THINGS HAVE CHANGED!

This blog is to all our family, our church family and ALL our friends.  My Fathers House is now closed. " It was a necessary change" says Child Development Agency.
Mark, Jenni and I came to My Fathers House to take care of the children here for one year.  Jim and Penie Kroch even asked us to be their partner with Kingdom Builders Ministry.  We wanted to stay our year before making such a commitment. But in our time here, it was brought to our attention that they can not be in the States living when they have children in Jamaica.  So that put with many complaints over the years to CDA, they came to us saying they were shutting the place down and taking away their license.  
On a good note..... the children are mostly with their own family members.  Praise the Lord!  In my opinion, a place where they should of been all the time.  They are so happy to be living with their family.  That makes us happy too.  We are foster parents to Anita, while her adoption goes through.  YEAAAAAA!!!!!  And we also will be taking Felix home with us.  YEAAAA again.  Ritz is also being adopted by his sponsor since he was two, and who has always wanted him.  Praise God!!!!!  So all good with the children.
Now to us, not so good...... but will be good because God never closes a door without opening another right?
We had to move, and now we have to pay rent, buy our food pay electricity, pay for water etc.  You might be asking yourself "why don't we come home?"  God must of had an entirely different mission for us, other then what we thought.  So we are staying here in Jamaica until the adoptions go through.  We will visit the children often and talk to them often to make sure things are great for them.  We will be doing other volunteer work too.  It will be just a little different then what we thought, and that is fine with us.
What is not good with us, is that Jim and Penie will not give us our money back, which is over two thousand dollars.  They say "you were working for us, you didn't call us, so you will not get your money back." We also can not go near their property.  We are being blamed for something CDA did..  And people are coming out of the woodworks to tell us that when they get here, which should be tomorrow, to watch our backs.  So please pray for them, pray that they can be sivil.   Mark and I were pre paid for 8 months, and Jenni for 6 months.  Which was for room and board.  So God willing, we will be here doing his work.  If you are sending money to KBM for either Mark Jenni or I, please stop.  And please send it directly to here on our blog.  Or to my girls.  Thank you so much for helping us, you all know how appreciated you are.  We love you!
Blessings to everyone

A God thing...

Sorry everyone for not writing for a few days.  But  it has been hectic around here, and by the time I get to bed I am tired.  So back to "A God thing"  Mr. Mark and I came here to Jamaica to take care of the kids at My Fathers house.  But in the process of doing this, we came to love Dontae.  As I said before,  Dontae has a cleft pallet and lip, not to mention a very rare condition sometimes called lobster claw syndrome.  His mother abandoned him when he was born.  And God called Mark and I to see if we could adopt him.  If he would of stayed here he would of been institutionalized for his entire life.  He probably would not of been able to get his pallet done.  And without doing that, he would not of talked properly.  So they did his lip.  Now here is where all of you could come in handy.  We are looking for a Dr. to provide Dontae with the surgery for his pallet, that way we can get him a medical visa, fly him home and he could be good as new.  Please if you know of any Dr. that would like to offer his services, please email me ASAP.  With everything I have read, the best time to do the pallet is when they turn eight months old. Dontae is 7 1/2 months now.  Christmas time would be an awesome time. But I know that is pushin it.
Well what do you think? Dontae is precious and smart and cuter then a bugs ear.

Now feeding him is another story, when you have a cleft pallet, when he is drinking his bottle, it can just go up his nasal passages.  It is like trying to drink out of a straw that has a hole in it.  One hour to take 2 oz.  So been on the internet to ask what to do.  The doctors say to get a certain nipple for a cleft pallet.  But I am in Jamaica so not possible.  So this website told us how to make a regular nipple work.  You can't beat that...Please enjoy the pictures of Dontae!!! We have prayed long and hard about starting another family at our age and we feel meeting Dontae was a God thing!!!!!!  And that God chose us to be his parents.

Beautiful Day

First and foremost Ritz got second place.  Is that cool or what?  the only reason he didn't win was because his school didn't offer more after school activities.  The boy that won was in more clubs.  The great thing is that Ritz was proud of himself and knows he did awesome.
This morning Mark Jenni and I had the opportunity to go watch Dr. Linda dive.  We left at 9:00AM went out into the sea on her boat.  It was very cool, and we saw a turtle.  Got home before lunch and then went swimming with some of the kids.  Little Marlaina is going to be swimming all by herself very very soon.  Then Miss Donnaree made jerk chicken and Ritz and Sabrina made festival.  (festival is like churios but with less sugar)  but they made a couple of more sugary ones for us.  OH MY!!!!!!!!!  Dinner was awesome... This woman can cook!!!!!!!  So my mom sent me a great story on email, so I am going to use that for devotion tonight, then we are all going to watch a movie about a dog.  So Excited!!!!  Oh, did I tell you.... Jenni and Sabrina are in the kitchen as we speak, making cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Oh what a beautiful day!!!!!  Tomorrow after church, I think we all should go to the beach.
Blessings

