The matchmakers have completed their job! Peterson and Christ-tcherry (with a lot of assistance
from our Great God,) have succeeded in making a "family" for
themselves! It took over a year, a lot
of good times, hardships, surgery, etc but Peterson's mommy and
Christ-tcherry's daddy have fallen in love and tied the knot!
On Christmas Day, we ran around Ouanaminthe on a
motorcycle talking to our Christian mentors, our families, and a judge getting
acceptance to be ONE. God worked a
miracle and on December 26th, we were married with Pastor Daniel and Mami
Karris as our witnesses (of course, the two little matchmakers were present
too!)
We are thrilled to have made the commitment to be Mr. and Mrs. Dasmin Gabaud for the rest
of our lives, and we look forward to having a celebration in Haiti on May 25th
with some family and friends!
The new endeavor…
On February 1st, we will be moving into our
new home in Terrier Rouge, Haiti (northeast Haiti.) We will be getting the home ready for the
birth of the new ministry…Footprints of
the Son. It is simply the following…
1)
A
temporary foster home for severe/fragile special needs orphans needing more TLC
than their current orphanages are able to offer
2)
An
outreach program to aid and train Haitian families in raising their special
needs sons and daughters
Why
the name Footprints of the Son?
Being
a temporary foster home, we would like to leave the footprints of God’s love on
each of these little ones that He entrusts us with for their most fragile time
on earth.
Mission Statement:
To nurture,
love, and protect the severe and fragile special needs children living in Haiti
by assisting, teaching and guiding their forever families through the love of
Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Verse
that represents the heart of the ministry:
John 13: 1-17 (passage
speaks of Jesus washing the disciples feet…a literal example of bringing
understanding to the importance of serving others and also teaching what is
right.
Our heart for
the foster home…
(The following was written by Heather)
Being a mother in Haiti for the last
three years has been such a blessing, and I can’t imagine doing anything but
caring for some of the most severe/fragile special needs children of
Haiti. It is my heart, it is my passion,
and it is simply what I love to do. I
know it does not come without heartache, but the blessed times always surpass
the dark days (my little Jean was the first evidence of this…if it wasn’t for
my sweet little man, I would never have known my true gifting and
calling!)
The home will serve as temporary care
and aid to larger orphanages and families trying to care for these fragile ones. The goal of the home will be to offer the
proper medical needs, nutritional needs, and extra TLC that these children
require in order to strengthen them to be integrated back into their forever
families. We will have about five foster
children at a time to ensure that they receive the quality of care and
attention they need. We will celebrate
with great joy when one child is well enough to go back to their home, and we have
the ability to assist another precious one!
Our heart for
the outreach program…
(The following was written by Papito and translated into
English.)
Because I am a parent of a special needs
child, I have lived the life that many other parents are living in Haiti with their
different children. On behalf of our great God Jehovah, my
heart begins to rejoice about our outreach ministry
to assist these parents and children. I
will never forget my past with my first son, Christ-tcherry. I can now be an example to teach other
parents how they can be important in the lives of their special children. I have an open heart for them. These children are very important and they
have the same power as us. They do not
have the opportunity to speak and act as others, but they are valuable
nonetheless. Within the ministry of Footprints of the Son, the
outreach program will be my priority. I
want to give them all I am to make them feel well, taken care of, and
loved. I pray that the Lord will use me
for this outreach program and that it will give much glory to Him.
That is probably
enough shock for one night…
Please stay connected and let us know if
you want to be on the Footprints of the
Son mailing list. We are in the
beginning stages and would like to ask you for your thoughts, prayers, and
encouragement. We feel so blessed for
everything that the Lord is doing in our lives and are so excited to give the
glory to Him! Thank you from the bottom
of our hearts for standing behind us as we continue on this blessed path.
