Orphan No More

Yesterday, Chris and I spent the day up in the village of Callebasse checking on the school and church and catching up with Pastor Echelet and Director Jonas. It was a treat to see the children and get a report on how the school's doing. Our plan was to spend our time in Callebasse at the school, but after spending time there we traveled up the road a bit further to find ourselves at an orphanage sitting down with a new friend.

I sat down and talked with a Haitian lady who has so many stories yet untold. Her life is one story after another and I only had a short time with her. I can't wait to meet with her again and hear more of her stories. But, one thing she made clear to me was that she knows that God has a purpose and a plan for her, to prosper her and not to harm her.

When she was barely seven years old, she was carrying a large basket lid (much bigger than her tiny frame) full of fruits along the creek path. Think about this! A seven year old carrying the day's items to sell at the market. It would help to put dinner on the table and whatever other needs they may have like water. This was more than a bundle of fruits, it was the family's very well-being. 

The straw lid became unbalanced and the fruit began to topple out. It was a large burden to carry.  She tried frantically to retrieve every piece of fruit, but lost her balance as well and began to struggle to stay above the water that was stealing away each piece of hope. She soon became overcome with water. Two men who were passing by noticed a head of hair in the water and one said, "no, that's not hair, it's just tree bark" and wanted to continue to walk along the creek bank giving the other one a hard time. But, the insistent one reached down and pulled up her little body that had been overcome with water. He began to try to expel the water from her stomach and lungs. His friend ran for help. They were able to get her to a hospital where she recoverd slowly, yet fully for a solid month. The cost was a great burden for her family. The pressure on her parents was too great. Her father took her to an orphanage to give her up and then he left her mother for another woman. Her mother didn't speak a word of any of it. Everyone thought that she must've died.

She grew up in an orphanage that gave her a good education, food and shared with her the stories of Jesus. They taught her to love and think of others first. They taught her to work through any and all daily trials no matter how small or big. They taught her that she had a reason to live. She was created for a purpose. 

I asked her if she ever sees her mother or father now that she's grown up and has kids of her own. She shared with me that she does indeed spend time regularly with her father. I asked her if it was hard to love him now. She said, "no, I forgave him a long time ago. I know that he could have thrown me to the trash, but he didn't. I'm grateful for that."

It was that simple answer that baffles my mind. I don't know how easily those words would flow out of my mouth. I don't know how grateful I could really be. But, she is sincerely grateful. I wish you could all see her face. Maybe sometime I'll get her permission to print her name and show you a picture of her.  Know that she is just as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside.

This amazing woman was once an orphan, but found her home in Him. She found these verses to be true in her life and gives Him all the glory: 

"Sing to God, sing praises to His name; lift up a song to Him who rides through the deserts; His name is the Lord; exult before Him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land..." Psalm 68

She has grown up in and is now the director of an orphanage that houses over a dozen children in Callebasse. Their ages range from 3 to 23. We were able to meet several of them as they were coming in from their school day. As I talk with her again soon, I'll ask her for more stories of what it was really like to grow up an orphan. But, I have a feeling that it'll be story after story of grace and forgiveness.

Let's take a look at what's coming out of our mouths. Where's it coming from? We neeed to take a real look at our hearts.  "...For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12

This is Haiti - Weekend Getaway

There's a saying around here that is the ANSWER to many-a-shrugged-shoulder moments we have regularly... "this is Haiti!" We find ourselves asking "why" or "why not" or "what..."!? And the answer is always, "this is Haiti!" I first heard of it through a comment from my Facebook status. Renee Dietrich (from Wings of Hope - Haiti) commented on one of my status', "TIH" and I googled and asked around not wanting to admit I didn't know... I think it was Brynna who figured it out.

We just arrived home from an overnight ministry trip that took us a couple hours away. It was an adventure and we had a lot of fun moments. We took Erin with us from Godet (Heart of God Haiti). (Are y'all pronouncing that correctly now? "Go-day"). On the way home, just barely above Port-Au-Prince, as we were going over a speed bump, the engine died. Me, Brynna, Erin and Chris all hopped out and helped to push the car to try to pop the clutch. Oh, my! Was that a funny site! Erin tells me the teenagers at the gas station were routing for us chanting, "pouse, pouse, pouse!" (Pronounced "poo-zay" meaning "push"!) Yes, I was wearing a skirt!

