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Haiti links

check out the sites below for more on what is going on in Haiti and this news article on Haiti from the Miami Herald

Haiti Rescue Center
They run a rescue center and a clinic and the work they are doing is amazing!

Livesays in Haiti
A missionary family in Port-au-Prince

Please keep praying for Haiti and all the people there.

Haiti links - hurricane aftermath

Check out these links with news & photos about what is happening in Haiti

Storms batter Haiti - photos
More news & photos -
Hanna's impact on Haiti


A woman outside her home in the Artibonite, Haiti

You can also check out the following blogs for more links & photos about what is currently going on in Haiti

Rollings in Haiti

Lifeline Mission

Matt & Esther in Haiti

Please be praying for all of Haiti and for Ronel and all his family members there. The Artibonite river which is close by where Ronel lives (in the Artibonite Valley) is in danger of flooding and that would cause the canals which flow out from it to also flood their banks. There is a canal that runs right in front of the HATS orphanage where I lived & worked and it flows down and behind where Ronel lives. Both of the bridges which connect the central part of Haiti with the capital city are not passable - the one in Mirebalais has collapsed, and the one in Montrouis is in danger of collapsing and they are not letting vehicles cross it. Schools have been closed which means that Ronel is not working and is without an income - this makes life difficult. This has been hard on me as well as I can not do much from here and when I can't get through on Ronel's cell phone, I have no way of contacting him and that makes me nervous as I then don't know if he is safe.

Please also be praying for our paperwork as I don't know what this is doing to the paperwork process. With all the flooding and deaths in the country, I don't if the embassy is still getting work done on the visa applications.

I will keep you updated and will try and get stories from my trip posted.

a quick post...

So I'm back from Campbell River and enjoying the small time I have left of my day off before heading back to work tomorrow and the craziness of back to school time!

I wanted to post this photo of Ronel - it is one of my favourite photos I took this last trip. I have no idea why he decided to wave but it makes for an adorable photo!!

Enjoy the photo and I will try and post some stories about my trip soon....

sad news

Sorry I've been so quiet even though I've been back from camp for 3 days. Last Thursday I got a call from my mom while I was at camp and found out that my uncle died Thursday in a logging accident. He is was a heli-logger and apparently was falling a tree and stepped away from it and a tree that they weren't even touching, and which looked healthy but apparently had bad roots, decided to fall and the top ten feet hit him from behind and pinned him. He had a broken leg, broken pelvis and lots of internal bleeding. They put him in a air ambulance to Vancouver General Hospital but he died on route and so they returned to Bella Bella with his body.

The service will be in Campbell River on Sunday, Aug 31st and so now my sisters and I are making plans to travel up there. My youngest sister and her husband, my brother & his girlfriend and my mom were all able to go up as soon as they heard but my other sister and myself were both out of town and unable to get up there. My youngest sister and her husband have returned so that they can work all week and will go back up with us on the weekend. This has been a hard week as my uncle was just married on the 26th of July and I was unable to be there for his wedding. He was only 42 - just 9 months older than my oldest sibling. He has a 9 year old daughter and just in the past few years started turning his life around. I was very proud of all the changes he had made to his life and the choices he had made because he wanted to be around for his daughter, and now he won't be.

My grandma has now had to bury both her sons and her husband. And two of them in less than 3 years.

I will try to write more about my trip to Haiti but right now my heart really isn't into it and trying to arrange the travel for this weekend is taking up a lot of my energy. Plus I am back to work and school starts next week so there is lots to do. Please keep my family in your prayers - especially as there are many who are unsaved.

Home for the night and away I go....

I arrived safely home from Haiti at about midnight last night. It was an adventure getting home and many changes to my flights but I made it and I slept in my own bed last night!

I had a great time in Haiti with Ronel and it was a MUCH NEEDED time of reconnection for both of us. I have lots of stories and photos to share but they will all have to wait for a week as I am off to the BC Foursquare Kids' Camp today for the week where I will be assisting with Photography & Computer stuff. I am totally looking forward to a week of fun & also a week of seeing God move in these kids' lives. I will be back on Saturday and will then begin telling you about my trip~!

