It's the Final Countdown!

Time for a quick update as we get closer to the end of the month. We just finished week one of our language acquisition class in NC with one week to go. This class has been very beneficial and helpful in teaching us where to start once we get down to Haiti. Although we are not learning Creole during this course, we are learning a lot about phonetics and how to structure a long-term program for our language learning.

When we finish our class next Friday we will have a busy schedule before our departure. On Saturday we will spend our time packing our truck and replacing our roof. Sunday night is our commissioning service at church where we’ll be able to say goodbye to a lot of our friends. Monday we will finish up with any packing and roof work. Tuesday morning we will drive the "Deuce" down (55mph is as fast as the truck will go!) to Ft. Pierce, FL to spend the night. Then I (Andrew) will drive solo to Miami to load the truck on a ship while Angie and Faith stay in Ft. Pierce. Then I will return to Ft. Pierce and we’ll spend the afternoon with Faith’s great-grandparents. Early Thursday morning we’ll fly out to Haiti from Ft. Pierce with Missionary Flights International.

Praises:

Praise the Lord, our house is rented starting April 1^st for a year!!

Our language class has given us a good grasp on developing a program to help us learn Creole.

Prayer:

Flexibility as we transition to life in a new culture. We just heard an interesting quote, "Blessed are the flexible for they will not bend out of shape."

Pray for our last few days as we say goodbye to friends and family- pray that our time with them would be sweet and filled with encouragement.

Also pray that last minute details would continue to come together- as there seems like so much to do between now and then.

Coming Quick

It's hard to believe Faith is 1 month old already! Where has the time gone? As we were looking at our calendar the other day, we realized that our days are filling up quick between now and the end of March. Just to give you a brief synopsis of our schedule: we are leaving tonight and driving up to NY for the weekend. We have the opportunity to share at the church I grew up in, as well as the missions committee at my home church in NY. After that, Andrew is planning on going down to Haiti for a few days in the beginning of March. Then we've got a few weeks back in SC before we head up to NC for a language acquisition class from March 14-25. It is not specific to Creole, but it is designed to help prepare us to learn a second language. Our plan is to be mostly packed up and ready to go shortly after that. We are also planning on having a commissioning service and going away party on March 27th at Northside Baptist Church (SC) for those who are in town and would like to come. We'll start at 5pm in the sanctuary and have a reception following in the fellowship hall.

Prayer & Praises:

Praises:

1. We just got back from a great visit with some good friends and supporters in French Camp, Mississippi. We also were able to get some ideas for the children's village at Hands & Feet during our stay at a dorm house.

2. We are at 70% of our monthly support and we've got $14,000 for initial outgoing expenses (which is more than enough)! Praise the LORD!

3. Faith is growing like crazy and continues to stay healthy. I'm not sure how much she weighs now, but her cheeks and little belly are filling out! (We had to loosen her car seat straps the other day.) She is an excellent baby and doesn't fuss a whole lot.

Prayer:

1. Please pray for last minute details as we prepare to move. Pray that God would bring us a renter for our house in Lexington quickly. Also, pray that we would be able to find a truck to ship down to Haiti with some of our furniture in it. (Hands and Feet is looking at either getting a deuce and a half or a box truck.) Please pray for wisdom as we try to pack and figure out what we'll need down in Haiti.

2. Pray for our language class coming up the middle of March. Pray that we would be able to stay focused and learn what God has for us in preparing to learn a new language.

3. Pray for the children at Hands and Feet. God continues to bless us with more children. There are now 5 babies at the Jacmel site :-) Pray that God would continue to bring more staff to be able to care for and minister to all these children.

Our New Arrival: Faith Elizabeth

We are extremely proud to announce the arrival of our new daughter: Faith Elizabeth Sutton. She was born January 15 @ 10:47am, right on her due date! She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches. We labored 5 hours at home, 5 hours at the hospital and my water broke on the way. She came with only 12 minutes of pushing, we couldn't ask for a better delivery!

