the meeting went well....

I really think alot of things got out in the open and cleared up to a degree. I could feel prayers being offered on our behalf.

It was looking good that, wow, we all prayed and got things out in the open and somethings got a bit uneasy, but overall I felt God was glorified in this. Then within the hour, we had two moms we have been counseling call to say they were wanting to move in and set up plans to do that!!YEAH!!!

Ok, then this afternoon, personal attacks were coming from where I would least expect it. The wounds are still open and oozing. But I do know that we all are humans, and humans are great at ASSUMING things and not looking into things. I am not mad at people, but rather disappointed. Satan is just using selfishness to kill the desire to serve. The desire to serve is overcome by a desire to want.


I am proud of my team. We have been through thick and thin. We can sit and pray, cry, share and all together. My team knows that things are looking good. Sure, we aren't sure if we will get the support we need much longer, but we are looking into options. God is good. When HE closes one door, He opens another.

I am excited that we have two moms to minister to. We may have another move in in April. We are planning to paint on 2/28, even though one mom will be here already. Pray for Momma A as she is older, worked at a pub and has one 5yr old and has had an abortion before (she knew it was a girl, that's how far along she was). She is due May 12. Pray that God will soften her heart and she will adjust well. March 2 we pick up a 15yr old....yup.....a 15yr old who is due March 26th.

God is moving. Keep praying! Thank you all for your prayers.

need prayers....

We will be having a meeting today with everyone. One problem that often comes about in CPC's and our ministry is lack of unity and wounded hearts. We need to have a big meeting today with everyone to just get it out and get God back in our work.
Please do pray for us us. 9am here in Taiwan is our meeting. please, if you see this pray for us. I will come back with some words later.

Well, this week has been interesting......

and next week seems to be B.U.S.Y!! but that is good right?

We just had a team get together idea minute!!!I don't know what to call it....we are planning events and had a brainstorm! So excited. We normally have Respect Life activity around Mother's Day. This year we are looking at having a "talent show". From song and dance, to essay, to poster presentations. We really want the locals to get involved. Our topic will be "Give Me Life" or just "Respect Life" and have kids write essays and paint posters to represent their idea of respect life. We will have awards.

What does that sound like? I am excited!!

Yesterday\s post was rather depressing. A massage and goodnight's sleep helped alot. Things look better today. God is good, as always.

Keep our ministry in your prayers. We really need more independent support. Any idea on how to get that other than sounding like beggars:p?

My favorite verse......

Isaiah 43:2 "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. "

Right now I feel like I am drowning. Ministry has so many ups and downs. Ups are: we have had a numerous amount of phone calls and counseling this week so far, so thankful that God is opening up ways for us to minister to moms. A local organization, who a year ago (well, even 4months ago) would MAYBE give us the time of day if we asked, but though they work with unwed mothers, they seemed to ignore us. UNTIL now they need us:-)....God has a great sense of humor.  So thankful that they have come and asked us about things and how they can be part of it all, even transferring cases (they have a young momma they want to transfer over). So had a good talk.....
Downs: you all know that AGCI is working hard getting Hannah's Hope registered/licensed. Technically we are not doing anything illegal. You all have seen the house, the gov't says the bathroom/bathing area is not big enough. Plus there are lots of little things that are down right annoying. Mainly "well,if we let you all slide by as the first one of it's kind, then others will want to start doing similar work and we just have to have high standards set". Yeah I see it, I GUESS.....who else is going to jump on this bandwagon and be a glutton for punishment!!LOL!!  Now some people here who were deeply invovled are very discouraged and basically want to go another way, that, well, it is easier, and smaller, but still won't give us what we need in the gov'ts eyes. Just lots of stuff. I am tired of feeling like I am swimming against the current. And I am tired of feeling like people think I am imposing or dictating things..............that is not what I am doing! my team at MLH/CPC is getting exhausted.
Other than saying "no discussing these things at all" in the office, I can't control these.

Blah.....just a BLAH!! day..............sorry to sound so depressed. Yes, I know Satan is doing a happy dance over all this too. Seems like this licensing stuff is just putting undue pressure on everyone.......something has just gotta break!!! please pray that it gets all done and sorted out...............

As to the mom going to jail and her 2yr old.......her little one will go into foster care. I wish wish wish we could take her for those 2.5months, but that is not feasible.........pray though that when she gets out, she will be able to find the support she needs.

Things lookin' good!!

