "family"
Friday, January 29, 2010
News from Michael at St. Joseph's 2
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
Dear family,
Those of us who traveled to Trinity House at Jacmel today were up at 5:00 AM, flashlights in hand, to bring light to the darkness of that early morning hour. By 6:00 AM the van was loaded with supplies and people and we headed up Delmas road to the tire man. Rony had two flat tires to fix, bought a spare tire for the trip and had extra air put in all the tires.
The trip to Jacmel was the slowest I have ever seen Rony, our driver, navigate. There were areas of the road that had buckled and had huge crevice like cracks in the asphalt. On the mountain road there were areas of landslides that came onto the road along with gigantic boulders. This caused sections of the mountain road to become very narrow passages. We did see the Canadian military working to remove the rubble from the roads to widen them where the landslides were.
Upon arrival at Trinity House we were greeted with the combined youth of Trinity House and St. Joseph's singing us an uplifting welcome song and then heartily passing along hugs. All the youth were busy doing laundry or cooking. The younger children were playing games. I was given a tour of the house and rejoiced to see that absolutely no damage had been done to the living quarters, nor the bakery or chapel. There was some damaged sustained at the second floor school area, but again it was minor. One side wall of a small storage area fell in and there were a few cracks in the walls. The contractor and his crew were present and said the damage was minimal and could easily be repaired.
The Trinity House soccer field has become a tent city for many of the families of the area that lost their homes in the earthquake. At night all of the children and youth at Trinity House are sleeping out in the field as a precaution due to reoccurring aftershocks.
Melchi and all the youth were upbeat and busy. It was energizing to see them doing so well. I sent up a prayer of thanksgiving once again that all of the children at all three of our homes had not only survived the earthquake but were doing their best in a tough situation. The resilience and laughter of the children of all three of our homes has been an encouraging and hope-filled sign of God being with us.
Thank you for your continued interest in us and the blessing of your prayers and financial assistance.
Keeping the thoughts positive!
Michael and family
Dear family,
Those of us who traveled to Trinity House at Jacmel today were up at 5:00 AM, flashlights in hand, to bring light to the darkness of that early morning hour. By 6:00 AM the van was loaded with supplies and people and we headed up Delmas road to the tire man. Rony had two flat tires to fix, bought a spare tire for the trip and had extra air put in all the tires.
The trip to Jacmel was the slowest I have ever seen Rony, our driver, navigate. There were areas of the road that had buckled and had huge crevice like cracks in the asphalt. On the mountain road there were areas of landslides that came onto the road along with gigantic boulders. This caused sections of the mountain road to become very narrow passages. We did see the Canadian military working to remove the rubble from the roads to widen them where the landslides were.
Upon arrival at Trinity House we were greeted with the combined youth of Trinity House and St. Joseph's singing us an uplifting welcome song and then heartily passing along hugs. All the youth were busy doing laundry or cooking. The younger children were playing games. I was given a tour of the house and rejoiced to see that absolutely no damage had been done to the living quarters, nor the bakery or chapel. There was some damaged sustained at the second floor school area, but again it was minor. One side wall of a small storage area fell in and there were a few cracks in the walls. The contractor and his crew were present and said the damage was minimal and could easily be repaired.
The Trinity House soccer field has become a tent city for many of the families of the area that lost their homes in the earthquake. At night all of the children and youth at Trinity House are sleeping out in the field as a precaution due to reoccurring aftershocks.
Melchi and all the youth were upbeat and busy. It was energizing to see them doing so well. I sent up a prayer of thanksgiving once again that all of the children at all three of our homes had not only survived the earthquake but were doing their best in a tough situation. The resilience and laughter of the children of all three of our homes has been an encouraging and hope-filled sign of God being with us.
Thank you for your continued interest in us and the blessing of your prayers and financial assistance.
Keeping the thoughts positive!
Michael and family
Thursday, January 28, 2010
A Note from Michael at St. Joseph's Home
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
Dear family,
My apologies for taking so long to personally get word to you. I know Renee has been getting word and photos to you. That has freed me to get some necessary tasks done here with a vision for resurrecting our beloved family. All of the children that had been living at St. Joseph's are now living at Trinity House in Jacmel. I will be going there later today to see how things are going for them and will send an update soon after I return. I was at Wings of Hope on Sunday and was encouraged by the joy of the children and the staff. They are temporarily renting a new living space due to structural damage done to Wings of Hope as a result of the earthquake. Many of the children at Wings took me to see the views they have found from their balconies. It was a day of great joy and hope for me.
