Earthquake Map

I've been trying to figure out what to post about the earthquake in Haiti. Our family now has a deep connection to this country, which was home to David for his first 2 1/2 years of life and is still home to his birthmother and 3 of his birth-siblings. Had this earthquake happened just 2 months ago, David would still be there and be in the midst of it... the thought of that... whooh.

The news coming from Haiti is heart-wrenching and unfathomable to me. David's orphanage, Rivers of Hope, is about 15 miles outside of Port-a-Prince. Their town was struck hard by the earthquake, but praise God, everyone at the orphanage & the missionary family that we always stayed with was unharmed in the earthquake. However, the future there is so uncertain right now, with possible structural damage, food/gas shortages, civil unrest, etc. The first-hand person accounts that I've read describe things as your worst nightmare gone bad and things don't look to improve anytime soon...

We have not heard any news about David's birthmother and siblings, but due to communication delays in Haiti, I don't anticipate receiving any word for at least a few weeks. My guess is they are far enough away that they will have survived, but their future survival... well, that's always an unknown.

I'll try to post some of my other thoughts in a future post. For now, here's a map Jay put together which shows the location of the earthquake epicenter, Port-a-Prince, the orphanage, Willem & Beth's (Mountaintop Ministries), the village of David's birthmother (Gerda), and the airport. It really helped me to see things in perspective to one another. Click for a larger image.