My Hope

I know the God I follow
Is bigger than disaster

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us."

Psalms 62:5-8

I wrote a few days ago about the nanny's and the times during the day when they pray and sing. Here's a little taste of it with a a few cuties to entertain you too :)



Also I uploaded pictures to facebook. be sure you check it out here (click) :)

Home is where the heart is...

I am home.

In my own bed.

Someone told me "don't forget to write in your blog tonight..."

So here I am. I think I plan on continuing to write in it as I remember things or experience different stuff regarding Haiti.

I really do believe God is holding a megaphone up to poverty in Haiti, and that their struggles will not be in vain, there is hope.

I can see hope in the dreams for the new orphanage and community out reach stuff that will come with the new land.
I can see hope in the children at the orphanage will find loving and caring families very soon.
I can see hope in the people investing in the education of the children of Haiti.

In a country dominated by hopelessness the little glimpses of hope are that much more bright as they gradually lead to success.

After all, everyone loves a good story...
And we all know a good story involves a character of some sort, who wants something and must overcomes conflict to get it...

more tomorrow. Goodnight my friends.

I want to be one of those people

We leave this afternoon to head back to the states.

What I have experienced and seen in Haiti is hard to put to words, but I will try.

The reality is that Haiti is a very broken place. It's easy to be consumed by the feeling of hopelessness.

It's easy to feel like the little I've done doesn't matter in the grand scheme what what Haiti has to overcome.

There are people here invested in the future of Haiti, to bring them hope.

There are those that moved in after the earthquake happened, "aid" is what they called it, but most has already moved back out of Haiti. And while it helped for a brief time, there still is much that needs to be done to even return Haiti to how it was before, even if it wasn't that good.

Many Haitians in the city turn their nose to Americans because they have been burned by the aid.

People are still living and staying under buildings that could fall completely at any minute.
Rubble still covers many roads.
People are living in tents, side by side by side.
Parks are now tent cities.
Children are left in the riven because parents can't take care of them anymore.

Really,
What I find most inspiring and hopeful is the people that loved Haiti before the 'quake and those have come to love Haiti after the 'quake, those that are in it for the long hall. Those that love it fully, not because it is the latest trend. Those who want to see results and success in Haiti in their life time.

That's what is inspiring.

I want to be one of those people.

There is distance in the borders--in the oceans... but we are all one. I hope we never forget that.

A pictures worth a thousand words...

In the city.




The realities of the after math of the earthquake are very real.



The people and children of Haiti truly are beautiful.



This boy captured my heart. Just sayin'


I had to introduce you all to Wilson. He is the sweetest most precious boy. His smile seriously lights up the room! He was found in a reven where a lot of babies are left by parents who do not want them or cannot take care of them. he was named Wilson after the mayor of Port au Prince because he was the one that found him and brought him to the orphanage.


This was at the entrance to "the village in the city" we came here last time we were here and handed out flip flops. The village is still there and the orphanage has told them they have money avaliable to buy them an acre outside of the city. This is really exciting. We stopped by this morning to bring them food and formula for the babies. It really was a sweet experience.



The mountains are beautiful. It truly showcases how God created this island.




Valadamier.





Leven.





We are in the mountains. where the temperature is at least 20 degrees cooler




For those who wonder about the ocean this is as close as I got to seeing it, but from the farthest away i was from it the whole trip. its in the top of the picture.




There were vendors everywhere. I mastered the art of haggling today. Please ask for stories.




Lindsey and her new fella.




this is an art i would like to master, but don't know if I ever will. You should see the things these people carry on their heads.




This is Samson. He's 16 days old, and he already has a story.





Sammie.




Gotta Represent!






In the city.





The Palace did fall.







Children in the city.










soda.






mountains





Secura-taaa

















Haiti truly is a beautiful place. I cannot wait to tell you all the stories. as for right now there is a geico roaming around the room. Hence the reason each picture towards the end was describe with one word. Gotta go! :)
Goodnight from Haiti for the last time this trip
I will post more in the morning when its light and I can see all the creatures running around.

