I’ve had a lot of people ask me lately, “Tom, what do you see is coming next? What’s the next step in this mess?”
A couple of thoughts at this point:
- Anyone short of Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman, Meredith Whitney and maybe a few others who tell you that they KNOW how this is all going to end is lying. (Did you notice how I didn’t include Treasury Secretary Geithner or anyone in Washington in that list?)
- But there are some people who have the ability to peer a little farther out into the fog than most do.
- Anyone who tells you this isn’t a confusing and potentially scary time is lying to you as well. Never in our life times have we seen the kind of financial devastation and economic pain that is currently happening.
The things that are going on are causing lots of people to question a lot of things that they weren’t questioning before. Things like:
- Will I be able to retire?
- Can I ever trust a mortgage lender again?
- Will real estate still be a good investment?
- What’s happening in the stock market?
- Is my financial advisor telling me the whole story?
- What are mortgage rates going to do?
- How does the actions of the Federal Reserve impact the financial markets?
- What are the long and the short term ramifications of the deficits that the government is currently running?
- How does the value of the dollar impact real estate and mortgages?
Those are just a smattering of the types of questions that I’ve been hearing from people lately. Okay, some of them aren’t quite in the format that I spelled them out but they have basically been asking that. Frankly, I think the consumer’s desire to ask more questions is a good thing and a healthy thing in the long run.
So where am I going with this? I’m getting to it…….
I’ve been fortunate to “hook up” with two of the experts in other areas of the financial spectrum and we’re setting up a new source for financial and real estate market insight and understanding. As of probably later this week, the new website will be up and running. We’ve chosen to call it All Markets Considered.
Why did we pick that name? It’s pretty simple. We picked that name because we’re setting up a place that will offer unbiased, highly critical (not in a negative sense, but in a detailed sense) and very thorough insights into what’s going on. What’s happening in the mortgage world, what’s happening in the finance world, what’s happening in the world of real estate as an investment and what’s happening in the world of stocks will all be discussed, no holds barred, just telling it like we see it. This is not going to be a place where we’re selling “stuff” just offering our advice, insight, understanding and perspective to help people navigate these times. What’s the catch? It’s pretty simple – if you want to read more than the first few lines of any of the posts, you have to subscribe to the site.
I’ll introduce to the two experts that will be writing with me tomorrow. I’m excited about the opportunity to help more people through this and I hope you’ll check it out.
Stay tuned……
Tom Vanderwell
Not to sound like a take off on the movie Poltergeist, but I’m back!
Where did I go? Frankly not much of anywhere, but I took all day Wednesday, most of Thursday and all day Friday off to work on a fundraising concert for God’s Littlest Angels orphanage in Haiti. The concert was Friday night, November 13 and the Christian music groups Selah and Avalon performed to almost 800 people (nearly sold out.)
The evening was an astounding success. We raised over $20,000 for the orphanage and that money will go a LONG ways. But more importantly, it was very obvious that many lives were touched and many people really appreciated the opportunity to make a difference for orphans in this world.
So, I’ve been absent from the mortgage world for a few days. Now it’s time to get back into that. I’ll have more as the day progresses.
Thanks for your patience while I was gone!
Tom Vanderwell
Technorati Tags: Charity, Orphanage, God’s Littlest Angels,
Didn’t get published over the weekend. Spent a majority of my time either with the family or working on an exciting fundraiser for God’s Littlest Angels in Haiti.
It will be completed within the next hour or so. Sign up now in the column on the left if you want a copy.
New underwriting guidelines are in place as of this morning. I plan on talking about a lot of those this week because there are some very important changes that are happening.
Stay tuned and as always, let me know how I can help.
Tom Vanderwell
Mortgage Market Week in Review
And because of that, Straight Talk is not going to be talking about mortgages today. So what’s so important about today?
On June 25, 2004, two young children from Haiti landed in Ft. Lauderdale’s airport and became US Citizens. They were in awe of the big planes, in awe of the new surroundings and not really sure where they were. We had spent a couple of weeks with them at the orphanage in Haiti so they felt quite comfortable calling us what we had just become, “Mom and Dad.”
