Welcome...

Nothing brings a family together like the birth of a new baby! We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Elijah James Cardenas, born to our daughter, Shelly, and her husband, Donnie. This is their first baby and our fourth grandchild and all I can say is, "Bring 'em on!"

After three days in the hospital trying to get Eli to give up his temporary abode, he arrived at 2:06 p.m. on January 18, 2013 weighing 9 lbs. and 20" long. And, even if I am the grandmother, I've heard it confirmed from everyone who sees him, HE IS BEAUTIFUL!  I'm sure you will agree!

Sweetness all around!

The happy little family - Donnie, Shelly and Eli

So sweet!

Happy, happy Grandma and Grandpa

Thank you Jesus - he is perfect!

I leave for Haiti tomorrow morning bright and early for two weeks and will return on February 1. Bud, still recovering, won't be coming with me. Thank you in advance for your prayers for traveling mercies. I am excited to welcome the team from Salem E (our home church) to Haiti on Tuesday. My mom is coming and I am very excited to share Haiti with her!

Please continue to pray for Bud as he recovers - the pain continues. However, I can say I am very excited to be in the States with Eli for as much time as the Lord provides - thank you Jesus! His timing, provision, and faithfulness is matchless in every way.

It's a girl!!!

I am happy to announce that our dear friend in Haiti, Patrick, and his lovely wife, Manette, have been blessed with a new baby girl! Ruth-Shelly was born on January 7, 5 a.m. I don't have a photo yet or all the statistics, but please continue to pray for this precious family. Ruth-Shelly was born by cesarean, so mommy could use some extra prayers. We are so excited for them all and I'll post photos as soon as they're available.

Our grandson, who is due tomorrow (January 9), is still enjoying the security of mommy's tummy...

With regard to Bud and I. Bud's surgery has not resulted in the lessening of pain we had anticipated. He continues to struggle and isn't able to rest well. We return to the doctor on Thursday for another check-up, but she would prefer he remain in the States for three months while he's recuperating. We have notified the field that I will be going back to Haiti on January 20, spend two weeks with the SEC team (including my Mom - yeah!), then return home with Bud. Please pray for Bud's healing to be full and complete.

Trusting in the Lord's timing in everything and so thankful we have a God who knows our every need.

Mr. Bud and Cindy's Wild Ride...

If you've ever been to Fantasyland in Disneyland, you might have visited Mr. Toad's wild ride, well that ride has nothing on our lives! Sometimes all you can do is hang and shout, "Help me, Lord!"

We arrived in Oregon on December 1, and are loving being home! I've enjoyed two wonderful baby showers in anticipation of our next grandchild's arrival. Eli is due any day and we are anxiously awaiting! We spent a week driving 200 miles to see Bud's folks, picking up the grand kids, and then drive back 200 miles for a long weekend at the beach celebrating Christmas with our four kids, their spouses, and the grand kids. It was a really fun time and each time we have the privilege to be together I marvel at the gift of how God has weaved our lives into a loving, caring, awesome family! Not all blended families can boast that achievement (heck, not all "natural" families can either!) But I don't boast in our own strength or abilities, but in those of Christ working in each of our lives and I give him all the praise! When Bud sat reading the Christmas story with our two oldest grand kids - Ben and Tabby on either side - it was a gift beyond words!

We returned to Salem on the 16th; moved from our "cabin in the woods" where we had been staying, to the mission house which is closer in town, closer to the church, and closer to the freeway on the 17th; and prepared for my surgery (which was scheduled prior to our return) on the 18th. Before leaving Haiti, Bud had been experiencing some pain in his right calf, but thought it was a muscle strain. Throughout the month, he'd been doing stretching and other things to try and ease the discomfort, but the pain continued, grew less manageable, and began "moving" up his leg. On the 18th, as we headed to Portland with my folks (where I would be having surgery), the pain became so intense Bud wasn't able to drive and ended up writhing in pain in the back seat the entire trip. It was a long day as he suffered in pain waiting for me to be taken in to surgery (scheduled @ 1:00 p.m. but delayed until 3:15 p.m.) When I got out of recovery at 8:45 p.m., he and my folks were waiting in my room. All went well and I'm on the mend...for Bud, the ride was just beginning!

