Grace Turns 3!

Grace Turned 3 on February 1, 2010.

Here are pictures from Gracie's Abby Cadabby Party!

Haiti Update

Rebecca Dennison posted this at 7:18am on her blog. I am pasting it here. To go to the blog: Click Here!

To go to the Haiti relief page: Click Here!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010

Haiti

I received this email from some friends of mine who work for a ministry that is currently organizing relief efforts for those affected by the recent earthquakes in Haiti.

One of their big needs at the moment is a cargo plane capable of hauling 15,000 pounds or more. If you have one, or know someone who might, please contact Jeff at Jeff.Rogers@go-ministries.org.

One easy way to help is by attending the BreachBent benefit show/silent auction tomorrow night at the 930. I'll be supporting Jamie Barnes. It's going to be a great show and it's a *really* easy way to lend support to these relief efforts.

You'll find other ways to help listed below. Here is a concise list of their needs as of January 20th.


Email from the Rogers:

First of all, this is lengthy and worth your time so please abide!

Secondly, forgive us, due to time and our urgent work w/G.O. Ministries in responding to the current crisis in Haiti you may have received this email more than once. In an effort to get the word out quickly we compiled data as fast as we could to get the word out.

I, Jeff, was in the Dominican Republic last week when the quake hit. While leading an Exploratory trip we were visiting w/friends from one of the churches we work w/in the impoverished community of Halto del Yaqui drinking coffee when we felt the quake. We joked about it b/c it was nothing major as far as we knew. Our return to Santiago and reports from Haiti shocked and grieved us. G.O. has been responding like mad since the quake. God has opened doors for us to respond in areas that previously had no aid coming to them. We’re staging relief from an airport in Santiago where we have a hanger at our disposal. Through a near overnight partnership w/volunteer pilots and small planes we are landing relief aid on stretches of road and modest airstrips. While larger efforts have been bottle-necked due to traffic, we have been able to supply aid by air, land and sea (I mean, It’s ridiculous how God has equipped us through the strangest of partnerships). Meanwhile, I have returned to the states as of last Friday and Vicki and I are coordinating relief efforts from Louisville where our international headquarters is located. We have been too busy to stop to update our ministry blog. God has provided media attention here stateside and we are in the search for cargo planes and pilots who are willing to move relief aid from our warehouse in Louisville, KY where we are gathering relief aid to Santiago, DR where it can then be delivered to help meet the need in Haiti. If you have a connection to a cargo plane capable of hauling 15,000 pounds or more, please contact me. This is an urgent need!! If you know someone w/an old air show WWII bomber we can repurpose that sucker to get supplies down to Santiago!! We’re praying about a possibly c-130 connection right now! Join us in that.

In the meantime…

Vicki and I wanted to invite you to the Breachbent Benefit show this Saturday the 23rd at the 930 Listening Room if you are close to Louisville. Proceeds from the show go to help fund our work with G.O. Ministries as well as the G.O. Help Haiti relief fund G.O. has established in response to the terrible crisis in Haiti.

We will also be hosting a silent auction during this event.

Please consider coming out in a show of support for us, for G.O. and for our friends in Haiti.

Visit www.go-ministries.org to see how we are currently responding to the Haitian crisis

P.S. Here’s the latest specific updates as to what’s going on in terms of relief w/G.O.:

I am privileged to tell you the following:

On Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010, a 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti. G.O. Ministries happened to have a team in Santiago at the time. Here is a video clip of what it felt like: Moment of Earthquake You see people laughing because it was an unusual occurrence. As news reports came in, we began to realize how serious the situation was and began to prepare to help. God can do immeasurably more than we can imagine, and we never imagined this past week! But God is good and gave us the opportunity to aid in relief of this tragedy. Several of our staff members were featured on their local news. Michael Jeff and Wilby

