I would like you to meet sweet Serline.









She is a sweet baby girl that we have been blessed to get to know over the past few months. She and her mama started in our progam in the 1st class back in the 2nd week in February.




Her mama is a wonderful lady. She and her husband, Serline and a new baby have all had quite a few struggles over the past year.





When Serline was just 6 months old, her mama unexpectantly got pregnant with her baby brother. When the baby was born, mama knew he needed her milk to survive, so she stopped nursing Serline, herself still a baby and still needing mom's milk to thrive. As the months past, Serline's health deteriorated. By the time we met her, the end of January, she was in poor health to say the least. She was suffering from Kwashiokor, a form of malnutrion that occurs when the body lacks protein. She was swollen, listless and had VERY thin, reddish hair. All signs of the disease. Truly, it would not have been long before her body would have started to give up.






Her mom has brought her to the clinic faithfully. She slowly and steadily gained weight and appeares a little healthier every time we saw her. It took the full 12 weeks to reach her goal weight. Even now, mom still comes to the clinic on Saturday mornings for prayer, worship and to learn the nutrional education that will allow her to make good food and lifestyle choices that will hopefully keep Serline's brother out of our program. A thing we very much desire. Our job here is the work ourselves out of a job. With the gift of training and education, in addition to the Medika Mamba, we work to give them the information they need keep their families healthy with better food and basic care choices.

In the past when I saw Serline she was quiet, still and had a vacant look. But, not this month!




We were so surprised and blessed to see her last month! She was bright eyed, alert and filled with energy and love!! She was just pure joy! She was babbling to us as we talked with the families. I lifted her out of her momma's arms and she gave us a smile that melted my heart. She played back and forth between Jeremy and I.



During the Mamba distribution...we played some more. This time, she took steps between her mama's arms and mine! Soo sweet and precious to be a part of this! This little angel, at 18 months old, is now chattering, playing and walking for the 1st time!!




Serline's family's story, is the very reason we started this clinic. We know that education can change the future of a child, family, communittee and country. We know we can only do this one relationship at a time. We know that this is the what Jesus calls us to. To love one another and allow Him to work out the rest. That is what we are trying to do at Fearless Warriors and in our clinic in La Victoire.

We pray that there are many great stories like Serline's to share with you in the future. We pray that we can continue our work of putting the tools and education in the hands of the families that need it, to allow them to build up their familes and communitees! We pray the funds will come in to allow us to purchase more Medika Mamba and to pay our nurse, health agent and pastor to continue training, couseling and spiritual teaching with these families. If you would like to be a part of futures like these, check out our video on a previous post or use Donation button on the right to become a monthly sponsor or make a one time donation.

As is...but putting it all in God's hands

Ok, so, I have struggled in the past few months what to write here. I didn't really know why. I love words. Have a passion for the work we are doing in Haiti! I believe that the technolgy that is involved in making Blogs available is wonderful as it unites us in a shared cause or purpose, allows us to quickly share info that would have taken months to communicate in the past, and brings us together even though we may be countries apart.

I have great stories to share. Stories that I have the distinct privilege of being a part of, and am excited to share. So what is the problem? Why the writer's block?

Then I read this great Blog from Tara Livesay. A woman I met in Haiti in on a trip in November of '09. She and her family have served in Haiti for many years and they have been an inspiration to us in many ways, including the fact that they are successfully and loving raising their family, including young children, in Haiti.


Livesay [Haiti] Weblog: Success (?): "In this work we often find ourselves wanting and needing to provide progress reports to the kind and generous souls praying for or financial..."

When I read this recent Blog, it seemed to put into words what I was not able to. I feel a pressure, possibly self imposed, to 'quantify progress' or 'label' our success. And to do that by human stadards seems very hard, when doing this sort of work. Reading her Blog helped me to remember something that I was temporarily forgetting--


"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ."

Colossians 3:23-24


God has used this chapter of Colosssians to teach me so much over the past 2 years. Once again a truth that I needed was right before me.

This Fearless Warriors for Haiti Blog is a communication of our life and work in Haiti.
It is just that. I forgot that. I do not need to impress anyone, or find the perfect story. I just am reporting the great work God has allowed us to be a part of. Of course, I would love people to join us and want to support it, but

I am just following his lead. To listen for His voice, to try to be discerning of His message and "to just be faithful." That is enough.

I have a little pin as my house that I picked up years ago at an art show. It is very simple...a small black piece of paper with 2 little white words on it

as is...

It is one of my favorite possesions. Everytime I see it I remember, that is what we are...as is...just the way God made us. He expects us to impress no one. Not even Him. He just expects us to use the gifts and talents he gave us and the situations He puts before us to bring him glory.

