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Meet the O'Dell's!
We know that many of you
are not near Des Moines, IA but if you are and would like to
meet the O'Dell's and show your support, please look at the
attached invitation and read on. Please keep them in your
prayers as their family is attending missionary training now and
Michelle as she is at the Nest this month before they come on
full-time in September.
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Click Here for the invitation with more details on
the benefit party for the O'Dell family (Joel, Angie,
Carly, Sam and Anna). (Please note there are three
separate pages.) The event will be held on Saturday,
August 29 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Toad Valley Golf
Course. Funds raised during this event will go directly
to the O'Dell family to help them cover
personal expenses as they answer God's calling to become
directors of Robin's Nest Children's Home in Montego
Bay, Jamaica. |
Thank you to
all of you who sent in RSVPs through the Save the Date e-vite.
If you have not responded yet, we ask that you do so by
Wednesday, August 12 to Mimi Nguyen at 515-229-3890 or
nguyen.mimi@principal.com.
If your plans have changed since you initially sent in your
RSVP, please contact Mimi as well so that we can provide Toad
Valley with an accurate head count.
The O'Dell family is
looking forward to seeing everyone on August 29! Thank you all
for your support.
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Hello to all,
We are happy to be back in America
with our family and friends but a part of us is struggling with
leaving our extended family in Jamaica. We know everything will be
in good hands until we return as there is a fantastic team there now
and Ms. Michelle is still there holding the "ropes".
First of all, we must tell everyone
that the parsonage home is working out great! It has been
imperative for our family to have a place of our own, for many
reasons, most of which are for the kids. We need every day to be
able to leave the Nest and decompress with our family. We are able
to get home between and 7 and 8 each night, give our children a cold
bath, have a snack and family devotional time,
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and lights out by 8:30 or 9 p.m.
The kids have really enjoyed being able to put up their things and
make a home. We have met most of our neighbors and everyone
has been very friendly and accommodating. Once again God has
delivered on making this work. It has been a blessing that our
children are adjusting so well, but continue to pray for their
adjustment to some of the different foods.
During our time there we were also
blessed with some amazing teams! Many things were
accomplished...the bamboo wall around the preschool playground, the
new wall around the area of the preschool, the preschool was painted
in the inside, cleaned, and organized. It was an amazing
transformation. There will be some photos on the website soon. The
storage rooms in the main house were organized and cleaned, some
landscaping was done, Jake's house rooms were painted with some
amazing murals and scripture, the tool shed was cleaned and
organized, and when we left we were told that there was a
professional painter that was going to paint the outside of the
preschool for us. Vacation Bible School was a huge success as
well!
Joel and I also met with leaders from
the Child Development Agency. We were most grateful that things got
moving on our work permits. Joel made a phone call before we left
and all the paperwork had been received and prayerfully, all should
be handled when we return in September.
God has also blessed us with a
teacher for the school year. A young lady from Michigan is
answering God's call to serve with us. I spoke with her twice and
she will hopefully be flying down the week before school starts to
get her classroom ready, meet the kids, and get her living area
arranged. She will live in the apartment while she serves.
During times of transition and change
also come growing pains. As we fully expected, we did face some
challenges, and we humbly ask for God's guidance and wisdom to deal
with issues as they arise. With each new day we are growing in
knowledge and confidence that we can provide the leadership needed
to help Robin's Nest continue to flourish and provide a safe,
nurturing environment for the children to grow. We will continue to
have Michelle's input on the needs of the children, the Board to
help support us, and God to show us His plans.
In Him,
Angie and Joel
Directors in training
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Hi
from Robin's Nest,
PRAISE REPORTS:
*Michelle is down at the Nest for the summer and is
busy this month training our new directors, Joel & Angie
O'Dell (see SPRING NEWSLETTER on newsletter page).
Everything is going very well - "fabulous", in fact,
according to Michelle. A local parsonage is empty and
so we have been blessed to use it this summer for the
O'Dell family to stay in and they are grateful to be
able to go there at the end of the day so that they can
debrief and come together as a family. All the
appointments in Montego Bay and Kingston have gone very
smoothly for the transition. This summer there are 6
new children at the Nest, total approaching
40. That is the most ever.
*Angie is
working with the Head Nurse on the pod program and they
are making some adjustments -- one porch will be for
large motor activity, for instance.
*There have been many teams this summer and they all
have been a great help. Jake's
house is all cleaned up and the school is spruced up.
They are working on fixing the fence around it and
making the yard safer for playtime.
Angie's supplies from her preschool back here in Iowa
arrived this week so they are busy getting the preschool
set up for the fall.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
*Joel and Angie are adjusting well but it has been a
rough adjustment for their children. They would
appreciate your prayers. They are very grateful for the
family time in the evenings. They do come home soon for
training and hopefully, to close on their house which is
the next request. Pray their home would sell very
soon!!
*Our head cook, was scheduled to have surgery this week
but due to lack of doctors, they have postponed it to
August 8. This is so hard as she should have had it a
long time ago, has been suffering with pain as well.
Please pray that somehow she gets it done sooner and her
recovery goes well.
*Pray for the water project to continue to move along.
The legal part of it should be done soon and then we can
start building a pump house by the spring and laying
pipe.
*The internet has been down for quite some time now
after being hit by lightening. A service man did come
and start working on it, so pray that it can be
completed and up and running very soon. Without that
communication, we
have not been able to get updates out to anyone.
Because of the lightening hit, there is also some
electrical work that needs to be done and some
lightening protection as well. Pray that this is all
affordable.
*There is a young lady who is
interested in going down to teach for a year as
Dana did this past year. They
have been in communication with each other.
Pray for God's will to be done in this and all
areas.
*Pray for improvements to the road going up to
the Nest.
*Continue to pray through our summer months for
funds to come in. As with all ministries right
now, support is down.
Thanks for your prayerful support, Robin's Nest
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