Blog - Haitian Children's Home

June 18 update

2009-06-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

Hello family and friends,

I am writing to you tonight from stormy Port Au Prince. I think the rainy season is here to stay in Haiti. It’s been raining every afternoon, storming actually. This is a blessing for many here in Haiti as they rely on collected rainwater to survive. It is a difficulty for many here in Haiti because it is greatly deforested. Even a little bit of rain sometimes produces great flooding and landslides. This leads to problems and makes roads at times nearly impossible, if not impossible, to pass.

This is our last night in Port Au Prince. Tomorrow we finish language school and move back to Jacmel. I am excited about this move for many reasons.

First, I am excited because it means we’re finished with language school! Mesi Jezi! (Thank you Jesus.) Language school has been a good experience for us, and we have learned a lot. We are both able to speak and understand Kreyol with some proficiency, but we both still need a lot of practice. Language school (and trying to live in a country where very few people speak English) has been exhausting. We’ve been in classes for 3.5 hours per day 5 days a week. Add an hour or two of homework everyday, and we practically had a full-time job just with language school. But, as life goes, ESPECIALLY in Haiti, language school became one of the MANY, MANY things that have been occupying our days.

Second, we’re excited to return to Jacmel to get settled into a home where we will stay (and NOT move out of) for the next 6 months. Since the last update, we were able to find a small home in downtown Jacmel that serves our purposes well. It is small, (2 small bedrooms, 1 bathroom), but it has a small, efficiency-type house in the compound where Naomi will be living, and where we will have access to a lot of storage. One of the unique things about this house is that we have an actual YARD, which is unheard of a city in Haiti—particularly in a downtown area. From our patio in the yard, we can just see the waterfront Port in old Jacmel. It’s very beautiful. We are happy, and very glad to be moving into one place semi-permanently. We will be looking for a larger home to rent starting in December when we will begin accepting children.

Third, we are excited to get back to Jacmel as we’ve been feeling a bit disconnected from our team. Although we have made some new friends in Port Au Prince and many of our team members have come visited us in Port Au Prince, it’s not the same as having them as our neighbors. And at this time especially, we’re feeling like we need to be pouring ourselves into community. We’re starting to feel a little homesick and honestly, a bit overwhelmed at the pace of life here in Haiti.

Let me explain that last statement a little more, because it’s not something I FULLY appreciated until living here. It’s hard to say this without sounding like I am complaining, but please know I am not. Life is just more difficult in Haiti. Everything, even simple things, aren’t simple in Haiti. For example, we need to remember to go get diesel and drinking water every day or so. If we forget and it gets too late—we’re just out of luck. No drinking water or fuel for the generator (we haven’t had reliable city power here in Port lately.) That’s not a huge job, but it takes probably (start to finish) a good 35 minutes. Because of the lack of reliable power for refrigeration, we have to shop for very little (perishable) foods at once. That takes time, and I am still at the point with language where I need Naomi with me to go to the market. That takes at least an hour and a half to accomplish several days a week.

Last week, tired of spending countless hours hand washing our clothes, we hired someone to come wash our laundry for us. Now, that seems like it made our lives easier. And in many ways it did. But then we didn’t have any water at our house. So we had to tote her (and all our laundry) over to team housing so she could have access to water. When she was done (literally, 10 hours later), we had to go pick her up (along with all our wet laundry) and bring it home to hang on our lines. The clothes took a day and a half to dry. It’s these kind of things that we’re adjusting too. Life is much more MANUAL here. We’re having to learn how to make do. For instance, the other day we really needed a plug to be able to plug in our generator in Jacmel and the hardware store was closed for the day. So we had a choice to make. Do we wait until tomorrow (and have no fans) or do we try to work something out? Nick chose to “work it out” and ended up using a printer cord, which he cut and spliced to the generator to make it work.

Finally, we’re really glad to be returning to Jacmel, because that is HOME for us. That is where we will be working together with our team to build Haitian families, and give life and hope. We’re excited about moving closer to the time when our family will expand. We’re looking forward to the time when we will be able to parent motherless and fatherless children. We’ve already had a few people express interest in placing children with us. (Which, incidentally, will not happen until December.)

We have had several answered prayers over the past few weeks:
• We were able to secure (and move into) a home in Jacmel that is within our budget.
• There was a team last week and this week that helped get our home cleaned up and repaired (as it is an older home.)
• We’ve (almost!) finished language school. God has given us grace as we’ve started to be able to understand and use the language.
• Our hearts have bonded with our helper (and future HCH Mangine head nanny) Naomi. We’ve had a few small miscommunication due to language, but for the most part, she understands us and we understand her. She has been very helpful in encouraging our kids to speak Creole. It’s getting nearly as likely that a Creole sentence will pop out of Nia’s mouth as it is likely that an English sentence will!
• God has provided safety and happiness for our family during our stay in Port Au Prince. Even in the midst of a few political scuffles in the city here and there (as tend to happen) we’ve personally witnessed NO violence or danger. God is our protector.
• Woody is home in Jacmel, and is doing very well. He’s able to walk short distances by himself with krutches.

We also have several requests as we move ahead with this next chapter in Jacmel!:
• Please pray for a safe and quick move tomorrow, with good weather and no problems or danger. (And no carsickness!)
• Please pray for our final transition. Our souls are weary from all the moving. Please pray that we’d allow our hearts to open to our new home and neighbors.
• Please pray that we’d continue to learn Kreyol quickly and come to understand the culture here increasingly everyday!
• Please pray for the Pye family.
o Yesterday they marked the one-year anniversary of the death of their precious son, Jabez
Please pray that God is near to their hearts as they are processing this difficult milestone.
o Danny will leave Haiti tomorrow for 5 weeks in the US to represent HCH at the “Summer in
the Son” conference. Leann will have the opportunity to join him for two weeks in the
middle of his trip.
• This length of time out of the country leaves some gaps in the ministry. Please pray for
our family as we try to stand in the gap, with Nick serving as Interim Leader.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We are going to do a more thorough financial accounting for you in July to let you know where we are financially. But just as a preview, know that things are going well for the most part. We’re currently receiving about 80% of our budgeted expenses in donations each month. That is a very good number, but we know for longevity, we need that to be closer to 100%. Please pray that God would provide that need, and I humbly ask you to consider joining with us in this way. For more info, email me at gwenn@haitianchildrenshome.org.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

With grateful hearts,
The Mangine Five
Nick, Gwenn, Nia, Nico + Josiah

Our new house

Our yard in Jacmel!

Nick, maneuvering through the chaos that is Delmas.

Beautiful Naomi with our kiddies!

The living room of the new Jacmel house.

June 5, 2009 update

2009-06-05T06:37:00.002-04:00

Hello friends-

Over a month has now passed since we’ve moved to Haiti—and when I look back on that month, it feels far longer. FAR longer. It’s been an eventful and trying two weeks since our last update.

First let me update you on Woody, one of the HCH boys who is in the hospital awaiting surgery for a severely broken leg. Woody has now been in this hospital for over nearly four weeks. Until yesterday when he had his surgery, he was in traction so he was not able to move around and was extremely uncomfortable. Still, God has been faithful and he’s had his final surgery yesterday. He’s doing well and hopes to go home possibly as early as this weekend. This event has taken a pretty steep emotional and financial toll on the Haitian Children’s Home and the Pye family. In addition to the cost of Woody’s medical care, HCH has had to foot the bill for someone to stay at a nearby hotel to care for Woody since the accident. Haitian hospitals are nothing like North American hospitals. Patients are responsible for having someone bring them food and water, bathe them, help them use the bathroom, change their bedding, bring them hygiene supplies like soap, washcloths, toothpaste and toothbrushes, towels, etc. Having had the chance to spend some good time with Woody over the past few weeks and meet some of these needs (he’s only 50-some blocks away), I can tell you this for sure—I am thankful he’s alive and going to be well soon, and I never, ever want to be in a Haitian hospital if I can avoid it. The total cost of this unanticipated expense is daily increasing—and well into the several thousand dollar range. If you’d like to be a part of helping to meet this need, you can give online or send a check in the mail to HCH PO BOX 384 Ellenton, FL 34222. Be sure to put “Woody’s surgery” in the memo so that money is correctly designated.

