Heading Back to Haiti
We go back to Haiti early Friday morning, and we can’t wait. It has been a great time back in the states for the last month, and we have done a lot of things that we needed and wanted to do. I just wanted to take some time to recap our time here and to let you know what we are going back to when we arrive home in Haiti.
The main purpose of our trip home was our silent auction. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and it is an incredible event. Maybe the best part of the event is that Jessica and I do not have to do anything to make it happen. We have this incredible team of people who put everything together for us and all we have to do is show up and give a short presentation/update that night. The event this year was wonderful. The decorations and atmosphere were incredible (I would use the word elegant or beautiful, but they do not sound like very manly words), the items that you could bid on were better than you could imagine, and the food (which was donated by some wonderful local restaurants including Harry’s, Bono’s, and Biscotti’s) was out of this world. We don’t have any final numbers yet, but it was truly a wonderful event and I am so glad that I was able to be a part of it.
The second purpose of our trip was to update our adoption home study. You have not heard us talk about adoption lately, and the reason is not because we are holding off on it or taking a break. You have not heard us talk about it because there is nothing to talk about right now. The Ethiopia adoption program is slowing almost to a halt, and we are just right in the middle of it. We are so excited at the thought of bringing home our children soon, and it is always on our mind, we just don’t have any updates to share with anyone. Please continue to be in prayer for us about this aspect of our lives when you think about us.
Another purpose for our trip was that I (Matt) needed a root canal and a crown on one of my teeth that had been hurting for the month leading up to us coming back to the states. My dentist retired this past year, and I did not know who to go to nor did I know how we would pay for something like that, so we started praying and trying to find someone who could help. The most incredible thing happened as GOD answered our prayers with Dr. John Vollenweider in LaGrange, GA. He did my root canal, build up, and crown all in the same day and all between other patients and during his lunch break that day. I have no idea how to thank Dr. Vollenweider and his staff for that, but if you are in LaGrange and need a dentist, he is incredible! Here is a link to his website if you need it.
Finally, we were also home to see family and friends. I list this last, but this is always the most important aspect of any trip we take back to America. We got to spend time with our parents, my sisters, and some great friends. We also got to meet with our Board of Directors for our annual meeting and our advisory team to get their input on some of the big decisions we have coming up. Probably the highlight of this trip is that we got to meet Tucker. Tucker is Jessica’s best friend’s new baby, and we got to spend time getting to know him while were home.
It is always so great to come home and do all of the things that we need to do here. There are always difficult things that happen, and we do not always get the rest we need, but there are always some really good things as well, and those are the things that I mention today. When we get back to Haiti, we are going to be busy. The day after we arrive we have a team of youth coming from Christ’s Church Jacksonville, the day before they leave we have an All Things New team coming, and 4 days after that we have a team from First Baptist LaGrange coming down. This means that we will be very busy for the first 3 weeks we are there, and we are really looking forward to it. It is so great when we have teams down, and we are excited that our kids are going to have people there for them. We will also be moving forward with a lot of the things that we talked about at the Silent Auction this past Saturday (the video will be posted on our website soon thanks to one of our sponsor families).
Please be in prayer for All Things New over the next few weeks and months because there is so much going on. Not only do we have a lot of teams coming down, we have a lot of decisions to make. We will get more specific about what some of these decisions are soon, but for now please just be in prayer as GOD continues to lead us and our ministry. Thank you guys for everything, and thanks for always supporting All Things New. I cannot even begin to describe how much GOD has blessed us and this ministry, and He has used all of you to do that.