​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

I am probably crazy to share this on our blog - but God willing, we are going to  make this happen!!  We anticipate the impact of these projects on the lives of Haitian children to be enormous.

Disclaimer:  these projects are subject to change.  ​

Voice of Angels 2018 project estimates.

• Reliable transportation for US visitors and emergency medical transport vehicle, Toyota Hilux 42000$ 
• Top level of Girls house, six additional bedrooms, three additional bathrooms, and play room. 22,000$
• Guest House, four bedrooms and three bathrooms 25000$
• Boys house, four bedrooms and three bathrooms 25000$
• Church Building on adjacent property 20,000$
• Finish wall around property and one additional gate 20,000$
• Drilled water well and pump 4500$
• Solar panel system with inverter and six additional batteries 13000$
• Finish Guard house and storage building 6000$
• Finish outdoor kitchen with second level storage 7500$
• Ceramic in Girls house 8000$
• 100+ School scholarships for 2018/2019 school year 30000$
• Shipping School bus, suburban, and Chevy pickup 6600$
• Customs fees for shipping vehicles and create. 7200$
• Basketball court and play area 3500$

2019 projects

• Ceramic in boy’s house and guest house TDB
• School for children with disabilities TDB
• Improvement to road TDB
• Establish business and work opportunities i.e. Bakery, block manufacturing. TDB
• ​
  

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

Ellie looked at Punchinello, put his hands on those small wooden shoulders and spoke very slowly “because you are mine, that’s why you matter to me”. This is My favorite quote from “You are Special” by Max Lucado. I read this book often to our little ones at Caroline’s House.

That simple act of putting your hands on little shoulders and looking straight into their eyes, it says, listen carefully to what I am saying to you, I need you to understand my words. It’s what we do when we need our children to understand something important, we do this when we tell them they are loved, or for one who is hurting to let them know we understand.

I experienced this myself recently, at a time when I was feeling quite overwhelmed by the many events and responsibilities I was dealing with for Voice of Angels and the long upcoming drive to Miami in the school bus we are sending to Caroline’s House. This happened when my good friend and pastor PK, in the middle of a very busy morning, turned to me, put both hands on my shoulders, looked straight into my eyes and said “We are with you”.

How did he know I was struggling in that moment? Perhaps he didn’t.

Now I have known this all along, my friends at Riverwood Church have been very supportive for a very long time. But the encouragement I felt hearing this again, so directly and so much from the heart, in God's timing I am sure, has given me the strength to continue this work regardless of any obstacles ahead.

Venite and I would like to thank all our friends at Riverwood Church and Maple Plain Church, and so many others. We could not do this work without you. You share our love for these little ones and the Haitian people in our small mountainside village.