We’ve had a pretty discouraging turn of events this past week. The short story is this-- we lost our house in Jacmel. We’ve been having struggles with the landlord for over a month now—and the date for occupancy kept getting pushed back further. The final occupancy date for us was slated to be May 28. (After getting pushed back since May 1.) On that morning, we received a text message saying there were still problems with the existing tenant and that we weren’t going to get the house. Today, nearly a week later, we received our initial deposit back, and were supposed to receive a portion of the money we’d spent getting the home ready to move into. However, the landlord has not been true to his word and now it appears that we will not get any of the funds returned that we used to improve this property -- we repainted the ENTIRE interior (as well as all the outdoor depots), put in brand new counters, built a concrete outbuilding to house the generator, and fixed the concrete that was broken in the compound. Additionally, we did SIGNIFICANT cleaning to the property, both inside and out—including clean out one room that had been used as a pigeon coop. The total cost for these repairs and additions exceeds $2000. So as it appears now, we are going to lose that money unless we decide to pursue legal action to try to get it back. Which, we’re not sure we really want to do as the new folks in town. We have some leads on a few other houses in Jacmel, but at the moment, nothing is looking particularly promising. Being that we only have 3 weeks left here in Port Au Prince, we’re really having to go on faith that God has a plan.

We’re now nearly 3 weeks into language school and wow! It’s INTENSIVE! We’re speaking a lot of Creole already and having Naomi as part of our family is helping us to learn quickly. In addition to language, we’re learning a lot of interesting things about Haitian culture in language school. For instance, I did NOT know it was rude to whistle in front of Haitian people, unless they are small children. Who knew?

We’re managing well in this new culture, but it is taking some getting used to. The majority of Port Au Prince (where we now live for language school) has been without city power for over a week. There was a fire at the power plant and they expect it to be several more weeks until the problem is resolved. This house did not have a functioning generator and our inverter recently died too… so we’ve been spending a lot of evenings in the dark. Without fans. I am not going to lie to you—it’s been difficult. Difficult enough that Nick made the 6 hour round trip today to Jacmel to pick up the (600 LB!) generator we purchased for our home in Jacmel, so we’ll at least have ½ time power. We’re hoping to find someone to come fix the inverter as well so we can get back to full-time power, but with the majority of the city not having power, generator + inverter repairmen are hard to find! One of the benefits of the majority of Port Au Prince being without power is that now that we have a generator, the internet is much faster, since very few people have electricity! So we’ve been able to talk to our families often via skype! It’s been great.

Another big culture difference is driving here in Haiti. It’s basically a free-for-all. The biggest/fastest/bossiest wins. It was initially intimidating, but we’re both learning to feel comfortable getting around. It is an HCH requirement that new staff members spend a minimum of 6 weeks living in Port Au Prince to get used to the city/learn the language/learn to get around in a setting other than what we know and are comfortable with in Jacmel. Honestly, we weren’t looking forward to this time, as Port can be kind of “overwhelming,” but I am definitely thankful for this opportunity, and see the incredible wisdom of our directors for requiring it. I already feel much more prepared to living in Jacmel after living in Port Au Prince.

Our kids are doing well with the transition for the most part, but they’ve been definitely having their moments of chaos. We’re trying to always be mindful of the difficulties they are having with this adjustment, while still requiring obedience. It’s a hard line to walk at times. We’re thankful for the 2 little boys who live downstairs from us—our kids have tireless playmates! It gets confusing since they are from the Dominican Republic and don’t speak English OR Creole. But we’re making do! Kids have a way of doing that it seems.

Josiah turned two this past Monday and we celebrated his special day with some swimming and ice cream. Since he’s allergic to eggs, we couldn’t purchase a cake and our small oven here in Port Au Prince does not have actual temperatures. Just low, medium and high. That worked for us since ice cream feels good in this climate. The mosquitoes are still having a hayday with us. I feel certain each of us must be down at least a pint since arriving!

While we walk in this new life God has given us, things have been complicated, but we remain encouraged by the faithfulness of our friends and family, who have been so faithful in their prayer and support. Thank you for loving us like you do.

Ever grateful,

Gwenn, Nick, Nia, Nico and (the TWO YEAR OLD) Josiah!

May 16, 2009 Update

2009-05-16T16:22:00.004-04:00

Dear friends,

This morning as I was reading in Psalm 43, I read this, “Give me your lantern and compass, give me a map, so I can find my way to the sacred mountain, to the place of your presence…” And those words became my prayer. The past two weeks have been filled with highs and lows as we have made numerous (too numerous to count) changes in our lives. Nick and I have made sure all the batteries in our flashlights and lanterns are good, since the electricity not always a sure thing. We've checked the map dozens of times to try to figure out how to get places... Everything is just so... well, foreign. Even though we’ve visited Haiti several times, the eyes with which we look at things are so different knowing this is a long-term home. Today I prayed that even as I put a lot of energy in to learn how to live in a totally different place, I would spend an equal or greater amount of energy trying to learn how to walk with and love my God. It’s not easy when the distractions are so many—and I am learning that I will have to fight for it if it’s going to happen.

These past two weeks have been filled with many events—
-We watched the HCH house for nearly a week while Danny and Leann took some time for much-needed refreshment together on a vacation. We love their family and was glad to be able to serve in this way. Being substitute “parents” to 20+ kids was constantly busy and it seemed there was always some sort of figurative “fire to put out.” Good training!

-We helped welcome a team from our home church, Crosspointe, shortly after Danny and Leann came home. THEY WERE SO MUCH FUN. I honestly do not know if I have EVER laughed as hard as I did during their time here. They were a very flexible group of people—taking on a whole new project after we determined we’d NOT be able to completely occupy our Jacmel house due to landlord struggles. (More on that below.) But even with a last-minute change of projects, this team came in and loved and served and showed us Jesus in very real ways. THANK YOU! Please pray for this team as they readjust back to life in the US. Pray that God would use this experience to spur them on to love and know God better.

- One of the reasons that it was SO good that this team was so flexible is because on their second day here (last Saturday), one of the Pye’s sons, Woody, was in a bad motorcycle accident and badly broke his leg. The closest hospital able to deal with this kind of injury is 3 hours away in Port Au Prince. So that night Nick and Danny drove Woody into a Doctors Without Borders hospital. He has since had one of two surgeries necessary to correct the damage. He has had a few complications since the first surgery and is in a lot of pain. We hope his next surgery will be early next week. Danny has been in Port with Woody since the accident and he is ready to be back with his family in Jacmel. Please pray for Woody. Please pray for his complete healing. Please pray for Danny as he’s had to be away from his family for such a long stretch of time. Please pray for Leann, as she’s had to run the home (of 23 kids) without Danny’s physical presence. Please pray for provision to cover this unexpected and costly event. The Pye’s anticipate that the surgery and all related costs will be over $2000. If you’d like to make a special gift to help with this need, please donate online, or via mail at: Haitian Children’s Home, PO Box 968, Ellenton, FL 34222. (Be sure to write “Woody’s surgery” in the memo so the funds are correctly designated.)

- We STILL do not have full occupancy of the home we’ve rented in Jacmel as there is a tenant downstairs who has over-stayed his lease and doesn’t seem too motivated to move out. It’s incredibly frustrating. I am thankful to the Pye’s for letting us crash with them while we wait on this. We’re hoping for some movement this weekend. Please pray that the downstairs tenant would vacate the house and that we could be given full occupancy of our house this weekend. Please also pray that the landlord will quickly honor her end of the agreement and complete projects she has agreed to complete before we can move in. (Putting up razor-wire and getting electricity hooked up.)

-Yesterday we moved into our home in Port Au Prince where we will live for the next six weeks (during the week—weekends we will return to Jacmel.) Here we will be attending classes for 3.5 hours a day to learn Creole. We start Monday. We’re excited and nervous at the same time… (which pretty much describes all of our experiences in this country so far.) Please pray that we’d come to understand how to do life here in Port Au Prince. Pray that we’d continue to connect well with Naomi (the woman we have hired to help our family with our children and home while we are in school). Pray that God would knit her into our family beautifully. Please pray that our generator here in Port Au Prince could be repaired so that we can have reliable 24-hour a day electricity.

-Today we had our family’s first “medical need” since coming to Haiti. Josiah woke up with a 104.6F temperature this AM. Because of where we now live, our first thought was malaria and so we made arrangements to see a team of US doctors that had just arrived at CSI in Port Au Prince. They were amazing and the care was quick and efficient. It turned out it was NOT malaria, just a bad ear infection. He was prescribed antibiotics and started them today. This does not OVER-concern us, but it does concern us since Josiah has had to have ear tubes in the past because of recurring ear infections. He recently lost the tube in that ear, (which is to be expected over time.) We’d like to try to obtain a quality otoscope to monitor this in the future. (Plus, it would be great in a house full of 23 kids to have one!) Please let us know if you’d be able to help meet this need. Please pray that Josiah would quickly and completely heal from this infection without need for further medical intervention.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We are ALWAYS mindful that we are here because of your faithfulness to us.