And On The 3rd Day....

As I write this--this is what I see...















I've made lots of little friends, mostly under the age of 3. They are the sweetest most precious children.





















I spent some time in the classrooms today for the school age children. It was a awesome experience for me to see how school works for them here as compared to the states, obviously they don't have the same education to teach or the tools to maximize the learning but its still very cool. It was awesome to hear the dream for the future with the new orphange and school! :)












Lindsey, Amy, and I organized the pantry where all the food is stored. It was a mess when we started yesterday. But it was well worth fighting through the bugs, and leaking food donated to the orphanage. We saw some of the stuff in use today which definitely let us see that the effort was worth while. Most of it was just shoved in boxes piled and stacked all over...now there's some order, woot woot :)


























tomorrow some of us are going up into the mountains to the Baptist Mission. It really is beautiful there. Hopefully the internet will cooperate and I can post pictures tomorrow :)

Hallelujah

Today was a good day.
_______

Enjoyed learning French and Creole with our driver and security guard during the car rides.
_______

Everyday the nanny's pray and sing at 5am 7am 12pm 5pm and 8pm. It really is a beautiful sound. Toddlers playing and singing, while nanny's pray and sing all throughout the orphanage. I can't really explain it but it definitely touched my heart. I could identify the hymns and song's they were singing, and even when I couldn't the world Hallelujah is the same no matter what language you speak.

Dictionary.com explains it the following way...
hal·le·lu·jah /ˌhæləˈluyə/[hal-uh-loo-yuh] noun
1.Praise ye the Lord!
2.an exclamation of “hallelujah!”
3.a shout of joy, praise, or gratitude.

There's a Bethany Dillion song that says "Whatever's in front of me, help me to sing hallelujah..." I feel like I have always tried to get and live this phrase, but these women get it and live that phrase everyday. It truly was heartwarming and a blessing to see this play out throughout the day.
________

Tomorrow we are at the orphanage all day again. Look forward to spending time with the beautiful children.
_________

I am grateful to experienced what I have today. While it's hard to put to words what each day was comprised of and how I feel...it is good.

_________

Poverty in Haiti is huge but I know that God is bigger.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33


Be Blessed my friends!

The Longest Day Ever, Told by Pictures.

Today has felt like the longest day ever, but not in a bad way. We've been up since 3am and going the whole time, when we looked through all our pictures from the day it seemed like some of them happened days ago.

It's hard to put into words what I see when I am Haiti. Pictures don't do justice to what life really is here. Seeing pictures of the destruction is much different in person then on the news. But tonight I thought I'd share a picture story. And you better love it because it took FOREVER to upload these pictures! :) i know they are huge too. sorry its not easy to edit and all that here :)

We flew into Haiti at 8:05am:



We made it:



There really are tent cities EVERYWHERE:


This is the view from our balcony at our motel:


Buildings really were destroyed:


I met a friend who also loves big sunglasses:


HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY, This is the land the orphanage just purchased to build on, the excitement, the visions the dreams and the hopes are very real and exciting:



The day end and we were dirty. Between riding in a tap tap all day and in the back of an suv with the windows down we were really dirty (dirt under our nails from our faces, sick i know):



This is just a very short glimpse into the day. It's a small attempt to let you in to what I felt today, though it's hard to put into words right now.

Thanks for being amazing in my life!
Be Blessed Friends!

Welcome To Miami...

For the next 4 hours I am in a hotel with everything fancy.

Tomorrow I will be sleeping in a motel that may or may not have power.

Funny really.

Hope sleep comes quickly tonight.

Pray for tomorrow. for customs to go smooth for all our lugage to make it because it has tons of stuff for children at the orphanage.

Verse for the day: "Look among the nations, & see; wonder & be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." Habakkuk 1:5

Goodnight.

Such A Blessing

Verse of the Moment: "The rich and the poor have this in common, the LORD is the maker of them all"

So blessed to have all the love and encouragement from all of the amazing people in my life. It truly is encouraging and a blessing to have each and every person join me in this journey!

