Happy New Year

As we enter the new year, I wanted to provide a brief update on our family and also take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and generosity towards A Chance to Dream.

In recent months, Ron, the children, and I have completed the emotionally challenging task of packing up our family home in Haiti and have safely returned to North Carolina in the United States. The decision to leave Haiti stemmed from increasing instability due to various challenges, including gang violence and limited resources. I also underwent unexpected back surgery recently, and while my recovery will be demanding, I am grateful for the prayers and support that sustain me through this challenging time.

 

Despite this move to the United States, our hearts remain dedicated to Haiti's service, and we are actively engaged in supporting the community from afar.

Your contributions throughout this year have made an incredible difference in the lives of those we serve. Thanks to your compassion and commitment, we've been able to improve the quality of life for children and families in Haiti, Guatemala, and Ecuador.

  

Thank you for being an essential part of our mission and for your continued belief in our cause. Together, we can bring positive change and make a lasting difference in so many lives.

 

Your ongoing support and prayers means the world to our family as we navigate this significant chapter. We kindly request your continued prayers for our mission and also for my recovery. We thank you for standing with us and being a source of strength.

 

We are wishing you and your loved ones a prosperous New Year!

A New Chapter

 Hello! 

It’s Keely again with an update on the Sheppard family's journey as they navigate a period of transition, alongside Linda's ongoing health challenges.

After a return to Haiti to pack up their home and the gymnastics school, Linda has safely returned to the United States. Her journey was marked by unexpected twists, as her back deteriorate in Haiti and had to divert through the Dominican Republic for urgent medical care. Now, she is back home with her family in North Carolina. Regrettably, her health necessitated back surgery in mid-September. While there's a demanding road to recovery ahead, Linda remains grateful for the sustaining power of your prayers and trusts in God's divine plan for her healing.

The shipment of gymnastics equipment from the Haitian school to its US counterpart, Union County Gymnastics, arrived shortly after Linda's return. The equipment is already set up, eagerly awaiting new students. In the coming months, the focus will be on fostering connections and refining program designs, charting the course for the partnership between Haiti and the US gymnastic programs.

Linda and Ron are deeply committed to education, recognizing it as the catalyst for transformative change for young Haitians. Post-Linda's recovery, their efforts will be concentrated on collaborating with their Haitian staff to identify schools for potential partnerships and initiating the expansion of their educational initiatives in Haiti.

The visa application process for Leanne's entry into the US has been set in motion. Though it's a long process, there is a steadfast trust in the system and a belief that God holds the ultimate plan.

Today, we humbly ask for your prayers for the following:

Linda's swift recovery and enduring health

• The Sheppard children as they transition and adjust to new beginnings of their own

• Guidance and wisdom as the development of the Haiti-US gymnastics sister program takes its formative steps

• Open doors for partnerships in the gymnastics program

• A seamless visa process for Leanne

• Strength and safety for the Haitian staff, who serve as the eyes and feet on the ground

• Tranquility and rejuvenation for Haiti

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. Together, we stand as a source of strength for the Sheppard family during this pivotal chapter in their lives.

The Sheppard Family Transition

Greetings! My name is Keely, and today I'm honored to share an update on behalf of the Sheppard family. Recently, I've been in close contact with Linda, offering my support as she faces the incredibly challenging transition

of leaving Haiti and returning, full-time, to the United States. Having experienced a similar move myself, I understand the difficulties involved, and my aim today is to convey their current situation while allowing them space to focus on their most pressing tasks.

A decade ago, the Sheppards embarked on a journey to Haiti, purchasing 14 one-way tickets.

Now, Linda finds herself alone in Haiti, packing up their family home, bidding farewell to loved ones, and loading a container that will be shipped to the States. Meanwhile, Ron is holding down the fort in North Carolina.

Their family has grown and thrived in Haiti, experiencing countless "firsts," birthdays, Christmases, and more during their time there. However, now they are each following different paths. Eight of the children have settled in North Carolina, including 13-year-old Naomi, who was just a baby when they first made that life-changing journey. David is in France, and the remaining five are spread across Oregon and Washington state.