We couldn't get it popped - we were pushing it up hill. What else do you do in Haiti? It's either up hill or down hill... So, us girls stood at the gas station while Chris continued to push it around the corner and down the next street. Soon enough, they got it started and came back for us. And we were on our way. Chris had time to swallow a bottle of water and wipe the sweat off his head before we were pulling off to the side of the road... with an engine that was overheating. And the guys on the street were pointing and letting us know that we were in trouble, too. There was no doubt. We were not going anywhere fast.

By this time, it was about 2:30 or so in the afternoon. We were all hot and sweaty and crammed in the little tiny car and all trying to make the best of it. And boy did we ever. We were so thankful that where we pulled off the road was a nicer street just barely outside of Port-Au-Prince, it was shady, and there was a street vendor who was very happy that we were broke down because we bought at least 7 drinks from them!

See the street vendor on the upper left? They had iced drinks for sale! Hallelujah!!! See the shade? Thank You Lord!!

There was SO many mercies that the Lord gave us today. We could have easily broke down where that gas station was that we were popping the clutch... and it could have become dangerous for us. We could have broken down closer to the ocean and been very, very hot and humid! It was hot, but not miserable. We could have broken down further up the mountain where there wasn't a safe sidewalk to pull off and have room to actually fix the car! The Lord just completely gave us a very good situation to be in that could have easily been bad. So, for being broken down, we were very well taken care of.

Our first helper stopped in to access the situation. He went to grab some water to help us cool the engine down. It was spraying and sputtering. As we stood around waiting for several minutes, I thought I'd try to talk with him.

Our "Waterboy" Evanson

I asked him in Kreyole what his name is, "kijan ou rele?"

He answered in English, "my name is Evanson."

I laughed, "you speak English?"

I continued, "mwen rele Jen."

He answered, "no, not really."

I answered him, "mwen, pale Kreyole, tou piti" meaning I speak tiny bit Kreyole.

Water that Evanson brought us after walking for quite some time.

After letting the engine cool down a bit, waiting for Evanson to come back with water, the guys investigated and found that there was a belt that was ripped, torn, shredded... however you want to say it. That's my "Jen" version. Sorry guys.

Evanson discovering the shredded belt and then proceeding to fix it with a tree limb!

Another hour passes by... and we sit and watch and wait and wonder how this will end. Evanson tried with all his energy to persuade the belt to go back on the track and take us up to Pettionville where we may have a better chance of finding a new belt and getting it fixed completely. Not sure if it was possible to use a twig to re-attach a belt, but believing anything was possible, we watched and all shook our heads in unison, "this is Haiti!"

This tree branch was used in multiple ways today!

Evanson used this tree branch to fetch tools that were dropped under the car. I used it later to sweep away a busted glass bottle that fell out of the backend of the car as they jacked it up. Not sure WHY exactly they'd jack up the back driver's side tire to work on a belt in the engine. The only answer to why they jacked up the back left tire is: this is Haiti!

Evanson in yellow. Guy in brown quickly became the "boss" and took over the job. Cut off shirt was the moto driver.

I can't even begin to tell you how many hours went by or how many times the phrase, "this is Haiti!" came out of our mouths, but I can tell you that a few Haitian strangers stopped and tried everything they could think of to get us back on the road. I'll spare you the half a dozen times that the "boss" would run up or down the road to borrow another tool from a friend and return to only find another part he needed removed.

There was a little quarreling between the moto guy and the "boss" because he wanted paid as soon as he did his part - drive the boss to the auto parts store to purchase a new belt. But, we just watched and listened. Fascinating to say the least. But, it was only the moto guy that was acting ugly. The boss man just told him how it was going to be and he didn't have any other choice. The moto guy left in a huff. But, after awhile returned and collected his share of the profit after they got change.

They ran into a few more snags along the way and we began to become concerned that it was getting too late in the afternoon to be stuck on the side of the road. The sun would be going down and the streets would no longer be safe for us. At 4:15 Chris called Frankie to come pick us up. At least the girls could be on their way up the mountain. We knew it'd take over an hour to get down to us.

