Going to Romania

Nineteen years ago began an adventure for our family that has only just begun. We had four sons, and had been talking about adopting a daughter for at least a couple of years. Through a series of miracles that I won't go into now, Jane left for Romania to try to find a girl to adopt. The communist dictator had recently been overthrown and the outside world discovered that there were a lot of children in orphanages that needed homes.

I remained at home to continue working and take care of our four sons, with the help of my wonderful Mother in law. I will try to share details here later, but for now I will just say that six weeks later, the boys and I picked up Jane and our new daughter at the Kansas City airport. As I recall, it was a Saturday, and the next day was Fathers day. What a blessing Carri has been to our family.

Jump ahead nineteen years. Ninel, is a man who along with his Mother helped Jane through the adoption process and they have been telling us for nineteen years that we should bring Carri back to visit Romania. We always said that someday we would, but it was always someday. I think it was about a year ago, we felt like now is that "someday" and started making plans to go. The passports are all in order, the plane tickets have been purchased, and Jane, Carri and I will be flying out of Wichita for Bucharest, Romania on Thursday, August 5. We are so excited, are just praising the Lord for this opportunity.

It's been so long since I posted anything, I wasn't sure I could do it. I want to start again as we are going to visit Romania in August and this will be a way to keep family updated on the trip, so here we go.

Lesson from a lawn mower

I learned a lesson while working on a lawn mower Saturday. One of my sons couldn't get his mower started, an asked if I could help. I have learned that it takes three things to make an engine run. The correct fuel / air mixture, compression, and ignition. The first thing I checked was the spark, or ignition. I got it working, and tried to start the engine with no results. Next I checked the fuel, after doing a little work on the carburetor, I tried again to start it with no results. Next I checked the compression which was high enough to run, but the engine still would not start. I even checked to make sure the timing was correct. Finally, I tried a new spark plug, and the engine started on the first pull. The spark plug would fire when it was out of the engine, but would not fire when it was in the engine under compression.

Later that evening, as I was thinking about the whole process, I believe the Lord showed me a spiritual application for what happened. Some people profess to have the fire of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and there is evidence that it is true when everything is going great, but when trials and pressures come into their lives, the fire is just not there. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan river, the Holy Spirit descended on him and he was led into the wilderness, where he was temped by the Devil. Because of his relationship with the Father, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was able to face the temptation and overcome the Devil.

Lord, continue to fill me daily with your Holy Spirit, so that I will withstand the tests of the enemy.

If it was easy, anybody could do it.

Although my Dad passed away several years ago, there are many time when it seems as if I can still sense his presence with me as I experience different things. Some times I can almost hear him saying things that he used to say. I am not sure if they are exact quotes or just the way I remember them. One thing Dad used to say, especially if something wasn't going right or easy was, "if it was easy, anybody could do it." This says two things to me. First, don't give up, and secondly, the person who is able to do the hard things will rise above the crowd. I have heard, and read several places that we make money by solving problems. The more difficult the problem, the more you are paid for solving that problem.

Many time when I am trying to solve a problem, whether it is trying to figure out how to get a piece of equipment working right at my job, or working through a difficult relationship, remembering my Dad saying, "if it was easy, anybody could do it", gives me the incentive to not give up.

We are told in Genesis 1:26 that God created us in His image. The Message Bible says we are made to reflect His nature. The God who created the universe, created us with the ability to solve problems, not give up at the first sign of trouble. Phillipians 4:13 says "whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."

Don't be afraid to tackle the difficult things, ask for the Lord's wisdom in every situation. He is faithful to be there, right beside you leading and guiding if we seek Him.

Phil

Slide show added

I finally had time, or rather took the time to figure out how to add a slide show of the pictures I took while in Haiti. Several people have asked me if I could put more pictures up so they could see them. If you want to see larger pictures than appear on this blog, click on the picture and it will take you to a web album, where you can see the larger version.

The second team has returned home safely. They accomplished a lot while they were there. The new well was drilled and they put in the solar powered pump. The pump would not run at first, and after several calls to the manufacturer and the dealer, they did get it going, and it is pumping water into the tank which is on top of the boys dorm.

For those of you who want to know more about Lifeline, a new website is available. The address is haitilifelineministries.com. You will learn much more there than I am able to tell you, so instead of duplicating information, I will direct you there.

Continue to pray for Lifeline, the kids, and especially Nicole and Daniel

Phil

Peterson

This is Peterson, who is about two or three years old. He is one of the boys at Lifeline who fell in love with Carri. The first couple of days he just wanted to be held and loved on. As time went on he started to have a lot of fun. Carri taught him how to pucker out his lips, and she got this shot of him.

The more I get to know people from other countries and cultures, the more I realize that human nature is the same the world over. I was not surprised that as we were working on the the generator, some of the boys wanted to help. As soon as the tools came out, some of the boys were there watching, and wanting to help. Some of them brought bicycles where were we had the tools out and were adjusting chains and seats so they would work better.

One interesting thing I saw was some of the boys with cell phones. I wondered how they had to money for cell phone service. I found out that they did not have service, they just had them to play games on. They plugged the chargers in when the generator was running to charge the batteries. One evening, one of the boys was listening to a radio that ran on two C batteries. He didn't have any C batteries so he hooked up his cell phone battery to it with a couple of wires. I was impressed with his innovative mind. It was a reminder to me that the only reason we here in the US are able to do more things is we have more opportunity, it is not because we are any smarter.

Check back later for more pictures and stories of our Haiti trip

God bless you all

Phil

Photos from Haiti

It is great to be back home after a great trip with a wonderful team. It was such a joy to work with such a good bunch of people. I am putting up just a few pictures of the team and some of the kids. I am trying to get back to normal here at home, although I will never be the same as I was before. Anytime you are exposed in such a personal way to people from such a different part of the world from where you live, it changes how you view life.





This is Carri with a couple of girls that she grew close to. They had a great time working and playing together, even learning a little of each other's language.









Me with a group of kids. Anytime the cameras come out, everyone wants to get in the shot.















Clifford and one of our helpers, working on the Onan generator. I am glad to report that with the Lord's help, we got it running and putting out the correct voltage.










This is Gretchen, a little girl that got very attached to me. The last evening, she was sitting on my lap while most of the kids were dancing the limbo under a rope. They knew it was our last night, and there were a lot of emotions very close to the surface. As I held her, I realized that tears were starting to come out of her eyes. Soon she was sobbing uncontrollably. All I could was to hold her close and try to comfort her. I can't imagine what is like for those kids to grow up with so little affection. It made me realize all over again, the most important thing we did on the whole trip, was just be with the kids.