​Tonight’s experiment, how many babies can climb on Papa Steve at one time? For the purposes of this experiment the subjects where limited to the sub 40 lb group, with the exception of Claude or security guard who registers somewhat higher.  Though the results are inconclusive, for you math heads out there the result can best be expressed as  X+1.   The reality here is that Venite has things very much under control, though I love to be here I actually have very few real responsibilities. My work is more based in Minnesota sharing with others what God is doing here at voice of Angels.  That said, work like the experiment mentioned above fills much of my time.  To hear these children laughing giggling and having fun brings me so much joy and maybe a bruise or two, but I have to tell you there was a time in my life when this would not have been true.  I can only tell you that at the time I felt God calling me to serve in Haiti I prayed that he would allow me to see them as he sees them and love them as he loves them.  I believe on that day he instilled that in me.  I can tell you in all honesty that the love I feel for these children is not the love of an aging Bald machinist from Minnesota.  It can only be the love of the one who created them.   I am so blessed and privileged to be used by our God in this way.  I could not possibly ask for more, except possibly to be able to share this with our friends back in Minnesota if only in a small way.

​Tonight I sit in a small corner of Caroline’s House away from all the noise and excitement.  The evening is full of activity in preparation for tomorrow mornings church service to be followed by the wedding of a young couple from our area. 
I’m holding our young Chichi in my arm.  She is so sweet and so small, I can not help but to think of our baby Caroline that we lost so many years ago.  Chichi arrived at Caroline’s House recently with her older sister Jenny.   Chichi has suffered from malnutrition for much of her young life, she has clearly also lacked the nurturing of her sole.  The shortage of food for many children in Haiti is certainly a problem, but this little one suffers as many do from a lack of attention and simple affection.  Simply put Chichi has been unloved.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that I cry as I write this to you.  My heart breaks as I think of the loneliness and insecurity that this precious child has endured. 
 
Chichi will be on a special high protein diet for some time to come,  but perhaps even more important, this little one will receive copious amounts of love and attention.  She will learn over the coming weeks how loved she really is.  She will learn that she is a precious and priceless child of God.  One day this child will know that she belongs to him, the one that created her.  She will learn that he gave himself for her salvation, and that she is truly loved, not just by those around her, but more than this she is loved more than we can imagine by the very one who created the universe and placed her in her own special part of it for his special purpose for her life.  
 
Please pray with me for Chichi.  We thank God for her, for who she is and how he made her.  We thank him for the plan he has for her future, and we thank him for allowing us to be a part of her young life.

​Traveling to Haiti to spend Christmas with our little ones.  I am thinking of how blessed I am to love and be loved by so many.  Each child that God has put in our care is so special.  I think of this often, this concept that each is unique, I think it’s an easy thing to say but what does this really mean.  We celebrate this time of year because our savior came to save us from our sins.  He came to save us all, but I propose that it might be better said that he came to save each one.  How humbling to consider that if it were only I that needed to be saved, still he would come, what if it where only you that needed his salvation?  Of course he would come.  Would he come if only for these little ones?   He certainly would, even for just one.   When we consider this as we look at each of these children, we can better see the value of each.  The value that the savior of the world, our savior,  has placed on each of these children, how can we not love each one?  They are, as we are, made in his image, his very own, each one.  

​I have very much enjoyed writing these little stories, sharing my thoughts and experiences with those who share my heart and God’s love for these little ones and the people of our small village in Haiti. 
 
This story however, I have struggled with for some time. 
 
It’s the story of my young friend Omar.  I am not with him now as I write this, in fact I am back in Minnesota. I have not seen Omar for several days, but have thought of him often as I do all our little ones at Caroline’s House. 
 
Omar is 12 years old, a bright little guy, eager to please and so pleased to be among those who love him.  He’s happy and helpful, so gentle and sweet with the younger children and so willing to help with whatever project is going on around him.  He is so happy to be with us at Caroline’s House and we are so blessed to have him. 
 
But Omar has struggled much in his young life, as many of these children have. Our young Omar has seen many things that no child should see.  He has seen great cruelty and violence, his past is marked by anger and abuse, his delicate soul and small body bare the marks of his very difficult past. 
 
Omar is safe now, far from his past and his troubles. Omar’s wounds have healed but his scars remain. 