So, we employed a boss, the waterboy and the moto driver. The total time for this changing of the belt took just over 4 hours. The total cost was $20 US and our Haitian pastor friend, Arnold who was driving us assured us that they had made a very good profit today.

We made it safely back up to our apartment, all four of us showered and shared the responsibility of cooking dinner to set down and eat JUST as the sun was setting. We splurged and plugged the lamp into the rechargeable battery pack to light the table. We enjoyed spaghetti noodles and sauce with fresh diced onions and bread we toasted in the frying pan lightly spread with olive oil and Mrs. Dash Garlic seasoning. As Chris prayed before we ate, he thanked God that He gave us so many undeserved mercies today and prayed for Arnold's safety as he made it all the way back to his home.

Just as we sat down in the living room after cleaning up from supper, Gramps Skype video called us! That was fun to see his face and Kaylene's and even a hint of a gerbil in the back ground. The kids were all tucked away safe in their beds (Marcus and Skylar). We talked about trying to Skype again next Sunday night and see if we can call Brian, too. (My brother in Delaware.)

Now, it's 10:34 PM. Erin went to bed a couple hours ago. I think we wore her out. It sure was great to be able to have this time with her. We laughed and cried together last night. (Well, you know it was me doing the crying). It's a lot of fun learning this culture together with someone else who loves this culture and these people. I told her I was really going to cry when she left in November. And I believe all three of us will! She's served 2 years up on the mountain with those precious 18 kids and now she's helping us to learn all we can while she's here.

The electric just kicked on for a couple seconds, but then back off again... so, we're not sure if we will have the privilege of receiving charge tonight on our devices or not. We'll just be thankful for whatever we get... because this is Haiti!

Re-Entry Haze

After leaving the funeral burial we went back to Quinton and Rachael's apartment to try to eat some lunch. Brynna and Josiah drove through Chick Fil A so she could get her fix. Chris could only eat half a sandwich. Life has been such a blur since we got that phone call in the middle of the night. 

We were heading to the burial at just after 2:00 in the afternoon. The funeral began at 11:00 AM. It was packed. People were standing in the back. Nabeel would have been so proud. He never would have believed all the people that took the day off work or drove for hours to be there to pay their last respects. I wish I could tell him that Mike Collins drove in from Huntington, West Virginia. Brent Gambrell drove from Nashville, Tennessee. As well as the many, many former youlth from 1999. It was quite a reunion. And there's many more I don't even know about! 

Pastor Rick and Linda graciously drove us from Louisville to Bowling Green to meet Greg and Thomas. It was so good to spend those short hours with Rick and Linda. What a bond we have with them. We have known them since our boys were exatly three years old. We'd stay the night at the Young's and Greg would drop us off at the airport early in the morning "on his way to work"...

(Please pray for Pastor Rick and Linda and the entire staff at Ormsby Heights Baptist Church. It's going to be one huge void that they will be learning to live without. They have lots of emotions to work through. And they will have to make some hard decisions on hiring, I'm sure. I can't even imagine working in the office again withouth Nabeel. They'll be living it day in and day out. Pray for Pastor Rick as he leads and shepherds His flock. Pray that The Lord gives him wisdom and strength.)

Tammy cooked us up a huge meal for dinner that night in White House, Tennessee. It was breakfast and perfect for our fragile tummies!! I have dreamed about it a time or two these past few days. Brandon & Amber and Emma joined us for supper and then the rest of the Church at Pleasant Grove joined us afterwards for fellowship and then prayed us out. We had two visitors who were welcomed with open arms - Andy and Emi Nash. 

The "church" circled around us and prayed long and hard and specific prayers. Wow! We love them! We don't know what we'd do without their prayer support. Soon after, we were handed a bowl of Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream - Askinoise!!! Wow!! It was scrumptious as ever. Our friends started leaving and going home. We were left in the living room with the idea of prolonging our stay. A friend wanted to give us that option... to stay in the states for 4-5 more days and catch our breath. Chris called and got online and tried everything to make it work for the next two hours. Needless to say, it just was not meant to be. We had prayed and prayed and nothing worked out.

Earlier in the week, Brynna's handsome young man friend, Thomas, paid the extra to get her stay extended. So, we left her behind in the care of Greg and Tammy whom she describes as even stricter than us. 

