But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and don’t prevent them.  For such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” And he put his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left. Matthew 19:14

This verse is one of my favorites!  Almost every day, I am privileged to witness glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven in the lives of children at HIS Home.  I hear the voices of children praising God from the depth of their hearts as they swing on the playground, lead worship music on Sunday mornings, or during their evening time of devotions from the toddler room to the teen rooms.  As these children sing to their Heavenly Father, it is pure worship!  I am sure that God smiles! What a blessing to imagine eternity with the voices of all of God’s children singing to the Lord forever! 

Another blessing at HIS Home is watching God provide for HIS children through volunteers who come to serve.  February was a busy month with Geoff and Judy Van Berkel coming to prepare the updated packets for the children’s sponsors.  Thanks to both of you for managing our sponsorship program!  Pastor Jon Kraner and family also arrived with a team to decorate and prepare our Pre-K classroom.  Eight students are enrolled in our Pre-K program, and 10 three year olds will be starting school soon. The kids love their classroom!  Merci!!!!  March was another busy month!  Construction workers Peter, Tom, Dan, and Mike came with their team members to resolve our ongoing water problems.  They re-routed our excess standing water from the back yard to a new leach bed under the front yard.  With the recent flooding in Haiti, this new system has been successful in preventing the standing water which breeds mosquitos that spread dengue fever, malaria, filariose, and chikungunya. Our children and staff will all be healthier because of you!  The team also did renovation of bathrooms, and the ladies on this team helped with teaching in our school.  Thanks to all of you!  Our babies received a shipment of formula when Julie Manfred arrived with friends and family members as a part of the Milk Money Project. Donations of formula keep our babies healthy and very happy!  Our next milk delivery will be the end of May, so there is still time to donate to the Milk Fund. Thanks to everyone who helps to provide for our little ones!  To complete our plumbing project, we recently hired national workers to dig up all of our pipes at the main house which drain waste from our bathrooms to our sewage system.  Pipes were replaced and redirected to our new sewage tank.  This has resolved the major plumbing problems that we have suffered with over the past year. What a blessing to have toilets which flush properly and pipes which drain correctly! April also started with a lot of activity with Kendra, Bill, and Richard arriving to complete medical exams of all 91 children.  Thanks so much to ALL of our volunteers who come for specific projects or simply to visit and play with the children!!!  All of you enrich our lives in so many ways!

Easter weekend started out with our annual swimming pool party on Good Friday.  Our children love to swim and play in the water!  Morningstar Christian Academy directors allow us to utilize their pool for our children, and our children look forward to this fun in the sun for months! Friday evening, our students attending French school and church participated in the first of three evenings of the traditional Easter Christian concert.  Twenty of our children attended this beautiful concert Friday evening, and they begged to return the next evening as well! On Saturday morning, 10 dozen Easter eggs were colored by the younger children.  Easter morning started out with our worship service, and was followed by an Easter egg hunt and family celebration.  By afternoon, the children were ready to relax and enjoy their special treats!  Thanks to visitors who brought lots of fun Easter treats!!!

There are three very special events we would like to have you put on your calendars so that you can be praying and participating!  First will be our HIS Home 300 Mile Bicycle Ride to raise funds for HIS Home. June 22 – 27^th our 3 teams of riders will pedal their way 50 miles per day for 6 days from either Illinois or Michigan to end in Harrod, OH for our annual celebration and reunion. You are welcome to join the riders by participating, and you can also be a part of this event without even lifting a foot to a pedal.  Go to our website at www.hishomeforchildren.org to see how you can pledge support to a rider or sponsor the event to raise funds to care for the 91 orphaned and abandoned children at HIS Home. As this is our primary event for fund-raising, we depend on it to raise at least 20% of our annual budget of $450,000 to support our children. You are also welcome to join us for the second event, the 2015 HIS Home Reunion when children adopted from HIS Home and friends of the ministry gather to spend a weekend together celebrating and renewing relationships.  Join us at the Harrod Volunteer Fire Department Social room located at 123 N. Walnut St., Harrod, OH 45850 for a weekend of fun!  Lunch will be provided beginning at 12:30 on Saturday, June 27, 2015.  Thanks for your help and we look forward to seeing you there!!!  Our third upcoming event is extremely important in the spiritual lives of our children.  Our 2015 Youth Retreat will be held Aug. 2-8.  Our children ages 10-13 will participate the first 3 days, and our children ages 14 and up will be involved the last 3 days.  The basic cost for their room and food at the retreat is $130 per child.  We currently have 44 children scheduled to attend.  $5720 is a lot of money to raise for a week, but when we consider it as an investment in the eternal destination of a child, it is very little. Our deposit of $1500 on the retreat facility is due now… We have a team led by Shari Farrell from Michigan coming to lead the second annual Thrive Retreat, and their team are covering all of their own travel and retreat expenses.  We praise God for the lives of children who were changed for eternity at last year’s retreat and are looking forward to what God is going to do again this year!  Please join us in prayer, and if you are able to help support a child or to help support this event, donations can be sent to HIS Home For Children at the above address.

Haiti is currently struggling through the corruption and violence of another election year.  Election campaigns are expensive, and every election year crime escalates.  A couple weeks ago Lovely, who is one of our girls, was returning from church with a man from the church walking her home.  As they reached our gate, a motorcycle stopped next to them, pulled a gun, and demanded money and cell phones.  Lovely had neither, but the man with her surrendered what he had.  Neither was hurt, but this type of street danger happens daily around Port au Prince and many are killed for a few coins in their pockets.  We at HIS Home thank you for your prayers for our safety and financial support as we continue to care for the orphaned and abandoned children of Haiti.     

Blessings!  Chris & Hal

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossians 3:17