Sheena and Ryan VandePanne

Hello from Haiti!  I am so blessed to share our lives through this wonderful newsletter.  Eventually, I would love to share stories of births and clinics, etc., but for now I am only two days into my studies with Charis, so I don’t have any of those yet.  So I thought I would just share a little bit about what life is like for us down here.

Right now my husband and I are living and working at a children’s home that houses 41 children.  That in itself makes life very interesting.  There is always something going on, we never get bored! Here is an example of a somewhat typical day here.  We asked a few of the children to wash the dog and here is what it was like:

The first step was to find a large tote and fill it with soapy water.

Next, put the too-large-a-dog into the small “bath tub.”

Get as many kids as possible to lather up the dog before…

this happens!

But don’t worry. He’ll still get a good rinse!

We do have a lot of fun here, these children bring us a lot of joy and we have some great times with them.  On days like that it is very easy to forget the much more serious side of Haiti.  We don’t think about the people right outside of our walls that are living in unimaginable conditions.  There are families living in tents, little red headed kids who are lacking nutritious food, pregnant women who live in fear of the dangers of childbirth, parents who give up their children just to see them survive.  This is what keeps us going, the driving force behind why we have come to such a devastated country, to bring hope and encouragement.

"But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." Psalm 9:18

~Sheena

Our International Charis Family
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Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!