Just a few sights from Haiti. I still can't put into words what I saw and experienced, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's 37,000 words.If you would like to see the other 675,000 words, let me know! :)
I personally don't even think the pictures tell the story, but it's a start!
street side market
mass grave. after the earthquake, they could not keep up with burial of all the dead bodies, so many of them were piled here and buried together
the view from my first Haitian bathroom break :) proud to say this is the only outdoor pit-stop this pregnant mama had to make!
playing with the neighbor kids
this is the mission house we worked on while we were there. when complete, it will house offices, missionaries, and work teams. cpr-3.com
mixing concrete
this little girl was actually left with us at our work site by a woman desperate for help. we cared for her until we were able to find her home.
crushing moringa leaves to make them into powder. check out the moringa project
not sure what was in here... it looked like shredded chicken. all i know is it was infested with bugs and flies and they were filling their plates from it.
kids lining up to get some goodies from the white folks :)
homemade kite. the visit to this village was a tough one for me, but the ingenuity of this kid made my day.
beautiful faces of Haiti
genuine happiness
we had the opportunity to plant 1,000 moringa trees
from the top of cpr-3's mountain, looking over Bercy
walking to school. i was happy to learn that a large amount of Haitians do have the opportunity to go to school!
Haitian grocery shopping :)
tent city in port au prince - 2+ years after the earthquake
new shelters being built to replace the tent cities
people are still trying to live in these buildings that were rocked by the earthquake... and people are still dying because their shelters are not stable
this is their palace [our white house] still not repaired from the earthquake
see those little sheds called 'banks'? they are actually lotto stations - they can buy tickets for lottos in the U.S. apparently, even the poorest of the poor are living with the false hope that they will strike it big and all their problems will be solved.
hard to believe this is the same country we were serving in all week! the contrast between the devastation and the absolute beauty of God's creation was almost too hard to swallow.
our tap-tap
the gate to our hotel... almost always filled with kids from the neighboring village!
this canal (along with any other water source in the country) is multi-purpose: drinking, washing, bathing, restroom... you name it, if it used water, this is where the water came from.
Who am I that my God, my Father in heaven, my perfect Savior, would choose to use me to reach his people.
I am broken. I am a sinner. I am so far from 'having it all together'. Yet, He has a use for me. I was made for a purpose. And this is one of them.
In less then 48 hours, I will be leaving LaGrange county and heading to Haiti. Words cannot describe how ready I am for this trip. I have been preparing physically, emotionally, and spiritually for nearly a year for this very moment.
I have no idea what the Lord has in store for me on this trip, but I do know that He wants me there. There have only been two times I can honestly say I have heard God speak to me. One of those times was about this trip. I was praying, desperately pleading with God, to find a way for my husband to go on this trip with us. The Lord stopped everything around me and in me and spoke so clearly, "This is YOUR trip." That's all He said, but that is all He needed to say. At that moment I knew it was time to stop praying for my husband and start praying for me. And so I did. And the result of those prayers is a deep longing and passion to see Haiti and meet the people that live there and, above all else, show them the love of Jesus. I just hope I do a good job. That is my fear. I feel too human.... so incapable of being Jesus' hands and feet. But that is what He has called me to do.
While we are away, I covet your prayers. Prayers for safety, of course. But also pray that we will allow ourselves to be used in whatever ways God has planned for us. Pray for Rob, Carl, Don, Jen, Colleen, Heather, Hannah, Erin, Kyle, Garrett, Ian, Zak, Conner, Ethan, and myself. Also pray for the families (Parents, Spouses, and Children) that will stay behind as we head out to serve.
“Then
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for
us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
Isaiah 6:8
For more information on the organization we will be serving with, visit cpr-3.com
Also... I would like to, again, say thank you to all my sponsors that made this trip possible, financially!! I was so overwhelmed by the support I received!!
as many of you know, i am an only child. so when it comes to understanding the dynamics of siblings, well, i just don't. i love the "theory" of a sibling...a friend that knows you better than anyone else; someone who is always there; someone who drives you crazy one moment and is your best friend the next. but as far as the emotions go, i just don't know what it feels like. i think this may be one of the [many] reasons i enjoy watching the relationship between my two girls grow and blossom. last night my heart absolutely melted because of their sibling love.
