Please Look at this Link Re: Haiti Cholera Epidemic

Please Read This:

http://goatpath.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/cholera-reaches-port-au-prince-as-victims-are-left-in-mass-graves/#more-553

An Open Door

A few weeks ago I was challenged by a conversation with a new friend. I was describing to her how my life felt like I was pinned up against a wall, suffocating, with no direction and no end in sight. I didn’t even know what to pray. Jen counseled me to start asking God for an open door. So I did.

Very shortly thereafter I received a phone call. An answer!

Back in February I when had been home from Haiti for about a month a good friend spoke into my life. She said she was seeing things in my life which she felt God was pressing upon her heart she needed to talk to me about. I’ve struggled (Ha ha ha! What a mild word. “Been engulfed by” is a more fitting description.) with an eating disorder since I was a teenager but I thought I’d had victory over it last year before I left for Haiti. Apparently, I was wrong; coming home from Haiti that became very evident. My friend felt strongly that I should admit myself into a residential treatment center to get help.

So we researched my options and pursued several paths but all paths became blocked except one. (And, boy, did that one drag on, and on, and on!) Six months later, I received my phone call! I had a move-in date! An open door!

On Wednesday, 18 August I am walking through that door. I will be living in a residential treatment center with 19 other girls who, like me, are there to work on an assortment of addictions, disorders, and issues! The program we are going through is called Vision of Hope. It is a ministry of Faith Baptist Church of Lafayette, IN.

How long will I be there? As long as it takes. (The staff says anywhere from 6-12 months.) Initially, the program is very restrictive so forgive me for not returning emails and phone calls. I will be allowed one personal phone call a week and you can bet I’ll be using all 14 minutes to talk to my mamma (and Daddy, and Taba, and Drew)!!! I will have no internet. I think I will be allowed to send and receive real mail, though. If you write, I will certainly write back!

I need prayer for transparency. My heart is so deceitful and deceived that I myself am often unsure what to say and do and think. I need Jesus to shine His light on. I need grace to respond to Jesus as He continues to pursue me for a relationship. For the past ten + years of being a Christian, somehow I’ve been totally missing out on that. More than anything, I think I need to feel and become convinced of God's love.

The Beautiful Letdown album seems to be providing the soundtrack to this season of my life. In my preparation, as I vacillate between pure excitement and sheer terror, the chorus of this song repeats itself in my mind…

When everything inside me looks like everything I hate
You are the hope I have for change
You are the only chance I'll take

And I'm on fire when You're near me
I'm on fire when You speak
I'm on fire burning out these mysteries

I'm standing on the edge of me
I'm standing at the edge of everything I've never been before And I've been standing on the edge of me, standing on the edge


Thank You, God, for good friends! and for the Journey You’ve promised to lead me safely on, as long as it takes.

Switchfoot - On Fire Lyrics

Switchfoot - On Fire Lyrics

Twenty Four (Six)

"Ok, what's the next Step?"

July, 2010...
Do you have songs which, when you hear them, immediately bring to mind a specific person, place, or season in your life? I do- in fact, I have entire musical albums which remind me of past seasons of life. Switchfoot’s “Beautiful Letdown” was one that I downloaded (uploaded?) onto my iPod prior to moving to Haiti last summer so when I ran the streets of Petionville for the four and a half months that I lived there a visual track evolved to accompany the music. (I especially laughed at the chorus of one song: “From the third world to the corporate ear we are the symphony of modern humanity”…)

God and I have been talking about the next step. I have officially been home for six months now. “What’s next, what’s next???” I demand, frantically. Back to Haiti? Where’s my passion? Do I have a heart for orphan care? Or is it against the cruelty of the sex trade? Is my calling on the foreign missions field? Should I go back to school? These questions reminded me recently of lyrics in Switchfoot’s song “Twenty Four.” I am a bit past twenty-four but I am still in my twenties so the song speaks personally to this season of my life:

I want to see miracles, to see the world change
Wrestled the angel, for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And You're raising the dead in me
http://artists.letssingit.com/switchfoot-lyrics-24-hh5pt3w

The gracious sifting and scourging and pruning that the Father is working in me currently is spoken of in the lyrics above. Yesterday the Holy Spirit showed me that, although the Lesson for me has been and continues to be, God, God, God, God, God- more of Him, getting to know Him, desiring Him and enjoying Him more than His gifts- my heart still clamors for some kind of definition outside of Him: a name, a feeling, a cause. The song speaks of something more valuable than even these enviable gifts: intimacy with God and a life made new.