That kicked off the second phase of an excellent adventure. Five years ago today, Isaac and Abby came to the United States as my and my wife’s son and daughter. The last 5 years have been a wonderful assortment of blessings, challenges, exhaustion, wonder and pretty much an other emotion you can feel. I’m taking the liberty of reposting something that I wrote last January for Focus on the Family’s Orphan Care Website. It still says quite well what we feel.
If you’d like to know more about the orphanage that we adopted from, check out God’s Littlest Angels. We remain very involved with them and if you would feel so moved, we’d love it if you’d would make a donation to support them. With today’s economy and 160 mouths to feed, they are feeling the pinch.
Thanks for taking the time to read this today and every day.
Tom Vanderwell
Following God’s Call
Tom Vanderwell
1/17/2008
Boy, was I naïve…..
I remember the Sunday night in October of 2002, when my wife and I looked at each other after reading the stories of kids available for adoption in the Sunday paper. We had commented about them many times, but suddenly it was different. We were actually serious about adding one or two more children to our family! I had no idea how many ways God would change our lives as we followed His call to love and care for orphans in the world.
In the five years since, many people have asked us, “What made you pick Haiti?” The short answer is that God told us to. The long answer is that, as we started exploring different options, we found more and more connections to Haiti. By praying, sharing our “intentions” with friends and family, and asking them to pray for God’s leading, we saw God opening many doors and gently shutting others as we searched for our children. All doors pointed to God’s Littlest Angels in Petionville, Haiti (www.glahaiti.org).
We brought Abby and Isaac home from Haiti in June of 2004. Isaac was 3½ and Abby was just over 2½. Suddenly, we went from having three biological daughters (ages 17, 14 and 12) to having five children. To say that life got a bit busier would be an understatement!
Who would have thought?
Since then, our lives have become a wonderful adventure full of many “Who would have thought?” moments:
- Who would have thought that we’d ever have five children in our family with a 15-year age spread between them?
- Who would have thought that in the last five years, we’d make more trips to a fourth world country than we would to “resort” countries?
- Who would have thought that becoming a trans-racial family would broaden our horizons and allow us to meet so many wonderful people of different races?
- Who would have thought that we’d get our story in the local newspapers because our kids were caught in the middle of a government coup?
- Who would have thought that our 2nd oldest would decide to devote her life to caring for the orphans in Haiti?
- Who would have thought that my very blonde haired wife would learn to be an “expert” in black hair care?
- Who would have thought that we’d learn so much about how adopted kids need to be “parented” differently than biological children do?
- Who would have thought that this banker from a small town in Michigan would play a large part in helping Bethany Christian Services start facilitating adoptions from Haiti? And that over 70 families have started the process to adopt from Haiti because of that?
- Who would have thought that we’d make friends literally all over the world with other families with Haitian children?
- Who would have thought we’d have the privilege of watching Abby change from a 20 month old who weighed 12 lbs and couldn’t even stand up on her own to a 6-year-old who is on the go and talking constantly?
- Who would have thought that finally having a boy in the family would be so much fun?
- Who would have thought I’d be on the board of an orphanage in Haiti and be helping raise money so they can build an orphanage large enough to care for the needy children until they can go home to their forever families?
- Who would have thought I’d ever be in a situation where for three months a year, I’d be able to say that I have two kids of the same age and they aren’t twins!
- Who would have thought that I’d ever have Focus on the Family ask me to share our story as part of their Orphan Care Initiative?
Since we brought our children home, many people have commented that “those kids are so blessed!” They don’t really understand.
We are the ones who have been blessed even more!
We’re blessed to have them as our children, blessed by the things we’ve learned in the process, blessed by the people we’ve come to meet, blessed by the people we’ve become good friends with through our adoption connections, blessed by a greater appreciation of how God moves and works in this world, and blessed by how good we’ve got it.
Stepping Up
One of the people we’ve met and come to consider friends through our adoption adventure likes to say, “Life is never boring when you follow God’s call.” I firmly believe that now. I think it’s even more noteworthy when you realize that friend of ours has 13 kids, 7 biological and 6 adopted. Now that’s what I call an adventure!
