Greetings from Sunny Florida!?

I’m thrilled to be able to say that today, as we’ve had about 2-3 weeks now of gloomy, rainy weather here in South FL.  I must be getting too used to the sun here, because I was already a little blue in just the few weeks it disappeared!

While Ted and Em probably have much more interesting experiences to write about, I wanted to share what God has been doing in our lives during this time here in FL.

1.  Ted has been able to travel back & forth to Haiti 4 times in the past 2 months, and is there again now.  His presence & support for Ron our Haitian program director has been invaluable.  Ron was stretched very thin.  (and if you knew Ron, you would see that is as literal as it is figurative – he is a bean pole!)  There have been American teams coming and going all summer long. Ted has been able to shoulder part of the workload and keep the guest house functioning comfortably and smoothly for them.

2. With our home sale finally closed, my job has provided our housing & the funds necessary for T to travel back & forth.  It has also been an opportunity to share with many co-workers about our ministry, the plight of the orphan, and my faith.  A side benefit is that I have met many Haitians and learned more about their culture, as well as many others.

3. All of us have learned how to be a minority, which is great preparation for our move.  This area is extremely multicultural; we have enjoyed hearing a large variety of different languages wherever we go!

4.  Through God’s leading we dropped in & began attending a church very close to home, called Calvary Chapel, Sawgrass. As it turns out they have a ministry with orphans in Haiti as well!  In fact according to Pastor J, the youth minister, who leads the Haiti missions program, they had just begun praying that they could find someone on the ground, in Port au Prince to provide help as needed for their ministry!

5.  In addition to connecting about our ministries and our heart for orphans, the youth and leaders at this church have welcomed our kids like “family”. We have been so blessed by this body of believers!  This past week, they sent Tynan & Olivia at last minute to their HS/College summer camp with scholarships.  While there, Olivia refreshed her relationship with Christ, personalized her call to Haiti, recommitted herself to the move, and was baptized in the lake to proclaim her life in Him.

6.  There are hundreds of little ways that I have also seen God at work in each of us the past few months.  Some I cannot exactly put into words, except to say that I see Him preparing us in such small details now.  It is exciting, because it confirms our need for this time still here in the states, and yet proclaims His faithfulness in providing everything that we need to do His work there.  Our faith in His provision for anything more we may need has been rooted deeply during this time.

As the next phase of our transitional time quickly approaches, please keep us in your prayers:

-For each of us to walk in the Spirit daily & glorify Him in all that we do

-Packing up again, begins in 2 weeks 1 week! 

-Getting everything that we need from here over to Haiti

-Locating our housing in PAP this month.

-Finding the right vehicle to purchase in Haiti

-Travel up the Northeast Coast to visit family & friends

-Travel back to TX in early September for Ted’s niece’s wedding

- Tynan’s school plans for this fall to be clear

-Our cross-cultural training in CO in September

-Full monthly support to be in place for our anticipated move date: October 1^st

Update on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:30PM by barlowfamily

Just as I prepared this post, the news came today from my travel RN agency that all of the travel positions are receiving 2 weeks notice (which apparently began Saturday) due to low census in the hospital.  So my position and thus our housing ends a week earlier than planned - an interesting twist...

                     so, we're moving out in 12 days!