March 2013..Haiti...I am always thankful for the opportunity to travel to Haiti, but always come home with a bit of an overwhelming feeling, we are adding 20 more kids to our sponsorship program, we still don't have sponsors for all the other kids so I hope and pray that we will be able to get more sponsors and be able to send all these children to school, I see the hope in their eyes and in their parents eyes,...these amazing people inspire me and help me to have so much gratitude for all that I have and help me to truly understand that where much is given, much is expected!

 

Welcoming Mack James Bowman to the family born 1/3/13, Proud parents Chloe and Quinn!
There are no words to describe the joy that comes from a new little baby. Chloe did such a great job, so proud of her, she is already such a wonderful mother. No one can ever replace the loss of a child, I miss my son Sterling so much, but holding Mack in my arms I feel a little piece of Sterling with me, maybe Sterling kissed baby Mack and sent him on his way, at least that is what I like to think. Mack James is named after his uncle James Sterling. Today I feel blessed beyond words! Already so in love with our little angel, straight from Heaven!!

"Life is like a game of poker—you have to play the hand you're dealt. … But a wise player can play what seems to be a weak hand and win the game."
– Pastor Rick Warren

"Nobody can take away your pain, so don’t let anyone take away your happiness." – Unknown
You need to be able to be perfectly happy just on your own. If you ever want to be truly happy you must be conscious of the fact that you determine your happiness and not anyone else. Never let someone steal your happiness, it was never theirs to take. Life is full of ups and downs. The trick is to enjoy the ups and have courage during the downs.

"It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about." – Dale Carnegie

tAkInG tHe fIrSt StEp

So de-Nile is not just a river in Jordan, it is where we live sometimes not recognizing the problem, or how severe it has become. How can I fix something I don't even think is broken? So here I go stepping forward...
First things first, I need to stop repeating old behaviors expecting new or different results, great way to make one crazy, and yet we all do it, right? Denial can be broken when we quit hoping for a different past and set about creating a different present (from recovery to survival). Funny how sometimes we try to recreate the past, what if's eat at us and grief and pain are the worst culprits ever.
But for today I choose to put the past behind me and work on creating a happy today, tomorrow and so on.
Taking the first step...

nEw YeAr NeW BeGiNNiNgS...

2013

So I have never been a big New Years resolution kind of gal, I mean really a whole year of goals set at the beginning of a year, seems like a set up for failure. I usually set weekly goals and that seems much more attainable to me. 

But here I go, it's a new year and I am stepping outside my normal box by actually setting a New Years resolution, and in an effort to keep it I am writing it down. And better than that I will be soliciting the help of my family and friends to help me (another huge step for me, as I am not good at seeking help at much of anything). 

So here it is...I am going to choose happiness, replace my fears with faith and love...even as I write it I feel doubt and fear creeping in, I think this might be a life time goal, but for now it will be my focus for 2013...so happiness, Love and Faith here I come.

Feel free to share thoughts and quotes, I will be sharing them as well...Only God knows the heart ache of my soul, and how easy it would be for me to stay trapped in fear and sadness but with Him by my side I am going to rise above.

Bring it on 2013, I am ready!

Happy Birthday Sterling September 3, 2011

Happy Birthday....To my Angel boy...We love you and miss you more than words can describe!!

Sterling Graveside July 11, 2011

"It's been said time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." ~ Rose Kennedy

James Sterling Moyes September 3, 1987 - July 11, 2011

WASHINGTON TERRACE -

James Sterling Moyes, 23, fulfilled his earthly mission and returned

to the loving arms of his Heavenly Father on July 11, 2011. He was

born September 3, 1987 in Ogden, to Darren William and Chareyl

Lynn Gentry Moyes.

Sterling began his education at Uintah Elementary. He attended

South Junior High where he served as Student Body President. He

gratuated from Bonneville High School in 2006. Sterling's greatest

love in High School was playing Lacrosse which led him to become

ranked in the top ten of the Western States High School Lacrosse

Conference.

Sterling was an Eagle Scout and served an LDS mission in the

Argentina, Bahia Blanca Mission. After returning from his mission,

he attended Weber State University.