So how can I respond? I am laying down my demands. I will cease striving. I will wait.

Francois Fenelon has this to offer we Pilgrims who find ourselves needing to practice the lesson of walking with God:

LIVE DAY BY DAY
Your spiritual walk is a little too restless and uneasy. Simply trust God. if you come to Him, He will give you all that you need to serve Him. You really need to believe that God keeps His word. The more you trust Him, the more He will be able to give you. If you were lost in an uncrossable desert, bread would fall from heaven for you alone.
Fear nothing but to fail God. And do not even fear that so much that you let it upset you. Learn to live with your failures, and bear with the failures of your neighbors. Do you know what would be best for you? Stop trying to appear so mentally and spiritually perfect before God and man. There is a lot of refined selfishness and complacency in not allowing your faults to be revealed. Be simple with God. He loves to communicate Himself to simple people. Live day by day, not in your own strength, but by completely surrendering yourself to God.
-The Seeking Heart

A recent view along the Appalachian Trail, Dalesville, Virginia

You Can Help

Dear Indiana Friends,
I wanted to let you know about an opportunity to further serve the people of Haiti through work that is going on with Three Angels… I will be sending down a shipment (number 3? or 4 from Indiana? Great job, Indy, for your support efforts thus far!) of relief supplies the week of July 5th. These are the supplies we could especially use at this time:
• Food (beans, rice, peanut butter, oatmeal, tuna, etc…)
• Clothing (gently used, please, and keep in mind that Haiti is a HOT climate)
• Protective rain gear (ponchos, umbrellas, etc.)
• Personal Hygiene (Haitians are black, so please consider the needs of black skin & hair)
Please drop off your donations at Centennial Bible Church in Westfield. The items should be placed in the bins under the coat racks. Or contact me through Facebook. The Fishers YMCA has donated more than 100 t-shirts which will go down on this shipment… Are there any old VBS shirts that could be included? Many thanks to the Brown family for the beautiful clothing they donated- I am smiling when I think about how pretty those little girls will look in their new sundresses.

Three Angels has been on the hunt for land to purchase for several months now. (The 91 Delmas property we have been on is a rental property.) Last week a lucrative opportunity arose; please pray for our Leadership to have God’s wisdom and clear leading as they enter in to the negotiation stage & seek to be responsible stewards of the money available.

Hurricane season is upon us. Will you pray with me that God will completely protect the nation of Haiti from hurricanes this year?

On Wednesday of this week (6/30) Dr. Jack Nonweiler will be in Indy having surgery to fuse vertebrae in his neck. Please support he and Marcia in prayer during the procedure and during the 6-week recovery time to follow. They are eager to return to their work in Haiti!
Blessings!
Abbey McArthur

A Re-Commencement

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome back to my blog! Many of you are interested in what’s going on in Haiti with Three Angels and what my current status/future plans are… So for these (and several other) reasons I am re-commencing my blog. :)

Currently I am back at home in Fishers, Indiana with Daddy, Mamma, Tabitha, Drew, Lucy and Yoda. God provided me a part-time job working at Ace Hardware- what a blessing this is proving to be! More on that in future blogs, probably. Taba & Drew’s school year finished up with Taba’s senior prom & commencement ceremony. Thanks to the Parks & Farris’ for making the drive down/up ‘n’ over to celebrate with us and for our church family who came in support of my sister, too! When I think about the story I’ve lived these past 26 years it is you folks who have made it a thoroughly satisfying one. Thank you.


The Taylor-Macs are Back: Together Again

God has been restructuring Three Angels and giving its new leadership clear direction. These visionary, hard-working folks are laboring on three specific fronts.

The Nons in Action!

Medical mission teams continue to travel down to minister the love of Jesus to our neighbors on Delmas 91 out of our clinic which- miraculously- still stands! Dr. Jack and Marcia Nonweiler are no longer living on our Delmas property but continue to make trips back and forth from the States to Haiti. When they are on the ground, they see and serve 40-50 patients daily. Currently, the Nons are stateside to work through some medical challenges of their own so please be in prayer for these tireless warriors!



School boys during recess
The school, Three Angels Christian Academy (TACA), resumed abbreviated classes shortly after the 1/12 earthquake and will continue through July to make up for the weeks lost post-quake. A major goal of our ministry has been to provide a hot, Haitian-style rice-and-beans meal each school day to each school child and teacher. School child sponsorship really helps foot the bill financially to meet this need so if you haven’t “adopted” an adorable TACA Haitian school child please seriously consider getting your family involved to do so. (http://www.threeangelsrelief.org/christian-academy/sponsor-a-child/) It’s $27/month. If you have four people in your family, that’s one date night out to see a new movie. Please ponder the eternal impact of such a sacrifice.