When we responded to God’s urging that we had room for more children in our family, we really didn’t expect that He would lead us this way. It’s been a wild ride with lots of ups and downs, but it has been amazing to see the way God has led and guided us. I wouldn’t trade these last five years for anything, and we’re looking forward to seeing what else God has in store as we continue to follow the call of James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress….”
I’d like to urge you to be open to that “still small voice” and ask God what role you can play in caring for the orphans of the world. Then ask your family and friends to join you in prayer about what role you can all play. If you’d like to talk to me about any of this, please feel free to e-mail me at tvanderwell@sbcglobal.net or call me at (616) 292-7559.
Tom Vanderwell was born in Sioux Center, Iowa and is the son of a Christian Reformed minister. He’s spent the majority of his life living in Western Michigan where he married his high school sweetheart, Cheryl, 22 years ago. They have five children ranging in age from 20 down to 6. He’s a mortgage lender with a large regional bank, and Tom has been on the board of God’s Littlest Angels since 2006. In his spare time, Tom enjoys reading, working on computers, camping, golf, and spending time with his family.
God’s Littlest Angels
But I was just reading the blog of some missionary friends of ours, Troy and Tara Livesay, who are serving the underprivileged in Port Au Prince Haiti. Troy reposted a video that he made in 2006 and I wanted to share it with you. Why did I want to share it with you? A couple of reasons:
1. Because it shows a very good picture of what Haiti is like.
2. Because in spite of all of the foreclosures, business losses, unpaid credit cards, bank closures, and record high unemployment (at least in Michigan) of 12%, we have it very very good. The last I heard, unemployment in Haiti was in excess of 60%.
As some of you know, my two youngest children are adopted from Haiti. We remain very involved with the orphanage and my wife and two of my older daughters are going back this summer to help again.
If you’d like to find out more about Troy and Tara and what they do, check out their blog at The Livesay Haiti Blog.
If you’d like to find out more about the orphanage that we are involved in, check out God’s Littlest Angels.
If you’d like to talk to me about how you can help make a difference in the lives of people who are in worse shape than we are, call me and let’s talk.
Tom Vanderwell
God’s Littlest Angels
Have the stock markets had a rough week? Absolutely.
Will it be over next week? Probably not.
Will the world come to an end because of the stock market? Nope
DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE HOUSING AND MORTGAGE MARKET? Nope
The fundamentals of the housing and mortgage markets haven’t changed at all this week.
Call me if you need me, I’m off to do some fundraising for God’s Littlest Angels, an orphanage in Haiti.
I’ll probably be online later this weekend.
Tom Vanderwell
But there are people who mean a lot to me who need help. Let me explain:
Four years ago, my wife and I adopted 2 of our children from God’s Littlest Angels Orphanage in Petionville Haiti. Isaac is now in the 2nd grade and will be 8 in December, Abby is in the 1st grade and she’ll be 7 next month. 
Needless to say, our lives have been very blessed by these two kids and the entire process and we also feel very close to the country of Haiti and many of the people there. I’m on the board for the orphanage, my 18 year old has volunteered there several times, our church has done mission trips there (and are planning more).
Haiti is a country of intense poverty but yet intense beauty as well. The people truly live what Paul says in the New Testament, “I’ve learned to be content whatever my circumstances.” They live in abject poverty but yet every time you talk to them, they appear to be as content and happy as middle class Americans (in many cases more so.)
But that’s why I’m doing this right now. Haiti has received glancing blows from four hurricanes and tropical storms in the last month. Each one has made things progressively worse and the conditions are truly awful right now. Dixie is the orphanage director at God’s Littlest Angels and she was telling me that conditions are the worst she’s seen and she has been in Haiti for 17 years.
When I think about what we have and how blessed we are and how much we complain about the mess in the mortgage and housing markets, and then I look at the pictures below and it makes me realize how good we’ve got it.
The people in Haiti need our help and until Thursday morning, this blog is going to remain silent and instead I’m going to leave this post, with pictures and stories about the people in Haiti who have seen their lives ruined and family members killed up for you to read.
Two of the nannies who work at GLA and took care of my children before we brought them home lost everything in the flooding. These are people who are very close to our family and who mean a lot to us.
