I have arrived!

Hey,

To some of you who may not know me my name is Gretchen Skog.  I am 25 years old and currently work as a nurse at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.  I have been married a little over a year to my husband Dan Skog.  A few months ago Dan I meet with Jeff and Julie about the possibility of going to Haiti for an extended period of time.  With all their hard work and Healing Haiti’s, they have blessed me with the opportunity to go to Haiti for three months. 

I will be staying at Grace Village during this time and will do my best to support the children and workers with whatever they might need or with any issues that may arise.  I of course could not do any of this without the love and support of my family at home, Healing Haiti’s wonderful team, and the most amazing and gracious God.  I pray that God will use me in any way He can for the work that needs to be done. 

My flight went very smooth and I arrived safely in Haiti.  Our flight on the way to Haiti was a little delayed, but really it was no big deal. I was very lucky to go with a Healing Haiti team.  Shelly the team lead was absolutely amazing and very helpful to me. 

We arrived to the guesthouse and ate dinner, Tacos!  I was pleasantly surprised.  It was a great dinner and now I am just catching up with some blogging!  I will be heading up to Grace Village in the morning to meet the children and begin my day.  I will have a lot more to tell you then.

On a wonderful note…..the area around the airport is really clean!  It looks great and a lot of the tents have been moved. Hopefully the Haitians that moved have a place to stay, but progress is being made which is awesome!

I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels to be in Haiti!  I am so happy to be here and feel so incredibly blessed at what God has given me.  I am overjoyed with this opportunity and am so excited to see all the things God has in store for me and the special people of Haiti.  

Beach time

What a fun day for the kids! They had breakfast, we put on our suits and shorts and our tap tap bus arrived. If you could have only seen their faces! Such Joy and excitement! The biggest smiles as ever.. As we went to the beach for the day :)

They swam, they played beach volleyball, had a little small picnic, and they swam again! Such a GREAT day! They were all very tired, but they slept good that night!

Sunday was another Great day.. as we had church, and about 25 children from the neighborhood came, and it was such a blessing to see them.

Monday was a busy day as well. We took michael to the burn unit to get his toe bandaged changed.. he also had an infected thumb which they had to drain.. poor little Michael.. such a trooper! We were finally able to post the daily schedule for the children and workers. After 3 attempts I was finally able to finish cleaning out the girls storage! This day we got more done then ever! A special thank to you the person who sent the Reese's peanut buttercups <3 were so thankful

Prayer request: pray for Jewel and Gillaume.. they both have been somewhat sick

Anointing The Land of Grace Village

With out telling anyone FanFan believed in his heart that it was VERY VERY important to anoint the land of Grace Village. Inviting the Holy Spirit and the Lord's presence. God placed the same thought on Gillaume's heart. So one night we heard singing. The singing of men's voices and FanFan, Gillaume and the older boys walked around the whole inside wall pouring oil along the way stopping at each corner and praying for the Lord's anointing.

They quoted the scripture..

Psalm 35:5-6

They were praying that anything that was not of God would be chased away and the Holy Spirit would live and dwell amongst us. That the Holy Spirit was in control of everything. While all this was going on the girl's heard the men singing the girl's went outside and began to listen to them.. all of a sudden the young girls started to sing.. everyone joined in. They began to dance before the Lord with the mighty anointing of God. It was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen. As the Men were praying protection over the land.. the girls were singing praises to the Lord. Its amazing to see the children worship and praise the Lord. Lift their hands, closes their eyes, and dance. Their little spirit's are so sensitive to the Lord even at the age of 4.

Thank you all for the prayers, please continue to pray for the children's health.

Lord bless you all

-Mickey

2 years

Thursday was the 2 year mark of the anniversary of the earthquake. The kids did not have

school. They spent the day praying and they gave their testimonies of where they were the day of

the earthquake. They thanked the Lord for his GRACE his MERCY his LOVE his

FAITHFULNESS to them that day. Most of them were in a bad spot and witnessed walls

falling down on them. They just had walked from that spot where a wall was and the voice of

the Lord told them to move, and they were not hurt. So we thank God for his protective hand on all of them.

The last few days some of the kids have been sick with headaches and tummy aches so please

be praying for them. We all stay VERY VERY busy. Our days begin and end with hugs as

they really love the physical touch of knowing they're loved. Many times we just hold them for awhile.

Thank you so much for the prayers. We feel them <3

-Mickey and Jewel

First Day Of School

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!

Well, getting up at 5:00 AM and getting the kids up for school was an easy task! EVERYONE worked together VERY well! They all helped each other! They all looked soooo cute! We prayed together on the steps of the feeding center and off we went :)

Believe me the whole village watched us! We were like a parade!

AND better yet... we made it on time!!! Remember that's 40 kids in uniforms! Hair done! Showers! AND breakfast! WOWZA!

First Day

Wow, I feel like Jewel and I have won the lottery!! Really! Imagine being on a mountain overlooking the ocean, and hearing angelic voices singing and worshiping the Lord. From morning till night, as they shower, as they play, as they walk by my window, as they eat you hear them sing 'Glory to God, in the highest' These are the children in Grace Village! Full of smiles! Laughter! And much joy!

-Mickey