Manger! Mmmm... Haitian Rice and Beans

Restarting Angel House Orphanage has been placed on Divine hold. Regarding our passion for orphan care, TA board member Shannon Hoffmann affirms, “We are still committed to the care of orphans by serving those in our community until we can provide a new home for them. We cannot lose this focus as it is the crux of who we are.” We continue to financially support our workers who once “ran” the orphanage- our hard-working Haitian nannies, groundskeepers, and guards- but the TA leadership considers it wise to purchase land (we were only renting the Delmas 91 property) before starting a new orphanage. The “hold up” is that land now in earthquake-ravaged suburban Port au Prince is around $200,000/acre- prohibitively expensive! Land in the countryside is much more affordable but to move our operations so far from our current neighborhood would be to change the nature and mission of Three Angels all together. We are praying and trusting God for the resources and the wisdom we need for the future.




With 300,000 dead in Haiti, there are many new oprhans who need to feel the Love of Jesus

I think and dream about Haiti, “my” kids, and the Haitian friends I left behind daily. Am I going back to Haiti? I have no idea. Do I want to go back? I have no idea. The Haiti “chapter” of my life feels very much unclosed & I feel a desire to return there but I’m not smart enough to know if that’s because God will send me back or because of the very unusual and very abrupt departure I and 26 other Haitian refugees made on January 18th. God knows. And for now, that’s enough for me. When I think about returning, here are some of the pros and cons I bullet-point list in my head:
Cons:• Pervasive poor work ethic and self-respect of the men.
• Arrogant Haitian self-identity of Entitlement nurtured, unfortunately, by a strong & long missionary presence in Haiti.
• Being taken advantage of as a foreigner.
• The sexual promiscuity which saturates the culture.
• City noise & toxicity.
• The “concrete jungle” of the city.
Pros:• Women’s faith & work ethic.
• Kissing Hello & Goodbye! Very classy & personable.
• Being called “Miss”!
• Foreign language(s)!
• Missionary community: quality folks!
• The hardness of life: I really liked the inconvenience of life in Haiti!

While I share the thought process that I routinely go through, the Question of me returning to Haiti will not be decided by a list of what I liked and did not like about life there. It will be decided upon a calling. –Am I called by God to go to Haiti? M'pa konnen. I don't know. I am thankful for the days, weeks, and months He is giving me here at home to wait for and to hear His answer.


Pre-Quake Port au Prince

Earthquake Calendar: Day Seven, "The Great Escape"

Rousing the troops- at 3 am!
Pappa Kevin gets Rebekah ready.

Gretchen's two duffle bags of granola bars

come in handy- throughout the day we're feeding

the kids a bar every two hours just to keep them occupied!

The Cage

Awwwwww!

Finally inside the Embassy, the kiddos have some fun!

...For ten hours!

Here, we wait.

And wait...

Regan Blesh and her stow-away.

This little guy made it through American customs

without a word. (Maybe it was the 26 kids that

distracted the customs agents.)

Pappa Kevin takes special care of Stephania.

It was hard for me to think of the hundreds of other

kids like Stephy we left behind in Haiti. I'm glad now

that I was nearly unconscious throughout the whole process.

Denise Blesh. She and her four kids were a godsend- literally.

Without those extra hands our ship would have sunk- or more

appropriately, our plane downed!

Praise God that they were able to receive the same humanitarian

parole for their little Bethania that we did for our 26.

The adoption paperwork Jack and Marcia had slaved over for 8 months.

Jack and Marcia were ready. Apparently, so was God.

Gretchen and Jack jump through the legal ropes.

Finally- we're on the shuttle headed towards the airfield.

We're tired, but grateful.

At the airport, international news crews descend upon our

adorable and highly photogenic Haitian refugees.

On the plane, some of the kiddos nap...

Most of them play!

"Daniel, where are you going?"

By this time, the kids know.

They're going HOME!

Chloe Blesh goofs off with Djoulie and Nicot.

This young woman- herself a refugee- was another

blessing from God. Her hands were so helpful with our

babies! Needing transportation to the states, she joined our group

at the embassy and flew with us to Florida. There she met up

with her own adoptive family! Her English was very limited,

though. I can only imagine the bittersweetness of her own homegoing.