I ask that you would do me two favors:
1. Read through the rest of this post and take the time to look at the photos and at the video that the Miami Herald did.
2. If you are able, click HERE to take you the spot on God’s Littlest Angels website where you can make a credit card donation to their Emergency Fund so that they can help their neighbors.
God’s Littlest Angels did sustain damage in the hurricanes, but nothing nearly like many of their neighbors did. They are up in the mountains and it’s fairly rocky there (so the water just runs off). The people down in the plains are the ones who have gotten devastated by the floods.
I would feel humbled and very grateful for anything you can do to help Dixie and the staff at GLA help those in Haiti who are in need.
I’ll resume talking about the mortgage world on Thursday, but I want to keep this front page until then.
Thanks,
Tom Vanderwell
More rain and wind and an already wounded Haiti is devastated! The photos I have attached are of the Gonaïve area on the west coast of Haiti. Gonaïve is situated on a river that comes out of the mountains inland of Gonaive. The old colonial drainage system has not been repaired or much has been destroyed. The government has not repaired the system or put in a new system, so the city floods when we have storms that come through.
The attached photos were provide by Joel Trimble from Haiti for Christ Ministries and also, Missionary Aviation Fellowship.
We received this email from Yvonne Trimble. (
|
Dear friend,
Ike rained and blew all night on poor Haiti. This morning it is still raining and blowing. While we are safe on a mountain in Port au Prince, the northwest of Haiti is experiencing a natural disaster of unimaginable proportions.
Tropical Storm Hanna flooded Gonaives and claimed more than 500 lives in the past week. Now Hurrican Ike is dumping more wind and rain on the battered region. This morning we received a first hand report of a missionary there who said, “Forty children in the orphanage are eating flour, because they have not had food for five days.” This same missionary is using bleach to purify contaminated well water for drinking. While human and animal cadavers float in the flood waters surrounding the facility. They have no other choice though as the UN is NOT DISTRIBUTING RELIEF.
The UN received 33 tons of relief for the region yesterday and it is warehoused in Gonaives, to date they have not distributed any of it. We received a message from a Haitian pastor in Gonaives who said his wife walked 18 hours through mud and flood waters to get food for her family. 
She returned empty handed, even with cash she could not find food; BECAUSE THE UN IS HOLDING THE FOOD BACK IN THE WAREHOUSES. It is rumored they will sell the relief after the storm.
This same family said, they “are waiting for death.” This is not an overstatement of the situation in Haiti. We need your help now. You can go on line and find the name of your Congress men and you United States Senators with their phone numbers. Call them today and tell them that the UN is NOT DISTRIBUTING RELIEF IN HAITI. That you know the situation is worsening by the minute and thousands are at risk, in fact 600,000 Haitians have been displaced without food and water for days now.
As of Sunday morning, aid had arrived in Gonaive but due to fear of rioting, it had not been distributed according to missionaries in Gonaive. People have been without food AND water for 6 days now. Orphanages in the area have children without food and water.
The UN that is suppose to distribute the food and water. The US, Canada, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, The Netherlands, and other countries supporting the UN should demand that this food be distributed!
Another missionary, Licia Zachary Betor with Real Hope for Haiti, in the village of Cazele said that at 3 AM on Sunday morning, a wall of water swept through the village of Cazele. There is a small, shallow river that runs through the middle of the village. They are assuming that a mud slide in the mountains caused the wall of water to sweep down and flood the village. It took out the foot bridge over the river and swept people away. Licia heard that the road to the village was cut in half by the fast moving water and so the village is isolated, but she did not know for certain yesterday afternoon if that was true. Go to her blog at: http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/ to read more about the flood.
Please be praying for Haiti. Due to the flooding and devastation, schools will not open until October 6. Your help is needed more than ever to help the Haitian children.
And life in Haiti goes on…
|
Dixie Bickel, RN
God’s Littlest Angels
Orphanage Director
And I got this e-mail from Dixie tonight:
|
Watch this short video from the Miami Herald. It shows the flooding especially in Cabaret/Cazele area that took place on Sunday.
