A Word from Pierre

This year is a special year in the history of the orphanage. At the end of last year, I was asking God what verse to teach the children and the staff for the beginning of 2010. He inspired me to teach ISAIAH 45:2,3, "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. We learned it, and believed He was going to do something great for the children.

Many of the children had been waiting for a longtime in the adoption process to go home. They felt encouraged by the verse. Suddenly,on January 12, the earthquake hit and made big changes in the life of the kids. It is an unforgotten day for Haitian people. It was the first time we faced this event: in 35 seconds more than 300,000 people died, 250,000 houses collapsed leaving 1.5 million people in tents. We were asking ourselves why did God allow it to happened. He had His reasons for it.

From this hopeless situation, He made marvelous things for us. We had no children
hurt, but we did lose a Nanny who was at home. Our security walls that fell were
rebuilt by a team from California. He sent 110 children to their families
in the States, Canada and Argentina. He broke the difficult bars of adoption to
bring joy, new hope and loving care to these children.

Now, God has entrusted us with new children. He blessed us with a new van to drive the kids, families and the Missionaries that come to serve here. He gave us a piece of land to shine His Glory to the community. What an awesome God we serve!

As outreach, with GRANGOU and other donors, we were able to feed the
birth parents for a few months after the earthquake, help churches, feed orphanages
and a village. We distributed medicines to Hospitals and clinics to help save lives. During last summer, we organized a VBS for 600 children. We also fed them during the week. It was a great time. 72 of them gave their life to Jesus. Hallelujah!!! God has opened a house for 50 street boys who now are receiving food, education and medical care. Their lives are being changed. Finally, last November, we organized a Leadership conference for 150 Pastors where they got trained, equipped, empowered and encouraged to serve better in the Kingdom.

All this was possible because He used YOU to be a channel of blessings to us. I want to thank all of you that contributed to make a huge difference in the lives of these kids and the Haitian people. We were so encouraged by your presence, your love, your kindness and your donations to the orphanage, For His Glory and GRANGOU. We pray that God will continue to use you as His tool to keep on blessing this ministry.

We have some new challenges for next year. We want to build the land so that we can serve more children and a bigger community. This is a big dream God gave us to fulfill for His Glory. We want to find families for the kids that live with us now. As outreach, we plan to organize a VBS for the children in the community, a Leadership Conference for 300 Pastors, a Woman's Retreat and Medical Clinics for the community. Please keep us in your prayers so that God can make these projects come true.


I wish all of you a wonderful"Merry Christmas"(jwaye nwel in creole). May the light and the love of God keep you warmed.

Bless you,
Pierre

Medical Visas and Life Changing Surgeries

Medical Visas and Life Changing Surgeries

We currently have two amazing children that we have been working to get medical visas to come to the US for treatment for the last 8 months.

Samy Leo, a very happy and active little guy, has club feet and is in need of surgery if he will ever have the hope of walking. Dr. Jane Aronson and Dr. Mark Reiger, in connection with Morrison Memorial Hospital Campus in Morristown, New Jersey have offered their services to repair little Samy's legs and a family had generously offered to host and care for Samy while he was in the U.S. for treatment. We just learned that Samy's medical visa was denied. Please pray with us that the Lord will provide another alternative for Samy to receive this life changing surgery.

Vanessa, an amazing little girl that is happy and full of energy, will be traveling to Colorado to Denver Children's Hospital where Dr. Mark Erickson will be treating her for Blounts Disease. Vanessa runs and jumps rope, even with her disability, but following her surgery, she will be able to walk and play normally. If left untreated, Vanessa's legs would likely continue to worsen and could lead to the inability to walk. Please pray for God's provision for airfare for Vanessa and her escort and that her surgery will be successful and that she will soon be able to walk and play normally.

We would like to say thank you to these hospitals, doctors and host families for all that they are doing to help! You are such a blessing.

Baby Rudy's Story

Baby Rudy - Captured Hearts

Baby Rudy joined our family on Thursday, November 11, 2010. He was born January 21, just nine days after the earthquake killed his father. Rudy's 17-year-old mother brought him to us because she "didn't want him to die in this condition." He was extremely malnourished, and his skin hung from his body. His cry was weak and sounded more like a newborn baby than a 10-month old. He only weighed 8.8 pounds.