First....PRAISE THE LORD!! our premie has gained back her weight and over her birth weight, ok, like 10 grams, but THAT IS GOOD!! we saw her after services today and my, she just looked so small. But though she has an IV for nutrition and fluids, the tubes for air in her lungs was out!! she is doing really well. The nurses said "she just needs to gain weight!" So pray as she does and each day is a victory! Pray as we work with AGCI to find a family who will take a premie so small and all.

We may be on the road again! Traveling to see that 15yr old. Her mom likes the sound of our ministry more and more. But we may make a few visits! We have a 26yr old mom who called our hotline from the same county. She was 9 weeks pregnant and her family was insisting abortion. The reason? She is disabled......she has only a few fingers on each hand. Of course her family says she is not fit to be a mother and WHAT IF the baby is mishaped like you? Her boyfriend? Well, they are living together.....I get the feeling of .....if the baby is fine, they might keep it and get married.....if not, who knows. BUT she is not going to get an abortion!! Whew! and talk about the tears at our office over this........

In this ministry, there are many many things that are discouraging. Somethings tend be a bit um, beaurcratic it seems. Some people tend to think "unwed mother ministry" instead of "ministry to unwed mothers." Is there a difference? I feel there is big one. Where do you put the ministry? First? or last? To many it might sound the same, but in my hear there is that difference. Ministry is first. Actually we should say "minsitry to women in crisis pregnancy", not unwed mother's specifically. We have had the families who have had 7,8, even 13 kids and ask for help. Or should we say "ministry to women in crisis" period?

Last night as I was laying bed, it was not late, it just takes me forever to get to sleep, I got a phone call. I called her Momma S on facebook. She said "Shr Mu (title for pastors wife), I might not get up in time for church tomorrow." She was one of our former moms, is  a single mom and her boyfriend left her recently because "he couldn't be with a woman who gave his child away"....yet the man was abusive (had many reports) and was useless beyond the defintion of the word!! seriously glad he left. BUT she has to go to jail. She originally was working to "pay off" the jail time, but with the boyfriend gone and no one to watch her 2yr old, she couldn't work anymore. There is not special daycare services for women like this.

Momma S started to share "Shr Mu, I have been so mean to HanHan (her little girl), but she is being so good. I am so sad I am leaving her for two months. I just don't want to get to close to her right now and hoping that will make it less painful.But Shr Mu, I have just been mean to her and hit her and it makes me sad." Then she started crying. In my heart I wanted to cry. I tried to assure her her feelings were normal, but cautioned her on her actions. I have not heard from her today and praying I do as she was at the beach yesterday when she called.

Our ministry goes on after moms "leave us". I guess we could say, we are normally one of the few that know of they harships and adoption. They will come back knowing we don't judge and we can help in anyway, we will. That is "ministry" first. I am not saying we are all "holier than Thou" type or better than the next. This is what God has called us to do and we do it. Tiring yes, but knowing that we can be a light for God, used by Him. An instrument in the hand of the Mighty Conductor.

Keep praying for us.....

Back to Work!!!!

And has it started with a bang!! My family came back a day late as to avoid the traffic, but I got a phone call that morning. I really don't know how much I SHOULD share here, please remember that information here at this private blog I really don't want it to "get out." many of you know why. My team and I look at this as a ministry, not just "cases".

I am sharing this with you because we covet your prayers. We had a phone call on the first day back at work of a mom who can't take care of baby girl. Baby was born at 1.6lbs!!! YUP!! Wuli and I visited the baby, Ah-Huei,  and really I was trembling....the nurses (who know us well!!) asked if I was ok......I have seen premie babies as you know....BUT NONE LIKE THIS!!! she was so small, with way too many tubes come from places. She was born the end of January at 26 weeks old due to premature rupture of the membranes(aka...moms water broke early). She is so small, but so cute!! currently her only problems are her lungs as mom was unable to hold off delivery.

Please keep mom and baby in prayers. Mom had to go to work very soon after having baby. She is a single mom of a kindergartener, baby's father has left. Mom works day by day. Very hard life. We are so thankful that God allowed us to have an open line of communication with the hospital. We were the first ones they called. Praise God!!

We had a phone call today...........the mom of a 15yr old girl called today, the 15yr old is 8 months pregnant! yup, you read that correctly!!! 8 months pregnant!!! Alexia took the call......lots of emotions. Please pray was we have a follow up call tomorrow.