We are now getting reports of many people also killed from mudslides and drowning in the mountains outside of Kenscoff in Nouvelle Terrain. The Civil Officer in kenscoff said many people have come for death certificates for their family members that have drowned. There are many more that nobody will get a death certificate for them.
We have 2 families of adopted children, Ketley and Fedianie, who have come today and told us that their homes were destroyed from the wind and rain. The Papa of Fedianie said his house was lifted up by the water and completely destroyed. He is now staying with some neighbors. Mama Ketley said that the wind blew her house and tore off the roof and then water came through and filled the house and destroyed everything she had.
Please pray for these 2 families. I am sure that we will hear from more in the days to come. If you would like to donate into our Emergency Disaster fund to help some of the victims of the storms, you can make a donation via PAYPAL with a credit card. USA PAYPAL CANADA PAYPAL Be sure and click either the USA PayPal or the Canadian PayPal buttons when you arrive on the web site.
Or send a check to:
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN DONORS
God’s Littlest Angels
2085 Crystal River Dr
Colorado Springs, CO 80915 USA
Or
CANADIAN DONORS
God’s Littlest Angels Canada
PO Box 984
Okotoks, Alberta T1S 1B1
Canada
And Life in Haiti goes on…
|
Dixie Bickel, RN
God’s Littlest Angels
Orphanage Director
But there are people who mean a lot to me who need help. Let me explain:
Four years ago, my wife and I adopted 2 of our children from God’s Littlest Angels Orphanage in Petionville Haiti. Isaac is now in the 2nd grade and will be 8 in December, Abby is in the 1st grade and she’ll be 7 next month. Needless to say, our lives have been very blessed by these two kids and the entire process and we also feel very close to the country of Haiti and many of the people there. I’m on the board for the orphanage, my 18 year old has volunteered there several times, our church has done mission trips there (and are planning more).
Haiti is a country of intense poverty but yet intense beauty as well. The people truly live what Paul says in the New Testament, “I’ve learned to be content whatever my circumstances.” They live in abject poverty but yet every time you talk to them, they appear to be as content and happy as middle class Americans (in many cases more so.)
But that’s why I’m doing this right now. Haiti has received glancing blows from four hurricanes and tropical storms in the last month. Each one has made things progressively worse and the conditions are truly awful right now. Dixie is the orphanage director at God’s Littlest Angels and she was telling me that conditions are the worst she’s seen and she has been in Haiti for 17 years.
When I think about what we have and how blessed we are and how much we complain about the mess in the mortgage and housing markets, and then I look at the pictures below and it makes me realize how good we’ve got it.
The people in Haiti need our help and until Thursday morning, this blog is going to remain silent and instead I’m going to leave this post, with pictures and stories about the people in Haiti who have seen their lives ruined and family members killed up for you to read.
Two of the nannies who work at GLA and took care of my children before we brought them home lost everything in the flooding. These are people who are very close to our family and who mean a lot to us.
I ask that you would do me two favors:
1. Read through the rest of this post and take the time to look at the photos and at the video that the Miami Herald did.
2. If you are able, click HERE to take you the spot on God’s Littlest Angels website where you can make a credit card donation to their Emergency Fund so that they can help their neighbors.
God’s Littlest Angels did sustain damage in the hurricanes, but nothing nearly like many of their neighbors did. They are up in the mountains and it’s fairly rocky there (so the water just runs off). The people down in the plains are the ones who have gotten devastated by the floods.
I would feel humbled and very grateful for anything you can do to help Dixie and the staff at GLA help those in Haiti who are in need.
I’ll resume talking about the mortgage world on Thursday, but I want to keep this front page until then.
Thanks,
Tom Vanderwell
More rain and wind and an already wounded Haiti is devastated! The photos I have attached are of the Gonaïve area on the west coast of Haiti. Gonaïve is situated on a river that comes out of the mountains inland of Gonaive. The old colonial drainage system has not been repaired or much has been destroyed. The government has not repaired the system or put in a new system, so the city floods when we have storms that come through.
The attached photos were provide by Joel Trimble from Haiti for Christ Ministries and also, Missionary Aviation Fellowship.
