More bursting into tears: woke up, came straight to my computer, straight to Kristen’s husband’s FB page, and saw that she is SAFE ON US SOIL! She made it to the through the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and they did indeed take them through Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. She is with another adoptive mom and also FIVE children of the missionary family they have been staying with. She had to leave all her luggage at the Embassy in Haiti. Can you even imagine this journey she has been on? All the while carrying an infant–with no luggage? And helping with several other young friends? They, along with several other evacuees were flown to New Jersey and slept part of the night on a military cot at the McGuire air force base, where the Red Cross has been providing food, showers and supplies before they were given a police escort to the Philadephia airport to get flights out. PRAISE GOD! I’m still crying with relief.
*
Please pray also for the Livesays, the missionaries in Haiti, who had to send away their children in the care of the 15 year-old sister, Paige, (as well as Kristen and the other mom, Erin) in the midst of chaos and terror, for their own safety. They took them to the US Embassy and said goodbye to them–with no luggage to an undisclosed location in the US– not even knowing where their children would land or when they would see them again. I cannot imagine how hard that must have been. See Tara Livesay’s updates here. I’ve spent tons of time reading her new and old blog posts and feel like I know her. Kristen and Karis are accompanying the five Livesay children to Dallas, where they will be taken care of by their oldest sister and her husband, as well as their grandparents. Pray for these children who have seen more tragedy in the last few days than most of us will see in a lifetime, that God will heal their hearts and minds and give them peace while they are away from their parents.
*
Nothing new from Lifeline about my friends in Grand Guave. I know the leadership is still working hard to find a way to get them to the airport—when there is a flight there that will take them, which at this point there is not. Some American (coughOregoncough) congressmen have suggested they just go to the airport and hope for the best, but they are wisely staying put in relative safety. Taking a 4 hour bus ride through a ravished landscape and cities in rubble and chaos to wait around at an almost nonoperational airport does not sound good. What if they had to turn around go back?! They are continuing to minister to the hundreds of Haitians who have come for help. Keep praying!