Saturday, October 1, 2011

Headed to Haiti on Monday at 9:45 AM

Monday is a big day for our family. We fly to Haiti at 9:45 AM. It will be a long day for us, as we have to leave home at 6:15 AM and won't arrive in Haiti until 3:00 PM Central Time. Please keep us in your prayers. The boys have never flown, and flying makes me nervous. I will be so relieved and excited when our plane lands in Haiti!

Since we fly in late and Grand Goave is 3 hours from the airport, we will be spending Monday night in Port Au Prince at a "guest house" (rooms with hall baths for relief workers/missionaries). By spending the night in Port Au Prince we will be able to drive to Grand Goave while it is light outside and make a stop at a grocery store with American products on the way.

Our boys have no idea what they are about to experience, so please pray for them as they enter a country full of visible poverty, devastation, and less comforts than they have at home. They will be taking cold showers for the first time, sharing a bed for the 7 weeks we are there, eating different food than they are used to, and learning what it's like not to have air conditioning. That is just the beginning of the differences between the US and Haiti, but I truly believe God will use it for good, and that they will learn so much. I pray it is just the beginning of a life of service for them. :)

Thanks in advance for your prayers! You will hear from me again once we are settled in Grand Goave, Haiti. :) Please continue to pray for us until then- protection, safety, easy transition, and good health. Thanks!

Here are a few recent pictures:

Daddy and Samuel on the big testing day at the rubble home in Marietta on the Southern Polytechnic State University campus




















Samuel




















Vance
















Samuel and Vance
















Jeremy with the Atlanta Haitian Consulate and Southern Poly President




















To God be the Glory,
Marianna (and the boys)

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Latest

As most of you already know, Jeremy is currently building a rubble home on the campus of Southern Poly in Marietta, GA for the purpose of testing. They installed a live webcam, so you can watch the progress of the home. It is very interesting to see. Today we watched them put up the frame. They are still working on the frame. Tomorrow or Friday they will add rubble. Southern Poly also has a website for the project. If you are local and would like to visit the home, please let me or Jeremy know. He works there Monday-Friday (and some Saturdays). Come Sept. 15 he will no longer be there, as we will be in Haiti, so make a point to visit before then.

We want to thank our supporters for their prayers and financial support. Without them it wouldn't be possible! (If you would like to join our support team, let me know.) Our family of 4 leaves for Haiti in 2 weeks. Please keep our family in your prayers while we are gone. Here are some specific requests: no issues at our home while we are gone, safe travels, good health, specific prayer for Vance's lungs and Samuel's stomach, God's protection, quick adaptation for the kids, memorable times as a family, and that we would be salt and light to all we meet (Haitian and American). I am getting excited, but as you can imagine, I still have so much to do before we leave.

God has blessed our family with the opportunity to spend a little over 2 months in Haiti, and if you would like to follow my blog while we are gone, I am going to go private and will add your email address. If you have already told me to add you, I have your information, but if not, please make sure you let me know to add you. I will blog as I have time and internet permit. As most of you know, there is internet in Haiti, but the connection is spotty and doesn't allow for video (not even Skype). Phone service is also spotty. If you want/need to get in touch with us while we are gone, I will NOT have my cell phone. Jeremy will have his cell phone though. We will also be checking email daily if the internet is working.

One verse that is meaningful to our family as we prepare for this trip is Joshua 1:9- "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Even the children have learned this verse through a Youtube video (song). I know some of you may wonder what we are thinking going to Haiti during hurricane season or at all for that matter, but I think the above verse pretty much sums up my answer to that question. I am not afraid because my hope is in the Lord, and I know that fear is from Satan himself. I choose not to fear, and I pray you won't fear for us. When you watch the weather or the news, instead of being afraid for us, just pray for God's protection over us. He is in control!

Before I close, in November 2010 Chris Tomlin came out with a song called I Will Follow, and that song has meant so much to me that I want to share it with you. Jeremy has traveled back and forth to Haiti every month for 18 months (other than October 2010 when he had Giardia). It seems like just when I was missing Jeremy or having a tough day alone with the boys, I would hear this song: I Will Follow. It ministered so much to me! It was a clear reminder that Jeremy was following God, and I knew that, that is exactly what I wanted Jeremy to be doing. I praise God that he has etched this song on my heart, and regardless of the outcome, I will follow Him all the days of my life.

Thanks in advance for your prayers! We thank God for you! He has blessed us with so many friends and family who love us and lift us up to the Lord in prayer. :)

Marianna

Saturday, August 13, 2011

After a long hiatus...

MoneySavingMom posted this saying today, and I think it pretty much sums up my life right now. Our family of 4 is headed to Haiti in a month. This is something I never anticipated or planned, but God did. He knew this long before I did. He worked on my heart for months to get me to the point that I can say that I am EXCITED to be going to Haiti with my boys in tow. You see nine months ago I told God that there was no way I could go to Haiti with our boys. I was nervous because of Vance's recent health issues (that turned out not to be anything major- PTL!) I had my reasons, but mainly I wasn't ready to leave it all in God's hands. How we love to live in our comfort zone! Well, come September 15 we are flying out of our comfort zone and making our way to a place that Jeremy has worked and lived off and on for 18 months. Yes, 18 months. How time flies! Can I say how excited I am that for the first time since March 2010 the boys and I will be with Jeremy for 4 months straight (Aug.-Dec.)? I couldn't be happier, nor could the boys! God is so good!

Thankfully God is our guide, our protector, and our fortress. And as Samuel sings (mainly chants), "God, you are all powerful and in control of all things." Yes, Samuel, He is! We need not fear, my sweet boy!

That being said we still need your prayers as we make this journey. Please pray for us as we prepare to leave. Please pray for God to provide for all of our needs- financial, physical, emotional, and spiritual-as we prepare to leave and while we are there. In Haiti my job will be to homeschool our boys and also to help with the mission teams that come to build rubble homes and stay at our "compound". We will live at a safe place, but naturally, we will still be living in a country that has obvious risks. You can pray for our health and safety. Please add to that Vance's lungs in a humid place with no a/c. You can also pray for God to use this time for us to grow even closer as a family and to also love on the Haitian people we meet. Pray we are salt and light to a people in need of Christ. Pray lastly (but not least) for God to protect our boys from any fear that might come from being in a strange place far away from home.

Keeping up with a blog became next to impossible for me with 2 kids, but now that we are headed to Haiti, I am having second thoughts about leaving it behind. After all, a blog would help me keep in touch with family and friends that I won't talk to or see. That being said I am going to attempt to post from Haiti, but I am going to go private before we leave. If you would like to keep up with us, please send me your email address, and I will add you.

We have been so busy that the thought of catching up is daunting, but I would like to share a few recent pictures.


Jeremy's Dad's visit- April 2011

Easter Egg fun


Samuel at the AWANA Awards Night- April 10, 2011

Brotherly love- April 2011

Samuel's 5th birthday balloons (a Holloman tradition)
Marianna's 36th Birthday

Samuel's Pre-K Graduation- May 2011

Marianna's first trip to Haiti- June 1-8, 2011

10 Year Anniversary Trip to Dominican Republic (2 months early)

Vance's 3rd Birthday

Family Vacation to Waynesville, NC and the house of some dear friends- July 30-Aug. 4, 2011


Blessings!
Marianna