Atemise Austin Atemise Austin

A great grand adventure has now been completed It began in a Haitian orphanage to a family that provided unconditional love through adoption.  Now  she has gone to her final home, to eternal peace, with her Heavenly Father. Our funny sweet Attie passed on into heaven early in the morning on Monday November 21st. 

Susie, Josh and I first met Attie, (Atemise), where she lived in an orphanage in Camrby, Haiti.  She was the girl, who would not smile,  that captured our hearts the moment that we laid eyes on her. She sat on my (Dale's) lap one day during a visit, whispered something into my ear and it was as though God Himself was whispering His desire for us to adopt Attie and for her to become a part of our family. After several years of wrestling with various legal and government agencies, those word became reality and Attie would become our daughter and a little sister to Joshua, Daniel and Jennifer.

Her presence in our family changed our lives forever. She gave us laughter, caused us to shed tears and brought to us another way of looking at life and the society in which we live.

Attie lived out a life Bible verse that we chose for her, 1st Peter 3:3-4, "And let not your adornment be merely external -  braiding the hair, and wearing of gold jewelry, or putting on dresses but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the site of God." Okay so maybe not so quiet,  a voice when she sang along with her favorite songs, but a quite spirit none the less. She truly lived life to serve others, love the children in her life and maintain a deep desire to return to Haiti to help those who are hurting in that impoverished nation.

There were many times where we could not see the impact that she had on her family until after God had led us through life paths. This happened again on Monday morning after we told Josh that his sister had passed away. He wrote the following to honor Attie:




Death...

Some say it can be prevented...

But I disagree

Death is a planned occurrence...

Planned by the Devine Being above..

He carries our plan

And that plan is always for the better.

Even if we see it unjustified through our worldly eyes..

The only thing that we can do is hope and pray that His plan will unfold soon..

And He will return when it had done so..

Then no matter how much pain you have gone through..

No matter how much suffering you have gone through in the process..

It will all be made right and we will all be on the streets of heaven together again..

But until then we must stand strong..

Fight the good fight..

Fight for remembrance..

Never forget those who you love..

Because one day you will be able to see them again in the Kingdom of God.




Please join with us and celebrate Attie and remember all that she has done during her walk here on Earth. I will leave you with one of my favorite conversations with Attie. We were on our back porch and she told me, "Dad, I know what love means now!" I asked "Okay, that is a fairly tough emotion to understand, what does love mean?' Her answer, "Love means that you never give up on somebody."