Praying God goes before us, and with us, and guides us on this journey that He has called us to because in the end love always wins!

Break My Heart For What Breaks Yours

Last time I went to Haiti when we first got there we sat in a devotional circle and prayed. I was at a loss for words and I didn't know what to say or what to ask of God when it was my turn.

I found the best thing I could ask of God to show me was in the words to the song "Hosanna" and that was "...break my heart for what breaks Yours..." I realize now that's a big thing to ask. If we ask to feel how God feels about the thing's that break His heart we will experience heartache ourselves...it's bittersweet in a sense because it is sometimes emotionally painful to care and feel compassion about the things I see in Haiti, but it's these people and things that matter to Him and therefore matter to me. And in the grand scheme of things it's a privilege to be able to be compelled to care about them.

Remembering How It Was

I really want to blog about my experience in Haiti coming up this next week. It seems a good place to start is remembering how I felt when I came back, below you will find a blog I wrote after returning from Haiti in June 0f 2008 in an effort to process the life changing experience. In 5 days I will be there again expecting God to continue to use me and change me.

Let Me Tell You

June 28, 2008 2:08pm

It's hard to know even where to begin when asked about Haiti.

Saying it was a good trip or an awesome trip doesn't sound right.

I have never seen or experienced what I saw while on this trip.
Television
Pictures
Stories

They cannot even begin to do justice to what poverty is…
At first I was confused.

At the orphanage the toddlers slept on a tile floor and were potty trained on a Rubbermaid tub…
The older children slept on thin bunk beds which looked like cubby holes with bugs all around…and bites on there legs to prove it.

Initially I was in shocked of these living conditions. I guess still stuck in my American perspective of living…

Then I realized….

This type of living though not the best was 100% better then where they were before the orphanage.


I've cried many tears since being back inside the boarders of the richest country in the world. I have everything I need with in an instant grab…shelter, food, comfort—you get the picture.


I would be ignorant if I don't remember what I saw. It's overwhelming to me that I can come home and the way of living in Haiti is a memory for me…and yet for the people of Haiti…that's life…an everyday reality…

in a country dominated by Voo-Doo----they continually live in fear of death and harm to not only themselves but their families.

They live in shanties smaller then my bedroom filled with 10 + people

They make less then a dollar a day.
And eat dirt biscuit.

They live in fear of their government who's way of "cleaning up the park" was lining up the street kids that hung out there at night and killing them.

They don't eat pork because the pigs eat the babies that are thrown in the river.

They say don't look down…because you never know what you will see under your feet

The smell of burning trash and exhaust was in my nose for weeks…and any similar smell reminds me of this.


I met a 10 month old baby whose father paid someone to get rid of her---named by the orphanage "Hope" and at the same time named Chris-stay-la---which means "Christ was here" by the Haitian people that found her---on a plastic bag in a junk yard laying in a weeks worth of her own waste. God has big plans for this little girl!


It's overwhelming to think --what I can do to bring hope to a country that seems to be lost in hopelessness? At first it's hard to see God there. But I know he was. I spent time with children---holding them and loving on them---let them take lots of pictures and smile…I helped hand out flip flops to a community of people who are longing to follow Christ---a rarity in Haiti. I participated in street evangelism. God did big things and open lots of doors while I was in Haiti and definitely put poverty into perspective for me.


The children from the orphanage sang songs like "blessed be your name", "holy holy holy", "what a mighty God we serve" they have there own evangelism team, and pray regularly---there IS God.

They praise God when they have nothing and I ignore God when i have everything...

I'm praying that God would continue to reveal to me what he wants me to do for these people. I asked him to break my heart for what breaks his…and that he did. I know he's not done using me in Haiti and I'm waiting to see what he continues to show me and how he will use me to share his love to these people…

I know God is holding a megaphone up to Haitian poverty.
I believe that these struggles will not be in vain and that there is hope!

It's easy to think that they are far away and this doesn't affect us---this isn't the case.

There's distance in the boarders—in the oceans—but we are all ONE.

"global isn't just a nice idea, global is reality" let us never forget that!