Summer Is Here!

Not only has another week flown by, but this month has flown by! Have I really been here nearly two months?!? It doesn’t seem possible.

We started our new kid activity schedule two weeks ago so weekends here are busy, busy. In between “normal” tasks Thursday we have baby/toddler beach trip at 10, Friday is kindergarten beach trip at 1, and Saturday is 1^st-6^th grade beach trip at 2. Saturday morning we do a hike, or something physical, and then Sunday afternoon is a special activity for the 2^nd-6^th graders who got good grades. It’s great to be able to spend some one-on-one time with the kids in smaller groups and off campus. It’s also tiring, come Sunday I was actually hoping we didn’t go to the beach because I was “beached out.” Didn’t think I’d ever be saying that…

Last week we also went to a high school soccer game Tuesday and Thursday with some of the older kids. The kids’ schools team played both days and won the championship game Thursday, came down to penalty kicks, exciting stuff.

This weekend we officially kick off our summer of (nearly) back to back groups with some overlapping, eek! It will definitely be getting busier for all of us.

It’s interesting to have the experience of being a part of a group and now to have the experience of being here long-term. So many things you don’t think about or realize as a group member… The dynamics will be changing around here each and every week as various groups come in. It will be interesting to say the least…

Keep our groups in your prayers (safety, much to be accomplished, relationships with kids, each other, God); pray for our staff as we have our usual daily tasks, hosting teams, and caring for the kids (especially dealing with the dynamic of teams coming and going); pray for our kids as each week they have to adjust to a new group of people coming in and leaving.

Here I am sitting down to blog and I’m really not sure what to blog about…

The longer I’m here I love these kids more and more and know I’m not going to handle leaving well.

It’s difficult because there is one girl in particular who really needs a one-on-one connection. Someone to really invest in her, spend time with her, love her, and be her confidant. I so badly want to be that person but at the same time I’m not stepping up to be that person because if I’m just walking out of here in 2.5 months what have I really accomplished? I feel I’ll just harm her further by adding to the list of people who she’s gotten close to, trusted and then watched walk out of her life.

I think I’ve said it before, but it’s a lot harder to get close to the girls here. I’m no child psychologist but I think a big part of it is not only the fact that they’ve been abandoned by their parents and family, but, especially in the last year, have had a long list of females come in here, get close to them, promise to be here for a long time and then suddenly leave. I don’t want to add to that list. I also don’t want to keep my distance when I see a need… Pray with me about how I can help the situation now without adding to the problem when I leave.

Also pray with me about what God has for me after these four months are up. Haiti is where my heart is, I have complete peace that God has me here, Haiti feels like home. 

Just Another Day

Nothing extraordinary happened yesterday but throughout the day I kept thinking,  I need to blog about today. It was another one of those days where I had to sit back and take in that this is where God has me right now.

The day started off with plans to knock out a few projects, mark lots of things off my to-do list, morning beach trip with the toddlers and babies… By 9:15 those plans were already out the window.

As I was off to start the one project Matt and I were really wanting to finish yesterday I remembered I needed to do check-ups (had been doing them on Wednesday but Wednesday is now my day off), so I got started on that and Matt was sitting on the galri talking to kids. Well 1.5 hours later I finish check-ups and Matt is still sitting on the galri.

I was going to make a comment about him being lazy and not starting in on the project but I’m glad I didn’t because he’d been talking to our oldest girl about salvation, baptism, and taming the tongue. I’m really glad I got in on the last part of the conversation and hopefully we’ll regularly do more one-on-one things like that. So our morning project didn’t get started at all but in the grand scheme of things it’s unimportant anyway. Flexibility is key : )

I did manage to get a few things done in the afternoon and just as I was getting going on some computer work that needed to be done Matt comes to my room and asks if I want to go to the beach with the little kids… Work, beach? Work, beach? Oh, wait. I work at an orphanage and part of my job is kid activities so going to the beach is work! Yes, I’ll go to the beach with the little kids : ) Again, planned work didn’t get done but that’s okay.