The other part of this pin that I love is the '...' it leaves room for additional info, improvement. God accepts us just the way we are, and loves us enough not to leave us that way.

So there it is, writer's block broken. This is our story. As is... (with God's help, hopefully we are improving every day.)

Arrived in Haiti Safely on Weds--

We are here, safe and thrilled to be together. Took a trip La Victoire to bring supplies and help with the clinic on Saturday. 10 days of rain has made the road a special kind of BAD. Our car did not do well. Turned a 2 day trip into 3 and it has spent the last 2 days at the Car Doctors.
Internet is VERY slow right now. Jeremy posted pics on his FB page. Please check there for AMAZING pics of Seraline. One of the babies in the clinic that was in the worst shape when she came to us. We played with her, she laughed and babbled and took some steps from her Mama to me! She and Malatrice have graduated from the program and are doing REMARKABLY well! Such a blessing to see them!
We are very low on funds to run the clinic through the summer and now need to raise some additional funds to upgrade our vehicle to one that will like the mountains better.
If you have a church or organization that may want to hear more about our program, we are setting up some speaking dates for after we return in August and September. Please contact us at fearlesswarriorsforhaiti@gmail.com. We are looking for monthly sponsors and partners to continue this work with these wondferful families.
Don't forget to check my or Jeremy's FB page for pics, until we can download a little faster.

Been a while

Ok, so I need to get better at posting a blog. Things have been crazy busy since the last post.

~~First we did raise the money we needed to buy peanut seeds for 52 farmers in Haiti!! Seeds were a little more costly than was anticipated, so 52 instead of 60 was the quantity we could purchase. Will post pics soon of the seminar to talk about planting, the seeds and some of the new gardens!

~~We wrapped up our year with our GREAT homeschool co-op-sorta-thing. (It is not really a co-op, but I have not come up with a better name.)

~~Delaney and Christian mastered their memory work for the year and both became MEMORY MASTERS!! Yeah for all their hard work.

~~Delaney and I made a trip to Haiti to visit her sister/my daughter Isemelda and the clinic. We had so much fun visiting and celebrating the 1st Graduating class and meeting the next group of families in the program. We also met many of the new peanut farmers. These families are such a blessing to us!

~~We completed our home study and are waiting for approval from the state of Illinois to say we can be parents, (sorta seems a little late for that, but that is the process) and recieved a number for our adoption case at IBESR!! (IBESR is Haiti's version of DCFS) HURRAY!!!

~~Had a BIG garage sale to reduce our clutter and raise money for continued work in Haiti! We raised $1100!! HURRAY AGAIN!!

~~Have completed plans to spend the summer in Haiti with the kids. I will have all 4 kids together for the summer!! Jer will come down when/if he can as the months of June and July are his busies months of the year. We are excited at this adventure and are looking forward to studying Art, French, the Bible, Math, English grammar, learning Kreyol and spending lots of fun time together. I am looking forward to learning to drive in Haiti with quite some apprehension. Prayer welcomed!

So, I don't quite know where the last 2 months have gone. They has FLOWN by. Jer just returned from his May trip a few days ago and we have LOTS of great pictures and news to share so stay tuned for MUCH more!!

What support is needed to continue this work?

In the last year, Fearless Warriors has established 2 ministries.


One is an immediate life saving ministry. For the cost of $75 per child, we provide starving children with the nutrition supplement, anti-biotics and anti-parasitics they need to recover from their severe nutritional deficiencies. Additionally, their parents receive child development and nutrition training to give them the information they need to make better nutritional choices for the future.

A child in the program being weighed in for the clinic day.


We were able to start our program with a grant that we were graciously supplied from Meds for Kids, to get our program off the ground. They will supply the initial 2 months of Medika Mamba to get the program going. We supply the anti-biotics, anti-parisitics, water treatment chemicals and the staff to run the clinic.

In February we started the nutritional clinic with 11 kids. This weekend will mark 6 weeks of these children being a part of the program. It appears that all but 2 of them will have reached their goal weight and will graduate from the program. The other 2 will continue until they have fully recovered. In April we will start a new group of children in this program. The number of children depends on the funding support we can raise. Would you consider donating $75 to support one child through this entire program?


The second is a partnership ministry to provide education, tools and supplies for the families to develop an income to support themselves and their communities into the future. A "teach them to fish" ministry. For only $42 per family, you can provide all the supplies a family need to become self-sufficient farmers as they grow crops to provide a source of food for their families as well as have products to sell in the marketplace.

Right now we are working to provide peanuts for 60 families in the community. Peanuts are such a valuable crop! It provides a much needed source of protein for diets that are often high in sugar and carbohydrates, which will keep a belly full and give them instant energy, but do not induce growing and thriving. So, the farmers can use the peanuts to feed their family and also sell them in the marketplace. George Washington Carver would be so proud!