We immediately thought we needed to name her Faith after what God has been teaching us recently. He's been teaching us to trust Him in this move to Haiti and to rely fully in His Sovereignty. We have a few pictures of her on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=268787&id=503675442. She has been such a blessing and is truly an amazing baby! She really isn't very fussy at all- our parents keep saying we don't know how good we have it :-)

We've been blessed to have so much family and friends around! Auntie Cass was here before Faith came and was here for the delivery- what a tremendous help in keeping me distracted the last 2 weeks. Grandma & Grandpa Hills are here now for a few days to see Faith and Uncle Rick & Nicole are coming down Thursday. Uncle Edward came from Charleston the day after she was born. Meme & Pop Sutton have been by every day to visit their Grandbaby. We've also had so many meals brought to us from friends- our freezer is packed! We are truly blessed to have such amazing friends and family!!

Preparing

So it's been a while since we've had a chance to update our blog- the Christmas season seems to be such a busy time of year, no matter how many things you say "no" to. Anyways....I will attempt to give you a brief update on where we stand with getting to the mission field.

Andrew got back from Haiti November 16. He had a great trip and took lots of pictures and video for me to see the new site at Grand Goave. He was able to spend the entire time with Bob (the director of HAF) to get a little better glimpse of their vision for the orphanages. We got a lot of questions answered on this trip. While he was there, Andrew was able to help fix the water filtration system at the orphanage at Jacmel- he's so handy!

Andrew was also able to meet the new couple that has recently move down to work with HAF- the Pierce's. Listen to how AMAZING our God is! We will be spending our first 6 months-1 year in Jacmel with Ken & Diane Pierce focusing most of our attention on learning Creole and the Haitian culture. Ken is an ER physician and Diane is a nurse!! How cool is it that we will have a doctor right on our compound?!?! Our God is so good!

In addition to meeting the Pierce's, there was another amazing God-send. Most of you know that Andrew has a love and passion for flying. When God called us to Haiti, flying wasn't the main focus of the HAF mission, and it was going to be put on the back burner for a little while. It's amazing what happens when you surrender to the Lord your desires and dreams! When Andrew was in Haiti this time, he met a guy who designs water filtration systems and who also helped start Missionary Aviation Fellowship in Haiti. Through talking with him and hearing his vision for Haiti, he said that he is planning on building a runway in Petite Goave (which is only 5 miles away from Grand Goave!) So not only is aviation still in the picture, but God is paving the way and preparing it for us.

Another huge item of praise with our financial support: (1) we have about 30% of our monthly support and (2) $2,000 towards outgoing expenses!!! Praise the Lord! We are SO encouraged by the confirmation that God keeps giving us through the gracious gifts of His people. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

To sum it all up: our God is AMAZING! He is doing extraordinary things and showing Himself to us in ways we've never seen before!! He truly is orchestrating all of the details right before our eyes. Thank you so much for your continued prayers- we know that without your prayer support we would not be where we are today. "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you..." ~Philippians 1:3.

Andrew's in Haiti

Andrew just arrived to Port Au Prince and is on his way to the Jacmel orphanage. Praise God that he found the right guy that was supposed to pick him up. (Last time when we were at the PAP airport in April, a guy with our names on his sign tried to give us a ride with a random person.....and we were totally at a loss- because we knew NO CREOLE! Hahaha). So I'm very thankful Andrew found the right guy this time without any problems.

Please be praying that during this long weekend trip, that Andrew will be able to get a lot of answers. We're hoping (this weekend) to get a better picture for what our responsibilities will be once we get there in March. We're also hoping to get some prices on furniture/vehicles/ random items so we can have a better idea of how we should pack (sell our stuff, and buy all new furniture....or ship it).

Also, please continue to pray for the cholera outbreak- it has now spread to Port Au Prince. And with all the flooding, the water-borne disease will only continue to spread. We are very thankful that the Hands & Feet orphanages have water filtration systems, but not everyone in Haiti is so fortunate to have clean drinking water. Thanks again for partnering with us as we prepare to go to Haiti!

Exciting Support Update

We've gotten several really exciting emails and phone calls from several different people with HAF, and I've been meaning to write them up in a blog, but I've been a little behind. So I apologize for this one being so long. But I wanted to make sure I included everything.