As I found my seat and got settled at 5:45 AM on a US Airways flight, I looked up at the line that had stopped passing me by and recognized a face!! I stood up and hugged her neck!! It was an adoptive momma who I had met and sat and talked with for a long time at Emily Scott's going away party. She  

had never been to Haiti and this was her first time. She said to me, "I can't even begin to explain to you how much it means to me that you are going to be traveling with me today!"

After we landed in Charlotte she apologized that she was the reason that we didn't get to stay. We laughed and assured her that we were thrilled to be able to introduce her to Haiti. Because we were. What an honor! We journeyed with her all the way to Port-Au-Prince. Helped carry her bags until she met up with her driver. 

Ever since we've made it back up on this hill we've been kinda in a haze... kinda glazed over... the city electric has been OFF. They ran into some issue in hanging new lines. So, I've literally not taken a shower since the day of the funeral. No hot water. No lights. No conveniences. The landlord has run the generator an hour or so here or there so that we were able to get charged back up. I'm just not sure when our bodies will be charged back up. Dealing with a sudden death zaps everything out of you. If we are operating at half capacity, I can only imagine what Rachel, his wife, is operating on. Please, please, please be in prayer for her. She's a strong woman of God. But, it doesn't matter how strong of a believer you are - you still need prayers to make it through gracefully. We're all still human. And our bodies still process grief differently.

Everything seems to just be moving a little slower. I think getting a taste of convenience and luxury in the US again only pushed me back a step. Pray for me as I try to push one foot in front of another again and again.

We are headed back down the hill today to meet a small team and pick up Brynna at the airport. Chris will be heading to Grand Goave for a few days with them and us girls will head back up the hill. We have Kreyole lessons tomorrow and hope to see the kids at Godet while Chris is away. I can't wait to introduce all 18 of them to you. They are precious! 

We'll be going to stay at a possible future housing location this weekend. Part of Chris' role here in country is to be scouting out new places and new partnerships. And it's exciting to be able to be on the front lines with him. 

Continue to pray for us as we rub shoulders with the Haitian population. Pray that God will continue to sweep in and give hope to the hurting, healing to the broken, strength to the weak and wisdom to those who seek His will.

We love you all! Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Verse of the Day: 

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." 

Psalm 4:8

And the Tears Continue to Fall Loud

I just can't believe that I posted a blog title, "And the Tears Began to Fall" just a few hours before going to bed and waking up in the middle of a nightmare. 

We awoke at 2:11 AM on Saturday morning to a phone call from Joel (El-farrah). I knew his voice instantly. Chris was rubbing his eyes and sitting up in bed to try to wake up and hear what he was trying to say. I'll never forget the words I heard, "Chris, man, did you hear what's going on?" And the very first thing that came to my mind (in black and white slow motion) was a picture of bombs dropping on the US. Chris shook his head and managed to utter the words, "no, what?" as Joel continued, "they're taking Nabeel to the hospital. He's unresponsive. I just thought you should know man. I'm sorry for calling. Rick's there, the ambulance is there." Chris managed to come up with the words, "Ok, ok, ok man. We're praying. We're praying. Call us when you know more." We made our way to the couch and prayed and waited and prayed and waited.  And wondered. And tried to wake ourselves up from this nightmare. We just couldn't wrap our minds around this at all. It didn't make sense. The doctors could do so much to revive people nowadays. That had to be the answer. I just kept arguing with God in my mind. Sophia is just a baby! Rachel doesn't have a grey hair on her head! This just doesn't make sense. I'm just sure that they'll be able to help his heart to beat again.

I iMessaged Rick and Linda since I knew they were right there in the midst of it all from Joel's call. No response. I iMessaged Joel. No response. I looked on my "find my friends" app and saw Rachael was at the hospital. Oh, good. I was so glad that she was able to be there with the family during this time. I iMessaged her. No response. Joel called, "they were unsuccessful in reviving him man, he's gone." In the middle of the night, my brain just couldn't comprehend this news. You start asking stupid questions, hoping that you'll get different answers than you're mind thinks it's hearing. "Unsuccessful"? What's that mean exactly. Unsuccessful? Doctors today can do more with getting a heart to beat again than ever before! Rick texted, "he didn't make it." Rachael texted, "he's gone." None of this could our human brains even begin to digest. The only thing that made sense was that he was absent from the body and present with Christ. We couldn't figure out how or why. We could only hold on to that hope. The things of earth no longer mattered to him. He was in the presence of Jesus, the King of kings and The Lord of lords. We could but only imagine, but he could see everything with his own eyes now.