The nannies immediately began to care for Rudy. They bathed him and fed him. A rocking chair was brought in to ease his discomfort with being held. When I visited him and held him, he would hold his little hand up to my mouth for me to kiss. Our pediatrician came every day to check on his progress. He had a terrible cough, and was not gaining weight.

After being with us for a week, Rudy began vomiting. On Friday, November 19 we took him to the hospital. The first hospital told us they couldn't treat him because of his severe malnutrition, but they did send us to a hospital that could. A nanny stayed with Rudy at the hospital 24 hours a day. She fed and cared for him. Every 12 hours the nannies would switch.

On Sunday, Rudy was put on oxygen because of severely labored breathing. He was suffering from vomiting and diarrhea. On Monday, Pierre, two missionaries and I went to the hospital, circled around Baby Rudy and sang and prayed over him again and again - petitioning the Lord to bring healing to his little body, to not only help him to survive, to bring him to a point of growing and thriving. Rudy was very alert and even grasped my finger with his sweet hand... That is when I cried.

We had learned earlier in the day that the doctor suspected pneumonia as well as tuberculosis, but Rudy was not able to be transported for an x-ray. He was on the first step of their severe malnutrition program and received only small amounts of special milk every 30 minutes. That is all his little tummy was able to tolerate at one time.

When I arrived at the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, Rudy had visibly worsened. We began seeking answers to questions, and sought the help of additional medical personnel. We were told that the blood transfusion he had received had not helped yet, and we were waiting for him to urinate. I prayed and prayed, and finally put my hands on his small back, where his kidneys would be. I asked that whatever was blocking his kidneys from allowing urination would move in the name of Jesus. A few minutes later, Rudy urinated in the small bag attached to him! We celebrated, and then went home to get some sleep.

Wednesday brought news that Rudy was in a coma. His eyes were no longer open, and his breathing was beginning to grow more labored. Another blood transfusion failed to bring desired results.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., I went to see Rudy in the hospital. I arrived around 10 a.m., and was informed again that his conndition had worsened. He struggled to take each breath, and there was no response when you touched his hands. I spent the day at the hospital because I just couldn't leave. He had swelling on his brain and blood around the brain. His pupils were dilated and they said they had done everything they could do. Now, his body had to do the rest.

Someone had told me I had to prepare myself for this precious baby to die. I had refused to do that. I was holding on to hope that the Lord would bring him through. But, the thought continued to run through my head and I spent the day wrestling with the idea that he might not make it. The last thing I wanted to happen was to see this little one die. As the day wore on, I realized that the man was correct. My prayers became truly about God showing mercy to this little one, whatever that may look like. As I watched his labored breathing, I realized how much I truly love this little one, and how much I want what is best for him, whether that be to recover from this, or to go and be with Jesus.

I watched three nurses try desperately for over an hour to find a vein for Rudy's IV, with no success. I watched them call in a surgeon to open up his leg to locate a vein. The surgeon worked with extremely dim light for almost an hour and a half and finally found something he could work with. The whole time, I watched Rudy's gasping breaths. Over and over I kept singing "You Never Let Go" (words below) over Baby Rudy. When I left at 3:00 p.m., he was in the same condition. But, I was in a much different condition than I had been the last time I left his side. I have to trust that God truly is sovereign. That He is God and I am not, and in that, His plan for each of us is perfect. Even His plan for Rudy. And His plan for me. And His plan for each of you.

On Friday, November 26, 2010 at 2:37 a.m. Rudy went home to Jesus. After hearing the news of her son's death, Rudy's mother Wideline, accepted Christ as her Savior. I am thankful for this tiny child, sent to teach us so many things, one of them being how you are to fight with every fiber of your being for what you know is true and right. I am truly rejoicing at the healing that God gave to Rudy - not on this earth, but in His presence. I am sad that he had to suffer so much in his life, but I am grateful that God, in His infinite mercy, wisdom and love, brought Rudy home to experience eternal peace, love and joy, and that now his mother will join him one day.