On Wednesday, we began to understand the extent of the devastation. People immediately began to call and offer their help. Brook Brotzman, president of G.O. Ministries in the US, was already scheduled to travel to the DR that day. After he was on the ground in Santiago, we began to analyze how we could help. We were contacted by several short-term mission teams that were stranded in various locations in Haiti. A group from Eastview Christian Church had been in Pilatre, trying to get home to Normal, IL. Their flight, which would have placed them in Port-au-Prince at the time of the quake, had been cancelled. They were able to get a bus to the border between the Dominican and Haiti, where Tim Krauss, one of our full-time staff members in Santiago, was able to meet them. We then gave them overnight accommodations and got them on a flight Thursday morning. Another group was stranded at a orphanage in Jacmel, southwest of Port-au-Prince, but closer to the epicenter of the quake. To get to them, we found a boat from the Dominican town of Pedernales to the coastal town of Jacmel. The boat was very small but we crammed in as many supplies as would fit and sent Tim to go retreive them. Due to engine problems on the boat, the team returned across the border the next day by land. We were also taking supplies in via the border town of Jimani when possible. In total, we helped 5 different mission teams evacuate from Haiti. Here in the office, we set up ways for people to help by donating and with their prayers. Here is a video with Tim and John preparing to depart:www.vimeo.com/8754211

We obtained warehouse space in the hanger at the Santiago airport in order to store supplies. We used five five small planes to fly supplies in and out of Jacmel and Leogane daily to drop relief supplies. We continued with boat trips as well. We were able to recruit several pilots in order to keep flights going into Jacmel non-stop. You should check out the view of the airport on Google Earth. It is just a runway with a place to turn around. Landing Strip

On Friday, Romano and Wilby, G.O. partnering Haitian pastors, headed out to Port-au-Prince separately. Here is a video that Jeff made of Romano prior to his departure:http://www.vimeo.com/8754093 They left to search for family they had not been able to reach. Wilby found his family members alive but Romano learned that his brother is dead. He leaves behind 9 children. We continue to pray for the orphans created the day of the quake.

Over the weekend, the opportunities to help did not stop. Our staff in Santiago helped assist a UN peacekeeper and his team of volunteers who stayed in our dorm. They were stranded on their way to Port-au-Prince. They assisted us in setting up our relief efforts. We were able to use our warehouse and the hangar space we obtained at the Santiago airport to collect supplies. We have some pictures of our staff buying supplies and the planes.http://www.flickr.com/photos/gohelphaiti We also helped a reporter from the Wall Street Journal with lodging and helped him into Jacmel to report on the conditions there.

On Monday, we began to realize that supplies on the island of Hispaniola were running out. We now need to collect the needed supplies here in the US for transportation to Haiti via the DR. A friend, who is the director of a Haitian orphanage, asked how would she distribute the baby formula she had available? It could mean the difference between life and death. My heart breaks that anyone would find themselves in that position. We are working to get needed supplies as quickly as we can to alleviate the desperate need on the ground in Haiti. We were also able to help get needed pain medicines into Haiti. Pfizer had made a donation to go via a non-governmental agency. We worked with the UN to coordinate the transport of these medicines into Haiti. What a great God we serve!

Tuesday, we began to organize collection of supplies. We have obtained warehouse space in Louisville at 7325 New LaGrange Road. We are contacting the churches in this area to begin collection of needed supplies. Please review the list attached to this email. We can only accept the supplies listed as the need for those items is the greatest. We will ask for additional items in the weeks to come, so please limit donations to what is listed. We are arranging cargo plane transport to take these items to Santiago for distribution into Haiti. It takes 100,000 lbs. to fill the plane. We are again asking God to provide in a big way through His people.

Medical supplies are an immediate and overwhelming need. There are doctors on the ground who cannot treat those sick and injured because they have no supplies. If you are able to secure a donation of medical items, especially orthopedic supplies such as casting materials, contact us right away. We would also be able to purchase these items if a large donation were made.

Your donation has made an immediate difference to the people of Haiti. Please continue to keep the people of Haiti and GO Ministries as we assist in the relief effort in your prayers. We have spent every donation as quickly as they have come in. As of yesterday, we had received over $150,000 in donations. We are spending the money as quickly as it comes in. Please consider giving again or passing this information on to other people who may be interested in what we are doing here.

Many thanks for everyone's support.