I woke Brynna up and brought her into the living room. We gave her the bad news as we were still trying to catch our breath. We all just sat on the couch in the dark in disbelief. Wishing someone would wake us up and rescue us from this. 

We got a Whats App message from Josiah at 4:11 AM, "I love you dad," Hope you're doing okay. I can't sleep. Q called."

Chris: "I can't sleep either."

Josiah: "Yeah, missing you all."

Chris: "Missing you, too... want to sit and talk and cry together."

Josiah:"Me too dad"

Chris: "We can skype if you want"

So, through the miracles of technology we were able to spend some "FaceTime" with our son as the sun began to rise on the day. The three of us in Haiti bundled up on the couch shivering with disbelief and Josiah huddled down in his basement in Louisville talking in hushed tones as to not wake Aunt Sandra.

We laughed and cried and shared stories of years full of memories. Loud memories. Because Nabeel lived his life OUT LOUD. There was nothing subtle about the guy. But, he was super sensitive. I couldn't be as real as I wanted to be most times with him because he took everything straight to his heart and thought hard about it. Words meant a whole lot to him. And I am careless with my words sometimes. So, we didn't make the best in communicating. But, he and Chris could communicate without even using words. I can't even begin to count the hours that they spent together. I hope that maybe I can get Chris to write out a blog telling of his relationship with Nabeel soon. 

It's still just not real. Even though we stood at the funeral home for almost 8 hours crying and laughing and remembering loud times with Nabeel with TONS of people. We went to sleep, woke up and attended his funeral. We walked away from the casket with all his family and friends one last time and it still hasn't sunk in. We are so very thankful that we were able to fly home to be with our Ormsby faith family during these few days. Thankful for the freedom from BGM - a door to hope to take some time off. Thankful for the staff and faith family who welcomed us back with open arms. Thankful we were able to hold precious baby Sophia in our arms and laugh through tears as she would smile and Nabeel would SHINE through her. Thankful to be able to hold Rachel tight and whisper our love and support to her. God! It's just not fair! Nabeel was only 31.

My initial thought was, "well, of all the days of the year, I think Nabeel would have liked this one...the one chosen for him to to enter Glory: October 4th... may the fourth be with you!" I could hear him laughing in my head. I kept trying to picture him and all the crazy stories he would say, but  the ONLY other words I could recall Nabeel saying (and picture in my head clearly) with every ounce of his being, with both hands clenched and in the air in surrender were, "I would give my life for that! I would. I would give my life for my dad to know Jesus personally. I would give my life for that." As much as I've tried over the last few days to recall instances of times with him, that just keeps echoing in my mind. So, that's what I started praying. "Lord, draw Mahammad unto Yourself. Knock at his hearts door. Keep knocking. Knock loud! Invite him in to a personal relationship with You. Soften his heart for You Lord. And not to justify Nabeel's death, but to bring glory to You. For You alone are worthy."

Leaving Brynna in Nashville for a few extra days, Chris and I are sitting beside each other on a plane heading back to Haiti still in shock. Chris is finally catching a few winks of sleep as they have passed out our refreshments. We are exhausted. We are headed back to Haiti to work with the people that Nabeel loved so dearly. He was planning a trip with his school this spring break. We noticed that one student wrote on FaceBook that they intend to follow through and go on that trip. I pray that they do. We'll do all that we can to show them the Haiti that he adored and to continue to grieve with them remembering all the great times with Nabeel. And I hope to be able to share more later. Just kinda wanted to update everyone on our silence... 

Please pray for Rachel, Nabeel's bride, the love of his life, the answer to all of our prayers. Widowed entirely too young.

Pray for Sophia, his 5 month old daughter. Their little miracle. You can't look into her eyes and catch her smile without catching a glimpse of him. We're pretty sure she's destined to live out loud, too!

Pray for his parents, Joy and Mahammad. And his brothers, Joel and Micah and sister, Mahannah. Pray for Joel's kids Nathan, Abbigail and Lydia. 