As I have mentioned on facebook, Chinese New Year I feel was hard for many moms. They were surrounded by family and friends. Many of the moms carried secrets of having a baby with them, some may have gotten looks of being "one of those girls" and such. They may have seen family members with babies, the possibilities are endless. Normally, big holidays like this and birthdates are hard for moms, for years......... I have had 3 moms contact me, that is what made me think of all my mommas........broke my heart! So, please send a little prayer for MLH mommas....

Ok, lots of catch up to do.......bye for now

Almost Chinese New Year here...

and the feeling is in the air. Seems like everyone is feeling the "vacation here I come" feeling:-). In Taiwan, we get a week off. Chinese New Year is 2/2. On New Year's Eve, 2/1 it is the "reunion meal". So everyone needs to be at home, or with someone, no one should be alone. The children are allowed to stay up til midnight, and New Year's Eve, everyone is supposed to be in new clothing. At midnight you can hear fireworks and firecrackers all around. Children line up (well, this is traditionally, but not everyone is like this now) at midnight and one by one the older family members (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc) give them red envelopes and the children will say happy new year or some Chinese idiom with meanings of blessing. The red envelopes have money in them and the money is to be in even number (like you can give $20 or $26 but not $25). Even money numbers are given for happy occassions. Candy is eaten ALL THE TIME......pumpkin seed, sunflower seeds, nuts in general are eaten (not sure why so don't ask me!). Everyone just shoves their face..................eh.....sounds like Christmas doesn't it? except Christmas has the wonderful meaning of God's gift to us. Chinese New  Year unfortunately is filled with worship at the temples, people fighting to get to be the first inline to put their incense stick at the temple pot, etc. Luke though likes to preach on Chinese New Year (traditional customs) and the Passover. He has researched 10 points that are alike. Very neat.

This year will be year of the Rabbit. So we are thinking that maybe we'll have lots of little ones come through MLH?:-). I don' t know.

Recently, we had a mom bring a baby that was a week old. Sad situation, baby is healthy though. Still working on paperwork, so please pray. She is separated from her abusive husband for almost 3 years, and the baby is not his. So we have to do DNA and all that stuff. She was in hiding from her family cause no one knows she had a baby.
Also pray for Miss Liu as she is not going to have an abortion, but is not sure about keeping the baby because she is handicap, physically (missing fingers, that is all). She has a job til April. So she might come here then. We got another phone call of a mom that might come in April as well. So we need to get the house fixed.

Oh, we have been having fun with looking at colors for the rooms!!! Our ladies are having fun. Our kitchen/dining room area will be in mid shade yellow and all decorations will be sunflowers:-).....keeping it bright and cheerful!! One of the mom's room will be a lavendar on the wall, and then different shades will be used to sponge print flower shapes......trying to keep it nice......so happy to be working on this!! Keep the needs in prayer please. We hope to start painting the living room, dining room and one mom's room Feb.8, that week........will definetly show pictures!!!

Ok, off to do some work. Thank you for your prayers!

Deana

So Monday begins.....

      Well, so far it is not quite noon and all is quite. I am expecting this week to be quiet as next week is Chinese New Year. Last week ended rather busy, so we'll see how this week goes.
      We had been asked to move from the current MLH place. Someone from the USA had gone through it and deemed unlivable. Funny, the Taiwanse go through and say, "I've seen worse." I wrote 2 pages of why I think we should not move and if there is financial struggles, then moving would not be a great option. Yes, alot needs to be done. We are not trying to make it the Naruwan:-)......I am not the greatest decorator (my mom is!!LOL!)..... but we can make it nice. We still hav 3.5years on that rental contract.
      The biggest thing I see will be to get another electric box. Currently (and this was known when we did the place), the bedroom on the top floor, the a/c units and the electricity for them are wired to the 2nd floor box. Which means, when the 2nd floor water heater is running, you can't run the a/c on the top floor. Crazy? yes, but it has been like and workable. But it will take probably $600US to get it all up and running smoothly. But right now we do not need the a/c unit, plus we fill up the 2nd floor bedroom first:-).
     I will try to get pictures of before and after. Show everyone the living room that we are going to work on so there is a great feeling as soon as you walk in the door, and the last feeling when you walk out. If the other rooms aren't as spiffy, that is fine, just first and last impressions are the most important!!!
     The 28th our banner runs. Currently we have a Ms. Wang and a Ms. Liou we are counseling with. Please pray for them.
     The reason I ask that those in the adoption process or on the wait list not be on this blog is because I don't want them counting up things or wondering if it their mom or if the next one is their baby. There had been some issues with that before and that is why facebook is rather quite now. So this will be private for a long long long time:-)

Love ya all
Deana

back in action....

