Hey Everybody!

We wanted to keep you up to date with our adventures. Due to a few circumstances that were beyond the control of anyone, we were able to come home a few weeks earlier than we had previously planned. So the last two weeks have consisted of us hanging out with family and friends! We were able to go to Iowa for Thanksgiving, which is a yearly tradition. There were 31 family members there over the weekend. I think the rest of our break will probably consist of visiting with family and eating delicious food. We are however loking forward to our return to Haiti. We will return some time around the 1st of the year.

With Love,

John

Hi everyone! 
John and I have been having a great week and we hope you are too! We can't believe it's already November 12th... it's still pretty warm here in Haiti. Over the summer it was around 99 degrees every single day but within the last month or so it's gone down to the upper 80s. It's like year-round Summer! :-D 
So it doesn't feel like Fall weather to us but we're still enjoying life down here. The work is busy and tiring so we are happy to announce that one month from today we will be at home for a month! We'll be in Kansas City December 12-January 12. We hope during that time to get to visit with many family and friends and share what God has been doing in Haiti through Global Orphan Project, and in us through his grace. Please contact us through our blog, facebook, twitter, or email if you'd like to see us- we'd LOVE to see you!

Global asked John and I to come back to Haiti January 12th for another 6 months! We are so excited to continue the work God has set before us. We'll do our best to be faithful about posting blogs, but so far we know we'll be continuing to host vision trip teams that come down to stay at the Jumecourt, and John will continue to work with the micro businesses.
We're also excited to have three new GO Fellows join us here pretty soon! Two girls and one boy will be moving down to Haiti for a 6 month time frame at various points in December. We are blessed to have them! Please join us in praying for their protection, preparedness, and peace of mind upon their arrivals.

in other news, about a month ago an American family moved down here to start their own ministry. We've been getting together with them on Tuesdays for our very own small group and it has been such a blessing! It's wonderful to fellowship with them. We even have plans to create our own Thanksgiving dinner within the next couple of weeks! We're all pretty excited about it :-)

Thank you for staying posted- it really means a lot to us! We love you all and are grateful for your friendship.
<3 Abby and John

Hello! So John and I aren't going to be able to go to Iowa for Thanksgiving because we'll be in Haiti. Our whole family goes every year and it's always a really fun time. My grandma Angie asked those who won't be in attendance to send a paragraph of our current "happenings" so everyone could stay up to date with us. I thought it'd make a good blog post so here it is!

Hey everyone! We're a little bummed that we can't be with everyone for Thanksgiving- but not too sad because we get the great privilege of loving on orphans in Haiti. Since June we've been here working with an organization called the Global Orphan Project. Our main responsibility is hosting teams while they visit our 5 orphanages in the Port au Prince area. Global's goal is to get the villages able to support themselves. The hotel where we live and work (the Jumecourt Inn) was the first micro business put in place to support the orphaned and abandoned children. All of the profits from the hotel support the care of the kids. When we first arrived, we saw the grand opening of the sewing center. This micro business makes uniforms for all the kids in Haiti that attend our orphanages' schools. Most recently, John was able to start a bakery that makes fresh bread and sells it to the community (yum!). We're in the process of starting chicken farms as another microbusiness. The hotel, sewing center, bakery, and soon-to-be chicken farms all serve to employ local Haitians, support local economy, care for Haitian orphans, and teach the older kids a skill. With the micro businesses and orphanage staff, Global provides jobs for over 200 local people in Haiti alone; People that would otherwise not have a job to care for their family! Anyway we've been busy doing the good work of the Lord and we love it. It's hot and exhausting but we've never been more joyful in our lives. We're thankful for our family friends and for this great task of orphan care that Christ has set before us! We love you and miss you all :-)
Love,
John and Abby

thanks for staying posted you guys. We SO appreciate your prayers for us and our ministry and, of course, the orphans.
<3 Abby