Buried Alive

The book Buried Alive is the extraordinary, true story of Roy Hallums. He was a retired U.S. Navy commander working as a civilian in Iraq. The Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Company provided security for Roy Hallums and his co-workers as they worked to supply food for the American Army in Baghdad. Yet, one of the security team was actually a traitor who arranged for the security gate to be unlocked and led a gang of men into his office.
Mr. Hallums is kidnapped and moved from place to place until he reaches a small farmhouse. He is held captive in a small concrete hole underneath an Iraqi home. As this traumatic story unfolds, you hear not only of his mistreatment, but also of his wisdom as he deals with each situation. Roy Hallums was held hostage for 311 days enduring beatings, filthy conditions, bad ventilation, and a great deal of abuse. His family was not even aware he was in Iraq until his capture. The book does a good job of telling the story of both his and his family’s experience.
Buried Alive is not the type of book I usually read, and I actually considered handing it over to my husband for review. I’m glad I didn’t. I was amazed at Mr. Hallum’s ability to keep up with dates and his recall of details. It was shocking to hear how his family was treated during the events. It seemed as if the government considered them the enemy rather than victims. This well written volume gives you a good grasp of what it is like to be under terrorists control and how to respond. Even though Roy rarely mentioned faith, his example of taking each day as it came is a good example of living out Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

* I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed are my own.

Ti-Fam: Witch Doctor's Daughter

Benjamin and I decided that reading "Ti-Fam: Witch Doctor's Daughter" by Ruth Harner would be a good idea tonight since he is studying Haiti.
I'm telling you, this story is intriguing! My kids have all heard the story before, yet as Ben and I began reading, his teen-aged brothers immediately sat down to listen. Nathan was in the back of the house yelling "read louder so I can hear!" and soon came in to hear the story. Aaron would scold me when we'd look at the pictures, "let me see too!" Obviously, I'd forgotten exactly how captivating the story is. I would love to know if Ti-Fam has been aware of how far reaching her story has been.
They really should consider marketing the story in book form rather than just as a flash-card story, or better yet, make another book telling of the challenges they have faced during this current crisis. Hearing how God has used this crisis to bring others to Him, now that would be fascinating!

THANK YOU!

We are deeply grateful for all who have committed to helping Benjamin in his efforts to raise money for Haiti. When he began, we thought it would be great for him to raise a few dollars. Now, he will be earning over $25 an hour for Ti-Fam's mission. Is that not amazing?!!? It is all because of you and your generosity and we thank you! There are even 5 children helping him, one is 3 years old. How awesome!!

Because of the response Benjamin has gotten, we've decided to allow him to have his own blog. Please follow his blog to see what he is reading, learning, or whatever else comes from his active 7 year old imagination. I will also be a guest blogger there to keep you informed. His blog is at http://benjamin-sonoftherighthand.blogspot.com/ . Feel free to share his blog with others who may be interested.

Tomorrow I will be listing first names of those who have made pledges on his blog. If I inadvertently miss you, please let me know. We would like to have a complete list of donations so that Ben will be encouraged. Also, if your blog is private, please e-mail and let me know who you are!

Ben is so excited - and we are too. THANK YOU!!!

Homeschool Help

Note: The following is a blog by my 7 year old son, Benjamin.



This is what it looked like in Haiti before the earthquake. It looked better before the earthqake, but then after the earthquake it looked very bad.

After the earthquake, they are handing out plastic tents for the people to sleep and live in until they can get help. This is the Baptist Haiti Mission where Ti-Fam went.

Even after the earthquake, people were praising and thanking God for those who didn't die. These people had lost family members, moms and dads died, so the kids need help. Would you help me raise money so I can help them? I will be reading books one hour everyday so we can raise money for Haiti so the kids won't be lost and they will have people to take care of them and so they will have plenty of food to eat. Would you please help me by sponsoring me? You can pay so much for each book I read for the next 3 weeks. Or whatever you want to send. We will give the money to Baptist Haiti Mission. All of the money will go to help with the earthquake. Please pray every day for God to take care of every single person in Haiti, especially the kids that are hurt. Mom and Dads too for them to find their kids. The End

For those who are just beginning to read this blog, the story of Ti-Fam is in my previous blog. I would really appreciate you helping Benjamin in his project. Whether with a donation, or with words of encouragement. More information to follow later tonight. Thank you

Haiti

As a young girl in Good News Club, I would sit mesmerized by the story of Ti-Fam. It is a true story of a girl in Haiti. Her father was a witch doctor and taught Ti-Fam to fear the "lies" of the Christians and his use of voodoo. Despite her fear, she and her mother listened to the missionary when they traveled to Port-Au-Prince. To hear that an all-powerful God loved her caused Ti-Fam to question her father's vindictive religion. Ti-Fam eventually accepted Christ after events, including a hurricane , led her to stay at the mission school. God interceded for her in miraculous ways and eventually she was able to share God's love with her father.

Last year I had the privilege of teaching this story to kids in Good News Club and once again my heart went out to the people of Haiti.

Unfortunately, I don't have cable now, so have not been able to follow the story of the earthquake as closely as I would like to, but my heart is breaking for these people! It's funny that as I was sending an e-mail to my sister about the mission's efforts during this crisis, she too was busy blogging about her memories and thoughts on Haiti. She quoted Joel Rosenberg: "Scriptures tell us in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 that terrible earthquakes and other natural disasters will occur in the “last days”….things will get worse, but this is a catastrophe of biblical proportions….may followers of Jesus Christ respond with prayer and practical assistance."

Right now, my family is short on funds, but I am planning even now how to help. This may become a family and homeschooling endeavor to aid the actual mission that I learned about as a young girl. If I am able, I will be blogging about that effort and I ask you to follow along and perhaps help. Please pray for the people in Haiti. Pray for wisdom and strength for the missionaries that are there. Pray for God's peace to overtake the chaos. Pray that through this, God will be known.