GREAT KIDS? OF COURSE

Lets see Ritz got nominated from CDA (child development agency) to get interviewed, if he is chosen, they will take him to Columbia all expenses paid to be a child representative for them.   Now is that cool?   We are all excited for him.  So yesterday they drove him to Montego bay.  So time will tell.  Please pray for Ritz, this would be a wonderful wonderful experience for him.
Yesterday the kids came home from school and they won second place for their school's gardening.  Can you believe it?  I can!!!!!  So tomorrow they get to go on field trip, kinda far away on a big AC bus.  :-)  And they get to go out and eat.  Oh let me not forget to say, actually the most important part, is they will get an award.  I am soooooooooo happy for all the children here.
Little Marlaina has decided that she prays ALL the time, and if your eyes are not closed, she will stop until you close them.  LOL  it is the cutest thing ever.
Last night for instance.....  We were just finishing up with devotion, and all the boys had to go to bed at eight, because they failed to spread their bad and pick up their room before school, oh and take their laundry down.  So we were talking about that, and good ole Travoy kept saying, "come on, your taken up our time here"  little did he know that NOW they all are going to bed.  So I told them, and they didn't say anything,  so we were soooooooooo happy.  Ok so now its time to pray, and little Marlaina starts her prayer and right at the end she says "and thank you God for putting Travoy and Ritz to bed early"  I don't think I have to tell you, that every singe person cracked up and the boys jumped up and were just laughing.  It was fun and funny all at the same time.  And I have to say, they went to bed pretty darn good.  So proud I am......
Everyone in their life needs to do some sort of mission work, it is something you will cherish for ever.  Thank you for all your prayers and support.  God is Good
Blessings

Home safe and sound

We made it.......It was very long but we made it.  The only thing is we need to go there next week and pick up our passports.  Ugh!  I say Ugh, but when we have to go places, its the only time we get to see the island.  So I shouldn't complain.  When we got home we had our family time of Hi's Low's (Thanks Scott, we adopted that one) then devotion.  But I have to tell you, The kids High are that we have come home safe and sound, and their low's are they missed us.  Now does that pull your heart strings or what?  We all ran in the door and gave everyone big hugs and kisses, chased Anita a bit, but both Mr. Mark and I got her good this morning, because she was not expecting it. LOL  :-)   Its funny, every kid is a little different here.
Sabrina, we can all hug on her day and night, and give her great big kisses.  Travoy her brother, we can hug, but I have to kiss his forehead, he doesn't so much like when Mr. Mark hugs him, so he has to sneak.  And Jenni, well she could do what ever she wanted to, since Travoy walks around the house calling her his wife.  LOL  
Anita, well she is tuff, but  we are breaking her down,  she just seems to get happier and happier every day. Sherakie,  a hug works great for him.  Ritz,,, he would let me hug him to death  I think.  So I do....... lol  Marlaina well she always comes running,  what a doll baby and Marquez yeppers hugs and kisses.  Felix, almost forgot him,  we can hug and kiss him most of the time, except when he feels that he would get harassed by the boys.
Went and had a quick visit with Dontae, who is still in the hospital,  that boy is looking good after his surgery and he has dimples!!!!!!!  Went by the church that the tornado knocked down,  the church was about 210 years old.  And there was another tornado in Hanover.  (not sure if thats the name)  but I hear there was damage done there as well.  And tonight well they are warning us of flash flooding.  So who knows what the morning will bring.
Blessings

Kingston

Well we came to Kingston on Tuesday, passed a shooting, but finally got here.  Oh man what a drive with out AC.  We were planning on staying over one night, but with the run around you get here, we haven't left yet.  We are here to get our passports extended, since our stay in Jamaica  runs out on October 10th. (Sunday)  We are also in the process of getting a work permit.  But the letter from Kingdom Builders Ministry was a copy, they wouldn't except it.  So we thought are only alternative was to fly back to the States for 48 hours.  We all checked airfare, and the cheapest place to go was New York.  Oh my goodness and we only have a pair of shorts and a tank top.  (remember we just were planning on being in Kingston for one day)  But Jim told us to go back to immigration and tell them that if we leave there will be no one to take care of the kids.  Well it worked, they gave us a visitor extension till January.  Oh how God works......  So its 7:30 AM Friday morning, and we are checking out......  We finally get to go see the kids, we miss them so much our hearts ache.  But first off to the grocery store.  Penie told us to go there, they have bulk sizes of things.  Then on the long road home.  But then we will be safe and sound with all the children, and be where we are supposed to be.  Are you wondering if this was a small vacation??????  NO, NO and NO again.  LOL  The stress level from this entire trip took a tole on all of us.  I had to go get a $100.00 massage on my back, just so I could move.  So feeling better now, except for being hungry.  Anyway we feel like its going to be a good day, except for the drive w/o AC.....  WooHoo!!!!!! almost time to sit down with the kids..... Can't wait.  Please pray for a safe journey home.
Blessing