So we got a really exciting email from Mark Stuart about a week ago! He said that he really wanted to help us raise support by using the platform that they have with Audio A. He said he was thinking about making a 90 sec video of us. He said he would tell a little about us at the beginning, and then we could share our story at the end. And it sounds like they are going to show this video at their concerts! How crazy is that?! I can only imagine how many people will get to hear the story of how God has called us to follow Him to Haiti!

This is totally a God-thing! Andrew said to me in the car Wednesday morning on our way to work, "I really feel like we need to just set a date to go in March, whether we have all of our support or not. If God has called us to go, why can't we trust him for the rest of the finances. We keep saying that we trust Him, then why not step out in faith and trust?" I was thinking, ok, I guess you're right. So, then....that very same day Andrew got a phone call from Bob (the director of HAF) and he said that they would like to help us out with our financial support- from H&F!!! They would like to be able to give us a little salary! SERIOUSLY?! It was as if God was directly telling us "don't let the financial support hinder you from getting to Haiti!" It was really neat, because I feel like we had been holding on to our support with a pretty firm grip, but when we let it go and completely gave it to the Lord, (which is where it should have been in the first place) He worked it out better than we could have! Imagine that- the God of the universe can handle our battles a whole lot better than we can as humans.

And to top all of that off: we got a phone call yesterday from Drex (Mark Stuart's dad), who said that he would love to help us in any way they can as we prepare to go. They are willing to meet with us and help us to emotionally and mentally prepare for Haiti. Then he said that him and his wife were also thinking about going down in January to build us a cottage on the Grand Goave site, and get it all ready for us and baby!

So not only are we getting SO much help with support from Mark & Bob, but we're getting emotional support from people who have lived down there AND we're getting a cottage built for us in the meantime! It's undeniable that God is the perfect orchestrator!! It is just amazing to see how God is completely working out all the details right in front of our eyes! And to Him be all the glory and honor and praise!!!!

God-Send Encouragements

Ok, so I've had some really awesome conversations over the past week with some random people God has put in my path at work. 2 days ago I was talking with the pastor of one of my patients, which first of all, was kind of refreshing to be talking about the Lord at work. But secondly, through our conversation, before I even mentioned Haiti to him, he told me that he has been leading mission trips down to Haiti since the 70's. When I heard that, my jaw dropped to the floor!! Then I got to tell him about our plans to move to Haiti this Spring. He was really interested and very excited about what God is doing in our lives. And through talking with him, he gave me several couple's names to get in touch with (who run orphanages in Haiti). He told me that one of the couple's lives near a place called "Petit Goave" and they have a hospital there and really have a finely run system. Little did the Pastor know that the place where we'll be living (eventually) will be at Grand Goave- which is less than 10 miles away from Petit Goave!! God is so amazing!!!! Then....to top all of that off, he told me that they had some extra money left over in their missions budget for this month, and he really felt the Lord leading him to give it to us!!! WOW!! What an amazing divine appointment. It just continues to confirm His call on our lives. It's such an amazing feeling to know that you are right in the center of His will- there is so much peace in knowing that you are right where He wants you to be!

To top that off, God sent me another encouraging conversation today at work. One of my patients was asking me about what will happen once the baby's born, and if I'll go back to work. So I got to tell her about our plans to go to Haiti. She seemed really excited about our ministry and told me that her son is a worship pastor at a church outside of Chicago and they are really involved in missions. She asked if I had some more information that she could send to him! Then, she looked at me and asked, "can I keep in touch with you?" :-) God is so good!!!

These two conversations have just been an amazing encouragement in spite of the devil's flaming arrows of doubt and discouragement. Please pray that we would not let the devil gain a foothold by falling for his lies. Also, pray that we would be able to stay focused on Christ and His call on our lives as we continue to walk in obedience to Him. May we never allow our own desires for comfort get in the way of what God wants to do through us! Is the Gospel not worth our all? Is Christ not worthy of our all? Pray that we would continue to rely on Christ and His strength and wisdom as we prepare to make this transition.