I have not posted on here in 2years........so much has happened. But due to the nature of the ministry, I have to have this password protected.
Hope you all can understand.....I will be using this as a way of journaling the ministry started years ago and see how God is working, and how you can help!!
pray for us please!

Fight For Life

As director of a Crisis Pregnancy Center, often I hear many stories. My team and I have heard many that sound the same, and quite a few shockers. Just when we thought we had heard it all, or had gone through it all, someone comes around and brings us back to the reality of the war we are battling, a fight for life.
We have counseled a few young women who have told us their decision was not to abort, only to call them back a few days later to find, they did. They had fallen under the pressure of family. We had one young mom who had called us a few times, we had a number of phone counseling. We had confirmation through family that she was indeed pregnant. While out of town at a seminar, her family called us to say she had had an abortion. That caused a long period of silence among the team as this young mom was over 24 weeks along.
Recently, we received a phone call to meet a young couple, boyfriend/girlfriend, at our doctor's clinic. They wanted an abortion and a social worker was going with them, but could we meet with them. Two of our staff members met them at the clinic and talked a bit with them. Our doctor told the young couple, they had to receive counseling from me first before he would take their final decision. So our staff came back with this young couple.
We did all that we normally do. Discussed fetal development, determined she was 7-8weeks along in pregnancy and showed her pictures of the baby at this stage. I noticed they did take interest in that and looked at it all rather eagerly. But it seemed then that a cold heart set in. "I had a cousin who was unmarried and pregnant. The whole family ostricized her, said cruel things to her. My parents, even to this day will say 'you better not embarrass us and end up like your cousin'." This was said through tears as this 21year old university student sat their tearing to peices the tissue in her hands.
She was a rather pretty young lady, dressed fashionably. Her fingernails were well done and manicured with blue and white sparkly fingernail polish. She came from a well educated, middle class family. Her parents were not divorced, their marriage, in her eyes, was wonderful. She was the oldest, so the pressure was on. Her parents, as both her and her boyfriend commented more than once, are very traditional. If they found out, they would make her transfer to a university at home, she would not be able to see her boyfriend, she would have no freedom, nothing.
Her boyfriend, while saying he wished to save more money to marry, seemed to feel inadequate. His story was sad, growing up in a single parent family, just him, his 2 brothers and dad. The pains of hunger were common for him growing up, the pains of no parent seeing him through his ups and downs or just being with him was still, at age 23, a deep set pain. He started working as a dishwasher in 6th grade to help pay for daily necessities. In 11th grade he had to drop out due to lack of finances and start working. His dad's health was not good and his brothers were out of county working. He was working and taking care of his dad. To him, now was not the time to have a baby. He wants to save money so when his girlfriend finishes college, they can get married. A baby now was not in the plan.
No matter what we said, they both still felt sure their decision was right. Of course, in my heart, I knew it was their decision, but I also knew this one decision could have an impact on the rest of their lives. The decision of abortion often leaves a deep wound, often open and bleeding, but the pain does not show itself till emotions have boiled over in the relationship. Research will tell us that chances are, this couple will not be together in a few years. This secret though, they will share for a lifetime. Often, it is a secret that eats away at them til the grave.
We prayed with this couple and talked with her about coming back after the abortion, when she was feeling better, and talking with us. Lots of things changed after the abortion, emotions they did not know were there, suddenly appear. They left knowing that we did not judge them for their decision, they know we are here for them to talk to. They left, hand in hand, headed towards the clinic. My staff and I just stood at the door.
After they left, I went back to my office, sat on the sofa and cried. I knew that I had lost this fight for life. My team member, Alexia, who was with me during all of this, sat beside me. She sat and cried. We both just sat in silence. This was the first time that this type of situation had come to us. We had done all we knew to do, but Satan still had a strong pull on this young couple's heart. They were blind to what was going on, blinded by Satan's lies of "this will make it all better."
We know that we will encouter many more situations like this. This was a way of preparing us I guess. We can rest in the assurance that this young life was ushered into the arms of the Heavenly Father. We know that Satan is working overtime, but we can have peace that the victory belongs to the Lord. Satan will try in many ways, as we have seen numerous times, to discourage us, to kick us while down, but we know that our Heavenly Father is their with His strong arms to pick us up, and walk with us hand in hand down the path He has chosen for us. The prayer of my team at our center is that we can keep strong and fighting the good fight.