Have a great week!

and I'm off...

Well it is 6:51am and I am packed and ready to go! I just have to make a quick stop at the bank for some US cash and drop my car off at Canadian Tire so that my brother in law can make sure it has an oil change while I am away (He manages the auto service dept.) Then my ride to the airport will meet me at CT and away to the airport I go!!

I'm am so glad to be done and packed!! Last night was a little stressful as the dryer here stopped working after my first load of laundry and it was all stuff I needed for my trip (majority anyways!) It did mean I ended up getting to hang with friends while I did my laundry but at first it just made all my emotions come to the top!!


I will try and update the blog if I can, otherwise you will have to wait till late August to hear all about my trip!! I know many of you will/are praying for my trip and I thank you for those prayers!

Please pray for safe flights & that I make all my connections! Also that any tropical storms/hurricanes stay far away from Haiti & Florida during my trip!

Ok - off to double check that I have everything and then get ready for my day!

Orevwa! M we ou pita!
(Good bye, I will see you later)

blisters...

So I've had a sore throat and this morning it started to really hurt to swallow so when I went to the doctor (previously scheduled to see about my ankle) this afternoon, I asked the doctor to check my throat and it turns out that I have a rather large blister on my throat! I had never heard of such a thing and found it kind of funny! Except that it HURTS - - my doctor gave my a prescription in hopes of it going away before I leave for Haiti in 12 days!

I'm also on anti-inflammatories for my ankle - the same one I hurt in Oct of 2006 when I fell out of the bus a month before my wedding! It has started to hurt again and with me leaving in less than 2 weeks, I didn't want to risk it getting worse while I was in Haiti.

To help you understand the steps....

This is taken directly from the CIC website.... This is the info given to us to understand the application process better and the explanations of the Status

Application for Permanent Residence for Family Class Members Living Outside Canada

This diagram explains each step in the application process.

Status of your application	Explanation
IN PROCESS (A decision has not been made yet.) WE ARE HERE - in one of the THREE different explanation areas......	Application Received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) We have received your application and will review it in order of receipt. We will send you an acknowledgement letter. Documentation Verified by CIC We are reviewing your application to make sure it is complete and that no documents are missing. We will return incomplete applications for resubmission. An Interview May be Required We will review the application and decide if an interview is necessary. If so, we will inform you in writing of the date, time and location of the interview.
WITHDRAWN (An application can only be withdrawn when it is IN PROCESS.)	Application Withdrawn You may only withdraw your application before the Immigrant Visa has been issued. There are no refunds after processing has started.
DECISION MADE (A decision has been made at this point.)	Medical Results Received by CIC We have received your medical results. We will contact you only if additional tests are needed. Approval Status Determined Your application will be either approved or rejected. We will inform you of the decision in writing. Permanent Residence Status Determined If your application is approved, we will send you your permanent resident documentation and a letter saying what we need to finalize your permanent residence.
COMPLETE (This is the last step in the processing of your application.)	Applicant Arrives in Canada and is Granted Permanent Residence You will need to meet with an Immigration Officer who will verify your documents and grant you permanent residence if all is in order.

In Process

Permanent Residence

We started processing RONEL CLEDOMIN's application on June 5, 2008.

This is what I was delighted to see tonight when I logged in to check on Ronel's application status. For weeks it has said - Not Available under status.... tonight it said IN PROCESS! While it doesn't mean that Ronel gets to come home with me in August, it means that SOMEONE has actually looked at his file and that there is progress being made with getting Ronel here, home to BC! I really needed this tonight and I'm so glad that I decided to check. I haven't check for like a week and a half because it was just getting too hard to always see... Not Available. There won't be another status change until the decision is made which could be months away but I will be checking to see if the description (which is what is in blue up above) changes as the time goes on.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us.... please continue to pray for us as the waiting is only getting harder and I think that leaving will be difficult in August. I know that the wait after the visit will be shorter but the emotions of leaving with all be fresh again and so I've been praying that God will give us a lot of strength in that area....


Thank you God for "In Process"!