Haiti has become increasingly unstable due to gang violence, kidnappings, and limited resources, which has compelled the Sheppard family to relocate to the US. Even though God physically took the family to safety, their hearts remain committed to Haiti's service. This transition has been more challenging than anyone could have anticipated, but it also holds hope for new opportunities and fresh beginnings. God has presented them with various avenues to continue supporting their family, friends, and community in Haiti.

The Sheppards are continuing to offer support to Leanne, who remains in Haiti, and are actively working to secure a visa for her to join them in the United States.

They are also devoted to providing school support for the children in the communities they leave behind in Haiti.

Furthermore, Linda has worked through countless obstacles and challenges to get a container full of gymnastics equipment from Haiti to North Carolina.

This will enable a partnership between Haiti gymnastics and Union County Gymnastics to take shape. The sister-school program will facilitate an exchange, allowing Haitian students to come and train, as well as compete in North Carolina. The connection with coaches having strong ties to the university opens up countless opportunities for the students involved. While the details are still being worked out, the Sheppards are confident that this is all part of God's plan.

As always, we believe that God has a plan for them, and we humbly request your prayers for various aspects of their journey:

• Pray for the Sheppards' transition, both in terms of their physical well-being and emotional healing as they navigate their new life in the United States.
• Pray for peace and restoration in Haiti, and especially for the Haitian families who are facing daily struggles for survival.
• Pray for the ministries that the Sheppard’s are committed to supporting in Haiti.
• Pray for guidance on their upcoming projects in both Haiti and the United States.
• Pray for the safe delivery of the container as it makes its way from Haiti to North Carolina, and for the success of the gymnastics sister-school program, as it opens new opportunities for students on both sides.
• Finally, pray for healing and hope to prevail throughout their journey.

Thank you for joining us in prayer and support for the Sheppard family during this crucial period of transition. Together, we can make a difference and bring positivity and empowerment to both their new life in the United States and their continued dedication to serving Haiti.

Therapy in Guatemala

Yes, we are still very active in Haiti. We have not given up HOPE for the people of Haiti and we appreciate everyone's continued prayers for the unrest and continual crisis in the place we call home. We would like to give more updates, but it's very depressing and continues to get worse and worse. Please keep praying for our staff in Haiti, their families, and that they will be safe. We still feel displaced in North Carolina with our hearts in Haiti and our home and dogs and so many friends we consider family.

But for this post, we want to talk about something positive. In the meantime, Linda continues to minister in Guatemala yay!  She lead a mission trip a few weeks ago to Santa Maria de Jesus with a joint medical and mental health training/therapy team. 

 

It was an amazing experience, especially getting back into her specialty which is trauma work and mental health. Linda has been a trainer for Crisis Care Training International for many, many years, but as things got worse and worse in Haiti around 2018, mental health training aspects and doing therapy began to take a back seat. 

Linda personally was really burning out. But just look at some of these amazing photos of the training in Guatemala. It was such an uplifting experience! Previously, it was so hard to live in the middle of crisis nonstop and work in the field of crisis (rape, hostage, shooting) and also be a parent to so many traumatized children. We had much trauma ourselves as well as secondary trauma, but God is good and we are healing. 

In Haiti, God called us to make a transition into physical fitness and gymnastics to assist with long term physical and mental health and also as a way to provide HOPE to the suffering who only saw trauma and unrest all around them. The Lord opened doors and it was truly amazing. We began to see a wide range of ways to serve the needs.

Onto the year 2023, and we are not currently full time in Haiti. Most of our children are now grown. Linda is in a better place mentally to venture back into some mental health trainings again. And what a JOY it has been :) 

We have another team traveling to Guatemala August 19-26, so please contact if you are interested. It will be a joint medical/mental health trip as well. 

We also did medical care with the elderly in a group home and also with our amazing friend Brenna who has an amazing ministry with homebound elderly. 

At the school, we were able to work with 160 children with doing a module on trauma. We also did fluoride treatments for all the students and provided some medical care some of the students as well. What a tremendous blessing to be able to serve in such a way!