With very grateful hearts,

Gwenn, Nick, Nia, Nico + Josiah (and Naomi!)

Our family eating a meal on our porch in our Port Au Prince house... (Sorry Nick's on the phone... that's pretty much the drill these days.)

Nick and I's bedroom.

The kid's room (those colorful things are their mosquito bed nets)

Josiah-- please pray for his healing.

The most excellent Crosspointe team!

May 1, 2009-- We're home!

2009-05-01T09:19:00.006-04:00

^{May 1, 2009

Hello Friends.

Well, thanks be to God—we made it. After an excellent send-off by our family and friends on Sunday. On Monday, we left the house at 3:30AM, and rolled into Jacmel about 15 hours later. As you can imagine, traveling for that many hours with three rascally kids was a bit of a challenge at times, but we were truly given God’s peace and presence, even amidst our frustrations. The trip was smooth—no delays with the flights (unheard of lately!), all our baggage arrived and made it through customs in tact, and even our drive from Port Au Prince was fairly simple, with little complication.

Right now we’re staying at the home of Danny and Leann Pye (houseparents of the Haitian Children’s Home) while we get the final details hammered out with our lease and some last minute drama with our new home. We’re hoping things get ironed out all the way by Monday, so we can move in, in earnest, next Friday. Between now and then we will remain here at the Pye’s home while they leave Haiti on a short vacation. We’ll be acting as relief house parents for their 23 kids in their absence. The past few days have been relaxing and busy at the same time. Nick has been out and about quite a bit—traveling overnight to Port Au Prince again on Wednesday and Thursday with Danny to get some things set up for our family as we will be moving to Port Au Prince in about two weeks for a month and a half of language training. I have been mostly staying home with the kids and helping them with their adjustment to their new country.

While I have been a stay-at-home mom for nearly 6 years, this is a new learning curve for me. Being extremely extroverted, I am not used to the “at home” part of stay at home parenting. This is a much simpler culture. Which, don’t get me wrong, I love, but it is forcing me to engage my creativity a lot more… there are none of our “regular” hangouts—the park, museums, playdates, etc. to pass the time. And even if there were places we could go, we share a vehicle, so transportation would be an issue. I hope it doesn’t seem like I am complaining… I am really not. It’s just a part of the adjustment that stretches me a bit. I think learning more about our city and learning the language will be good for me, and help me discover ways to connect with others. In the mean time, I have picked up my guitar to entertain myself and the kids, which I haven’t played “for real” in probably 8-9 years. There is a LITTLE bit of it that’s coming back quickly, but I am finding I am having to re-learn a lot of it… and my fingertips are very sore!

Our kids are doing great for the most part. Their transition has been interesting to observe. Nia, who is almost 6, has been a trooper. She’s trying very hard to participate in the culture and seems the perfect age for this kind of transition. She’s eagerly embracing “Haitian” things—like cold baths, trying to use the language whenever she can, etc. She’s been writing in her feelings down in her diary the past few days and the words that come up most often are “happy,” “excited,” “a little sad,” and “tired.” She’s loving being around all the kids, but being a mostly introverted child, I know she will do well to be in our permanent house here, where she can get some quiet time away from all the noise every now and then. One other newsworthy thing to note with Nia is that she’s really had something “click” in her head and is reading all the time. I came outside today after putting the boys down for a nap and she was reading “The Giving Tree” to Nerry (one of the HCH boys) and Nadedge (one of the nannies.) It was cute and they stayed there patiently during the whole book.

Nico is really thriving. I am loving watching his reaction to Haiti and Haitian culture. It’s more pronounced than on either of our two previous visits here with him prior to the move. (Just to bring everyone up to speed who may not be aware—Nico is our 4.5 year old son who we adopted from Haiti nearly 2 years ago.) It’s very obvious being here that Nico is proud to be Haitian, which makes us very happy. Having heard some horror stories from various people, we weren’t expecting this transition to go as smoothly for him as it is going. Thank you for your prayers for him. I truly believe he knows at the core of him that we are mom and dad—something I don’t know if he knew just a month or two ago.

Josiah is… well, Josiah. He’s as rough and tumble here in Haiti as he is in the US, but he’s met his match a bit in Riann (the Pye’s daughter.) Like Josiah, Riann is outgoing and strong-willed, and the two of them together are a HOOT. (Or else they are driving me and Leann crazy breaking up fights!) Our biggest struggle with Josiah’s transition is that the mosquitoes seem to LOVE him. He’s getting dozens and dozens of bites despite the fact we’re using applying insect repellant in ridiculous quantities. He’s adjusting well- but I have to admit, he makes me tired.

Nick seems to be thriving here—lots of new experiences for him! The first day was a bit rough—within an hour’s time he drown his phone in the ocean and forgot to put on sunscreen, leaving him quite red and uncomfortable for the past few days. He’s jumped in to driving, which, in Haiti is a WHOLE different thing than in the US. It’s a stressful thing, and I think he’s doing a great job!

Thank you for your prayers and support. They are SO appreciated. We’d ask for your continued prayers for our family during this transition.

We have a long list of needs this time, so thanks for bearing with us:
- For hearts willing to be molded and stretched by God here in our new home.
- For a spirit of unity between Nick and I. The transition is straining our patience with one another at times.
- For our children to experience peace during this time of many, many changes.
- For the details of our lease on our Jacmel house to work out over the weekend so we’re able to move in by the end of next week.
- For us to quickly learn the language and understand the culture.
- For our transition to Port Au Prince, and that all of the details there can be worked out (namely, a currently non-operational generator!)
- That we’d be and feel safe in our new country.
- For Danny and Leann to have a GREAT vacation together, and that we’d manage the house and children well in their absence.

During these past couple of weeks, I’ve been daily focusing on two passages of scripture, and I thought I would include them. I hope in some way, God will encourage you with them, as he has with me.

Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 127
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.

3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

With an ever-grateful heart,
Gwenn + Nick
(and the three kiddos!)}

Nia reading.

Josiah, Nico and Riann play in their "baby pool" to keep cool!

Josiah shows off his new bike-- thanks Nana!

Nia's diary page-- her feelings.Nico gobbling down a mango!

April 15, 2009 update

2009-04-15T19:57:00.003-04:00

Hello from Haiti!

This is Gwenn here. I am in Haiti as a part of a team of 11 people comprised of my family and friends and we are getting everything ready down here in Jacmel for our move. It is SO exciting. I finally was able to see our new house and drive our new truck! It's a dream.

With a lot of elbow grease, an unanticipated kitchen remodel (LOTS of water damage), 3 gallons of bleach, 25 gallons of paint, hardcore weeding, some masonry repair, power washing, and just general hard work-- it is looking great. I LOVE this house. I REALLY love this house. It is going to be perfect for our family and our family to be! I am incredibly grateful for the hard work of this team, plus several local missionaries, and community members who have come out to give of their time and talents to make our home comfortable.

I have to tell you, even though I really miss Nick and my boys (Nia is here with me), I am grateful to be here at this time. It's nice to move down knowing that our living space is so well prepared for us! It also came at a good time as I was starting to get overwhelmed with the grief of goodbyes. But God, being so gracious, knew exactly what I needed, and nearly the moment I walked off the plane, I remembered the unspeakable joy it is for me to be in this country. I love Haiti. I especially love Jacmel. I love the entire HCH family (about 40+ of them these days between children and staff!) I love being a part of this journey on which God has called us.

Please pray for the remainder of our trip. Please pray we'd get done all that needs to be done in time. (It's looking good that we will!) Please pray for our safety as we travel to Port Au Prince on Saturday to work on cleaning our apartment where we'll stay during language training. Pray for easy travel with no interruptions. I *may* be driving for the first time in Port... Yikes! (We're staying in a guest house there.) Pray that there are no complications with our flight on Sunday afternoon.

Please pray for our family. The next time we update you we will ALL be in Haiti. For good. Wow. At times it felt like this time wouldn't ever arrive. But we're extra thankful for you as we think about the future, but we're also extra sad as we grieve the loss of regular contact with our friends, family, and church in the US.

Please pray for our initial transition-- we fly from Raleigh to Haiti on April 27!

Please pray that God would provide the remainder of funds we still need and that we will be able to live within our budgeted means.

We love you all. Thank you for your part in making this dream God planted in our hearts blossom.

Always grateful,
Gwenn (and Nick + the kiddos too!)

