Celebrating HANNAH!

We had tears the evening of May 23, as we thought of our baby, Hannah, walking down the aisle and receiving her High School diploma in Iowa without us. In attendance were her grandpa and grandma Droogsma, her adoptive parents, Dean and Julie Summa, her great cheerleader, Cami Brocka, and her brother, Drew.

We reminisced of her past years in High School and the victories and hardships she passed through living here in Brazil. She broke her neck in our first car accident here in Brazil. She went to school for months wearing a neck brace. She struggled finding her niche here and yet always kept a great attitude and Kingdom mindedness!

Hannah had embraced Brazilian culture and lived here with flexibility and strength, standing firm in the fact that God had called us here and wanting to do His will.

When our visas were denied last September, and she was 3 months short of graduating here in Rio, she had to return to the States to start her Senior year....all over again! And yet, she never once complained! She used all situations to share Christ and impacted many more people than we know.

We had the blessing of hearing of just one of those people that she impacted last night while we had dinner with our brother-in-Christ, Marcio from our local CELIVRE Recreio church.

We had traveled to CENA in Sao Paulo last August with a short-term team. One night, as we were all street evangelizing, Hannah reached out to a young woman named Aline. Hannah told her how beautiful and how much worth she had in Christ. That God had a much better plan for her life than to be living on the street using drugs. Hannah then introduced her to Marcio and the three of them spoke together for a while.

Marcio told us that after our team left, and subsequently, our family left Brazil (because of denied visas), he stayed at CENA for 5 more months. During that time he often saw Aline on the street. Aline did not forget about Hannah and Marcio was able to have many more converstions about Christ with her because of the connection that Hannah had made.

Aline has not left the streets....yet. But we will continue to pray for her and have hope that someday she will depend on Christ as Lord and Savior and not on drugs.

Sometimes, God blesses us to see a glimpse of how He uses us. And for this, we remain faithful to the work He has called us to.

Hannah will return to Rio in June to participate with her class from Rio International Christian School in what would have been her graduation ceremony here. The staff has invited her to do so and have ordered her a cap and gown! Hannah will walk down the aisle---this time with the presence of her mom and dad!

We love you Hannah and are so proud of you! We celebrate your accomplishments with you!