I am sure the adjustment has been difficult and very lonely.

Kethia and Rob. We're on American soil!

This precious girl almost broke my heart!

In customs, the tears careening down my face,

I had to tell myself, "If God can preserve little Bethany from

the throws of a 7.0 earthquake, He can protect her heart and deliver

her safely to her family." I believe He did. Faithful God!

The melee! The kids wait in a back room as we process them one by one

and hand them off to their familes, anxiously awaiting behind glass doors!

Twenty-six kids only took us six or so hours. Great job, Ft. Pierce Customs Agents!

Dave gives his signature sign of approval.

As I hugged each one of the kids Goodbye,
I knew this moment was a highlight of my life.

Monday 1/18
3 am- wake kids. Load cage. Pray with nannies; tearful farewell. They want us to remember them! We will, we will! We will come back for you! Sean Blesh’s family: his wife, Denise, and four kids, are evacuating today also. They have a Haitian-adopted daughter whose paper work they too must expedite to get her out of the country. We caravan to embassy, leaving at 4 am. The cage full with cargo and kids; I ride with Renato on my lap in Blesh’s vehicle to embassy. Eerie scenes on the dark drive there: crew working on extracting what they think is sixty (wrong estimation) live people from the basement of the collapsed Caribbean Super Market- corpses on the street outside the gate evidence their efforts; packs of dogs hunt together under cover of the black morning hours; sections of the street are blocked off where masses of people sleep; rubble everywhere. Sean and Denise remark how deserted the streets are of the usual traffic and how uncanny the silence is (the city before the quake was never quiet). My hungry and searching eyes devour it all. I want to Remember.

Arrive at embassy. Unload kids and cargo at embassy door- the side door. Wait past 5 outside. I am still painfully ill. Per an American medical worker’s suggestion, I eat a vegetarian MRE, which makes me sicker. The Blesh kids are in awe of the MRE heating system- me too! After this fateful meal, Tom snaps a picture of me lying on the road by the curb in the fetal position: I spend most of the day in this position, doubled over in pain, exhausted. Quite a long time later, after many Haitian embassy workers and cars have passed by the crazed American woman, I move from the lying on the curb to sitting in the midst of the children on the lawn. It is here, observing the simple actions of the kids eating (more!) granola bars, and pondering their interactions with each other that I quietly shed my first tears. This is it. It took a 7.0 earthquake and only God knows how many deaths but these kids are going HOME.

The sun rises. Helicopters circle above us. Lines of hundreds of Haitians become visible outside the front gate. We are escorted inside the embassy. It is quite the scene as the ten of us “big people,” 27 small children, and more than a dozen large totes make our way forward- a bedraggled caravan of tired refugees. Our cargo is deposited in the interior court yard where hundreds of relief workers have set up camp. This is unbelievable and the joke of the day- we are actually inside our own American embassy! Such a thing has never happened in Haiti before! Everything inside this sanctuary communicates that we are on a transported piece of American turf- the English-speakers, beautiful landscaping, orderly rows of matching chairs, flushing toilets, clean windows, offers of food and water, men and women in military garb. We are led to the second of a series of adjacent waiting rooms where we spend the next nine hours waiting. Hundreds of people filter in and out of our assigned space over the course of our wait; it is “organized” chaos.

Once inside, I collapse into my curled- up position on the ground with a sheet pulled over me- for hours- waking only to drink water, visit the bathroom, and recoil from kids crawling on me and dogs licking my face! Meanwhile, calls are received and made, VIPs consulted (and stateside, prayers offered without ceasing). Several hours into our wait somebody in our group (my guess is Gretchen or Denise- a mom!) suggests we turn the chairs inward to create a huge circle- much easier to contain the kids that way! Every once and a while I awake to overhear “Nicot, stop pulling your sister’s ear!” “Kids, you can have a lolly-pop if you sit down!” “Who needs to go to the bathroom?” “Lay down, Kethia!” “Don’t step on Stephania, Matu!” “You want a granola bar?” “Sebastian needs a bottle.” “Djuolie needs a diaper change.” “Reece, can you help?” Finally, finally, we are told we’re on our way! Again, we load ourselves up (or rather, down) with children and cargo to plod out to the shuttles.