The devil is in the detours.

Markie here.
 Well yesterday was interesting to say the least. We had to go to Montego Bay to drop off pictures for the kid's passports. The big challenge was that the recent weather had caused much flooding and we were detoured up and over the hill via this narrow, bumpy, winding, endless road through beautiful, but remote country. We finally got to Mo. Bay and took care of business. However, on the trip back home, the detour had another detour, which took us on a strange dirt road for about half an hour, and then another road and finally deposited us about 20 mile on the far side of Whitehouse. So, we had to then back track along the highway for another 45 minutes to eventually get home. It was so nice to get home safely and see all the kid's.
 Now let's talk about today. We had to leave this morning at 6:00 for a 5 hour drive to Kingston. Fortunately, we had Marlon riding with us as far as Mandeville, and he knows this place like the back of his hand. He had us take a detour which I would never have known of, and got us past all the bad stuff. We got to Mandeville and dropped him off and he told us which road to follow from there. We got to Kingston, no problem, and found the immigration office where we needed to be. We knew we weren't going to be able to finish today and drive the 5 hours back home, so we are spending the night here. We will be finishing our visa extension paperwork and our work permit stuff and try to head home early enough that we don't get caught driving home in the dark. Driving after dark is nasty since you can't see the potholes till it's too late. You may also come around a curve only to find a truck stalled or a person walking. Scary stuff!
 Anyway, it's all good, and we'll blog when we get home. Bye.

Getting back to "normal"?

Markie here.
 Well, we finally got "current" back today. That means the electricity was restored. About 3:00 this afternoon it came back on and I could turn the generator off. Thank God because it was tough going back and forth between running the frig or freezer or washing machine for the last 4 days . The generator won't run them all at once, so you had to charge up the freezer, then charge up the frig, then you could use the washer for a while. We all sat and watched a movie together this evening while Anita braided Kim's hair. it looks really good.
 There's supposed to be another batch of rain coming next week, but it looks now as though it may be taking another direction. Let's hope so. The house is pretty much back to normal now and the kid's will be back to school Monday. What a week!
 I'll post some pics of Kim's hair tomorrow. Bye.

Nobody was prepared.

I've spoken to many people and it confirms what the Jamaican news has been saying all along. Nobody was prepared for this much rain and this type of water hasn't been seen around here for over 20 years. The guy at the gas station has spoken to many people who lost property or had no clue it would get this bad this quick. The water was only up a couple inches when we went to bed Monday night, and rose to 16" on this property overnight, and had receded to only 4-5 inches by morning. Still cleaning up some of the mess. The shop will be a big challenge to clean, but many hands make light work. The laundry will take a few days to catch up on. .

More pics from the storm.

Tropical Storm Nicole

Sorry it took us so long to write on here, but we have had no power for days.  It all started with rain, kinda felt like home with the rain, except for the humidity.  Then it rained for 24 hours, still felt like home.  LOL...  But even with it raining that much, things looked great around here.  The power went out, lost the internet and the field behind us was pretty darn full of water, but everything else AAAAA+++++++  We put wood on the doors on the main level and sand bags, just to be on the safe side.  Put wood on the boys window, because the rain kept drowning them.  To bed we went.  When we woke up..... OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!  A foot and a half of standing water.  This storm took all of Jamaica by surprise, not to mention us too.  What a mess  lots of dirt, lots of water, a floating mattress, all the sports equipment turned upside down and everywhere,  Linens were filthy dirty, even garbage from somewhere.  But with all that, Nothing was ruined..... God certainly watched out for all of everything here.  Nothing was damaged, just massive work on our parts.  The kids were AWESOME!!!!!!!!  They all helped so much, we couldn't of asked for more.  So still today we have no power,  yes a generator...  there is supposed to be two more storms right on the tale end of Nicole, so we will see.  We are going to post some pictures of the mess that was here.  Prayers always please..

Blessings