Praise God! He's done it again!

Isn't God's timing amazing?  He's always just in time!  Right when we've decided it's not going to happen, He comes through and wows us.  Whoever said the Christian life was not exciting???

We are praising God for the granting of 501(c)(3) non-profit status from the IRS yesterday.  Many of you know the struggle we've gone through over these many months trying to attain 501(c)(3) status (which means we are tax exempt & donations are tax deductible).  After a very disturbing phone call from the IRS a few weeks ago, it seemed doubtful that they would grant us 501(c)(3) status.  But once again Mercy Ships stepped in, got their attorneys involved, and the issue was resolved in fairly short time.  Thank you, Mercy Ships!  We love you guys!

So, with our first family arriving at the retreat this Friday, God's timing could not be more perfect.  The first family cabin is completed and ready for guests.  Now we can look forward to building the other 5 cabins and the recreation center.  We have a feeling that God's plans for Elijah's Retreat are much bigger than ours!  It's all yours, Jesus - your will be done!

So now all donations are tax deductible and 100% go to building Elijah's Retreat.  There are no paid staff or board members.  But there are many who have donated their time, energy and resources to help build the cabin, put up fences, clear trails, etc..  Thank you so very much.  God bless you.   

Open for Reservations!!!

Praise God!  We are now ready to take reservations for the retreat, so if you have a child with autism, let us know when you'd like to come, beginning the first week of June and we'll get you on the calendar.  

We only have one cabin completed at this point, so reservations will be on a first come, first serve basis for our one beautiful little two-bedroom cabin.  We are requesting a donation of $30.00 per night for a stay in the cabin.  It has a full kitchen, including refrigerator, stove, microwave, toaster, coffee-maker, and a full size washer and dryer.  There's an adorable living room and dining area, and a front porch complete with a relaxing porch swing and even a ceiling fan to make sitting out there more enjoyable. 

The playground includes a swingset, slide, fort, rock climbing wall, a large sandbox and a hammock.  We're still adding to the playground, and have many great ideas to make it really fun, but it all takes money, so we're in a holding pattern at the moment.  

The opening of this cabin is just the first step in the vision for Elijah's Retreat.  Please continue to lift us up in your prayers as we move on to phase 2.  We have great dreams for Elijah's Retreat.  Seeing God bring this portion to reality only gives us greater faith that He will provide for the rest.  

To make a reservation, please email us at info@elijahsretreat.com or call us at 903-589-0145.  

God bless you!  Thank you for your support of this ministry!

Praise God for His Provisions!

We are praising God for his abundant blessing over Elijah's Retreat.  In the past couple of weeks He has directly answered our prayers by providing the funds we needed to finish up the first cabin and complete the fences around the fishing pond and playground.  He has also provided the manpower to complete the tasks.  

Our beloved team of dear friends from the Denton area will be returning this month for the fourth time this year to spend a weekend working at the retreat.  These folks were here when the first wall was raised on the cabin last spring, and they have committed to see us through until we are prepared for our first family.  These wonderful, godly friends have not only supported us with their time and labor, but with consistent prayer and encouragement, and with their gifts and offerings.  They have collected furniture, appliances, bedding and toys, as well as donations of funds for Elijah's Retreat.  Amazing, amazing people who have become like family to us.  We love them dearly.

Other good friends from Jacksonville have been determined to see this project through, as well, and have supported us financially and with their labor.  We thank them for their love, support and great encouragement over the past year.  We could not have done this without them.  What a blessing they have been!

With these new provisions, it looks as though we will be able to open for guests by late April or early May.  We will be announcing our grand opening/open house celebration in the near future.  We hope you will be able to join us for a day of entertainment, great barbeque and joyous celebration and praise for all God has done to take Elijah's Retreat from dream to reality.  

Generation Rescue

Generation Rescue is a wonderful non-profit organization dedicated to helping kids with autism improve and even recover. In their own words "Empowering Parents with the Truth to Help Our Children Heal". If you've never been to their website, take the time to peruse it. It is a world of information on autism and bio-medical treatments for autism. The following is taken from their brochure.

"Generation Rescue is a parent-founded, parent-funded, and parent-led organization focused on biomedical treatment for autism. Since our founding in 2005, our volunteer families, more than 400 strong, have helped over 15,000 children begin biomedical treatment.

Our children are experiencing epidemics of ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s, PDD-NOS, and Autism. We believe these neurological disorders (“NDs”) are environmental illnesses caused by an overload of heavy metals, live viruses, and bacteria. Proper treatment of our children, known as “biomedical intervention,” is leading to recovery for thousands. The cause of this epidemic of NDs is extremely controversial. We believe the primary causes include the tripling of vaccines given to children in the last 15 years (mercury, aluminum and live viruses); maternal toxic load and prenatal vaccines; heavy metals like mercury in our air, water, and food; and the overuse of antibiotics.

Because of the inherent conflict mainstream health authorities have in confronting autism, parents are left to fend for themselves, prompting the need for organizations like Generation Rescue to be created. Despite hundreds of parental reports of recovery and thousands of parental reports of improvement, biomedical intervention is not receiving the attention of mainstream health authorities. Today, we think all resources should be devoted to finding the best possible biomedical treatments to help as many children as possible recover."

Autism is a huge epidemic in this nation. There has to be an environmental reason for it. One out of every 150 kids is now being diagnosed with Autism. That is too big a number to be attributed to genetics, as our government would like us to believe. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest government cover ups in history. The fact that the CDC will not take ANY steps to change their immunization schedule for our babies, in light of this epidemic, still infuriates me. In third world countries where there are no, or very little immunizations of children, there is NO autism to be found. Coincidence?

My grandson is paying for our nation's negligence. How many more of our children will have to pay? Please support organizations such as Generation Rescue. We need them. Thank you, Generation Rescue for all your good work in educating us and in being bold enough to take on the media in this country.

Elijah's Retreat Set to Open Spring 2009

Elijah’s Retreat will at last open its doors for guests this Spring! We will be giving the first cabin its final touches over the winter, as well as completing the playground and additional fencing around the property. Spring is all about new life and new beginnings. We can’t imagine a more perfect time for our grand opening.

Researching autism on the internet this morning I came across a staggering statistic. The divorce rate for couples who have a child with autism is now over 80%! Life is hard for these families – every day – and marriages are falling apart in the midst of the stress, fatigue and turmoil.

That is why we are so passionate about what we are doing here at Elijah’s Retreat. These families desperately need support. We want Elijah’s Retreat to be a sanctuary, a refuge for these precious folks for many years to come.

(Elijah’s Retreat is a non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible.)