The best aspect of this great program is that they can also sell these peanuts to Meds for Kids, the company that makes the Medika Mamba supplement that is used in the clinic to treat the malnourished children in their own community! This product is produced in Haiti, by Haitians, using Haitian grown peanuts!!

This is an amazing way to partner with this community, not to rescue it. We come along side these families and provide the supplies, tools, education and help they need to become self sufficient.


We can also continue adding farmers to the farming program to grow new crops and provide education to meet future needs. Donating just $45 will support one farmer. You will be providing a career for a family! Can you believe it? For $45!

You may make a donation via the Paypal link on the right
or by check, which can be made out to
Fearless Warriors for Haiti and mailed to:
3349 Carbineer Drive, Belvidere, Il 61008.
Just put which ministry you would like your funds to support in the note section.

We appreciate you donations and are also searching for much needed monthly sponsors to keep some financial stability in the funding of these programs. Please consider if you are able to do even a small monthly sponsorship to make this program a continuing success.

Fearless Warriors Nutrition Clinic in La Victorie Haiti

See what an awesome impact a gift of $42 can make

We met the full amount of our matching grant this weekend! So exciting. That is the GREAT news...so far we have raised $645, plus the $500 grant match brings us up to $1145 as of today! This is awesome!

We are still short of our $2500 goal by $1355. I really have every faith that we will reach this goal this week and be able to provide seeds and training for all the farmers on the list.

There are 60 families who's lives can be changed by this project! It breaks down to a cost of $42 per family.

Can you help us one family at a time?

If 32 people could commit to helping 1 family, we would meet our goal of equipping 60 families with the supplies and education to start a new hope for their future. We need purchase the seed before the end of the month or the market cost will go up. This blog is set up with a Paypal link to make donating a breeze. Please feel free to share this post give someone the opportunity to hear about the awesome impact a gift of $42 can make.

Meds & Food for Kids Documentary

This video shows all great aspects of this wonderful program that we are supporting in La Victiore! 11 kids accepted last week!! Pics of these beautiful babies will be up soon so you can see their little faces. Please join us in pray for them and their families.

Nutrition Clinic in La Victoire...

Well, there is a lot of info missing between how we chose our name and where we are today, but I will need to fill that in as time goes by.
Today the important info is what God is doing in La Victoire and how he is using us to be a part of it!
This is a picture of some of the families that came to the nutrition training a couple of weeks ago, when we announced the opening of a Medika Mamba Nutrition clinic dedicated to helping the families in the La Victoire area eliminate malnutrition from their children. The reverence that this momma prayed with is something I will never forget!
There are several aspect of this. The 1st is training about how to make more nutritious food, even when you only have rice, or beans, or corn. Our nurse Ineve explained how to enrich it. We talked about combining food between 2 families to had an element you may not have and they may not have. They have, many times, never heard what is necessary to keep their babies and children healthy. Even if they only have 1 meal a day to feed them. Sometime less than that.

The next aspect is a nutritional supplement called Medika Mamba. It is a peanut butter based product that requires no refrigeration, no cooking, no special storage at all! It is a ready to use product that the family takes home to give to their child. There are very specific guidelines to the program. It is for those children that truly need a boost to get through a sever bought of malnutrition. See this previous post for more info on the Medika Mamba program. http://fearlesswarriorsforhaiti.blogspot.com/2011/03/meds-food-for-kids-documentary.html

The 3rd aspect to this program, as the video explains if you have already watched it, is to train and equip farmers to grow peanuts. They will receive education for farming, the seeds they need to start their crops and would have, not only a crop for market and food at the end of the season, but also the ability to sell the peanuts back to Meds for Kids to produce the Medika Mamba. This is such an incredible opportunity for the town as they are able to learn a trade, provide for their families and see their hard work go to support the nutrition of the entire community!

We are currently working to raise $2500 to train and equip 60 farmers from the La Victoire area. 10 farmers from each of the 6 churches in the town. The planting season start the end of March. So we are really working to come up with these funds in the next 2 weeks.

We have a generous matching grant being promised for the next 2 weeks to help to get up there!
Each dollar, up to $500, that is donated in the next 2 weeks will be matched. It's the best kind of 2-for-1 offer!

Please join us in making this a reality for these 60 families. For under $42 a family, it will change their lives! That is close to what is costs our family to eat out 1 night. Amazing what a small amount can do!

We have just set up a Paypal account to more convenient, or you are to send a check to:
Fearless Warriors (in a Picket Fence) Ministry to Haiti
3349 Carbineer Drive
Belvidere, Il 61008

How we got our name...