eden got scared last night. she wanted to lay next to her door so she could see my room. so, i helped her get out of bed and got her set up on the floor. of course, her little shadow (the one we affectionately call Jada) hopped right out of bed and also wanted to sleep on the floor. she made her bed right next to her big sister. they spent many minutes talking about the important things in life (numbers, cell phones, etc...) and then i heard my sweet Jada's heart speak to her sister. eden asked her why she was sleeping on the floor. simply said, "because i don't want you to be scared."
these girls truly are the best of friends. yes, they fight, but their love for each other far outweighs the bad moments. it's fun to see them be best friends, but it's even better to hear their love verbalized!
i sat on my couch tonight overwhelmed, exhausted, frustrated.... you name the adjective, i was probably feeling it. the living room was a mess. toys everywhere. i was pooped. i felt like i had been running all day even though i hadn't. i couldn't see my kitchen, but i knew the sink was full of dishes, the table was still holding the leftovers from dinner and the floor needed a good sweep and mop. and the carpet... oh, how it needed to be vacuumed. then there was that to-do list haunting me from the back of my mind. reminding me that i had 1,000,003 things i wanted to get done today and i only did approximately 4 of them.
then, only by the grace of God, my mind shifted gears. i'm blessed. so blessed! my living room is littered with toys that don't belong there. why? because i am fortunate enough to be raising two beautiful young ladies that love to play. and those little ladies have been blessed with toys. and books. and shoes. lots of them. and i'm thankful that they love to be near me. so that is why they drag everything out of the toy room every single day. blessed.
my kitchen is a mess! what a blessing.... we don't have to worry about where our next meal is going to come from. we have so much food that no one thinks twice when their bowl of noodles dumps onto the floor. (ok... when i say 'no one' i actually just mean the 2-year-old. everyone else cares. but you get my point... we have so much food we eat till we are full and we still have some to throw away!) my sink is full, but thanks to my hubby's loving heart, i now have a dishwasher that will clean those dishes if i only take two minutes to load it. blessed.
i only got 4 things done on my to-do list, but i got those things done because the Lord has blessed me with a wonderful friend that kidnaps my kids so i can have a day to myself. BLESSED!
i'm tired. EXHAUSTED. every waking moment all i can think about is the next opportunity i have to sleep. because, once again, the Lord is allowing me the opportunity to be the mother to one of his children. and i get to grow that child inside of me. and that just wears a girl out, plain and simple. after nearly 2 years of crying every month thinking i would never be a mom, my God flipped my world and filled it with babies and showed me that He certainly does know the plan he has for me. so, yes i'm tired, but it is because i am SO VERY BLESSED. thank you, Lord, for this life you have blessed me with. and thank you for my first-world problems. i know there are many people in the world that would love these 'problems'. i'm thankful for the home i get to clean - because it's mine. i'm thankful for the kids i get to pick up after - because they're mine. i'm thankful that i don't have enough time at home - because i have a job. i'm thankful for the friends i never get to see because we are all too busy - because i know they are still my friends. thank you. AMEN.
so, I just asked eden the following question:
"if you could be tinkerbell or minnie mouse, who would you rather be?"
her answer warmed my heart. "umm, neither one. i just want to be eden."
i hope she never loses that feeling!
then, there's jada... from the other room:
"i wanna be tinkerbell!!!!"
"why do you want to be tinkerbell??
"because i want to wear the minnie mouse dress."
When Eden was 8 weeks old, she slept through the night for the very first time. I remember how excited I was that following morning. I felt refreshed and ready to face the world. I was also very excited because I was preparing to re-enter the working world and I couldn't fathom doing that without a full night's sleep.
Jada is now 127 weeks old. 2 nights ago, she slept through the night. 10 hours. 10 glorious, quiet, restful hours. That feeling I had 8 weeks after Eden was born?? Multiply that times 16. That's how overjoyed I was yesterday morning.
I can't wait until she does this every night. but until then, I am grateful. I will never (ever, ever) take a full night's sleep for granted again.
just adding this to the list of things i never want to forget... my 4-year-old is really figuring out the way the world works.
mama says, "what should we have for lunch today?"
ee says, "ummm.... you're just gonna have to figure that out."
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