HCH Mangine! Check it out!

Vicki paints Nia's "loft" (it's actually a salmon color even though it looks orange in this pic...)

My sister-in-law Kristi prunes the hedges with a leatherman. (Nothing like the right tool for the job, eh?)

Our new truck! Woo Hoo!

John and Mikey work on building kitchen cabinets.

April 1, 2009 Update-- T minus 26!

2009-04-01T10:07:00.002-04:00

Our DEAR friends,

Wow! When I think of God bringing us this far, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. (And, honestly, just a little overwhelmed!)

26 busy days are left until our family relocates to Haiti. Here we go!

The past two weeks we've made a lot of headway in terms of practical tasks. We've started selling our possessions. By the way, not having a table/chairs when you have a one-year-old is not necessarily the best plan. :) But we're looking at it as an "adventure." Even so, it has been hard on the kids to say goodbye to so many things that have always been in their lives-- their toys, their bikes, their furniture... Nia especially has been getting a little weepy. What she doesn't know is that Nana has funded, and Danny Pye has arranged for there to be NEW bikes in Haiti for them. It's a surprise that is going really make them smile. Shhhhhh! Don't tell!

I wanted to let you know where we are in terms of funding, since many of you have asked recently. Honestly, with the tasks of the previous 2 weeks, we haven't had much time to think about it. We are about at the same place-- 90%+ of start-up expenses, and around 87% of on-going. Although with the economic climate we are, that number is not 100% firm, since we know of a few different people in crisis with their employment situation. So, like always, we know this is an on-going job of funding this mission. We "can" move at our current support level, but we'd appreciate prayers that God would provide the additional one-time and monthly amounts we need to be fully funded. We do plan on setting aside one day per week when we are in-country to work on raising finances.

In other news, just yesterday, we received Nico's US Passport! FINALLY. He's been home for over 20 months now-- it's ABOUT TIME! He's had a Haitian passport and greencard since he's been home, but it's always been our desire to make the adoption process final in the US, and make sure he's a US citizen prior to our move. Just in case. And now, finally, he is! It was a LONG, complicated process. (He came in on a residency visa rather than a citizenship visa like many foreign adopted children.) We still do have one more official step in the process to receive his certificate of citizenship. Which is more hoops to jump through, and of course, more cost. But... oh well. He's MORE than worth it! The irony is not lost on us though, that we are collecting documentation and doing paperwork for Nick and I to become Haitian (residents), while we're trying to help Nico become American.

In just over a week I (Gwenn) am traveling with a team of friends and family down to Haiti to work on our house and get things ready. I am excited to see (for the first time) our new home and vehicle. I am excited for our friends and family to see where we're going to live and experience Haiti. I can't wait. During that time, Nick and the kids will begin our stay with his parents so we can get things wrapped up at the apartment!

We've been asked lately if there's "anything we need." We were very fortunate to receive SO many items from the Kidspointe supply drive, that we are actually in pretty good shape in terms of things we are collecting now. But there have been a lot of "last minute" things we're needing to buy so we can always use giftcards to Target, Walmart, etc. Since they don't expire, we can use them now or later (online.) As we think about the transition, we will learn to live with Haitian items in time, but will probably be trying to ship some American stuff to help us while we learn how to do that... ie-- diapers, razors, shampoo... etc. While a lot of these "American items" are available in Port Au Prince, (about 3 hours from where we will live,) we will pay a PREMIUM for American items in Haiti. (Probably about 3-4 times as much.) So we're trying to stock up now so we're prepared.

We're also going to be listing our vehicles for sale very soon. We have a White 2002 Ford Focus Station Wagon with 111,000 miles on it. (We're going to start by asking $2,275.) And we have a Green Kia Sedona EX minvan with about 96,000 miles on it. (We're going to start by asking $3,850.) If you know anyone local looking for used vehicles, let us know! Both vehicles are in pretty decent condition, and we will disclose everything we know about them that is "wrong" with them ahead of time! (And just FYI-- we're starting with around the Kelly Blue Book Trade-In Value for the cars.)

Thanks for sharing this journey with us. We need your prayers and support and remain SO grateful. We know we face many unknowns in the next month. As we walk in this plan God has for us, we ask for your prayers for the following things:

God's spirit of peace to rest upon us.
God's provision for our family.
God's protection for our bodies and our hearts.
Our hearts to be turned towards God at all times.

With very grateful hearts,
Gwenn + Nick (and all three of our crazy kiddos!)

March 15, 2009 Update

2009-03-15T07:33:00.005-04:00

March 15, 2009
Hello friends,

Thank you for your partnership with us in this amazing journey. We are seeing God more and more as we walk in His plan. Here's an update on our family... I will warn you-- it's pretty long! (photos at the end!)

We're back! We left MTI in Colorado on Friday at noon and got home in North Carolina after 2AM on Saturday morning. Suffice to say, it was a long day of travel with three little kids. I was thankful that our kids all slept on the last leg of the trip from Dallas back to Raleigh. Yesterday we all slept in until almost 10AM and tried to just take it easy and have a day of Sabbath as we (the kids especially) adjusted to being back in North Carolina.

I don't know how much to say about our 3 weeks at MTI. There's a large part of me that feels like I should keep a bit more tight-lipped with details to preserve the experience for others who I know will go after us as missionaries. So forgive me if it seems I am being vague as I describe what we did. The main thrust of the program was self-awareness; understanding who WE are so we can know how to adjust in the culture we will enter soon. There was a large focus on community-building and we covered topics like team building, moral purity, values, Sabbath, and the paradox of feelings we often live with in the mission field. We had very little idea as to how the program would impact us ahead of time. One of the things that was said was, "We're not trying to discourage you, we're trying to disillusion you." That happened. It was a challenge at times (most times) requiring us to do hard work. But we both feel the training was INVALUABLE. I simply cannot imagine us going to the field NOT having had that training.

One of the best parts of MTI was the program for our children. Our kids (even down to Josiah) were learning many of the same concepts that we were learning in their classes. It was a JOY to hear the same truths we were learning coming from their mouths at the end of the day. The staff does an amazing job of teaching the kids in fun ways that are age-appropriate. All five of us made great friends with the 20 adults and 21 children at the program-- 11 families in all going to 10 different countries all around the world.

We had weekends "off" of official training and we got to see more of the beautiful state of Colorado. The first weekend visited New Life church and then hit the Garden of the Gods. The second weekend we went up past Denver to visit our dear friend Andrew Brown. He hosted us very well and played the part of tour guide... taking us to visit the Flatirons as well as Rocky Mountain National Park. We also visited his church, Flatirons Community Church. Our whole family LOVES Andrew and it was a JOY to see him again. We made our first "real" goodbye when we left him, and it wasn't easy.

Now that we're back we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it! In 43 days, we move to Haiti. Danny and Leann Pye (HCH Directors) have been doing a lot of leg work in Haiti getting ready for our move. They've secured housing in both Port Au Prince for our language training, and in Jacmel, where we will live until we are able to get housing built on the HCH land in Raymond. They've shopped around for vehicles, and this week are picking up our new truck! We're so thankful to them for their continued work on our behalf.

There's a lot to do here on the North Carolina side. Most notably, we have to pack, sell/give away all our stuff. And we need some help. Would you consider any of the following? If so, email nick at nick@haitianchildrenshome.org

We're having a large yard sale on April 11th, (at the flea market in Raleigh-- WE THINK!) We need help that day (help lugging everything out there and getting it set up, during the sale, and afterward taking everything left over to the Durham Rescue Mission) and in the days preceding it to get everything ready.
We will have an ongoing need for childcare on and off until we leave so we can pack. And more than just childcare, we need people to LOVE our children-- people who will play with them, and engage at their level. This move is hard on them, especially Nico, and we want them to KNOW that they are loved and cared for.
We need someone to help us organize/prioritize/inventory/weigh the stuff we're packing so we can have stuff sent with mission teams after we leave.
We still need to work on securing funding. We're over 90% of start-up funds and are over 80% of ongoing expenses. We're getting close, but still have some ground to cover! Haitian Children's Home is a non-profit, 501(c)3. More info here.

Please be in prayer for our family. Rather than give you a bullet list (that would be pages and pages long), I just ask that you pray as you feel lead.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
As we work towards our goodbyes here in the US, we anticipate with joy our hellos in Haiti. And we know we cannot do this without you.

Much love,
Nick, Gwenn, Nia, Nico and Josiah

Nico on the playground... MUCH time was spent here!

Nia and her new friend, Hannah

Nick and Gwenn up at Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park (Longs Peak in the Background.)

