Philippine Typhoon Relief: We need your help!

the main building of our home soon after the typhoon hit

It's been just over a week since the typhoon hit the island of Leyte. As the days pass since the storm, the death toll continues to rise, and devastation continues to reveal itself. Our orphanage, Rosemary's Home of Hope, is located on the island of Leyte, in the remote village of Kananga. Although we did not receive a great deal of flooding, we took a heavy hit with wind damage. With winds reaching 230 miles an hour or more, it is a miracle in itself that our orphanage is even still standing. Taking shelter in our home that day was 21 children, our orphanage staff, and over 30 families from the village. 

Three days after the storm passed, we finally received word from Steve, one of our caregivers at the home, that they were all safe, and only received damage to our roofs and church. As you will see in the pictures below, the damage done to our buildings was not all minor, and is in need of repair as soon as possible. Our church is completely gone, and out of our four buildings (main building, dining hall, boys dorm, girls dorm), only the girls dorm still has a roof. Right now, we are trying to fund makeshift roofs, simply to get something over their head. It is raining on the island again, and we hope to prevent our children getting sick.

The most pressing issue right now however, is the lack of food. The island basically only has rice since the storm passed, and it's not enough for all of the people. Yesterday, Steve went to the island of Cebu to try and find a better supply so that he can go back home, feed our orphanage, and begin helping the village. They are hoping to soon set up somewhat of a relief center at the orphanage so that those who have had no food can be fed, before they all become extremely famished. 

our church. Steve, our caregiver & Filipino pastor stated "at 7:10 the church flew away!"

dining hall. .this is the building where everyone was staying during the storm

I'm asking you to please consider giving financially to help us provide for our orphans and our village. Any donations you make will be tax deductible, and will be greatly appreciated by us all.

Your donation will go to:

• provide food for the orphans & staff
• help to feed the people of the village
• provide a makeshift roof
• begin making repairs
• any unforeseen emergency needs

For all donations, please click here.

Our hearts and prayers continually go out to the Filipino people. Please continue to pray for their guidance, and God's sovereign plan through it all.

**For continual updates please visit here.

Update.

This post was copied from my ministry website, http://www.hopeforthehopelessministry.com/blog.html

Update. 11/12/2013 0 Comments with Steve last December giving out Christmas shoeboxes Last night we finally received communication directly from Steve, and I can't even begin to tell you just how overjoyed my heart felt seeing his name pop up on my phone. The good news still remains...all of our children, staff, and village families that stayed at our home are safe and doing well. We did however learn that there was more damage done to the home than we initially thought. The roof was blown off of the boys dorm, our main building, and our dining hall. The only roof to survive was the girls dorm. Also, we were informed that our church was completely destroyed, and will need to be built back from the ground up...nothing remains. We are now beginning to collect the information and devise a plan to most effectively help out our orphanage, as well as our village. Right now, our biggest concern is food for everyone, as the supply and funds are scarce, and also tarps until our roof can be replaced. The estimation for food, roofs, and our church rebuild is $10,000. I would like to point out that any amount given will be a huge blessing, and will help tremendously in taking the first step in getting them the immediate needs they are needing. There will not be a rebuild team going until spring, but we hope to supply the Filipinos with the funds to help do some of the work as soon as possible.  To make a donation please click the support link. Once again, I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! our church: East Marietta Baptist Church of the Philippines taken December 2012 with my Filipino Lolo (grandpa) taken December 2012 with Jenny Lynn, one of our younger orphans taken December 2012 with Unice, one of our orphans taken December 2012

God is bigger than the storm. Haiyan.

Hey guys! As you all probably know, tragedy struck the Philippines this past Thursday night when typhoon Haiyan hit the islands. 

Compared to most, the typhoon hit closer to home for me. As I watched the news, it was familiar faces that I was looking for. 

Please read here to find out more!

the airport in Tacloban city

I know most of you are having to pick yourself up off the floor from the disbelief that I’m posting twice in one week. Twice! Craziness I tell ya. I didn't feel right about jumping right into this somewhat of a true update post without first sharing with y’all the raw emotions of my heart, and what’s been going on over the past few months that caused my absence on this blog. 

So, that being said, let’s get to the fun stuff!

So many cool people have come into my life, and wow, I am ever so grateful. I've really involved myself with the Baptist Student Union, as well as FBC of Starkville. I don’t want to overload you, but want to share with you a few pictures from some football games (hail state!), introduce you to some new friends, and other fun events that have been going on.

Y’all have a great weekend! 

my grandparents stopped by starkville, kidnapped me, and took me to philadelphis, ms
it was a blast!
if you're ever in that area, it's an absolute that you visit Williams Brothers.
seriously, it's adorable

anna-one of my dearest friends in starkville
we froze through this game, but hey! we beat kentucky!

love these sweet girls!

was beyond thrilled to spend time with these two beauties at the fall festival

my best friend.
gosh how i miss her!

candace & i dressed as our friend, nathan, for the costume party.
i promise my jeans aren't usually flooding.
in the middle is my good friend, martin!

this is an aerial view of the corn maze we went to in eupora,
if you're in the area....go!
it's 10 acres!!!!!

brittany & i at the corn maze.
favorite part: the cotton wagon.

ashley & nathan.
so, so thankful for them.
never a dull moment.

the white family carved pumpkins.
bet you can't guess which one my dad did ;)

my sweet sister & i last weekend.
i cannot believe she is almost 15.
tear. tear. 

choose joy.