We thank God for Omar, for who God made him, we thank our creator for Omar’s heart of love and forgiveness and for our opportunity to be part of this precious young man’s life and future. 

Seve Vanoss

Steve Vanoss - Director of Voice of Angels
Caroline's House, built by his hands, to serve his very own.  
612-500-1995 US. / 011-509-3194-4949 Haiti   stevevanoss@gmail.com

​ 

It’s Sunday afternoon at Caroline’s House. Our church service finished awhile ago, it seems long, perhaps longer to a transplanted Minnesotan with a still limited understanding of Creole. That is, an understanding certainly not capable of keeping up with Pastor Rena and his passionate, maybe you could even say aggressive style. But now we relax for awhile, later will be the preparation for school tomorrow, but right now everything seems to be moving a little slower.

My sweet mother-in-law has just come by as she does most days with some Haitian hot chocolate for papa Steve.  “Pitit mwen” she says softly as she gives me a hug. “My little one”, her pet name for me.

​Venite’s mother lives in a small house of bamboo with a rusty tin roof. This is the very house where my beautiful wife Venite grew up. It sits on a hilltop just beyond the next valley past Caroline’s House.  I have sat in front of this house many times, picturing in my minds eye, Venite as a little girl running up and down these trails, no one knowing at that time how God would use her one day to serve the very community where her family struggled to get by.

But this story is about my Mama, more specifically her heart for the people of our mountainside village and the children of Caroline’s House.  She is “grandma” to many and spends many hours each day at our house fussing with details that may otherwise be left undone. She clearly loves all the children here, but seems particularly happy to have her two new granddaughters to love and care for. Mama has been a widow now for more than ten years but continues to be full of life, carrying for others and being very involved in our church

I’ve heard it said before that if you want to understand your wife a little better, take a look at her mother. This may be scary to some, but I see over and over again in Mama how blessed I am to have my sweet wife Venite.

​Seve Vanoss

Steve Vanoss - Director of Voice of Angels
Caroline's House, built by his hands, to serve his very own.  
612-500-1995 US. / 011-509-3194-4949 Haiti   stevevanoss@gmail.com

​I have been back in Minnesota for three weeks now, away from my wonderful wife Venite, our twin baby girls and all the children I love so much.

An unexpected week in the hospital last recently has made this time away even more difficult than usual.  Thank you to all those that reached out, helped out and prayed for me through my stay.

It was tough. The time apart is always a challenge for me but this was different. Despite all efforts to bring Venite to Minnesota from Haiti during my hospitalization, it seems that our government is not yet ready to receive her when I needed her most.  That was the hardest part.

As I have said before Venite and I count our family very blessed to be called to this work and to this small mountainside village in Haiti.  The blessings are great, but the challenges can be great as well. The responsibilities that come from caring for so many come with significant costs and there are always the inevitable, sometimes expensive complications that arise as we reach out to our local community and so many in need.

So today we ask you, our friends, those of you who are touched by these children and this work to care for His very own, to partner with us financially in providing for the needs of these little ones and the families of our community.

Please consider making a gift today to Voice of Angels to help us in this work. It would be a great encouragement and put to important use!  We also ask that you would support our family, these children and our village in prayer.

Steve Vanoss
Voice of Angels
Serving his very own in Fon-De-Nèg Haiti 

​

A Christmas Gift

Today we celebrated the baby Jesus in Haiti. 

How blessed we are to be able to share this day with the children of Caroline’s House. They are so precious, created by the very one who sent his son Jesus to save them. 

​We share gifts and this special day together.  The gifts are small.  All had to fit in my suitcase for the trip but the time together has been very special. 

Many of us went to the beach today including our six year old Milove ( I call her “Baby  Love”).  She has been with us for several months but has not yet been to the beach.  In fact I would say it is likely she has never been to the beach at all. 

I say this because she was very excited to go... but then as we got closer to the sea she became very upset.  She was far from the water and would not move any closer. 

Eventually, I was able to coax her into sitting in a beach chair a little closer to the water and she sat there for quite a while.  Soon she was playing with the other children in the sand, still far from the water. 

Then a little closer - before we headed home she had waded in waist deep.  That was enough for today.

Our  Baby Love was so pleased with herself and clearly had a great deal of fun with the other children.  This little one has had very few experiences like this in her young life.