Grace and Peace,
The Rogers

You can Help Haiti

Update Janurary 20, 2010 - URGENT NEEDS AND CURRENT SITUATION. PLEASE READ

Hi!

I have been in touch with our friends at Southeast who run Go-Ministries in Haiti and the Dominican Rep. Jeff was actually there when the earthquake hit. They are filling a warehouse with items that they need for Haiti.

http://www.gohelphaiti.org/node/28 This is the website that shows what items are needed.

(I always think giving things you already have on hand is much easier -or at least more do-able - than giving cash.)

Anything you want to donate, just bring it to Forest Park, (or contact me) and there will be a box in the hallway labeled "Go-Ministries". Also, you can take it directly there. Their address is listed below. They are looking for workers for the warehouse too! Just show up!

This is from the website listed above:

Urgent Needs

Supplies
We have 10,000 square feet of warehouse space in Louisville, KY.

Drop Off: 7325 LaGrange Road, Louisville, KY 40222 (it is next door toe the Kia dealership in the old Eckert Electric Building)

Hours of Operations: 10am-8pm starting January 20-February 3

Below is the list of supplies that we will be taking. We will NOT be accepting any donations that are not listed.

Surgical Supplies
External Fixators - suppliers - Stryker, Synthes, Smith and Nephew
Nails - Stryker, Synthes, Smith and nephew
Steiman Pins - same suplliers
Plates and Screws - Stryker, Synthes
Casting material - plaster or fiberglass-
Sterile gauze
Suture material - nylon - hundreds of packs
Scissors
Scalpels with blades
OR lights
Power saws and drills - are rechargeable - Stryker supplier
Anesthesia
Crutches
Dressings supplies
IVs ( Ringers Lactate, NACL, D5W, D50
IVs start Kits
Bandages
gauze
gloves
masks
scalpels

Needed Medical Supplies:
Casting supplies
Peroxide
Ace bandages
Bandages
gauze
gloves
masks
Scalpels
Adhesive tape
Antibiotic ointment
glucometers

Medicines—we can only accept unexpired medications in bulk containers
Regular insulin
Anti-diarrheals
Tylenol/acetaminophen
Ibuprofen
Antibiotics

Food
Bottled water
Baby Formula
Pedialyte or other pediatric electrolyte supplement
Canned meats and sardines
Canned pasta, already prepared
Protein bars
Peanut butter
Ensure bottled drinks

Supplies:
Tents (small and large)
Tarps
Blankets
Sheets
Rope
Candles
Flashlights/headlamps/batteries

Planes & Pilots
We are looking for people with connections to get cargo planes to transport all donated supplies from Louisville to Santiago, Dominican Republic. Also, people with private planes willing to donate their time and plane to fly donations from Santiago to Jacmel, Haiti are needed. Please contact Jeff Rogers at jeff.rogers@go-ministries.org.

Wisdom Teeth are Gone

Well, they pulled my 2 Wisdom Teeth (at the top) out on Thursday. I didn't have any on the bottom, for which I am glad!

I was very lucky. I slept pretty much all day Thursday. I had no bleeding, no swelling, and really almost no pain.

The only strange thing that happened was when I started having a little bit of an allergic reaction to the pain medicine! I got a sunburned look on my face and neck, and started itching all over! By Friday afternoon, I decided not to take it anymore. The doctor agreed with me on the phone and switched me to Ibuprofen. With a little bit of Children's Benadryll, I managed not to have any further problems.

Now last night and today I've had a tiny bit of achy feeling in the sinuses up in my cheek and above my nose on the right side. But, the Advil-D seems to have helped. So, maybe it's just typical sinus-pressure!

:-)

Kindergarten Testing

Thomas took his Kindergarten Readiness Test today at Christian Academy of Louisville, Rock Creek Campus.

They ask things like:

• What is your full name (written)
• What is your address (not written I hope!)
• What is your phone #?

They don't keep them from getting in with this, but I think it's just a gage of some kind....

Then they test his knowledge of:

• Shapes
• Colors
• Numbers
• Letters
• And who knows what else!

I will have a conference with the Kindergarten Teacher

On January 20th, at 1pm to let me know exactly how he did in each area!

:-)

MJ