Co-labor-ation

These 19 boxes of plates and glasses and forks were added to our container shipment today. I appreciate Doug Porritt and his ministry, Rays of Hope, for their important role in getting food and relief supplies down to Haiti for folks like us. It's collaboration like this that wins the day. As people and churches and agencies fulfill their God-given roles, the job gets done. Call it strength in numbers; call it synergy. "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken," was how Solomon put it.

Besides, this sharing the work load we call co-labor-ation gives us time to relax, and to notice the little blessings right under our noses. Check out the tree frog taking it all in from atop this hosta leaf. I bet he almost croaked when he saw all those boxes.

Steve

XRAY crosses the waves

Here's a pic of the xray system on the boat getting ready to cross the sea over to the island. Next step: installation. We're working hard to get the engineer down there quickly. It is so sorely needed.

Please pray that it will happen quickly... only because when we crank it up, the level of care that can be provided will go up immediately.

By the way, that's Haiti missionary Matt Tegen accompanying the equipment on its watery journey. Thanks Matt. See you soon!

Give Away

These eight large and heavy boxes contain supplies that will help to feed hungry kids: cookstoves, cooking pots, tableware, etc. Also contained in these boxes is an xray view box and a boat load (literally, as it will turn out!) of medical supplies for our hospital: suture, scalpels, IV tubing, catheters, syringes and needles, wound care items (gauze bandages, tape, irrigation supplies, etc.), orthopedic supplies (casting material, splints, etc.).

These supplies have all been packed on to a large, 40-foot container and will arrive in Haiti, by ship, in about a month.

Thank you for giving. Your gifts, I promise, will make a huge difference in the lives of people in a quiet, impoverished, and hungry village on a little island in Haiti.

AND!... now that we have received our 501 (c) (3)... I can officially tell you that your gifts to Starfysh are 100% tax deductible. Also you who have given already should know that gifts dating back to February 3rd, 2010 are fully deductible, and we can now send you receipts to use when you file your taxes.

$15 will feed a hungry school child every school day for an entire month. And we want to feed 1,000 kids. School in Haiti starts October 4th, so feel free... give away!

Thanks friends,

Steve

I'll Try to Get a Picture

There it was... waiting for me on the kitchen table... the letter we'd been waiting for. I knew it would come, the letter.

Seemed silly, getting my little digital camera out. "What are you doing?" my wife inquired. "Taking a picture of our letter!" Her smile reminded me of when she looks out in the garden at me getting my goofball pictures of jack-in-the-pulpits and hostas. (I don't know, but I've always suspected that such smiles are not ones of pride or affirmation so much as they are of pity that I can't find something better to do... like fix the kitchen faucet that's been dripping for the last six months).

That's alright. The letter, like my hostas and jacks, comes at great effort and after much waiting. Good things come after waiting, it seems. Consider gestation. Now that I think about it... it was about nine months ago that Starfysh was conceived. Poetic.

The xray equipment made it safely to the island yesterday afternoon.

I'll try to get a picture.

In Some Cases the Difference

More good news today. The xray equipment you helped me with cleared customs yesterday and is, AS I WRITE, en route across the sea to the village of Anse-a-Galets, on the island of La Gonave. There, in a tiny mission hospital (the island's only), it will make a difference... in some cases the difference. You have made a difference... in some cases the difference.

If you click on the map you can find Anse-a-Galet, on La Gonave's northeast shoreline The space shuttle took a picture of La Gonave, just for us I'm sure.

The Byrth of Starfysh

Dear Friends,

Sorry for my silence... I have been biting my tongue as we wait for word...

But today I am very happy to announce that we received a determination letter from the IRS officially recognizing Starfysh as a tax-exempt non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

My self-imposed silence is over. We now may (and will!) boldly move forward in bringing compassion, dignity, and hope to an island of people I have grown to love an awful lot.

Spread the word. A Starfysh is born.

You Will Surely Know

Hey folks,

I hope you'll pardon my silence, lately. I have suffered a pretty severe case of blogopenia (Latin - "lack of blogging"). I've been going to BT for it and I think it's helping.

Much continues to happen in the background of my silence, while we patiently check our mail every day. It will eventually come, that letter. Tomorrow or next week or next month. But I hope it's tomorrow. Don't worry... verily, verily I say unto you, you will surely know.

I networked hard today. That's fun. I love to network and to create networks and teams and to line up things. Want proof? Check out the picture. That's my pilot reading our Starfysh brochure DURING our flight back to the mainland. Hey, I'm hard core... what can I say?

Thanks for keeping touch,

Steve