Our friend and host- Andrew Brown. (About to pelt one of us with a snowball.)

A big herd of elk we saw heading up the mountain...

Worshiping together on the last night.

The Mangine 5... Flatirons in the background.

Just a quick update

2009-03-11T17:54:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the delayed update. We're still in Colorado at Mission Training International. It's amazing and we are learning so much about the world of foreign missions. It's hard to process at times, but we're being stretched in ways that I think we will be very thankful for on the field.

We've been a bit limited in our ability to stay in contact as Nick's (new) computer crashed. It's been a challenge in some ways, but also a blessing in others. Having limited contact with our "normal life" has allowed us to really focus on our training here, and engage in community with other missionaries also moving to the field in the next 2-3 months.

Expect a full update sometime this weekend including amazing pictures of God's creation here in Colorado that we've been able to experience over the past 3 weeks...

Thanks, as always, for your support.

Photo credit: Andrew Brown

And so it begins...

2009-02-23T05:08:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up feeling the old adage-- Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

In just a few minutes, we will wake up our children and leave for one of our many adventures that will result in our move. This is an exciting day. (Followed by an extremely bittersweet day yesterday as we served in Kidspointe for our last Sunday!)

For the next three weeks we will be in Colorado-- to Missions Training International. We are participating in their SPLICE program which is about preparing us for a new culture. Our children are participating in CHIPS.

Thank you to our generous supporters who made this happen. This is one of the MANY, MANY, MANY things about this move we could not have done without you. It is the people who send us that make it possible for us to go.

Please keep our family in your prayers over the next three weeks...

Pray that what we're learning will sink in to a deep level. Pray we could leave feeling more prepared.
Pray that our children would thrive in this program, and that this new change (just one of many they will be making in the next several months) will be tolerated well by each of them.
Pray for our travel. Flying with three kids is, well... you can imagine. :)
Pray for our reliance on God. Both Nick and I have been starting to feel somewhat disconnected from God lately. As we change scenery for a few weeks, please pray for us to work in healthy habits-- that we'd make increased time alone and together with God.
Finally, please pray for us as the reality of this move settles in. As we say our goodbyes we leave pieces of our hearts behind.

We love you all,
Gwenn and Nick

February 16, 2009

2009-02-16T08:05:00.002-05:00

Hello friends,

So I guess this is really happening! We just bought our ONE WAY tickets to Haiti. Wow.

Yesterday Nick and I taught a lesson in Kidspointe about compassion, and we talked about this mission of compassion that God has called us on. We wrote the lesson, and so it was refreshing to revisit what the Bible says about compassion, and also to re-think about this journey... to talk about where we've come from and where God is leading us. It was fun to teach together one last time. Next Sunday is our last Sunday in Kidspointe. The time line of everything is a bit intimidating.

We leave in ONE week for missionary training at MTI in Colorado. We will be in Colorado for three weeks, returning to NC on March 13. We're back here in our apartment until early April, at which point our our family will move into Nick's parent's house while we get everything here at the apartment sold and cleared/cleaned out. That will become our "home base" until the move. We'll also be having GIANT yard sale in early April where we get rid of 99% of our stuff. Literally. (Location/date/time to be announced at the next update.)

Gwenn will be heading to Haiti for 8 days on April 11th with a team from her mother's church, Liberty Christian Fellowship, on the Outer Banks of NC. Once she gets back, there's about a week to wrap things up, and then 6:00AM on April 27-- we're gone! Weird.

So, as we walk forward in this mission, please be praying about these things:

Our time line! It's kind of overwhelming, and we still have a few key details to confirm. Please pray that God would give us the strength we need to make each step.

Logistics. Please pray for that we'd be able to get rid of all we need to get rid of here and that we'd be able to get all of the stuff we need to settle in there!

MTI, our training in Colorado. We're very much looking forward to learning from the pros. :) We KNOW we have a lot to learn. Please pray for humble and teachable spirits. Please also pray for the logistics of ANOTHER "change of venue" for the kids.

Our provision, that we'd be able to be 100% supported when we leave in April. January was a very good month for us, and we trust that God will continue to provide.

Our good-byes. They are getting closer. It's family. It's friends. It's church. It's stuff. It's our home. It's our country. It's our language. It's our culture. (Thankfully, it's not our God!)

Our hellos. They are getting closer too-- to new friends, to a new church, to new stuff, to a new home, to a new country, to a new language, to a new culture. NEW CHILDREN.

Thank you for your faithful support and prayer.

With grateful hearts,
Nick and Gwenn Mangine

February 2, 2009 Update

2009-02-02T18:31:00.003-05:00

Hello friends!

Things are really starting to crank around here.

Since it's the beginning of the month we wanted to give you all a quick update and let you know where things stood.

At the beginning of the year, we expressed we were looking for an additional 50 new $50 commitments during the months of January and February. Well, like we announced last week, we were given a significant commitment from our home church, Crosspointe. That in and of itself met that goal. But we are happy to report that IN ADDITION to that commitment, we've received almost the equivalent of ELEVEN new $50 monthly commitments since January 1. So that means we're getting closer and closer every day to being fully funded. We're so thankful for the provision. It feels like we have some good momentum, and we're praying that God would continue to provide the rest of what we need. Please take a few moments to join us in praying that would happen.

We've also rolled out another layer of our support-raising efforts recently-- the gathering of supplies. Nick and I had the chance to think through each room of our future home and the kinds of supplies we would need for each. In order to manage that list in the midst of people all around the country who support us, we decided to use a registry. After much drama (that I will not go into right now) we have decided to register for the majority of our needs at Target.

I want to take a few minutes to further explain some ins and outs of this whole registering business. There's SO much that needs to be considered when you're talking about adding 20 kids to your family... sheets, dishes, towels, silverware, pots and pans, underwear, socks, garbage bags, toothbrushes, basic medications and first aid items, extension cords... it a giant list. It makes me appreciate Mama Leann and the job she does SO much!

We know there's a lot there, but every item we can get donated is an item that we do not need to raise funds to purchase.

So-- if you're interested in helping out-- check out the registry!
We're registered in the BABY registry section. (Cause you know, we're getting 20 new kids.)
It's listed under Gwenn Mangine and Nick Mangine. (The registry title is Haitian Children's Home.)
Arrival date listed: April 27, 2009
State: NC

A couple of notes:

If you buy from Target, PLEASE get a receipt or gift receipt just in case we get duplicates. Target is notorious for being pretty strict about this.
We can always use gift cards (and we've gotten a bunch so far!) and we'll just use them to purchase off the registry before we go.
If you wish to donate items and you don't shop at Target, you can look at the registry online and purchase somewhere else. Then once we know you've purchased something somewhere else, we can remove it from the registry.
If you HAVE some of these items you'd like to donate that are in good condition, we'd love to have them instead of buying new. Just let us know and we can remove them from the registry.
We don't really care too much about colors with sheets/towels/etc. Just so they are in good shape. (And call us picky, but we'd prefer to have some "girl" type things and some "boy" type things that are age appropriate.) These things generally do not matter in Haiti, but they do kind of matter to us as we want to provide great environments for kids to grow and thrive...)

Changing the subject a bit-- we've made a lot of strides during the past week towards getting our lives packed up for the big move. Our children, Nia, Nico and Josiah, went to Manteo to stay with their Nana and their Auntie Gretchen so we could get some packing done. It was very productive-- here's a pic of all the stuff we went though.Some is now packed, most is for selling. This was an empty garage when we started. We'll keep you posted on our garage sale date! :)

We're looking forward to a big trip at the end of February-- our whole family is heading to Colorado for three weeks to attend Missions Training International. We're excited about this opportunity as we've heard the preparation this provides families is invaluable. We're also excited to see our old friend (and HCH cheerleader!), Andrew Brown. Andrew has been our friend for about 8 years and last year he moved to Colorado. We're thankful to have the opportunity to see him and he's even offered to play "tour guide" when we come out his way.

It's weird, with this trip coming up, and then a trip Gwenn is taking in April to Haiti with her mother, we're in the single digits with how many Sundays we have left at church. We're starting to feel the "bitter" part of the bittersweet situation this journey is as we face the reality of saying goodbye to friends, family and experiences we love here in North Carolina. But we're also very much feeling the "sweet" too. It is our desire to finish well here before we leave.

I have been very long-winded here, so I am going to wrap it up, but I did want to ask you to continue to pray about our housing situation in Haiti-- both during language school in Port Au Prince and as well as our longer-term situation in Jacmel. We're praying that God would lead us to the right place where we can settle in and feel at home.