We received this email from Yvonne Trimble. (
|
Dear friend,
Ike rained and blew all night on poor Haiti. This morning it is still raining and blowing. While we are safe on a mountain in Port au Prince, the northwest of Haiti is experiencing a natural disaster of unimaginable proportions.
Tropical Storm Hanna flooded Gonaives and claimed more than 500 lives in the past week. Now Hurrican Ike is dumping more wind and rain on the battered region. This morning we received a first hand report of a missionary there who said, “Forty children in the orphanage are eating flour, because they have not had food for five days.” This same missionary is using bleach to purify contaminated well water for drinking. While human and animal cadavers float in the flood waters surrounding the facility. They have no other choice though as the UN is NOT DISTRIBUTING RELIEF.
The UN received 33 tons of relief for the region yesterday and it is warehoused in Gonaives, to date they have not distributed any of it. We received a message from a Haitian pastor in Gonaives who said his wife walked 18 hours through mud and flood waters to get food for her family.
She returned empty handed, even with cash she could not find food; BECAUSE THE UN IS HOLDING THE FOOD BACK IN THE WAREHOUSES. It is rumored they will sell the relief after the storm.
This same family said, they “are waiting for death.” This is not an overstatement of the situation in Haiti. We need your help now. You can go on line and find the name of your Congress men and you United States Senators with their phone numbers. Call them today and tell them that the UN is NOT DISTRIBUTING RELIEF IN HAITI. That you know the situation is worsening by the minute and thousands are at risk, in fact 600,000 Haitians have been displaced without food and water for days now.
As of Sunday morning, aid had arrived in Gonaive but due to fear of rioting, it had not been distributed according to missionaries in Gonaive. People have been without food AND water for 6 days now. Orphanages in the area have children without food and water.
The UN that is suppose to distribute the food and water. The US, Canada, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, The Netherlands, and other countries supporting the UN should demand that this food be distributed!
Another missionary, Licia Zachary Betor with Real Hope for Haiti, in the village of Cazele said that at 3 AM on Sunday morning, a wall of water swept through the village of Cazele. There is a small, shallow river that runs through the middle of the village. They are assuming that a mud slide in the mountains caused the wall of water to sweep down and flood the village. It took out the foot bridge over the river and swept people away. Licia heard that the road to the village was cut in half by the fast moving water and so the village is isolated, but she did not know for certain yesterday afternoon if that was true. Go to her blog at: http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/ to read more about the flood.
Please be praying for Haiti. Due to the flooding and devastation, schools will not open until October 6. Your help is needed more than ever to help the Haitian children.
And life in Haiti goes on…
|
Dixie Bickel, RN
God’s Littlest Angels
Orphanage Director
And I got this e-mail from Dixie tonight:
|
Watch this short video from the Miami Herald. It shows the flooding especially in Cabaret/Cazele area that took place on Sunday.
We are now getting reports of many people also killed from mudslides and drowning in the mountains outside of Kenscoff in Nouvelle Terrain. The Civil Officer in kenscoff said many people have come for death certificates for their family members that have drowned. There are many more that nobody will get a death certificate for them.
We have 2 families of adopted children, Ketley and Fedianie, who have come today and told us that their homes were destroyed from the wind and rain. The Papa of Fedianie said his house was lifted up by the water and completely destroyed. He is now staying with some neighbors. Mama Ketley said that the wind blew her house and tore off the roof and then water came through and filled the house and destroyed everything she had.
Please pray for these 2 families. I am sure that we will hear from more in the days to come. If you would like to donate into our Emergency Disaster fund to help some of the victims of the storms, you can make a donation via PAYPAL with a credit card. USA PAYPAL CANADA PAYPAL Be sure and click either the USA PayPal or the Canadian PayPal buttons when you arrive on the web site.
Or send a check to:
AMERICAN AND FOREIGN DONORS
God’s Littlest Angels
2085 Crystal River Dr
Colorado Springs, CO 80915 USA
Or
CANADIAN DONORS
God’s Littlest Angels Canada
PO Box 984
Okotoks, Alberta T1S 1B1
Canada
And Life in Haiti goes on…
|
Dixie Bickel, RN
God’s Littlest Angels
Orphanage Director