There was a young boy at the beach (he has crab traps off the beach where we were swimming) who we see every now and then. He’s a really good swimmer, does crazy flip things, really friendly cute kid… he just doesn’t wear clothes when he swims. Not a big deal just another day in Haiti swimming with a naked child. Funny the things that quickly become normal and don’t really bother you.

So that was my day which is somewhat typical for everyday. Have plans, plans don’t happen, get some things done while other things go undone, have great conversation with kids, late beach trips, swimming with naked children, worship night, hanging out with the team.

Oh, and I wasn’t thinking about blogging this but it was kinda funny…

Last night Natalie and I were hanging out at Stephen and Carrie’s apartment, we start to head over to the group house around 11 and I notice the boys’ apartment is locked up and dark… So I tell Natalie we should walk the ledge to their back galri (the guys live on the second story of the group/big house with their bedroom in the back corner and a little porch off the bedroom) and bang on their windows. Cam is always sneaking up on the boys’ house and scaring them so I felt like they were fair game. We tell Stephen and he pretty much encourages us, so Natalie and I go walk the ledge to the galri and pound on the door that goes into their bedroom, hop the rail and stand on the ledge waiting for any sort of reaction. We hear nothing, see nothing, no one comes out (except Carrie from her apartment to see what’s going on) so we come back down to our room thinking that was really lame they’re probably still sleeping.

Come to find out this morning Cam was just getting into that state of deep sleep and jumped out of his bed, turned on the light, and started looking for his knife, he didn’t go out the door because there was a rocking chair in front of it. Josue thought it was gun shots, and Matt was just upset that he was woken up and continued to lay there when he saw Cam was up and moving (I guess he thought Cam would protect him). Anyway, Cam called Stephen to see who was there before storming the galri (we have 14 security cameras on campus and the monitor is in Stephen and Carrie’s house). So ends up we were more successful than we thought. Now we just have to sleep with one eye open…

Bassin Bleu

Pictures from our day off because words can't describe...

Life in Haiti

I wrote this blow last Friday but our internet was out and I'm just finding time to post it. I've had many things I've wanted to post between now and then but it just hasn't happened...

So there are things that are just part of life in Haiti and I'm sure you’ve heard about some of them. Things like no hot water, not for showers, laundry or dishes, none. Inconsistent power  and only being able to run certain things, such as, the washer and dry, hair dryers, power tools, etc. when we’re on generator power. Not having the convenience of simply running to Wal-Mart for whatever you need whenever you need it. That most definitely does not happen in Haiti, though I’m finding out there is more available here in Jacmel than I realized. Cockroaches, mice, spiders, ants and other creatures, these are all part of daily life in Haiti that you (I) quickly, for the most part, adjust to. And then there was my baking experience on Friday… you might know why you sift your flour at home but do you know why I was sifting my flour on Friday?? You can check out the picture to find out why :)

I was going to say it’s not something so easily adjusted too, but I guess I did considering the fact that I sifted through about 14 cups of flour and then proceeded to use what I needed for my tortillas. Did I mention sifting wasn’t 100% effective? Yeah, that’s life in Haiti. You shrug your shoulders, do what you have to do, and keep going.

Who wants to visit?!? I have fresh baked homemade tortillas! ;)

Crazy Days

Yesterday evening as I looked back at the day I thought, “today was a good day” and then as I thought further I thought, “today was an eventful crazy day!” Thankful we could look back and still say it was a good day. It was one of those days that made me say this morning, “could it really only be Tuesday?!?”

I guess it wouldn’t be Haiti without eventful crazy days :)

Over the past month, but especially over the past couple days, at random times (at the beach with kids, cleaning some infected sore or head fungus thing, sitting with a child, being tickled to death by 8 kids, teaching the Lord’s Prayer) I’ve had to stop in the middle of what I was doing and just take a moment to “take it in” and ask, “is this really my life right now?” “am I really here, doing this?” “God, have you really chosen to use and bless me in this way?”  That is how I feel. Blessed and humbled, like God has given me the desires of my heart… after making some decisions that weren’t easy, but I knew it was what I was supposed to do, and much patience. I can say it was worth it.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your justice as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

Psalm 37:4-7a

Saturday movie night in kay Sharon!