Thank you for loving us and sharing this journey---
Nick and Gwenn Mangine

The date is set

2009-01-27T05:16:00.003-05:00

Hello friends,

Our warmest greetings during this cold month in North Carolina! Have you ever heard the expression, "when it rains it pours?" That's been our experience this month-- in a good way. At the beginning of January, Nick and I sat down and faced the reality that we were probably not going to make our (self-imposed) move date of May 1. Support-raising had been slow and we were going to need a miracle. But then God, like he does, made a way.

A couple of weeks ago, we met with Jonathan (our lead pastor) and Pam (our missions pastor). They had come with news that the elders of Crosspointe had agreed to support us. Substantially. And all in one fell swoop we transitioned to a place where our move is not only possibly, but it IS happening.

So let me cut to the chase and give you our anticipated schedule for the rest of the year:

We are leaving for 3 weeks for Mission Training International (Colorado) on Feb 23
Gwenn is visiting Haiti with a team from her mom's church (Liberty) on April 11-18
WE ARE MOVING TO HAITI ON APRIL 27!
We will start language school on May 18.
We will finish language school by the end of June.
We will shadow the Pye's (the current house family) until early November.
We will take our first "furlough" (2 weeks) in early November.
We will begin accepting children in early December.

All of a sudden our lives went into overdrive! It's a crazy and exciting time. There is so much to do it's a bit overwhelming, but in an exciting way. Because of the exorbitant cost of shipping/customs, we're not shipping a container filled with our personal belongings. So that means in the next 3 months, we're completely "liquidating" our assets-- furniture and basically all of our personal belongings that cannot be packed in suitcases.

We wanted to ask you to be in prayer for our family during this crazy time of transition. We need to make sure we're doing "life" well with our kids and with each other as we hammer out the details of all of this. So, with that in mind, here are some specific requests:

Please pray personally for each of our family members-- Nick, Gwenn, Nia, Nico, and Josiah-- as we commence this great adventure God has called us on. As we face a lot of transition in the next year, please pray we could be grounded in God and reminded that "home" is where we all are together.
Please pray for continued financial support. We're getting very close to the numbers we need God to provide for us. We're experiencing a good "momentum" at this point. Please join us in trusting that God will be faithful to do what he has called us to do. Forward our website onto anyone you think might be interested in learning more about this journey.
Please pray for move logistics. There are a lot of them. Here's a few:

We need a house in Jacmel. We would ideally like to find a rental that we could call "home" until at least one house could be built on the land. (In which case we would move to where the current home is.) We are earnestly praying that we can find a place where we (and, specifically, our children) can feel is "home." We see the need of having a specific place to call our own, where we can unwind and just be a family-- without having to worry that we're in someone else's house or someone else's way. We see this as integral to our adjustment. Please pray the right place would become available and obvious.
Please pray we would be able to sell all of our stuff here in the US (specifically vehicles and furniture) in an efficient and quick manner.
Please pray our initial transition and language school. Please pray that our minds would open to the language and that we'd become fluent quickly. Please pray we'd find a good lodging opportunity in Port Au Prince during language school.
Please pray God would lead us to the right vehicle for our family and that we'd be able to purchase it and insure it quickly.
The logistics of us getting the "right" stuff down to Haiti with us, and the ability to furnish our home without too much difficulty.
Please pray for the Pyes, and the other staff in Haiti, as our move puts more work on them-- to help us figure out how to get everything done. They are the "feet on the ground" that are making most of the in-country logisitics happen. We're so grateful.

We could probably go on and on with specific prayer requests. But we're going to leave it at that for today, but now that we have so much movement happening, we will now re-commence our twice monthly updates!

Thank you for your support and prayer for our family. We are excited and nervous and just very, very happy all at the same time. Our hearts ache to be "home" in Haiti. As we spend the next three months in "go mode" to make that happen, our greatest desire is to show God glory.

Mangine Family update-- December 1, 2008

2008-12-01T21:23:00.003-05:00

Hello Friends-

I am writing to you tonight LIVE from Haiti! Nick and I have been here for the past two weeks with our entire family and it has been an incredible joy. We've felt over and over God's protection and provision during this trip and it's made us anxious for the time when God will provide a way for us to be here full-time. We're so thankful for you, who have joined us in this journey.

Here's a not-so-quick recap of the past MONTH (yes, we realized about a week ago that we forgot to do a mid-month update!)

Our vacation to Mexico at the beginning of the month was TREMENDOUS! We stayed at a beautiful new resort in Maroma Beach along with our friends, the Gilliams. We ate and swam and ate and relaxed and ate and... (are you detecting a pattern here?) Our kids stayed out in Manteo with my family and they had as much fun as we did.

We only had about 10 days in between returning from Mexico and leaving for Haiti, so that was a crazy several days-- unpacking, doing laundry, shopping re-packing... It went much more smoothly than I imagined it would, and for the first time ever we were packed a day and a half ahead of time, which in and of itself was no small feat since we had to pack Thanksgiving dinner for 60 people-- including two large frozen turkeys in coolers. (We didn't actually pack those until the morning we left.)

The past few weeks here in Haiti have been, once-again, very eye-opening. Nick and I got to play "Dad and Mom" for a week while Danny and Leann were in the US for Thanksgiving. It was fantastic, because we feel like we did get a good idea of what we are "in for" as houseparents-- both in good ways and bad! We loved watching our kids' personalities here in Haiti-- each child responded so differently this time. Nia was a little more shy this time around, but loved all the attention once she warmed up. She's enjoying learning and using more Creole (as we all are) and has developed a love for goat meat.

It was a lot of fun to watch Nico in his native environment. It's beautiful to see him interacting as a Haitian child. Beautiful. It's as if he's come alive in ways we have not seen before. I cannot explain the depth of feelings this has awakened in us. We truly desire for Nico to know and understand his culture, and we're thrilled at the prospect of him being raised in it, and yet fully OUR son. I cannot think of a way for God to grant us this desire in a more complete way.

Josiah. Ah, Josiah. He has been a handful. He's such an active child, so Haiti this time around has been more challenging for us than any previous trip. You never realize the full extent of the "risks" in any place until you bring a toddler. Wow. We've been constantly on our feet. If he's not hitting the dog, he's overturning the washbasins full of wet laundry. If he's not playing with spiders or roaches, he's trying to sneak out the gate. I can honestly say he's been as much work as the other 24 children combined, but he's so darn sweet, it's hard to get frustrated about it.

One of the biggest challenges of this trip was the pink eye that ravaged the home and our entire family during this trip. For some reason, I had a larger than average reaction and although I have been on antibiotic drops for 9 days now, I still have one very pink eye.

The kids here at the home have welcomed us here. We've really enjoyed our time with them. They were very obedient and helped us a lot with language. Creole (while we are still FAR from fluent) is becoming more intuitive for all of us. We're VERY excited about language school once we arrive "for good"-- there's a certain respect that we've noticed that comes along with speaking the native language.

A highlight of the trip was preparing and serving Thanksgiving for all the children and all the staff, as well as their families. It was about 60 people-- including a few crashers. We all assumed someone else knew them. Sandra, part of the HCH family here in Haiti, worked all day along with me-- literally from 6AM-8PM. Fun was had by all, but I WAS EXHAUSTED.

We return to NC tomorrow with a bit of a heavy heart. We're glad to be going back to our own beds and familiar things, but as always, we leave a piece of our hearts here. We love Haiti. We love Jacmel. We love the Haitian Children's Home and the stories of redemption we see LIVING and BREATHING before our eyes. We feel so priviliged to be called to work in this way. Seriously, we can't imagine anything we'd love more.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the people who are already a part of our prayer and financial support team. Keep it coming! We're currently at about 12% of our monthly need and 5% of our one-time costs that need to be raised before we can leave. We trust God has called us here, and we eagerly await the time when we can say that we are fully funded and ready to go. Will you consider being a part of sending us?

With grateful hearts,

Nick and Gwenn Mangine

Nick and I in Mexico!

Josiah and Nia caused quite a stir as white children in Jacmel. Jacmel, a city of about 30,000, has ONE white child (literally), the Pye's daughter, Riann. So white kids are quite interesting to many kids.

Sandra and I-- the Thanksgiving 2008 Dream Team.

Some of the Thanksgiving food. (Or as the Haitians called it, "Bon Manje Blan"-- Good white people food.)

A few of the MANY plates.

Nico and Diane pick flowers on a walk one day.

Toto and Josiah play at the beach.