Well, I figured I would start with how I came up with our name...
It is a little long for the name of a ministry, so we nickname it Fearless Warriors for Haiti, but Fearless Warriors in a Picket Fence Ministry for Haiti came to me as a result of some things I had been thinking about as a result of visiting Haiti and the calling I felt on my heart to do more work there.
I knew the calling was real. I knew I had heard God clearly. Almost audibly. But upon returning home from my 1st trip to Haiti in March of '09, I started talking God out of it.
"I must be making this all up. I am not a missionary. What can I do? I have young kids. A husband. How could this possibly work? I don't know anything. I don't even know your word well enough to speak with any authority. I just turned 39 while I was there. You don't call people this old. This is crazy. What to I have to offer?"
The 2nd day after I returned home, we went to our regular church service. At this time we were attending a local church. I believe about 1,000 people probably attend the service we were at. It was one of 6 service they held. We arrived late, as we unfortunately usually did, and were seated in the only set of 3 seats left in the sanctuary. Jeremy, Delaney, our 10 year old daughter, and myself. I was seated next to a well dressed man with dark skin. My 1st thought was, "I wonder if he is Haitian?" my next thought was "Um Tam, every black man you meet is not going to be from Haiti. You are in Rockford, Illinois, the chance that you will meet a man from Haiti here in the very heart of the midwest is extremely remote. Give me a break!"
So we settled in to hear the sermon. The pastor walks out, and this is how he start his sermon...no I am not kidding~
"You know how when you go to different places, people don't know who you are? You just some obscure person? Like when we go to Haiti, they don't know me as Pastor, they call me 'tet klere'...which means 'shiny head'"
OK, we had been attending church here for maybe 2 yrs at this point. He had mentioned many times about his daughter working in the mission field in Haiti, but this was the 1st time he had ever mentioned him being there. So, I am thinking, well, that is a little weird?
Now someone comes up to give his testimony about how God had changed his life...and he starts his story by explaining he has always tried to talk his way out of things...even tried to talk his way out of following God's prompting for the mission that changed his life. OK, so weird thing 2 in the past 5 minutes.
Next, the pastor comes back on to talk about his topic for the day, Mt. Siani, where Moses was called into his mission...he explained that Moses was not called into missions until he was nearly 40 years old.
"Really?! Did he just say that. How did I know ever realize that? Didn't I just explain that I am too old to be called to missions because I am nearly 40?"
Now I am really crying in my seat. REALLY crying. Jer is wondering what I am crying about and I am trying to explain to him that I can't explain it now, or I will REALLY fall apart. He now thinks I have lost my mind, but also looks like he thinks that is nothing new.
So I pull it together. The service ends and the gentleman next to me thanks me for the napkin I handed him during service when he spilled his coffee. When he thanks me I can hear his heavy accent. I just HAVE to ask now. "Excuse me, I just love to guess where an accent if from, can I ask you where you are from?" And don't you just know it! He is from Haiti! I explain that I believe we are supposed to meet and that I had just returned from Haiti. He asked what I was there for and I told him the ministry I went with. He explained that he had just found a piece of material on this organization he had been given 4 yrs ago and set it on the table in his dining room the previous week. He sees this as a quite the coincidence also.
God brought me back from Haiti, where I heard him call us to further missions work and sat me down in a service next to a Haitian man, during a sermon on Moses, with a testimony about arguing with God's calling, all topped off with a little kreyol lesson. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
So I started praying. Praying about what to do next. Praying that I would seek His wisdom. Praying that Jeremy would hear the calling to.
At this point I was 'somewhere in the middle'. So this song struck me. As we pursued finding out more about Haiti, about serving, about what he could possibly want me/us for, I became attached to this idea that, because of God, we all have gifts to offer. And that sitting in our homes in the relative safety and security of life here in America, behind our symbolic 'white picket fences' living out the 'American dream', He does call us. He calls us to be His warriors. To do battle for His kingdom. To fight against the lies of this world for the Truth of His. He calls all of us, in a millions ways, everyday, everywhere. I hope that as part of the mission of our organization we are able to remind people of that. That we all have something to offer. Every gift is valuable. And we grow most and learn most when we go outside of our white picket fence and see where we are needed. Our American dream can be a blessing! It can also comfort us to death. Don't be lulled warriors! Use your gifts today in a way that makes you feel uncomforable. It may remind you how alive you are. Go on a mission trip...bring a dinner to a neighbor...hug someone that you fear may reject you, because maybe they need the hug more than they are letting on...sacrifice a little of the cappuccino money one week to save the live of a child in a 3rd world country, it only takes a few dollars...pray for someone you do not know in the mission field, they really do need your support in any way. So that is the big picture on the name. More on where we are now, and what lies ahead. Blessings!

Somewhere in the Middle