Most of my post earthquake days have been spent helping take down beds, putting our furniture in storage, salvaging windows, doors, ceiling fans, light fixtures, paintings, etc. It is just Walnes and I who are standing guard over the home place. Due to the extreme damage done to the original St. Joseph's building, Walnes and I have taken up residence at the art center. A structural engineer from California came by to see us and assured us the art center is solid. We do feel safe here, even with the occasional aftershocks that visit us from time to time. Eventually Bill will be coming back to Haiti to join Walnes and I at the art center. For now Bill is in the US, recuperating from his earthquake injuries.
Our hope is to be able to have a resurrection experience and allow God to lift us up from this rubble to be stronger and better than before. Those of you who have been with us for many years know this is not our first resurrection challenge. We continue to live our lives joyfully trusting that with God all things are possible. Our dream is to be able to purchase the property that borders the St. Joseph's and Art Center property. If we are able to do this it will more than double our reconstruction space and enable us to go wider rather than higher. If any of you are interested in helping us raise the funds for this land purchase and our reconstruction of St. Joseph's, please contact me and I'll let you know how to properly direct those specially designated "resurrection funds".
Today as we were in the rubble of what was our former chapel we found two items that gave us messages of great hope. One was a framed print of Daniel in the lion's den. The glass was very dusty, but unbroken. This print reminded us that God is with us, we will not come to harm. Like Daniel we will survive this and be stronger in our faith because of it.
The second item that was raised from the rubble was a framed poem call RESURRECTION that was written by Renee Dietrich and used to hang in our chapel. Part of the poem reads: "The triumphs of life could not be possible without the tragedies. The joy means nothing without the pain. The scars are no longer hidden, but worn as badges of honor. For everything that brings us to this place was necessary. Struggle makes us strong. Faith makes us enduring. Perseverance makes the world a better place."
Thank you for all the ways you lift us up. Your prayerful presence in our lives gives us great hope. We are a resurrection people determined to do our part to make this world a better place.
Peace and all that is good!
Michael
Dear family,
My apologies for taking so long to personally get word to you. I know Renee has been getting word and photos to you. That has freed me to get some necessary tasks done here with a vision for resurrecting our beloved family. All of the children that had been living at St. Joseph's are now living at Trinity House in Jacmel. I will be going there later today to see how things are going for them and will send an update soon after I return. I was at Wings of Hope on Sunday and was encouraged by the joy of the children and the staff. They are temporarily renting a new living space due to structural damage done to Wings of Hope as a result of the earthquake. Many of the children at Wings took me to see the views they have found from their balconies. It was a day of great joy and hope for me.
Most of my post earthquake days have been spent helping take down beds, putting our furniture in storage, salvaging windows, doors, ceiling fans, light fixtures, paintings, etc. It is just Walnes and I who are standing guard over the home place. Due to the extreme damage done to the original St. Joseph's building, Walnes and I have taken up residence at the art center. A structural engineer from California came by to see us and assured us the art center is solid. We do feel safe here, even with the occasional aftershocks that visit us from time to time. Eventually Bill will be coming back to Haiti to join Walnes and I at the art center. For now Bill is in the US, recuperating from his earthquake injuries.
Our hope is to be able to have a resurrection experience and allow God to lift us up from this rubble to be stronger and better than before. Those of you who have been with us for many years know this is not our first resurrection challenge. We continue to live our lives joyfully trusting that with God all things are possible. Our dream is to be able to purchase the property that borders the St. Joseph's and Art Center property. If we are able to do this it will more than double our reconstruction space and enable us to go wider rather than higher. If any of you are interested in helping us raise the funds for this land purchase and our reconstruction of St. Joseph's, please contact me and I'll let you know how to properly direct those specially designated "resurrection funds".
Today as we were in the rubble of what was our former chapel we found two items that gave us messages of great hope. One was a framed print of Daniel in the lion's den. The glass was very dusty, but unbroken. This print reminded us that God is with us, we will not come to harm. Like Daniel we will survive this and be stronger in our faith because of it.
The second item that was raised from the rubble was a framed poem call RESURRECTION that was written by Renee Dietrich and used to hang in our chapel. Part of the poem reads: "The triumphs of life could not be possible without the tragedies. The joy means nothing without the pain. The scars are no longer hidden, but worn as badges of honor. For everything that brings us to this place was necessary. Struggle makes us strong. Faith makes us enduring. Perseverance makes the world a better place."
Thank you for all the ways you lift us up. Your prayerful presence in our lives gives us great hope. We are a resurrection people determined to do our part to make this world a better place.
Peace and all that is good!
Michael
Thursday, January 21, 2010
News from Renee at St. Joseph's
MAJOR aftershock about 6 AM. Created further damage at Wings, especially to classroom area, which is the base for the building. Maya returned last night and is going to talk to the guy with the building next door this morning. The building we are in seems okay, but we need to get someplace else.