The following day as I lounged in the hospital having my every need and whim met, Bud went to the doctor in Salem, had an MRI, and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. My mom and sister brought me home on Wednesday, and Bud awaited a call from the neurosurgeon to determine the next step. The surgeon was a blessing beyond words! She came into the office on her day off to see Bud and scheduled surgery for Sunday morning, December 23. The surgery went well and Bud was released on December 24; we were, praise the Lord, able to attend the candlelight communion service that evening (which is our favorite of the year), but it about did Bud in - he slept the rest of the evening.

We are so thankful the entire incident happened while we were in Oregon. While unplanned, this was the best place to be and God's timing and plans are always perfect! We are scheduled to return to Haiti on January 20, but are awaiting Bud's follow up appointment. We have a team from our church arriving in Haiti on January 22, with one very special member - MY MOM! Please pray that things will work out as they are meant to and that however they work out, we are at peace with the plans.

We pray you have enjoyed a wonderful, rest-filled, and joyous celebration of our Lord's birth. He is so worthy of our praise and adoration!

Counting Down...

As if I think my life is busy in Haiti, tonight Bud and I discussed the fact that we're heading to Oregon in just two days and what's ahead when we get there, whew, we're tired already BUT so looking forward to having time with our kids, grandkids, family and friends. Besides the celebration of Jesus' birth, a highlight to our time at home will be welcoming our new grandson, Elijah James, who is scheduled to arrive January 5. We are extremely thankful and very blessed.

Since arriving in Haiti we've had a special friend, Patrick, who works in the office with me every day and who takes care of our Internet and computer needs, as well as doing data input for the treasurer. Patrick is a one-in-a-million kinda guy and since he's almost the same age as our oldest son, he's become our son here, too.  As God would have it, Patrick and his lovely wife, Manette, are expecting just a week or so later than Elijah's schedule arrival, however, last week on a rainy, wet, and muddy day, Manette was getting off of a motorcycle taxi, slipped and fell. They took her to the doctor right away, but she's still having a lot of pain and just today they took her back to the doctor, who is having her stay in the hospital tonight. I know, I know - a motorcycle taxi you ask? Well, yes, that's Haiti and that's the way a vast majority of people travel to and from on the difficult roads here - even those who are nearly 8 months pregnant!

Bud called Patrick this afternoon to check on Manette and he said, "It's not good, please, please pray, pray, pray!" So, to all those who we love and trust with our needs, who ask us regularly how they can pray for us, we're asking if you would please pray, pray, pray for Patrick and Manette and their little one tonight. 

God bless you!

Cindy's Saturday Post

Well, back to Cap Haitian for me...Bud, staying in Port to work with the incoming Homes for Haiti team this upcoming week. He's excited for this opportunity and has been wanting to experience a Homes for Haiti building project for a while. I, on the other hand, needed to get back and greet the incoming team coming on Tuesday who are here to visit some Starfish Kids schools and do various other things. It will be a busy week, but that will help me to not miss Bud so much. (Don't tell him, but all day I've felt pretty out of sorts with him in Port - I keep looking up expecting him to walk through the door!)

Our language training went well and we both felt we gained by the time spent there, now the crucial part is to keep working at it and not let what we've accomplished be wasted by not practicing and continuing to work with our tutors here. Easy to say, but hard to do when the days are already so filled to overflowing. I am praying God gives me better discernment as to the priorities for my time so that I might include more language study, too.

A few weeks ago I posted about a little 12-year old girl who came to the Starfish office asking if she could go to school. I wanted to follow up for those who have asked and yes, she did return, with her mother, and we were able to register her for school. In fact, she and her mom had to return several times, jumped through all the "hoops" to get her books, uniform, etc. and then, as she promised me, just a few days later came to the office with her new uniform, book bag, shoes, hair in ribbons, and glowing with excitement. I am praying for this little one and trusting God to provide a full-time sponsor so that she might grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace in the Lord. If you are interested in sponsoring this lovely young lady, please let me know!