He loved traveling with his family, especially taking trips to Oregon

and Bear Lake where he would spend time with his Grandparents,

Aunts, Uncles and many cousins. There is no one, however, that he

loved being with more than his brothers and sisters, especially his

seven year old little brother, Robby.

During his time with us, Sterling taught us all how to truly care and

be compassionate. People were drawn to him with his warm, fun

personality and great smile. He will always be remembered for his

big kind heart and willingness to put his arm around those who

needed a friend.

Sterling is survived by his parents; brothers, Darren Gentry (Vanesa

Nemelka), Grayson, Robby and his two sisters, Madison and Chloe.

Also surviving him are his grandmothers, Sharyl Burnett Moyes and

Pauline Barbur Gentry. He was preceded in death by his two loving

grandfathers, James Kirk Moyes and Frank V. Gentry.

Haiti May 2011

Haitian Roots Volunteer/Parent Trip

Grayson Moyes first trip to Haiti!

 

Haitian Roots Volunteer/Parent trip to Haiti to distribute items

from container...

Grayson was able to join the trip and was such a hard worker,

I love spending the one on one time with my sweet 16 year old son.

The volunteers were all amazing and we accomplished much.

It was great for the parents to visit their children 9 haitian roots children who

were orphaned by the earth quake and are now being adopted by

four amazing families.

We were able to have a party with our Haitian Roots sponsored children and give

them food, clothing, toys and other great supplies donated by lot's of wonderful

families.

We went out to visit the land we purchased to build a school and orphanage, Brent

from Bel Haiti village project partner was along on the trip as well.

We learned much from the trip and hope to put our knowledge to good use!

eAsTeR 2011

Happy Easter Moyes Family 2011

Gentry and Vanesa

Gentry and Vanesa Moyes December 18, 2010

The Moyes family is happy to welcome Vanesa Maureen Nemelka into the family!!

Chloe Graduation!! May 2010

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Chloe Ellen Moyes Graduates from Bonneville High School!

Seminary graduation...Gentry, Chloe and Vanesa

Seminary Graduation

Grandma Sharyl and Chloe  

Haiti ...

Haven't been much of a blogger these days....But I have been feeling a great need to share my experiences, thougths and feelings about the last couple of trips to Haiti, most especially the trip to bring the children home after the earth quake. I can't help but think about how I never want to forget God's hands in that journey. I know that as time goes on we all get busy and we forget things, we do, it is human nature really! But I hope that none of the adoptive parents who have their children home will ever question how their children got here and by whos hand...oh and by the way, I don't mean me!!

mY LiFe mY cRaZy LiFe!!