Holy cow! It’s been so long since I have written on this space, that I almost forgot my login information. kid. you. not. Honestly, I've been so busy trying to figure out this crazy, beautiful, messy thing called life that I haven’t had the time or the energy to write. Instead, I've just been reading what all as been going on in all of your lives and keeping it real with Jesus in my personal journal. It’s been messy, y’all. Life is kind of crazy right now, and honestly it’s taken me a while to figure out how to maneuver and survive this new season that I’m in.  I always heard people say that they felt like they had lost their joy, and I always thought that would never be me. I love Jesus too much to lose my joy, I thought. But y’all, I did. And it was ugly. I’m so not proud of the joylessness that’s resided deep down in me, but I've come to find that it’s okay. I survived it, and came out better for it. I can only pray that my sharing this will help someone else.

. In August, I moved two hours south to finish up my degree at Mississippi State University. Moving here has always been something that I had in my plan. I just don’t think I realized all the “inconveniences” I might face in a heavier load of classes, new roommates, and no job. I’m just going to keep it real…there have been days that I haven’t been sure that I have made the right decision in being here. It’s in those days that God has reminded me that sometimes it takes loneliness and confusion to be remember that I need a Savior. Every day I need a Savior.  Don’t get me wrong, awesome things have happened since moving here, and I've met beautiful people that I thank God every day for. Overall though, I would say it has been a good experience, but mostly just because it’s been a growing experience. I have learned so much about myself. God is revealing to me more and more each day my struggles and my weaknesses. I’m learning to deal with things that I don’t love dealing with…but that’s life. Last week I finally realized that I have to find some sort of balance before I drive myself crazy trying to be superwoman and conquer all. So this week I've taken more time to just be with myself and spend time in the Word. It’s incredible how much better one will feel after some time with Father.

After this past weekend, I was feeling super refreshed, and ready to take on the world. Typically I have my quiet time sometime around mid-morning, but Monday morning, I woke up with the attitude of kicking some Monday booty. I woke up around 5:30, did my morning devotion, and spent some time in prayer. I enjoyed a nice breakfast and a warm cup of coffee, and headed out the door. Y’all, I even dressed cute for class. That almost never happens. I walked in the classroom and found my seat feeling like I was ten feet tall and bullet proof. It was then that the girl next to me whispered, “um..did you mean to wear your shirt wrong side out?” FAIL. Haha…at least I could laugh it off?

Honestly though, this week has been the week I've been hoping for since August 15. Full of friendships, worship, Bible studies, and coffee. I feel like I've fallen in love with Jesus all over again. I say all of this to say this….if it took a season of joylessness for me to fall in love with my Savior all over again, it was all worth it.    My prayer from this day forward is that I’ll wake up every day and fall more and more in love with Him, the lover of my soul. 

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Missions Monday: Q & A

Meet Carlos. One of my sweet babies at UDH. This picture was take July 2010

Hi friends. I am so happy to be here with you again this Monday night. I had something really special planned for tonight's post, but unfortunately it hasn't happened yet, so please stay tuned. Hopefully, I will be back later this  week, or at the latest next Monday, and will get to share something pretty special. Folks, I promise you do not want to miss out, so make sure you are checking back in.

  Recently, it seems I have more often  been approached with questions about the Philippines, and what I do while I'm there. I have realized that sometimes I  unintentionally forget to mention things that you all might want to know about. Usually I don't mention the basic stuff because tit either happened a while back, or it is things I have become so accustomed to that I might assume everyone else already knows too. For those questions, I will be dedicating a post very soon. I hope to address several things, and give an even deeper insight into the work God has been doing in my heart with the Philippines, and His work. Please comment below or email me (for those of you who wish to remain more anonymous)  with all kinds of questions. It can be about the Philippines and mission work, but it can also be about my personal life, and who I am. I want you all to know the person behind the computer who writes these posts, so the sky is the limit!

Also, I have asked my family to share on this space how God has worked in them through Him sending me across the world. I am asked all. the. time. "what does your family think about you going to the Philippines all the time?" So, you will all find out soon ;)

I want to leave you all today with a few pictures from recent trips. I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to ask away!

Much love.

 

PS

To see the rest of the pictures, please visit www.hopeforthehopelessministry.com

Missions Monday: on selflessness

Today, I'm sharing my heart on selflessness over on my site hopeforthehopelessministry.com. 

Here's a quick preview of it.

It would make my heart extremely happy if you would head on over to my site and read the rest of it here, as well as read of what God is doing in my life through my ministry.

MISSIONS MONDAY. For a few weeks now God has really been moving on my heart to do a weekly post specifically on mission work. I hope to make this something you all can count on, and will be a token of encouragement for each of your hearts. Who knows..maybe we might even start a link-up soon where you can tell me what God lays on your heart about mission work as well.

As the days count down (25 to be exact) until I leave for the Philippines, I begin to make my final lists of things I need to do and buy before I leave for my trip. I just purchased my newest addition to my journal collection (thanks Etsy), and I have been exploring the internet often for a durable, back friendly backpack (suggestions welcome). The anticipation continues to build as I get more information about my trip, and connect with friends who will also be joining BTEA for our two week mission in Manila, Philippines.

continued here...........