God is a giver of good gifts and while it seems Beverly received the gift, it was also a gift to me that I was able to be part of it.  Please continue to pray for Beverly, her mother, and her siblings. This might be exactly God's plan for reaching her entire family for the Kingdom.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and encouragement for us, and for Beverly. So much hope, so much promise, so exciting to be a part of helping another experience the love of Jesus. 

Bus Ride to Port - Check it off the bucket list!

Last Monday we were in Vaudreuil getting ready for an "off the bucket list" bus trip to Port au Prince to spend 10 days in focused language study and resting. Today, one week later, we've had buckets of rain (thankfully passed), a lot of chit-chat with teams and fellow missionaries Dave and Marilyn "squared" (Graffenberger and Shafferlys), some terrific meals AND our heads are swimming but NOT in the pool. The pool, which is beautiful, is out of commission, but thankfully it's not been that warm, so whose missed it? We have been well-reminded that we are not young whippersnappers (oh, that makes me think of the best pizza in Oregon!) but rather old people with old minds trying to learn a new language which, up until today, we felt we were "connecting some dots", but today we started with how to ask questions and oh my, my...I think we're gonna need a "few" more lessons on questions.

Our professor is a lovely pastor's wife who speaks to us almost entirely in Creole, which is a good news - bad news. It's good, that we have to figure out what she is saying and that she has the patience of Job, but it's bad when we're trying to get it and it's just not coming. Thankfully, she seems to take it in stride and I'm certain we give her some wonderful material for their family dinner table each night!

None of this, however, compares to the bus ride which covered 160 miles in a mere 7 hours. The bus is very nice, air conditioned, and only allows as many riders as there are seats. (You might think this sounds odd, but if you've ever seen a bus going between Cap and Port, this is a tremendous blessing!) Unable to understand the instructions, we boarded a bit late and ended up in the very back row; me by the window and Bud cozy with his neighbor - a Haitian man who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, but had been in Haiti to visit family. The first half of the ride I preferred to look out the side window as the roads were a bit of a four-wheeling experience that was definitely not for the faint of heart. The second half of the ride, the roads smoothed considerably and at one point, according to Bud, everyone except him and the bus driver, were asleep.

All-in-all, it was a good trip and one I'd be willing to make again (well, maybe!) We saw a lot of the island that we'd never seen before, and I actually got some pretty good photos out the window, too. When we arrived at the Villa and were in our room, we turned to each other and said, "Whew, off the must-do in Haiti bucket list!"

Top of the mountain view

Terraces on the mountainside

Beautiful little stone church along the route

It is Simple...

We are spoiled!

Part of Bud's job in Haiti is maintenance on the compound. For the past few weeks he's been working in the Holiday House - our hospitality house where teams have their meals. We have three lovely women who do a fabulous job cooking for all our guest - Mary Marthe, Jeanne, and Madam Joseph. They are all committed Christians who serve in the local church and sing in the choir. They all have very sweet spirits and over the years Bud has joked and laughed and sang with them and they have prayed him through both of his accidents in Haiti - rejoicing alongside us in his healing.

Today he finished painting in the Holiday House and while cleaning two five-gallon buckets afterward, one of the ladies rushed out and asked what he would be doing with the buckets when he was finished. Confused, Bud said, "Do you need one?" She smiled brightly and said, "Oh yes, I could use one to carry water to my house."

Overwhelmed at the thought that this woman who works so hard to feed our guests and has a good job in Haiti compared to so many, still lives where she has to carry clean water to her house daily, Bud did exactly what he should...he gave her BOTH of the buckets!

Lord, forgive us when we grumble about the ridiculous little inconveniences and help us to remember the great blessings you have provided every time we turn on the water faucet.

And again I say, "We are spoiled!"