But today Baby Love’s world got a little bigger and that’s not a bad Christmas gift.

Seve Vanoss

Steve Vanoss - Director of Voice of Angels
Caroline's House, built by his hands, to serve his very own.  
612-500-1995 US. / 011-509-3194-4949 Haiti   stevevanoss@gmail.com

​The Depot

Work has begun at Caroline’s House on the depot.

In mid-December we will be receiving the bus shipped from Minnesota several weeks ago on its long journey to Fon-De-Nèg Haiti.

So many friends of Caroline’s House have filled this bus with clothing and shoes and many other needed supplies for many in our small mountainside village. This depot will serve as a distribution point for those in need to receive these things as well as food, baby formula and future shipments of supplies.

Our staff will be working with Pastor Rena of Crasade ( Evangelic ) church to meet these needs and to share the love of our savior and the gospel message in the process.

​We would like to thank all our friends in Minnesota, although we have been supplying these things in Haiti for many years, you, by the grace of God, have allowed us to significantly increase our ability to serve the people of Fon-De-Nèg.

One thousand miles of rain.

I have taken on many projects in my time with Voice of Angels, but few have caused me as much concern as my most recent endeavor.

I started the eighteen hundred mile trip from Minnesota to Miami in our slightly modified 1996 70 passenger school bus. Of course there where no passenger at all, just me and roughly 12,000 pounds of shoes, clothing, and other essentials headed for Caroline’s House in Fon-De-Nèg Haiti.

The trip started out very cold and wet, within a few miles I had figured out the heater, I had never needed it in my few short excursion around our area in Minnesota. The rain was another issue entirely. I had not anticipated taking on this drive in such adverse conditions.

Driving something so large is quite different from my little car, complicated by the weather and the higher level of physical exertion this machine requires made this trip something more than I was prepared for. But with a little prayer, and mustering a little fortitude, the miles started to go by.

The miles passed, the rain did not. There where short breaks in the weather from time to time but mostly rain, making it more difficult to see and requiring every ounce of my attention, with both hands firmly on the oversized steering wheel.  I made my way through Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and most of the way through Tennessee before having trouble with the bus on a particularly steep incline on a detour through a mountain pass.

One thousand miles from home, many miles to go, in a bus that would hardly move. This also was not in my plans.

But when our God calls us to action he also provides a way.

For me this came in the form of an unlikely couple, transplanted from the inner city of Chicago to the remote hills of southern Tennessee. Diesel mechanics by trade, but they are so much more. Over the next few hours as I shared my story and photos, and considered the next few steps, they came to know and love our little ones at Caroline’s House.

Well I had to be in Haiti in two days, and the bus repair was going to take a little time, so I dropped the key in one hand as I shook the other, and with help from another neighbor, was off to the local airport.

Now the bus is repaired by our new friends (I should say supporters) as the repair bill some how came out to zero!! Thank you Solid Rock Automotive in Trenton, Georgia!  And God above all.

A few weeks passed and I have now returned to Tennessee soon to see our friends and continue the long trek to Miami. With a thousand miles of rain behind and many uncertain miles ahead, we press on. Putting our faith in the one who called us to this work.

I think this is how our God works. If we always knew ahead of time what we are facing would we still have the strength to follow him? I don’t know. Would I have been willing to start this journey if I knew I would be facing one thousand miles of rain? Perhaps not, but he calls us to this work and he gives us the strength to complete it (Philippians 1:6 ).

So what’s next for our team at Voice of Angels? Many things I’m sure, but more then this I am sure that the one who has begun this work in us, will be faithful to complete it.

The bus will leave Miami on a barge headed for Haiti on December 11th and should arrive about December 16th. Just in time for Christmas.

*** We would like to thank all who have made this trip possible. Our good friends in Minnesota at Riverwood church and Maple Plain Community Church, and so many others, who have given so much of their time and resources. We would also like to thank our friends Shari and Bill of Rock Solid Diesel, God has touched their hearts for his little ones at Voice of Angels. Our friends have reached out to me, in a time of need, far from home and family, hungry and alone, to show God’s love. I know they share our heart, because this is also the goal at Caroline’s House.

Steve Vanoss - Director of Voice of Angels
Caroline's House, built by his hands, to serve his very own.  
612-500-1995 US. / 011-509-3194-4949 Haiti   stevevanoss@gmail.com