A chain of events...

I read a book before going to Haiti, written by two veteran missionary women who served in India for years, with Kulpahar Children's Home. Looking back at their experiences and difficulties in ministry they said, "Had we known the things we would have to face, we would have never gone!" Praise God for His wisdom in not letting us know the future. Living in Haiti for seventeen years, there are many situations I would have backed out on and chose not to experience. Those are also probably all the situations which have strengthened and challenged my faith and made me into the person, the missionary, who can live and serve in Haiti and love it. It's what I've been called to do. I know I am where God wants me to be in spite of all the difficulties and tragedies brought forth for us to face. The thing that sets us apart from non-Christians is that in spite of all these struggles that we are able to find joy.

I want you to know some of the things that have happened this year, some of which rendered me incapable of writing or organizing my thoughts at times. Bare with me as I want to share some of them with you. I am not asking for any one's sympathy. I want you to know that we are finding our joy in the Lord through these struggles. I want you to instead, continue bathing us in prayer and I pray that you would be encouraged and strengthened in your faith by seeing God's faithfulness demonstrated. Our joy is overflowing and our blessings....well, nothing can surpass the blessings God has lavished upon us in the midst of our struggles. What an amazing , loving and caring God He is! He is a God of such intricate detail and we can never fully comprehend the magnitude of His love for us.

Jan. 12 - Devastating earthquake in Haiti registering 7.3 shatters life as we know it

Jan. 20 - Crash and Shaina return to Haiti as I escort my mom and my three children, Ashley 10, Kelsey 5 and Josiah 1, to Iowa for health and safety reasons. I returned to Haiti without them.

Feb.- Picking up the pieces, sheltering 200 people in our yard under tarps, feeding as many as possible, hours spent back and forth to PAP in search of food and tarps to help the people

Feb. - Crash, Shaina, Crystal, Wilckly and I orchestrate some orderly distribution of supplies to those in need

March - We received our 1st container of supplies and earthquake relief materials

Jan. - May - We experienced SPIRITUAL REVIVAL in Haiti! Pray it would remain.

March - Crash, Christine Stevens, left Haiti after fulfilling the two years she promised to spend with us in Haiti. She was a great help and made a great impact on our ministry. She is now studying in Canada to continue her life of Christian service. Words fail me. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING CRASH!

May 10 - Team of 15 arrives from Hannibal LaGrange College in Hannibal, Missouri. Visited schools and churches run by the mission. Delivered backpacks full of food, candy and other surprises. Cut tarps and walked to different homes in the village of Carries to distribute to those in the community whose homes were damaged in the earthquake. We also sorted items sent after the earthquake.

May 15 - Baptized 9 young people from my Sunday school class, two of them young men living in our home, Amos and Ti-Bonhomme, and other children of Carries, including Ti-Liline, whom I have been praying for since coming here eight years ago. Praise the Lord for these new babes in Christ! Please pray for them!

May 16 - Travel to visit new church in the mountains at Kamicho. We want to start a school there because the children have never attended school. Shared worship service, fed everyone (around 200 people), did about 2 hours of makeshift medical clinic, with two nurses who had just been pinned before coming to Haiti. Headed back to Carries to pack and fly out the next day. Shaina and I would accompany the group to the States and I would finally be with my children.

We were returning down the mountain, almost to the main road, when the brakes went out on our truck at the top of the hill. We had a horrible accident. There were 30 people in our open stock truck. All thirty of us survived the accident, Praise to God in Heaven above! Praise the Lord for His mighty power and watch care over us and provision for help. The Lord kept Wilckly and I safe without a broken bone or even a scratch so that we could get our wits about us and help get everyone to the hospital. Injuries varied from road rash, concussions, broken bones, severed ear, stitches, head trauma and amputated legs of two Haitian young men.

God orchestrated all the details that saved all of our lives. From my front seat position, it was very clear that God alone could keep us on the road and not let us go over the edge and tumbling down into the valley below. We were near the main road about four miles from it. We were close to a mission that sent two vehicles to pick up the wounded. They were staffed for emergency because of the earthquake. They had an ambulance (unheard of in Haiti unless it's to carry the dead). They had an ambulance to get us to PAP because of the earthquake. They took us to the University of Miami field hospital (at no cost to any of us, unheard of in Haiti as all medical services are cash up front). The field hospital was set up because of the earthquake. They had weekly rotations of fresh, volunteer doctors and nurses from the States because of the earthquake and a fresh new team had just arrived. THANK GOD FOR THE EARTHQUAKE....IT SAVED OUR LIVES!!!!!