Urgent Call for Action:

Urgent Call for Action:

Let’s Get the Help Haiti Act of 2010 Passed! The Help Haiti Act of 2010 (HR 5283) will give the Haitian children who came to the United States this year the same green card and citizenship path they would have had if they had come through the normal international adoption route. The House of Representatives needs to vote on the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5283 - Help HAITI Act of 2010 before the “lame duck” session of Congress ends. Everyone in the adoption community: please contact the Democratic House leadership and urge them to bring this bill to the House floor for a vote. Let’s finish the job we started in January. There are around 1,200 children who need our help. The people to contact are:



perry.aplebaum@mail.house.gov (on behalf of Congressman John Conyers)

John.Lawrence1@mail.house.gov (on behalf of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi)

terry.lierman@mail.house.gov (on behalf of Congressman Steny Hoyer)

Contact us at adoptionpolicy.org with any questions

How much is $10 worth to you? It could feed our children for a month.

Dear Friends and Family,
As I wrote about in a blog post and email earlier this week, the orphanage is facing an interesting situation in the next month. I gave a general request for help, a blanket statement that I make from time to time.
I decided to make it specific. And I did my math. I’m going to challenge you to feed the orphanage for a month. Yes, a month. But I’m not asking you to do it alone.
Between my facebook friends and those of you who receive this email, and those who read my blog (I realize there is some overlap) I figured that if each of you gave $10, you could feed the orphanage for an entire month.
Did you catch that? $10 as in the cost of a movie ticket, 2 awesome beverages from Starbucks, a sale DVD at Target, all of those things are around $10. For that amount, together you can feed all 74 children and the entire staff (yes, we are responsible for feeding the staff daily) for a whole month.
When is the last time you fed that many people for just $10? I’ve watched other ChipIn meters go to the goal. And then go past them. And then rejoiced that so many people came together to make a difference in the lives of kids.
So now it’s your turn.
I’m going to make it short and sweet, because I know you’re going to respond quickly.
So between November 8-November 13, I challenge you to feed my children!
Let’s do this!

Angie

Hurricane Tomas Update

Thank you very much for your prayers regarding the hurricane. The Lord hears and answers our prayers. This verse is a reminder of the power of God.

Matthew 8:27
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

We received word that the children and orphanage are doing well. Everybody is safe and sound. Please continue to pray for PAP and those living in tent cities who have not been as fortunate as Maison.

Pastor Pierre's Ordination

Riverstone at Maison des Enfants de Dieu

A Heart for Haiti Slideshow

Port Au Prince_Haiti

God at Work in the Earthquake

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Pierre about the ways he saw God working through the earthquake. I hope you can see Him working too.

There is a four story house or building that started to collapse and there was a lady in the highest story. When she saw the house collapsing, she was very scared, crying and screaming.

She was the only one on the higher story. She was waving her hands for people to come and help her. But people were afraid to come and help her because they were afraid the building would collapse.

The police came, but they wouldn’t go in. They said she would have to just jump and they will stay with arms linked to catch her. She said, “No I will die.” They said, “If you don’t want to jump, you will die. Do you want to die upstairs or on the ground where your family will know where you died?”

She said, “I don’t want to die.” So now they said, “Ok, either way you will die. But the best thing you need to do is give your life to Jesus.” They called a pastor. The pastor came and shared the gospel with her. “I am willing to give my life to Jesus,” she said. The pastor prayed from the ground with her. “Do you believe it?” the pastor asked. She said, “Not yet. I don’t feel like it right now.”

“Lady you need to hurry, this is the time for you. Either you go to heaven or hell. Choose right now,” the pastor said.

“Ok I believe,” she said.

“If you believe jump,” he said.

She said no.

The pastor said, “When you believe, you can jump.”

She felt someone grab her by he sides, pick her up, and throw her out the window. The police caught her on their linked arms. She had no bones broken.

The same day when the earthquake happened, there was a famous voodoo priest on Delmas 33. He was so shocked that the evil spirits had not revealed the earthquake to him.

At midnight he set up a ceremony to find out what was happening. All night long there were aftershocks. When it was 12:30 am the evil spirit came and he said to the spirit, “Why you did not tell me? I’ve been serving you a long time.”

The evil spirit said, “You need to know. I don’t have control of the earth. Now we all have problems. Leave me alone don’t bother me.”