The shuttle has DR plates and the driver speaks Spanish. Today, we love the neighbors! We are taken to the big airport where news crews prey upon Jack and Gretchen and camera men upon our kids! This was a mistake, though- we’re supposed to fly out of the smaller air field. We wait- what are we waiting on?! We need to move! Finally our driver gets the message and we start for the missionary airport. A CVS camera man accompanies us to film the kids getting onto the plane- a comfortable image to project for Americans to end the day’s Haiti news coverage . Hendricks Motor Sports has donated the plane and crew. With Jameslee and Dave on separate arms, I climb the ladder. On the plane, we try to position ourselves throughout the 40 seats to create an effective distribution of adults and kids. All day we have avoided talking with the kids about our actions and the desired result. Once settled, smiling to myself as I take in the sight of our giddy assembly, I begin to probe them one by one,“Reece, where are you going?” –“To Evansville.” “Daniel, where are you going?” –“Chicago.” “Steeve?” –“Arizona.” “Elmise?” –“Michigan.” They Know. Contentedly, my heart affirms, “Yes, you are really are going HOME…”

The engines gear up. We are the last plane daylight permits off the field today. Unfortunately I’m seated on the wing so I can’t visibly say goodbye to Haiti as we ascend. One week after arriving in Haiti from my Christmas vacation with the mind to serve there the next seven months, I am on a plane flying back to America. Once at altitude, our stewardess serves the kids snacks. The crew is so kind!

We land in Fort Pierce, FL, after seven pm and dress the kids in yellow t-shirts donated by the embassy and Hendricks ball caps. These kids are rock stars! The customs crew is waiting with food, toys, blankets (it’s very chilly!) and even cots for the kids to sleep on. Outside the air field, families cheer and camera crews capture the jubilee. Inside we spend the next six hours processing the kids through customs. After sleeping all day, fortunately my body is now cooperating with me a little more and I am able to help out. As I hand the children off one by one to eager and joyful parents, I am in awe. When I moved to Haiti I expected –no, hoped- to witness five, maybe six home goings over the course of my year there. Now five months into that year I am participating in the home going of all twenty-six and it is my privilege to personally hand off twenty of these to their families. The other six -Steeve and Jean-Baptiste, Sebastian, Bethany, Sara, and Lukeson- will spend the night with Gretchen in a safe house and be re-united with their (mostly west-coast) families in the morning. As I hug these children goodbye, humble thankfulness for God’s protection of each one and a strong confidence that He will continue to provide swells my tired and happy heart.

In Florida a surprise greets me: my own parents! They flew into Orlando and Mamma texts me that they are driving to pick me up! At one a.m. Tuesday morning Daddy rouses me from a dead sleep off of one of the chairs. We drive to a nearby hotel. Mamma has clean clothes, a heating pad for my back, and a new toothbrush waiting for me there! On the TV news coverage of the Haiti earthquake is surreal. I enjoy a hot shower and collapse into the most comfortable bed…

Earthquake Calendar: Day Six

US Air Force! I couldn't resist!
What girl doesn't love men in uniform? And these boys were from back home!

Behind the scenes, behind security

Tom in action with the boys from the 82nd

Thanks, guys!

Military checkpoint. That's a Haitian police officer.

Squatters camps were springing up.

The Relief Team scheming.

Miriam and Cathy helped in so many ways!

Sunday 1/17
Yesterday? or the day before my Pastor explained to me about Church services to be held this morning but can it really be Sunday? What an odd feeling- disbelief that Sunday has come so quickly married to the shock that only four full days have passed since the quake: time has been moving so slowly. It feels like a whole month has gone by since my return to Haiti but it’s not yet been even a full week.

Make l’abri for kids’ breakfast at Tony’s. Serve Bertoni and Rebekah, refugees staying in Tony’s apartment, coffee and our leftover pancakes from dinner last night. Rebekah is 8 months pregnant with their first child. I love making coffee for friends and through this earthquake perfect strangers quickly become such; “old” friends become brothers and sisters. Jack, Gretchen, and Chris conference at picnic table (where our Team breakfasts) then Tony’s apartment, drawing up plans for the future of the post-earthquake Three Angels. After a QCS staff meeting, Miriam and Cathy make the hard decision to leave for the states. The school directors had surveyed the wider area around Port-au-Prince and used the meeting to express to the staff the realities facing Haiti. They predict there will be food shortages, rioting, and untimely deaths from lack of medical care- they say it will get much worse before it gets any better. I help Cathy pack- she has one hour. The evacuees are allowed a single backpack. Cathy’s whirl-wind departure is hard to digest. By her absence my prayer-warrior and strongest support is gone.