Unfortunately, Linda had some pretty significant back issues in Guatemala and ended up being brought to the ER herself and had to get an MRI and was sent to a brain/spine specialist. She was in a TON of physical pain and has since been following up with doctors, PT, and surgeons in the Florida as well as North Carolina. Please pray for healing without surgery!

She is trying to do what she can to avoid a cervical spinal fusion, so please keep us in prayers regarding those details as well as expenses involved in all of that. We appreciate all of you so much and pray for you and your families. God is good, but life is HARD. We pray that all of us will feel presence of the Lord and that we continue to turn to the Lord with confidence and strength knowing that He will meet all of our needs. 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go" ~Joshua 1:9

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Trusting in Transitions

The Sheppard Family                               December 31, 2022

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Time sure has flown. It has been almost ten years since our family moved from Oregon into Haiti. Little did we know what the Lord had planned! We started working with a small clinic in Gromothe and expanded to the village of Belot and then even further into the mountains in Sonis. While supporting the growth of churches, building schools, operating mobile medical clinics, developing irrigation systems, and conducting trainings, we began to incorporate therapy to heal from trauma as well. This amazingly brought us into gymnastics that started in the villages and then advanced into orphanages and into the city of Port au Prince. 

Wow! It’s been quite an adventure as many of our kids have grown up and moved onto their own adventures in life. One is living in France and the rest are spread throughout Oregon, Washington and North Carolina. Ron, Linda and eight of the Sheppard kids are now transitioning into North Carolina. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us next!

These changes have been huge, but we see the Lord’s hands each step of the way. We are now working with Union County Gymnastics in Wingate, North Carolina. This location has become a “sister school” to the gymnastics outreach in Haiti. We have many programs operating in Haiti, but for now, they will continue through trips in and out of the country and entrusting our local staff to oversee the projects si Dye vle. Linda will be traveling back to Haiti in January and also leading a medical and trauma training team into Guatemala in February. Ron is working in Charlotte and continues to manage the village projects in Haiti as well as helping with the local gymnastics program in the evenings. The kids are also keeping busy by assisting with gymnastics and volunteering at the animal shelter.

We want to thank each and every one of you for your continued love, prayers, and support. We miss all of our friends and family, especially around the holiday season. May the Lord bless you and bring you peace, love, and good health this coming year and all years to come! Please prayerfully consider donating one time and with monthly support. Your partnership is greatly needed and appreciated! We are humbled and inspired to see friends and family step up to make such huge sacrifices to help the children and families in need around the world.

God Bless, 

 

Ron, Linda and the entire Sheppard Family

Oh Haiti, My Heart.... 

     County of Extremes

I don't even know what to say at this point. Just when we think it cannot get ANY worse, Haiti just goes downhill even further. I have been traveling to Haiti for nearly 20 years. I began working in Haiti way before our five Haitian kids joined our family. In fact, I remember families that I was working with would ask if we would be adopting from Haiti and I would say nope. I think our house is full. At the time, we had seven kids. We were living in North Carolina, and we really thought our family was complete. 

But God. There were many "but God" moments that seemed to happen. We did not know that some of the children we met in the orphanage would one day join other families in the USA, but eventually make it to our family for their forever home. It's been quite a journey. Haiti really grabbed onto our hearts and held on. We love the Lord and we love children and also have children from all over the world, but we have more children from Haiti than anywhere else. All of our children from Haiti also joined our family long before we jumped in with both feet and moved the whole family there 10 years ago. Haiti has a special place in our hearts. Although it seems impossible and hopeless, we are not giving up!! God has not forgotten or abandoned Haiti and we cannot forget Haiti either. 

We have to be honest though and say this past year has been one of the hardest we have experienced so far. Our family has been spread apart not only with kids aging out and moving on with their lives (growing up), but also with evacuating the kids to North Carolina last year and Ron and I trading off back and forth to Haiti. The various ministry projects we have going on simply have not been equipped to continue independently without at least one of us in Haiti. It was a lot to manage when our entire family was basically volunteering all of their time and now we are missing many hands to help. 