May 17 - I flew with eleven of the students on the regularly scheduled flight to Miami and sent them on to St. Louis. I WAS NOT TRAVELING TO IOWA AS PLANNED TO SEE MY CHILDREN. Instead, I remained in Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital with four of the team members who had to be medically evacuated and brought in on separate planes. Two of them were sent home after a couple of days. One had to stay a week because her ear had been severed and they wanted it to heal and make sure there was no infection before sending her home. My friend and forwarding agent who was the sponsor for the group, remained at Jackson Memorial Hospital for 6 more weeks because of the severity of her injuries.

May 17 - June 3 - I stayed with Chris in Miami for 2 1/2 weeks when she was finally moved out of ICU. Then duty called in Haiti because I had left so abruptly after the accident and there was plenty for Wilckly to deal with on that side. Marc is our right hand man and both of his arms were severely damaged. They were going to amputate both of them. I told them he didn't want that and the nurse, Stephanie, bless her heart, was adamant about it with the doctors. Dr. Halpern did surgery every day to clean Marc's wounded arms, which saved them. He still has a metal fixation in one. He is able to use the other one to eat, brush his teeth etc.

June 3 - While I was in Miami and Wilckly was taking care of all the injured Haitians, some in the hospital and some in our home, Yoka, Reginal, Mdme Marc, Alexandra and Jhemson all contracted malaria. Yoka ended up on a ventilator as the malaria went full blown into her lungs. She remained on the ventilator and died in her sleep around 2 a.m. She was only 20. She was raised in our home like our own daughter since she was three. We lost a precious daughter in Yoka. She is Bioude's daughter. She is like a sister and best friend to Ashley. Although the news was more than I could handle, I couldn't share it with anyone Stateside because I didn't want Ashley to find out before I could tell her myself. I returned to Haiti to prepare her funeral, by far one of the hardest, awful est things I have ever done in my life. Any of you who have visited us in Haiti would have been served by Yoka. You will remember, as we do, her bright flashing smile and her laughter. She is greatly missed by us all. We comfort ourselves knowing she is in a much better place and resting in the arms of Jesus. We praise God for her life and the blessing she has been, not only to us but to all who have known her.

June 10 -The night before the funeral, I got a bug in my ear while I was sleeping. It was a terribly painful ordeal. It ended up getting infected and my face and jaw were swollen. I had to spend 48 hours in the University of Miami field hospital with antibiotics being given to me in an IV. The swelling went down and the pain diminished. The bug, however, remained in my ear for fourteen days until I was able to return to Iowa and have it removed. It was a june bug.

June 11 - Ashley's 11Th birthday, which I missed but dear friends in Bedford threw a surprise birthday party for her! You all are amazing! Thanks so much for making her day so special!!!

June 13 - Marc's wife, Monique, started hemorrhaging. They had to take her baby by C-section. She was 6 month's along. The baby was born dead. We praise God again for preserving the life of Monique and Marc and their three year old daughter, Alexandra.

June 19 - Marc came home from the hospital before I left Haiti, leaving only one young man named Judenel, whose leg had been amputated and he had an outer metal fixation on his other leg like Marc has on his arm.

June 23 - The thing I had been anticipating and longing for finally happened. I finally got to be with my children and nothing else really seemed to matter except being with them and spending time with them!!! Unless, of course, it would be all of us being back together with daddy!

June 28 - Wilckly finally brings the backhoe, the rhino, and the 2nd container of relief supplies out of customs and home to Carries.

July 27 - I sent to get Kelsey's passport renewed. Wilckly was trying to get his passport renewed since June 23rd.

September - Finally received Kelsey's new passport!!!! Thanks for praying!

September 13 - I flew to Haiti because Wilckly hadn't received his passport to come join us. He was run down, tired, almost sick and very discouraged not being able to be with us. The kids are still in Bedford with grandma Reta and they are in school. Wilckly and I are preparing for the opening of school in Haiti on Oct.4th. There is a lot to be done to open all six schools on time. Crash is studying in Canada to work with Wycliffe and Shaina will be joining us again shortly. Please pray for us as we are separated as a family. Pray for grandma as she takes care of the kids. Thanks in advance to so many of you who have helped make our time apart bearable by bringing meals, diapers, clothes, grown up conversation for grandma and so much more. Thanks from Wilckly and I. We appreciate you all so much.

WE WILL NEVER CEASE TO SAY THANK YOU, THOUGH IT OFTEN SEEMS SO SMALL. WE LOVE YOU AND APPRECIATE YOU. WE APPRECIATE YOUR FAITHFULNESS IN PRAYER AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF OUR MINISTRY. WE WILL CONTINUE PRESSING ON TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN HAITI.

Wilckly, Dee, Ashley, Kelsey and Josiah Dorce'