Okay, so I looked at the date of my last post October 30, 2009 for a split second I thought to myself, "why on earth has it been so long" then I remembered what has been going on in my life...Here is a little recap just to bring you up to speed...At the time of my last post my husband Darren and I had just returned from visiting Madi in China, she was there teaching English, it was amazing. We LOVED China, especially the Great Wall, but what we loved the most was spending time with Madi!!! On November 3, 2009 our then 17 year old daughter Chloe was in a terrible auto accident and broke her femur. It was an awful accident, the car was totalled and we were just grateful that she survived, but the next couple of months were extremely difficult, we had to have home care nurses and physical therapists. Madi returned home right before Christmas Yippee!! January 2010 brought about the most devastating earth quake of all time to the impoverished island nation of Haiti. about the middle of January I found myself in the middle of the ravaged country of Haiti advocating on behalf of over 50 adoptive families to be able to
process the necessary paperwork to escort the children out of Haiti and to the loving arms of their families!! With God's help Team Hope was successful. In the midst of bringing the orphans home, I was able to bring three amazing little Haitian girls home to stay for awhile, Gaelle, Guesrie and Gloria Mardy. These girls are the daughters of Marjorie and Guesno Mardy, they were able to return home with me to the states only because they already had passports and visa's. They were able to seek refuge from the heart ache of their family and their country. In December the girls youngest brother Gardy had been kidnapped for ransom, and as of this time he has not been safely returned (although we continue to have faith and pray for him). The girls were able to stay for 6 months. We will always love these girls as our own family and pray that God will protect them and bless them. February we took a short family trip, with the Mardy girls to Oregon where my sister Kathy was married on Valentines day. We enjoyed lots of fun with my family in Oregon, stopped on our way home to visit a beautiful Oregon treasure Multnomah falls and the Columbia river gorge.
March brought on a lovely knee surgery from a most spectacular fall in Haiti on the rescue trip where I tore my meniscus, Madi turned 20. April was a trip to Baltimore for the Joint Council Conference, great workshops and thanks to my husband for tagging along! Chloe turned 18 and Grayson turned 15. May was a trip to Orlando for a Skywest conference for Darren, and yes I had to join him:-) Then Chloe's graduation from high school, even after being home schooled for 3 months, she did it! We are so proud of her, and yes she is recovering well and in another year or so she will get the rod and all the screws and bolts out of her leg. From January to Now, things have been over the top crazy busy for Haitian Roots, in May Isson traveled to Haiti to purchase the land where we will build a school and partner with Bel Haiti to build an orphanage. For a while we were a little unclear on the size of property we actually purchased, but we know now...8 acres. We also teamed up with University of Utah architecture students and an architectural firm, Common studios who decided to do a project where students from the U would design our children's village for us. Very exciting...which brings us to June, a trip to Haiti with Haitian Roots (Shannon our head planner and coordinator) Bel Haiti, U of U students and professors and our wonderful associates from Common studios. I also stayed an additional week in Haiti with Tom and Rebecca from Joint Council on International Children's services. Also in June the Wasatch picnic! And a family trip to Bear Lake with the Mardy girls joined by their brother Gus and their mom. Gentry buys a home during this period of time and we actually start the renovations that we are doing our selves. July starts off with the Foyer reunion, Girls camp (me the camp director) and ends with the Most exciting news of all.. my oldest son asked his darling girl friend Vanesa to be his bride and she said YES! So December 18, the first of our 6 children will marry. August comes screaming in with several trips to the hospital and ending in surgery due to the lovely kidney stones I have been blessed to have. And now we are back to school which is hard to understand because I want to know what happened to summer!!! So this is a VERY brief recap of the last 10 months of my life...my crazy life!! But my heart is full of gratitude, for my relationship with God, family, friends, a beautiful home, my health (even though it seems poor lately) And a job that allows me to meet the most amazing people and share in their adoption journey's. My love goes out to all of you that touch my life for good! I hate to think of what my life would be without you in it.

mY CrAzY LiFe...tHaNkFuL

Photos from Chloe's accident.. even now months later...words do not describe how thankful I am that she is okay!! My fiesty, funny, crazy and yes even sweet little Chloe...

November 2009

MoThEr RuSsiA...mAy 2009

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times,

always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

Darren and I in Moscow, Red Square!! I loved it!

It was so fun to spend time together!

Here is the whole gang in Belarus!

So it was quite a big deal for a Belorussians airline to be getting a new aircraft, so the media

met us and interviewed the pilots, I took this photo as I was getting off the airplane, I actually tried to wait until the media left, but apparently the Belorussians president was coming in right after us and they were trying to get us into the airport pretty quickly to close off the rest of the airport...very exciting for us!

Darren, Lynn and Pete in Belarus

So I am backing up a bit, wanted to post a couple photos of Darren and I in Belarus and Moscow Russia...It seems like a year ago when we were there and so much has happened sense that trip, but I really wanted to post a few photos. I learned so much on this trip, I hate to admit, but I had never heard of Belarus before heading out on this journey, Belarus is a very old country but sadly because of the devastation of War most of the original country was destroyed!
I was over the top excited about visiting Moscow. The other pilots and their wives left us in Belarus and headed for Paris, but Darren and I ventured to Moscow on our own. We found a great English tour and visited as much as we could in the few days we were there. We did learn that though we all may think the KGB has been disbanded the people of both Belarus and Russia do not believe that to be true one bit. Our tour guide was pretty funny, she was a Russian woman that spoke English with a strong accent, and she would talk pretty matter of fact about some of the earlier goings on of the KGB including people being killed, but she wouldn't say that, she would say.."Well, they were never seen again" stuff like that. The trip was so awesome!!Thank you Skywest Airlines for giving us the 0opportunity to see this part of the world!