Nia and Marco, a neighbor, at the beach.

The Mangine FIVE in our future backyard. Literally.

Hello friends-

2008-10-31T21:10:00.001-04:00

This is Gwenn here this time! Nick and I are sitting in Panera Bread feverishly working away trying to get a few last minute details tied up before we leave early, early in the morning tomorrow for MEXICO! We're traveling to a new resort south of Cancun in Riviera Maya. I honestly can't remember a time when I have looked towards something with such great anticipation. This is a last hurrah of sorts for Nick and I. We're traveling with some of our very best friends, Jason and Deena Gilliam. If you know them and you know us then you know it's going to be a hoot. I plan to spend most of my time either reading, getting a tan, or taking baths. Nick is planning on eating a lot. A lot. He's thinking if we time it right we can get in like 7 meals a day or something. (Yes, it's all inclusive.) Thanks for letting me share.

In just a few more hours, October will be officially over and we'll be into November. I am kind of glad to be done with October. It was crazy busy. We had a lot of meetings to share where God is bringing us, and it was cool to see people "get" it.

We had some time to hang with Danny and Leann Pye (HCH Directors) last week as they were in NC. I love being around them. My head spins with all these dreams about the future. It was fun.

We're really blessed to see people starting to partner with us in creative ways to help get us funded. Starting tomorrow (Nov 1- Nov 15) a friend of ours is doing an online Pampered Chef show for us. The short story is that if you choose to shop during this show, we will receive 25% of your purchase price in donations from Pampered Chef and the consultant. Check out www.mangine.org (our family blog) or our website www.haitianchildrenshome.org/mangine for more details.

Also in November, my cousin, Trina, is doing an auction of one of her paintings to benefit Nick and I and our move. The auction start date is November 19. I will give you more details in our next update.

What's really cool to us about these two events is that it's people just using what they have (and what they know how to do). I humbly ask you to consider what it is that you have and what you know how to do... Is there a way you can use what you have to help get us where we're headed?

With grateful hearts,
Gwenn + Nick Mangine

Sharing our story...

2008-10-16T17:40:00.004-04:00

Over and over and over again. We're in the midst of our biggest support raising effort to date. In the past month we've met with 20 families, our small group, and with the elders of Crosspointe Church. We have had some great conversations, and it is energizing to tell our story to new people. But at the same time, it's been a strain on our family, especially our kids. So please pray for us to be able to make it through the next two weeks! Speaking of continuing on, we have a session tonight and 2 more sessions next week. If you're local (in the Triangle area) and haven't been to a session yet, please email us which session you'd prefer. We'd love to share with you.

Wednesday, October 22nd at 6:30pm at the Petkau home
Sunday, October 26th at 4:30pm at the West home

In addition to our local meetings the whole family spent last weekend on the Outer Banks of NC. We had some good time with Gwenn's family, but the purpose of our trip was to (you guessed it) sharing with more people. We sat down with two groups, and gave a short presentation during the Sunday morning service at Liberty Christian Fellowship. We were really encouraged by the excitement people had around the Haitian Children's Home and the mission trip, a group from Liberty will be taking in the spring.

I'm also very proud to say that a couple of days ago, I "celebrated" 8 years of marriage with my wonderful wife Gwenn. While our anniversary wasn't spectacular, but the trip we have planned will be. We'll be starting off November with a couples-only trip to Mexico with some friends. I'm really looking forward to that. Please pray that this can be a time of retreat for us. We'll follow that trip up with a full-family trip to Haiti for two weeks at the end of November. It's not going to be an easy trip, with all the kids, and with Danny and Leann leaving for The States, but it will be a good reminder of what this is all about. We're really glad to be going to the place where our hearts feel at home. Plus, we love the kids! So we can't wait.

So then, where are we. Our Haiti trip will bring us into December and the Christmas season. We just received some great news from Crossroads Community Church. They are planning on participating in the Advent Conspiracy and have chose our ministry to support through it. This is especially exciting for us because we love advent and want to see more churches making it a focus of the Christmas season.

So that's what's coming down the pike for us. Two more notes to finish things up:

Gwenn promised to unveil a new way to support us with this update. Well, time flies and we don't have it ready. Next time- I promise.
We really do need your support. Do you know anyone that might be interested in what we're doing? Let them know about us. Are you connected with any churches that have a heart for missions (or don't)? Help us get in contact with them. Are you able to support with a one time, or ongoing financial pledge? Let us know.

Thanks, everyone for being so supportive. We can't do this without you.

- Nick

Hello friends-

2008-10-02T21:26:00.002-04:00

Gwenn here today. It's been a busy two weeks for our family since we've last updated you, so I am just going to jump in!

Two weeks ago we were able to spend almost a whole week up at Lake Gaston with my family. My parents rented a big lake house and the family converged for a week. It was fun having all the cousins together and being with 2 out of 3 of my sisters. We had a blast taking boat rides, doing sparklers, swimming in the freezing cold pool, eating too much and just being together. We closed the week with a family talent show where everyone got up there and did some sort of talent. Needless to say, it was a hoot.

Nick and I returned for a night halfway through the vacation week to meet with the elders at Crosspointe church, our church home, to present the mission God is calling us on, and ask for support. I felt like it was a good meeting-- we were surrounded by some very dear friends so it was comfortable, and we left feeling very loved. We are not sure when they will make a decision. I do want to clarify something since I know that many of you know that Nick is an elder. For the past several months, Nick has excused himself from discussion relating to the Haitian Children's Home in elders meetings, since there is an obvious conflict of interest. Hope that makes sense.

Just a little over a week ago we had the chance to practice our "presentation" in front of our life group members. We asked them to be honest with us about it, and they had some GREAT suggestions for us. We made some of the tweaks they recommended and feel like we're in a good place now to explain what we are doing to others. We had our first official meeting last night. It was really energizing for Nick and I. We love this mission we're going on, and it's really a joy to share our hearts.

We have several more of these meetings planned throughout the month of October here in the Triangle. If you have not yet signed up for one, please know that we'd love to talk to you. Here are the remaining meetings in our area:

10/2/2008 Thursday 6:30 - 8:00 PM Apex
10/6/2008 Monday 6:30 - 8:00 PM Raleigh, Brier Creek Area
10/8/2008 Wednesday 6:30 - 8:00 PM Apex
10/16/2008 Thursday 6:30 - 8:00 PM Cary
10/18/2008 Saturday 9:30 - 11:00 AM Apex
10/22/2008 Wednesday 6:30 - 8:00 PM Cary
10/26/2008 Sunday 4:30 - 6:00 PM Apex

These meetings have free childcare. RSVP to nick@haitianchildrenshome.org so we can let our hosts know how many to expect.

We are also having two meetings on the Outer Banks of NC-- Saturday, October 11 in Manteo, and Sunday, October 12 at Liberty Christian Fellowship in Collington.

We continue to be grateful for all of the ways God is blessing us and providing for us. Last week Nick was out of town for work for 4 days and our son Josiah got very sick. He had a high fever for 3 days, and it really wore me out. When Nick returned, I was reminded of Genesis 2:18 when God, looking upon Adam before he created Eve said, "It is not good for man to be alone." I really do think that Nick and I are a good team. We love working together, and we're both INCREDIBLY excited about where we are going. I love being the "suitable helper" that God made for Nick, and I am very thankful that he is mine.

Next update we are going to roll out a new aspect of our preparation that will be provide another practical way for you to get involved in what God is doing through our involvement with the life-giving mission of the Haitian Children's Home. You don't want to miss it.

Our deepest thanks to you, our friends, family and supporters.

Thanks for the support, please keep Haiti in your prayers

2008-09-15T04:16:00.006-04:00

Hello again everyone,

First, some technical information. We've been experimenting sending our email updates using AWeber. It's a good product, but for our usage, not worth the money. So I'm going to take a step back to simpler, free product. So, if you're getting these updates via email (some have subscribed to the feed) expect to get an email from "confirmations@emailenfuego.com" sometime in the next few weeks. Just click the confirmation link and you'll be set up on our new system. Thanks.

We're working hard to move forward with support raising and it's been great to see people beginning to support us in different ways. A few weeks ago we were eating dinner at Target (the hot dog meal is a good deal) and ran into a family from our church that we had never met before. After a few minutes of conversation, we were offered free swimming lessons at their swim school. Awesome. We've been trying really hard to get our kids acclimated to the water (what with living on the ocean and all). This was the logical next step, and to have it drop into our laps like that was pretty cool.