But there is little time to sit and cry. Tony Decoder- second in command at QCS- seeks me out: “Abbey, we need to know when your orphanage will be leaving. The school is going to become a central command station for many relief agencies and we need you out.” This is the Question I’ve been avoiding –and trying to resolve- all week. Trips to the Chapel, a failed attempt to relocate to the Meers’ house, the initial failure to find Pastor Jules, and the growing awareness that my “Plan B” to place our kids in ones and twos into QCS students’ families indefinitely are efforts which have kept me busy all week yet have yielded no solution. But now, with my Team on the ground, we’re moving forward.”Abbey, I just need to know a day.” I can’t put this off any longer. My response: “Tonight’s our last night. We will leave [presumably to return to O] tomorrow morning.”Plans are made with Steve Hersey to use the QCS “cage” vehicle to transport all children and materials to O Monday. We will sleep in the school room on our compound, post guards at night, and try to get a water truck. Immediately after my response to Mr. Decoder I begin to feel panicked for the first time. I am not excited about leaving the safety net of QCS. Gretchen interviews by phone on Gary Hoffman’s KFI radio program. Afterward she shares with me that she has the exact feelings. She also says that when the kids get to the states they, the Board, want me to come too. This is not what I wanted to hear, but I will acquiesce. The Board is the authority God has elected over me; I will submit.

Meanwhile, the guys have gone to the O and are prepping for the kids’ return tomorrow. Tom, the visionary and adventurer, wants to go to the airport to secure supplies for our people (our kids, Haitian staff & their families) and to establish favorable relations with the US military- maybe they can use 91 Delmas #19 as a command post for Petionville- the security would be an asset to us. Francois drives us- of course I have to tag along! I have to see this guy in action (Tom claims he can get anything from anybody at anytime) and to learn this new skill set- very valuable in disaster zones. We meet a Sgt. of the 82nd Airborne division at the big airport and determine he wants a Haitian cell phone (that works- that’s the trick!). He gives us 45 minutes to find one and 1,000 minutes. We are told upon securing the goods to go to a military checkpoint and give a code name. This is so Jason Borne. We race around the PAP suburbs to find phone. Back in Delmas, find Simm card and minutes, need phone. Return to airport out of time and without phone. Tom buys phone from Jean Smith, a young Haitian who is one of a hundred lined up outside the military check point offering themselves for translation work in exchange for food. Smith has three children, no wife, and no house. He is desperate to feed his kids. Our Sgt. accompanies Tom & I onto airfield- Francoise has to stay behind. We exchange the coveted Haitian phone for boxes of water and MREs. Conceal the boxes in back of vehicle with a towel- very inconspicuous! Pick up Francoise and Smith outside of checkpoint, I drive us homewards. Discover that phone cards are in ash tray, return to airfield. Offer cards, return to QCS. Prep chicken soup for the kids’dinner in Tony’s apartment. It’s already dark. Gretchen keeps me company. I am grateful to learn more about Three Angels and to hear Gretchen’s heart on the matter. It’s nice to have a girl around! For my dinner I eat trail mix and samples of the Teams’ MREs. Probably not the best idea! Around 9 pm, seized by debilitating gut pain. Lay down on the couch in the girls’ apartment to sleep (Jaime and Jamie have moved into Cathy’s room). I am in agony.

Around 10? 11? pm Nichole stumbles out of her room with a text for Gretchen. Gretchen scrambles to contact Shannon in Los Angeles who had fielded the call through Facebooking Megan, who then texted Nichole. Shannon had received a call from our angelic case-worker in D.C. who had taken an interest in us and who had been working on our case all week. Her message: get kids to embassy ASAP Monday morning, meet Pius, and if you have a plane we can get you out of Haiti. With this message Dr. Jack and Chris are mobilized to retrieve legal documents and supplies from O. I task Chris with bringing back my US cell phone and computer drive since I am unable to move. (I can think of no other irreplaceable personal items at the O. I have my computer, camera, and my passport. Everything else is scrapped. I don’t even have a Bible! I will leave Haiti like the others before me- with a single bag.) Concerned for my condition, Nichole prays over me. Will I even be able to get up, much less travel? I ask God. Slowly I shower, pack, and write notes to friends- not exactly the goodbye I’d imagined but it is the opportunity I am given so I take it.

Mr. Decoder, amazingly, this is our last night at QCS. We will be leaving in the morning! My desperate but determined statement hours earlier became a prophetic declaration. Our God is the heavens; He does whatever He pleases! I lie down fitfully til 3 am.