Great News from Renee in Haiti
PRAISE GOD FROM WHO ALL BLESSINGS FLOW! We have a new house for Wings! Not the building next door, but an almost new home up the road about 5-10 minutes. Got a great deal for a year's rent. We will move in enough to sleep tonight and then start making it a home tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
More News from Renee at St. Joseph's... The View Outside
Michael, Alec, Rony and I drove all around town yesterday — around Petionville, down Delmas, through downtown, by the palace and back up the mountain on the other side. I know most of you have been seeing these images for days on the news, but it was the first we had seen the damage out of our own neighborhoods. It was... incredible. I don't even have words to describe it. Beyond the images themselves is the heat, dust and smell of death. I don't even know where Haiti will begin to recover, but I'm sure we will...with help from our friends!
These are all places you might recognize from your travels around PAP, or are places we spent time or shopped for the SJF.
It is raining in Fermathe and Wings is in the clouds. This is not good. But, on a positive note and a prayer request, the leaders are going to try and contact the guy who owns the building next door to Wings to see if we can rent that building. That would be such a blessing. Pray that he is open to that and will not take advantage of our need and situation.
News from Renee at St. Joseph's
If you ever get to the point if you wonder whether or not there is more to this life than the time we spend together on earth, this will change your mind. Here is a story and pictures from Renee at Wings of Hope.
The most amazing worship service ever took place at Wings of Hope on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010. Gathered in the guest dining room, no bigger than a one-stall garage, about 80 people gathered to praise God for the blessings bestowed on us and to ask for continued protection for our family and our country. It was humbling to be a part of...from the joyous singing, to the saltines and coffee cup full of wine for communion, to the hugs of friends and family.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Good News From St. Joseph's
GREAT NEWS!!! A structural engineer from CA showed up at SJ today. The art center where they are now living is perfectly fine and totally solid! The three floors of SJ we are going in and out of are structurally sound enough for us to do that safely. PRAISE GOD!!! Now, if we could just talk him into coming to Wings. He...'s here with another organization and sneaked away to see SJ.
RESURRECTION!!!
Despite the collapsed roof, crumbling concrete and twisted metal all around, the cross on the top of St. Joseph's Home for Boys remains standing. A shining example of the Resurrection Lives of the SJF members!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
A Loss at St. Joseph's
We would like to lift up the family of Ben Larson. Ben was a senior at Warburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque and was a guest at St. Joseph’s at the time of the earthquake. His wife, Renee, made it out of the home but Ben did not. He died in the disaster and his family was notified yesterday. Please take a moment and pray for Ben and his family.
Bill is Doing Well.
The attempt to bring Bill to the U.S. for medical care is underway. Miles reached Port au Prince and a physician has evaluated Bill. He has severe abdominal pain, broken ribs, etc. as he fell 7 stories. They will bring him back tomorrow and more than likely take him to a hospital in Fort Lauderdale. Prayers are in order.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Photo of the Front of St. Joseph's from Renee
The Entrance to St. Joseph's after the earthquake. Please donate at www.heartswithhaiti.org
Thursday, January 14, 2010
News from Renee at St. Joseph's
Major earthquake in Haiti. Limited email and electricity. None of either at Wings. I am borrowing a computer at the Baptist Mission, blessings to them. I will post updates on Facebook as I can and hopefully those will also be posted on the Hearts With Haiti, Broken Wings and Haitian Timoun websites. St. Joseph's is destroyed. Wings has major structural damage. All the Wings and SJ kids are now in the front building at Wings. Bill and TiPatrick were both seriously injured. We're trying to get them into a hospital but all are full. No status on them yet. Limited word from Jacmel is that Trinity House and the TH kids are okay. But the road between PAP and Jacmel is not passible. Please keep the SJF and all of Haiti in your prayers. This is a major disaster. The Caribbean market is totally destroyed, as is the Palace and the National Cathedral. The images are UNBELIEVABLE! Lots of death and destruction.
Peace and Love, Renee
Peace and Love, Renee
Day 2 from Renee with the St. Joseph's Family
Day 2...is it really only Day 2. In 20 minutes will it really be that only 48 hours have passed since all our lives were turned (literally) upside-down. It seems like a lifetime ago.
Yesterday was shock and confusion. Today is mobilization. I went down to SJ for a few hours this morning and helped move stuff out of the main house and into the art center. The art center is damaged, but not anywhere near what St. Joseph's is like. There was a break-in there last night with people looking for food, so stripping the house was a priority. Michael and Walnes are still spending the night sleeping on the ground at a neighbors, like most of the neighborhood, but they are well.
Bill and TiPatrick are both out of the hospital and seem to be well, considering. They will return tomorrow for a check by some US doctors who were supposed to arrive today. No need now for evacuation for the states, for all those ready to try and arrange that.