We also had an old friend from church hook us up with someone who has been to Haiti 42 times. He's a mechanical whiz, he totally gets Haiti, and he's willing to help us out once we get there. He even offered start some Creole lessons with us over the next few months. Again, that's been something we've been wanting to do (now if we can only find the time).

So, over the last few weeks we've had prayer supporters come on board, offers for swim lessons, Creole lessons, and even some financial support start up. I'm exited to see other people getting exited about what we're doing.

Speaking of other people knowing what we're doing. The next couple of months of our lives (after a quick, family reunion) are going to be laser focused on getting the word out. We've set up ten "small group" sessions here and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in order to sit down with a small group of people and, hopefully, share our hearts with them. We think this will be a good way to have some good conversations without the pressure of one-on-one support raising. Know what I mean? So if you're in the triangle area, check out this message for more information. Email us if you're on the Outer Banks (or anywhere for that matter) and would like to talk with us about what we're doing, and how you can support us.

On the other hand, updates from Haiti are not as good. Hurricanes Faye, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike have combines to ravage the entire country of Haiti. The home is fine, but the surrounding areas are not. We had multiple staff members lose their homes (along with everything in them) and they fared better than many. It's a reality that we're learning about Haiti, nothing is permanent. Haitians get it-- it's something we'll need to learn.

- Nick and Gwenn

Storms (in life and in Haiti)

2008-09-05T21:38:00.004-04:00

Hello all--

Gwenn here this time. Our email list is growing by the day! Exciting stuff.

Wow. These past two (and a half-- oops!) weeks have been a WHIRLWIND. It's been some crazy times for the Mangine's, but we are thankful to the God who holds us firmly.

Well-- we're "in it." We're officially in the "ask" mode. It's hard. I have never been one to ask for help, and so it's definitely a step out of my comfort zone to have to ask, and also to have to receive. As we get in deeper into support raising, the amount of time it takes to try to keep up with all our contacts, answer emails, develop materials, etc. is just growing and growing. Combined with homeschooling, well-- there's a lot around the house here that's not getting done. This morning I was having coffee with some of my best girlfriends and my friend Bonnie said, "Can I come over and clean your house?" I said, "I might take you up on that." (Not actually meaning to take her up on it, but just to appease her.) To which she answered, "I don't believe you actually will." Busted.

I thought about it for a moment-- about how I have been praying for a way to find balance-- then I said, "You know what? I will take you up on it. Things are so crazy right now with support raising and homeschooling, I could really use the help." It's kind of liberating to admit you don't have it all together.

Speaking of homeschool-- I love it. I love it. I love it. I am finding a lot of satisfaction in being Nia and Nico's teacher. It's an incredible joy to watch Nia learn to read and tell time and all sorts of other stuff. And it's been rewarding to hear Nico improve dramatically with his speech since we've been putting concentrated time each day into it. He's also starting to learn some basic preschool type skills-- coloring in the lines (sort of), cutting, basic writing skills. It's been an unexpected source of happiness in my life.

We spoke to our first church last weekend. We traveled up to Chittenango, NY for Nick's 10th high school reunion. It was a blast seeing Nick's brother's family and his old friends. We spoke to the missions committee at Crossroads church in Chittenango on Saturday, and then Nick spoke to the entire congregation during both of the Sunday morning services. The church was very encouraging and we hope to find ways to partner together in the months and years to come.

You will notice travel as a part of our ongoing budget. Rather than long extended furloughs every few years, the Haitian Children's Home offers shorter (3 weeks) furloughs twice a year. Because of the work we are doing there-- raising a family-- this just makes more sense for us. So as we think ahead, we are trying to be as strategic as possible in trying to focus our attention with church support from a couple of selected areas. We'd like to try to find a base of support in North Carolina as this is where our church home is and the majority of my family. And we'd also like to try to make as many contacts as possible in Central New York as that is where Nick's family is. It makes sense to us to try to pursue communities where we will be visiting. We earnestly desire to make a real connection, rather than just being some picture of a missionary family on a bulletin board. (Not that we won't take that kind of support! :)

I believe that we all have in us an intrinsic desire to be a part of something bigger than ourselves-- to make a difference. We want to be able to be a voice of reality and a family that connects the "two worlds" that are really just one. It is our desire that our role as houseparents would not stop at raising 23 children as cherished members of a family, but that that would be just the beginning. Our desire is that lives would be changed in the US as well as Haiti because of the Haitian Children's Home. We see our role as one of service to Haiti, AND to the US.

I would be remiss if I did not mention what's happening in Haiti right now as a result of Tropical Storms/Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, and Hanna. I will first say that everyone is safe at the Haitian Children's Home. For whatever reason, God also allowed our building and land to weather the storms and flooding with no major problems. Many of our Haitian staff members lost a significant amount in the storms, including Madame Emeline who lost her roof, and Nixon and Sandra who lost their entire house. My heart aches as I share that it is an absolute nightmare in Haiti right now. Entire cities are under water with thousands of people trapped on 2nd story roofs, hoping the water goes down before they starve. I was watching some of the video footage on the BBC online, and it was so reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina flooding in New Orleans. The difference is that in the US there was some aid on the way (albeit a tad tardy.) There is no organized relief effort in a place like Haiti. Individuals and individual missions are doing as much as they can but it is an absolute disaster right now. Please pray for the country of Haiti. Please pray that they would be spared the next two hurricanes Ike and Josephine. Please pray for provision and for aid. Please pray the land will dry out and water will recede quickly. Please pray that widespread disease and starvation would not become an out-of-control problem as many times happens in situations like this. The Haitian Children's Home is participating in the relief efforts in the community-- helping repair homes and feed people. You can click here to give towards this effort if you feel so called.

Well, I should be wrapping this up. I have probably gone on for long enough now. If you are one of our prayer partners, you can expect your first update around the 15th of September!

A few praises to report:

The entire HCH family and home has been safe during the storms.
We're starting to see money come in! We're on our way! It's VERY exciting.
Fantastic meetings at Crossroads church in Chittenango, NY. A great bunch of people.

A few prayer requests:

The ongoing weather situation in Haiti-- especially the potential for more hurricanes in the very near future.
The country of Haiti as it's in an extremely desperate situation.
Our family as we adjust to the pace of homeschooling and support-raising.
Nixon and Sandra (HCH staff members) as they try to put their lives back together after losing their home.
Continued provision in our support-raising efforts and that people's hearts will be turned towards the mission God is calling us on.

With a grateful heart--
Gwenn Mangine

A lot of beginnings

2008-08-16T09:05:00.003-04:00

This update finds us in a place where we are starting a lot of things, but finishing very few.

First, we’re starting this newsletter. We hope to keep you informed in the months to come about how we are progressing toward our goal to get to Haiti. And then in the years that follow about the highs and lows of ministry in Haiti. But for now, we’re still working out the technical details of our list. So please bear with us if things don’t go perfectly.

We’re also at the beginning of our support raising. We’ve set our budget, come up with a plan, finished our website, and are almost to the point of moving forward. At the end of this month we’ll be in New York for my (Nick’s) 10 year high-school reunion, and we’re using that trip as an opportunity to begin speaking to people and churches are about what we’re planning to do. Please let us know if you’re interested in supporting us, or if you would like to talk about it more.

Our family is doing well. Gwenn began (yes, another beginning) home schooling Nia about a month ago and is really enjoying it. While it’s hard to adjust to a new routine, the structure has been good for our family. Nico is participating in school as well—working on his speech, which is still delayed. But the work is paying off as we’re beginning to understand a lot more of what he’s saying. Josiah usually sleeps through school, but he is also learning new things—walking and talking like a toddler.

Haitian Children’s Home is at a new beginning as well. I’m writing this on a plane on my way to Haiti for a groundbreaking ceremony on our new land. It’s going to be an exciting event and it’s an exiting time to be part of this organization. Got did an amazing thing to bless us with a big dream, and a piece of land big enough to fulfill it. But, like I said, this is a beginning, not an end. It’s the beginning of a new phase of development. We have the land, but we need homes. We need vehicles. We need a school. We have a great opportunity to live out redemption in Raymond, Haiti. I know that God will provide what we need, I hope you’ll consider being a part of it.

Here are some things you can thank God for:

God's provision with the land
God's grace to get through a lot of busy times
The amazing way He has woven so many things together to start us on this journey

Here are some tings you can be praying for:

Nick's trip to Haiti - A tropical storm is on the horizon
Gwenn's trip to Pennsylvania with the kids - Visiting family is always great, but three kids by yourself is hard
God's provision for our support raising
God's grace to get through a lot more busy times

Thank you for joining us on this journey.