Father of the Fatherless

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows

is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5

Thursday would have been my dad's 64th birthday so it was bit of an emotional, off day for me.

The above verse kept coming to mind throughout the day as I was thinking about missing my dad, and I started to think about the kids here. Being here with these kids as I was missing my dad brought my thankfulness for him to a new level. I almost felt selfish for missing him when most of these kids here never knew what it was like to have a father, or at least not a father who cared for them. The kids who do have living fathers are most likely here because they were abused and/or unwanted by their father.

I am thankful for the years I did have my father. It’s easy to say I lost a parent at too young an age, it’s unfair (I know, life’s not fair), etc. but being here those feelings are being replaced with thankfulness. I cannot sit here and say, “it’s not fair” when I know these kids’ stories.

So, while I miss my dad, I thank God for giving me to an earthly father who wanted, loved and cared for me and I’m thankful that God has adopted me as his child and has not left me fatherless. 

 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  Ephesians 1:4-6

...to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:5-7

This is going to be a post full of randomness :) 

We’ll start with Sunday. Each week the kids who got good grades get to do a special activity or go on a special outing. This week we did an outing and took 11 kids to a clear water river up in the mountain. Words can’t really describe it but I guess I’ll try… after a drive a little ways on these rocky roads, greenery everywhere, shacks and then random nice houses, people all along the way (you have to see and experience it yourself), we park, have a picnic lunch and then hike a little ways up the mountain before hiking down the river.

There were big rocks you could “slide” down, and there was one “pool” that we stopped at for about an hour and swam, jumped off rocks, did cannonballs, played catch, slid down rocks. It was nice cold, salt-free, water. It was amazing! SO much fun!

This was at the "bottom" (where we parked before hiking). Couldn't really take the camera along.

Yesterday evening we had a coloring party on the girls galri and I had my hair done by Georgina who is a speedy braider, and quite good at that. I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for HAF and what they are doing in Haiti as I sat getting my hair done, coloring and overlooking the compound from the second floor galri. I saw two girls take each others hand and run down the stairs giggling; it was a perfect picture to me of kids being kids and I’m so grateful these kids are now able to have a childhood and simply be kids.

 Gerlande at our coloring party

 After having my hair did by Georgina (L), Claire helped by handing her hair bands

 Fou fas!

Today we took most of the kids and some of the nannies, in two trips, to a farmer’s market on the beach. There were just a bunch of booths mostly people selling artwork, jewelry and some food. There were also some agricultural booths. Cam and I hop in the front of the and he tells me to look behind me… in our little 15 passenger van we have nearly 30 people packed in! It was crazy! Wish I’d had a camera. It was fun to be able to take the kids and nannies out though, they were all dressed up in  nice dresses, pants, shirts, shoes and Cam and I have on everyday shorts, t-shirts and tank tops…

We walked over to the docks, looked at the water and a boat that was docked, they were posing and taking pictures by everything. Lots of fun to be a part of.

Matt just headed off to PAP with Stephen and Carrie who will be flying to LA tomorrow, along with three of our missionaries from the Grand Goave site, for an orphan care conference and board meetings. Pray for safe travels to PAP this evening (road blocks and riots continue to go on in the PAP area), travels tomorrow and as they fly to Iowa later next week and then back to Jacmel May 11.

Matt will be making another trip to PAP this weekend to take a little boy for his second surgery for a cleft palate. Pray all goes well and also the situation with his mom. We kept him a while back before and after his first surgery but she’s had him the past few months. She brought him back a couple weeks ago in anticipation of this surgery and when she left him she asked if we could keep him until he walks. We obviously can’t do that and we want her to keep him so after the surgery Matt has to sit down with her and lay it all out. Either she leaves him abandoning all her rights and doesn’t get him back, or she takes him and cares for him. Tough situation.

Pray for a smooth week for the three (two of us a lot of the time since Matt will be in PAP a lot in the next five days) of us here over the next week.