The voodoo priest said, “You need to know too from now I am not going to serve you because you are not as powerful as I thought.”

He burned all his voodoo things. He turned the perestil (voodoo ceremony place) into a place to pray to God.

There were some Haitian Americans that came to Haiti to honor what they call the guardian (evil spirit) of the family. Usually they make a big ceremony and pay the voodoo priest to set up the ceremony to please the evil spirits. All of the sudden the earthquake happened and the perestil was shaking and there was part of it that collapsed. Everyone got outside including the priest. The priest already got paid for the ceremony but his money was left inside. He left all the money and people were asking him why the evil spirit did not protect him. He was more upset that the evil spirit did not save his money. He said, “If I did not run out of the perestil I would have lost my life too.” So he told them he would begin serving Jesus. All the people there gave their life to Jesus.

Another family came from the U.S. They are Haitian. They came to make a sacrifice in Gonaives. They started their ceremony at 6 am and it was after 5 pm. The evil spirit finally showed up. And the voodoo priest said, “Why did you take so long to come down and answer us?”

“You need to know…{voodoo priests never name Jesus…if you are possessed and say to the spirit get out in the name of Jesus, the spirit has to go, so they never say Jesus} Emmanuel is coming. We were in a meeting to find out what to do to protect ourselves. Don’t bother me,” said the evil spirit.

The voodoo priest was surprised to here this. “If the spirit does not know how to save himself, I need to go to the one who saves, who is Jesus.”

Every Tuesday at 4 in the afternoon the women at the church get together to pray. On January 12 they started to pray. All of a sudden the earthquake started. The building was swaying, moving back and forth. Some of the ladies laid down to pray, some of them held a wall just to not fall down. They were asking God for protection. The building collapsed. They were saved and nothing happened to them. But the way it collapsed they were trapped, there was no way for them to get out of the building. So they decided to start praising God and singing. They were scared the roof would collapse on them, so they kept singing, singing, singing. After 30 minutes {hands motion an explosion} and aftershock happened and a hole blew in the wall and they were able to get out.

We can die in one second but God can do a zillion things in one second. That’s amazing. When the boy said that, the blood of Jesus protected him. He understood enough to know that.

There is a joke about that {the earthquake} too. Some people say there was a meeting between Jesus and Satan. Satan said he had more people in Haiti following him. Jesus said He didn’t think so.

Satan said, “Wait for Carnaval. Then you will see.” Jesus said, “I can’t wait to show you. I will shake Port au Prince and show you right now!”

In the earthquake no one said Satan. They all said Jesus Jesus Jesus!

Everybody was calling Jesus! If you were there to hear you would hear ‘Jesus Jesus!’ Even now, when there is an aftershock, ‘Jesus Jesus Jesus!’ Many were protected and saved by Jesus.

An old man he lives by my house and he is a mason man. I used to talk to him about Jesus. When the earthquake, happened he was in his house. The house started collapsing. The wall inside the house fell over him and he fell down. His children were saying, “Daddy what is happening to you?” While he was under the blocks he said, “Jesus!” All of a sudden he was able to jump up and run, and when he ran out the building collapsed. Now he follows Jesus.

Not serving Him, Jesus saved them., Name of Jesus is so powerful.

The girls had just got home from school. Marlah was trying to find something to eat. Marie France was there but Marie France sat down on the bed nursing the baby when the house was swaying. She fell down on the floor with the baby. She started screaming. The other children started screaming. She thought the house was going to collapse on them. They were calling Jesus. She was so scared she could not stand up. I could not go, so I sent Clenide to her. When Clenide got my house, she found Marie France in the house. Marie France said, “I feel so weak I cannot stand up.” Clenide helped her stand up and get the baby and the girls out of the house.

I was so scared if all die.

When we got her at the orphanage I was so happy, so happy. Since then whenever we have aftershocks Vicki has heart beat fast.

I think that took me 3 hours to hear from Kiki. I kept calling calling calling. I could not get through. He called and said, “Where are you?” I said, “I am fine.” And then we got disconnected. But I knew he was okay.

Franckis was in the countryside. They felt it in the south, but they did not get any damage,.

The Sunday before the earthquake I preached. We lost 5 people in the church. Yes they knew the Lord. One of them was supposed to be in the women meeting which motivates them now to go to the meeting. Because those in the meeting got saved. She did not come for some reason.

