Five weeks til Blast Off!

Wow! What an amazing journey this has been already and we are still in Clovis.
God has completely knocked our socks off with His provision of funds and prayer support from all of you.

Some huge praises:

-We have now raised over $11,000!

-$3,000 was donated on top of that to finish the solar power install. Dear God, please let the installers get it done this month! I am selfish and I want to plug in a fan to cool me whenever possible, lol.

-The additional funds we have raised and are raising are going to buy each orphan a new mattress, and to supply sports equipment for so many!

-Final arrangements have been made to see our World Vision boys. They now know we are coming. Can you imagine the excitement!!!?
  
-$540 was raised from the Boot Camp for Haiti! What a great way to share about Haiti and get our bums kicked. Thanks to Tanner, Ericlee and David!

That's me being silly!

 We have some prayer requests as we prepare to leave in five short weeks...

-Tanner has injured his back. He is seeing the chiro regularly, but he is still in a ton of pain and very limited in what he can do. Please pray for complete healing.

-I'm working a ton, subbing, so we will have money to pay our mortgage while we are gone, haha. 

-We have to find time to get all of our necessary supplies and pack up soon, too.

-We are getting ready to end our school year, so that is busy in itself.

-We are finishing up a great school year with the high school youth. Lots of busy, but fun stuff going on with that.

-Please continue to pray for the rest of the funds to come in. We want to truly be a blessing in our giving to Christian Friendship Ministries this summer. Any donation helps a ton!

Thanksgiving

God does amazing things. 

I'm learning to step out in faith each day and                     

                      each day He meets me where I'm at. 

The more I step out in my faith,  the more He increases

my faith.                                                                                                                                                                     

Lavender: I love the detail of lavender. God's creativity.

             Last Friday I was getting ready to purchase our plane tickets to Haiti. The cost was steep, $4150 for four tickets. I searched for hours and days trying to find the right tickets that could somehow,  possibly be cheaper. 
          So many of you have given so generously and I wanted to make sure we were being good stewards of your gifts. 
I decided not to buy those tickets. I just couldn't spend that much even though that had been the price I had been quoted for weeks.
         Monday came. I checked my favored travel site Kayak.com and there it was! Four tickets were now $2900! How could this be?! Thank you Lord! So, we have officially booked our seats and we are on our way.

There are so many reminders in my own backyard of God's attention to detail.

                  Then another great blessing appeared. 

         Two emails from World Vision with two very important dates to meet our boys. I hurried to the gym to tell Tanner all the good news. He said he was so happy to meet our boys that he was having a hard time holding back tears. 

        There are so many great stories of what and how God is doing this. I might just have to write them all one day.
Today I reflect on His goodness, His faithfulness and His love for His children.

You are all part of this!

We are approaching the $7,000 mark! Unbelievable! Thanks to all who are praying and giving. We still have some fundraising ideas in the works, so we will keep you updated.

Our immediate prayer needs are:

-We are waiting to hear back from Haiti regarding a charter flight. We need to book it first, so we can book our flight into Haiti.

-We need only $1,000 more to finish paying for the trip.

-We need $3,000 more to finish the solar install that will power the orphanage, medical clinic and schools in Haiti. 

Praises:

-You have given almost $7,000 in 19 days!

-We have been able to put some extra money aside from odd jobs to cover our income loss while we are gone.

-We have been blessed by many great conversations we wouldn't normally have with donors...many open doors!

-World Vision is in the process of contacting our boys to arrange our visits!!!

Thanks for all you are doing to give to Haiti.

If you still want to give please go to Christian Friendship Ministries. There you can give via paypal, just include a note saying "For the Munros" after you enter your amount and sign in. Or you can mail checks to their address, too.

We look forward to sharing more good news with you soon!

15 days in...

We are 15 days in! 

You have given $6,046 to Haiti! 

Thank you!!!!

The giving. The GIVING!!!

GOD is IN this! How do we know? Who in their right, humanly-selfish mind would give so generously to our family. Well, a LOT of you! Thanks for being crazy and unselfish and giving and CRAZY!

-This week we will be purchasing our plane tickets. Maybe even today. Pray those numbers fall! Pray gas prices drop! Pray an airline has a fantastic sale to Haiti! After all, who wants to go to Haiti, right?

-We are getting ever so close to our initial goal of $8,000. We had another $1,000 donation come in yesterday from that wealthy businessman I told you about. Today another $500 check! I am humbled. I am crying. I am so off balance, in a good way. Constantly thanking God for His provisions. 

-This weekend my family along with our high school kids will be serving Fresno through a church work day. 

Next weekend Tanner and I will be in the prisons sharing the good news of hope and a future, not too late to redeem. God is so good! We pray that He would use us.

I'm reading Jen Hatmaker's book 7: An experimental Mutiny Against Excess.

She says, "We each meet unique needs in our cities and our world. If we all raised others up instead of raising ourselves a little higher, there would be few needs left on earth. I marvel at what God accomplishes with the generosity of his sons and daughters. I'm proud they are brothers and sisters. What a family."

What a family we have indeed. We thank God for all of you!

Writing the Story of Your Life

 This week I am reminded of a challenge: to write an amazing story for my life. When God called me out of my spiritual unconsciousness I began to breathe new life. I was lost, uncertain, unpurposeful. He made me see the real life. His life for me. 

Let me just pause right here.

If you don't know God and you are feeling like there is more to this life then what you are doing, the waking daily, to go to work or care for kids, routines of getting ready and then running through the day without a pause or reflection rest, with little to no quiet because you fill it with Facebook, or iTunes or recorded-mind-numbing TV at the end of your day.... only to do it all again tomorrow.  For what?.... To make more money, so you can pay for a house that will die with you, for your car that will die with you or before you, for clothes and things to fill up the space and cover your insecurities. This is NOT what God has planned for you. This is NOT the story you want for your life.

The good news is, there is more for you. It may require sacrifice, obedience, surrender, being uncomfortable and early death. But, the reward!

Jesus said the kingdom was like a treasure hidden in a field, and once someone truly finds it, he will happily sell everything he owns to possess that field. It will cost EVERYTHING, but it is a treasure and an unfathomable joy. 

Do you see it? 

There is no treasure in the field without the sacrifice of everything else.  

 (Taken from Jen Hatmaker's book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess)

People, run to that treasure! Run! Get it!

Don't miss it. This is your only chance. One life. That is what you get. 

What is your purpose for THIS day?

I pray you find it!

 And in it you find JOY!

 Start chapter 1 today. 

               Tell me your story. 

                       How does it go? 

                            Where does it go? 

                                      How does it end?

Amazing Gifts of Sacrifice

We have received so many amazing gifts and so many encouraging words. I know not everyone can give financially, but your words mean so much. This is a big deal for us and we feel God is using you to encourage us daily. There are not enough ways to say "thank you."

This is how happy we feel!

Here is an update on our fundraising:

-We have just over $3,800 so far and an additional $1,200 pledged by so many who are mailing in checks.

-We have had two families give $1,000 each! It only costs $5 a month to send a Haitian child to school, so just those two donations alone could send 400 students to school!!!

-We will be purchasing our plane tickets next week, so please be praying for some sweet deals! Each ticket is around $1,000, which is half of our travel cost for the trip.

Also, please pray right now. A very wealthy business owner has read our letter and said he is thinking about what he wants to give. He might let us know today. Pray, pray, pray!

We want to bless our Haitian friends and missionaries with your help in a BIG way.