We are regrouping and we are excited to see what the Lord is doing. We have hired some new people to fill various roles, but the money and also the time it takes to train new people, is no small thing. Please pray that the funds will come and the right people will be able to fill those roles. Many people need work and so this is not entirely a bad thing.  We are not purely just hiring someone to do a job though. Pray that people with a love for the Lord and a vision for the future will be placed in those roles. 

Essentially we are condensing what we do into two main projects in Haiti. These two main projects are our Sports Program and our Canine Program. 

Sports Program 

The first one is our gym and sports program. We have been back in the schools and this time at Union School. We have some AMAZING students!! We are so blessed to be involved in bringing gymnastics to these amazing kids. Please pray that the country will stabilize enough that the schools can open again. 

As of the past few weeks, the schools have been closed due to the current political unrest which has blocked off roads and made it impossible to travel within the city. There is also no fuel to be had or very limited fuel on the black market if you can even get it. 

Country Instability

Canine Program

So, what do we do when we are locked down for 7 days or 15 days or 25 days? Well, we continue to work on our other main program which is training dogs. We are in process of training dogs for Search and Rescue.  We are making strides in developing our first Search and Rescue dog team for Haiti. We also train protection dogs, therapy dogs, and service dogs.  We are working hard to develop standards of care to promote ethical breeding practices and assure high quality care in the treatment of animals. 

Historically, many people are scared of dogs in Haiti. Dogs are often mistreated in the streets and rocks are thrown at them. That history of fear also contributes to dogs even within the home compound, not really cared for as a pet, but more like an object or something to be able to control. We aim to change that step by step. Although we also train protection dogs that can be dangerous, we LOVE our dogs and these protection dogs are being trained to help people.  Especially during these difficult times, guards and other employees can be paid off, but you cannot pay off a loyal pet/dog. We do poison proofing with dogs and train dogs to not take food from anyone. These dogs are truly amazing!!

Akari - GSD in Training for SAR

I am blessed to be one of the founders of the Haitian Canine Society. Although I have stepped down from my involvement in the main organization, I have focused on founding the German Shepherd dog club (a specialty club within the main club) and have been honored to be named the president of that club. This club allows us to focus on more details of training we are doing more specifically with German Shepherds in particular. 

As always, we appreciate your continued prayers for our family and for the country of Haiti. Please prayerfully consider supporting our projects in Haiti. No amount is too small! We need YOU to keep our projects going with a one time gift as well as monthly contributions to World Outreach at https://www.worldoutreach.org/cc/donations.html?fCode=546

Documents and Dogs

 We have made it half way through 2022.  Sometimes, this is all we can ask.  The year seems to be going fast in some respects and very slow in others.   Linda has been in Haiti and I have been in North Carolina with the kids.  

Linda has been working with the gymnastics kids to get them ready for the trip to compete in the US, however the trip has been delayed due to paperwork for visas and other travel documents.  The kids are doing great with their gymnastics and are very excited for the trip. We are hoping to be able to do the competition before school starts.  

Linda is also working on a couple of projects with the Special Olympics of Haiti.  She will be training participants in gymnastics and weight lifting for Down Syndrome participants.  This is something that has always been close to Linda's heart. Please pray that she is able to make a positive impact.  

The building location for the school dormitory in Sonis has experienced a small landslide.  We are currently trying to find a more suitable location.

We are also excited to announce that there is a new family member.  Kristof is a daddy and we received one of his puppies.  She is high energy, just like Kristof.  We are working to possibly train her as an emergency rescue/cadaver dog.  This is unfortunately a much needed service.

              

Django and Kristof also participated in a dog show.  Displaying their talents in agility and protection.  They did very well and continue to demonstrate the advantages of a well trained security dog.  

Security in Haiti continues to degrade.  We are approaching one year since the president was assassinated, and Haiti still does not have a president.  The gangs continue to expand their areas of control.  I saw a news article that indicated more than 250 people were kidnapped in Haiti in the month of May.  This is unfortunately becoming the new normal in Haiti. Please pray for the security in Haiti to improve.  There is a lot of politics involved, however God is bigger than this.

 

This summer, some of us will be traveling to visit churches and other supporters.  If you would like us to visit your church or other group, please contact us.  As we begin the second half of the year, please consider supporting us financially or in prayer.   

God Bless