One nanny died when the wall fell on her. But the bad news is that she did not give her life to Jesus. She came to her sister in a dream and said I don’t want you to put my dad where they put me. Go tell him now.

They found her under the blocks with her two children.

Everybody was there at the orphanage. Some were so worried about their family they went home. Some were on the road to come to work, they still came to see what happened with the orphanage.

Some people from the dayshift stayed for 3 days, some go and check on families, and come back.

Many that lost their families. Esther in 2^nd baby room lost her baby. Rennate had 9 cousins die. Janet in toddler room she had her house collapse on her son, but he did not die. They got him under the rubble. She has nephew that died too. Another lady named nadia has her mom her dad her brother her sister, her cousin..in total 10 people that died. She is the only one left in her family. What amazing? Try to save yourself. You cannot pay attention to the lost. You have to take care of yourself.

Everybody’s scared.

Time for God. We are getting worse and worse since 200 years. God broke the building of the government every office serves an evil spirit. Director…minister of—you have to serve that evil spirit to stay. This the same thing in the national palace.

If you are working for government you are strong Christian or serving the devils the only way to keep your job your position.

People that want to have your job will do whatever they can to get rid of you. If you are not strongly planted in the Lord they will kill you. Not find so many ppl in the govt serving the Lord.

That’s why a lot of people saying this is
God’s judgment. Because most of the government building collapsed.

Congress collapsed. Senators died. Even in building they serve evil spirits too. Get inside the car, you can smell it. Unclean spirit, smell bad. Smell very bad.

It’s an old building. It’s still standing. Second the walls they only fell over 2 workers. Most of the children were outside. Third, even the house of our neighbor collapsed. With no people inside. We would not be able to stay at the orphanage with dead bodies.

The other thing is the wall did not fall over anybody that was on the street. It collapsed outside, and nobody got hurt. Not even on the street. That was amazing.

The other thing too, we the children stayed outside and the babies, and we had people that come to help us. God put people in your way. That’s amazing because, I think we were the first orphanage that got an official visit from the US side. I remember I saw 15 cars. Most of them had US soldiers in them. And I didn’t remember why I was outside but I was driving and I saw 15 cars. Wow, where are they going? I tried to follow them. They were on Delmas 31. I saw them stop in front of the orphanage. They all go inside and said we come to check on you. What’s going on, check on the children. We need security. They will send some soldiers if necessary. They spent 1 hour checking. They check my leg. They say, ok, we come back and bring food back to you.

See so many US soldiers, they know they have to be careful with us. Even our neightbors say, we should sleep on your property because it’s safer now.

Clouter—

Came with 2 cars, one broke down. Broke down because they spent whole evening working on car. People thought it was our security.

Rebuilding the Security Wall

If you would like to see photos of the security wall being rebuilt please go to our website www.forhisgloryoutreach.org click on earthquake relief and then photos.

Thank you Mission Haiti for all the hard work that you have done to make this project possible.

God Bless You.

URGENT NEED

There are currently 300 children in Haiti that still qualify for humanitarian parole. The State Dept. has cancelled military flights. Volunteer Charter Flights are needed to evacuate the remaining children. If you or someone you know can provide transportation for these children, please contact info@forhisgloryoutreach.org
Let's help them get home!

We Are Home

Our Homecoming Story:

View the story of how 80 children came home to be with their forever families as told by CNN:

January 20,2010 - Our orphanage manager, Pierre Alexis sharing our plight

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/01/20/pkg.obrien.haiti.orphans.cnn

January 21, 2010 - Maison des Enfants de Dieu bus ride to make their way to America

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/22/obrien.orphan.journey.cnn?hpt=C2

January 23, 2010 - Here are 80 of our children arriving home to be with their forever families

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jMjwgoEAyE&feature=related

We Need Your Mission Trip Stories!

Have you been on a trip to work at Maison des Enfants de Dieu?

Would you please consider writing a blog post about how God used you in Haiti?

Please send your entry and photos (if you have them) to me at jodie.eyberg@gmail.com.

Thanks!

P.S. -- I'd also love to have your adoption stories, recipes, etc.!