Wings is crowded with all the Wings kids and now the SJ boys. Not a lot of space in the visitors dining room and the front of the house for 65+ people, but we are coping. Everyone is pitching in. KC and I moved things from our rooms that are the necessities for both our work and the kids today. The rest will be left. We are also starting to get the guys to move as many supplies from the storage rooms in the new part of the house as possible. Limited time is spent in the new part of the house, as we believe it is unstable and don't know if it will remain standing. There's a lot we don't know right now.
We were able to get a few toys out for the kids today and are trying to give them a sense of the "new" normal as we decide what to do next. There is a lot of organizing and planning to do.
PAP is a mess. There was a real difference in the feeling on the streets today too. People are more desperate for help, food, medical attention, a way out of the suffering and fear, etc.
The aftershocks continue. It is unnerving. I grew up in tornado-land and have been through several hurricanes in Haiti, but nothing is like an earthquake. At least with a tornado and hurricanes you can see them coming and know when they are gone, but with the earthquake there is a continued reminder that we don't know what is coming next and fear is rampent.
Lines of communication are getting better. I was able to talk to my Mom on the phone for a few minutes today. Thanks to all who have reached out to hear with your love and support. I just got word that the internet is working now at Wings (I'm at the Baptist Mission again), so that is good. The next step now is to get a source of power at Wings. The one plug we have is from an inverter and that probably won't last much longer. I gave the guys a bunch of money today to go and try to find a small generator for us. We don't want to run the big generators because of what the vibrations may do to the unstable house. We need one we can wheel outside when it is on, and secure inside when we are not using it. With everything closed down, shopping isn't easy, but they are resourceful!
If I can get online on my own computer I'll try to post some pictures, we'll see how the electricity and internet connection hold out.
Thank you for all your love, support, prayers for all of us. We feel your presence.
Monetary donations should be sent through Hearts With Haiti (www.heartswithhaiti.org), the Haitian Timoun Foundation (www.hopeinhaiti.org) - both are US mission partners of ours; or Broken Wings Missions (www.broken-wings.ca) in Canada - also our mission partner.
And now 20 minutes have passed. 48 hours in...what's next?
Yesterday was shock and confusion. Today is mobilization. I went down to SJ for a few hours this morning and helped move stuff out of the main house and into the art center. The art center is damaged, but not anywhere near what St. Joseph's is like. There was a break-in there last night with people looking for food, so stripping the house was a priority. Michael and Walnes are still spending the night sleeping on the ground at a neighbors, like most of the neighborhood, but they are well.
Bill and TiPatrick are both out of the hospital and seem to be well, considering. They will return tomorrow for a check by some US doctors who were supposed to arrive today. No need now for evacuation for the states, for all those ready to try and arrange that.
Wings is crowded with all the Wings kids and now the SJ boys. Not a lot of space in the visitors dining room and the front of the house for 65+ people, but we are coping. Everyone is pitching in. KC and I moved things from our rooms that are the necessities for both our work and the kids today. The rest will be left. We are also starting to get the guys to move as many supplies from the storage rooms in the new part of the house as possible. Limited time is spent in the new part of the house, as we believe it is unstable and don't know if it will remain standing. There's a lot we don't know right now.
We were able to get a few toys out for the kids today and are trying to give them a sense of the "new" normal as we decide what to do next. There is a lot of organizing and planning to do.
PAP is a mess. There was a real difference in the feeling on the streets today too. People are more desperate for help, food, medical attention, a way out of the suffering and fear, etc.
The aftershocks continue. It is unnerving. I grew up in tornado-land and have been through several hurricanes in Haiti, but nothing is like an earthquake. At least with a tornado and hurricanes you can see them coming and know when they are gone, but with the earthquake there is a continued reminder that we don't know what is coming next and fear is rampent.
Lines of communication are getting better. I was able to talk to my Mom on the phone for a few minutes today. Thanks to all who have reached out to hear with your love and support. I just got word that the internet is working now at Wings (I'm at the Baptist Mission again), so that is good. The next step now is to get a source of power at Wings. The one plug we have is from an inverter and that probably won't last much longer. I gave the guys a bunch of money today to go and try to find a small generator for us. We don't want to run the big generators because of what the vibrations may do to the unstable house. We need one we can wheel outside when it is on, and secure inside when we are not using it. With everything closed down, shopping isn't easy, but they are resourceful!
If I can get online on my own computer I'll try to post some pictures, we'll see how the electricity and internet connection hold out.
Thank you for all your love, support, prayers for all of us. We feel your presence.
Monetary donations should be sent through Hearts With Haiti (www.heartswithhaiti.org),
And now 20 minutes have passed. 48 hours in...what's next?
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