Pray for Ormsby Heights Baptist Church's Pastor Rick and Linda and the entire staff. Pray for the Contemporary Worship Ministry, the Praise Team and the Student Ministry which he worked very closely with. 

Pray for Beth Haven Christian School where he taught. He loved his students immensely.

Pray for our family. Separated by an ocean. It's hard. 

Pray for Haiti - for hope and healing.

And the Tears Fell (Forty two days in)

Forty two days on the ground and seventy three to go. Today the tears fell long and hard for the first time. The emotions have been building and building in my heart and today they finally reached the bubbling over point. I couldn't stop them from gushing down my cheeks. I felt so bad for Peterson as as he greeted us near the tap-tap station for a quick "market trip" this morning. He literally thought that I was hurt or someone in my family had been hurt. (Come on people… 42 days! I could be congratulated. That’s a long time! I’m sure some of you lost bets on that one.)

 Yesterday, Chris went on an overnight trip for ministry meetings to Jacmel and Grand Goave near the shore. It was the girls first night at home without him. We woke up to no power again… for the 46th straight hour. So, we loaded up our devices and took them to our missionary friends’ home to get some charge. Then we headed to our private Kreyole lessons with Erin (from Godet). She comes to our house one day a week and we feed her lunch. Since we were out of town last week we asked if we could have two days this week. So, we offered to buy her lunch at the BHM. We were running a little late, but laughed about it saying, “well, we’re on Haiti time anyhow.” and then got a text from Erin that she was running late, too. That’s one of the best things about being here. Haiti time. Everyone’s on it. No one is uptight about timing. It’s a different world than what we lived with in the US. Very different. I haven’t had any stress headaches or gotten uptight about scheduling for the most part - just gone with the flow.

 We ran into Simon and then Mathieu (Blessings Productions) and Trey and Chelsea and baby Colby and chatted for a bit. Erin was there and we grabbed lunch and scarfed it down. (Remember the BHM has been closed for 2 weeks and we’ve DEARLY missed it and the good food we can get there.) Erin pulled out her white board and wrote sentences for us and new vocabulary words. It was a great time of learning and before we knew it it was 3:45. We ran down to pick up our charging devices and then Erin walked us home. She came in and we enjoyed some hot tea and played a couple card games and banana grams. We then ate pbjs for dinner and watched the sun disappear along with all the light we had available. We were face timing Rachael for a good while and then Thomas and fam. We had to use our cellphones flashlights to light us enough to even be seen on FaceTime on our iPad. When we got done face timing Brynna talked me into playing her new card game online with our friend that we met on the Grand Goave team, Doug. Before we even yawned we realized it was 11:35 and we were probably the only ones awake on this mountain! Electric came on around 11:40 and then was gone by 2:17 when I woke up in the night to use the restroom. Of course, I didn’t sleep well without Chris, but I slept better than I expected. Brynna said it was the best night sleep yet as she slept in his spot. This morning we awoke and prepared to head out to meet Peterson for a quick market trip before heading up to Godet to visit with the kids we’ve missed so much. (He was heading up to Godet to refill the propane and water supplies.) I read our verse for the day as we were about to walk out the door:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: 

just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, 

if you have love for one another." 

John 13:34-35 

 As we walked down to the gate I was singing that song from children's church in my head, "this is my commandment that you love one another, that your joy may be full." We couldn't find Jerrard anywhere to let us out the gate. So, we were debating on what to do. I called Joseph, our landlord's son's phone, but he didn't answer. We knew it would be a quick trip to the market, but hated to leave it unlocked. As we exited our gate Brynna and I both kinda stepped back hesitating as we could hear some loud, anger-filled words blaring from a man's mouth to the left of us. Running through my mind: "Would we be in danger? What in the world was he saying?" As we swiftly crossed the street we could see the ladies in front of us and all around us looking back to see what the commotion was. They seemed to be pretty concerned, but not enough to run or stop and help solve the situation. We were walking ahead of the man who was so angry and we seemed to be just far enough ahead to not be able to lay eyes on him. By the time we passed the water/gas/coca store we had shaken off the threat from our minds. We were walking at a pretty good pace. I was worried because we left our gate unlocked and worried because I didn't pinpoint the night before a meeting place with Peterson. So, I pulled my phone out and called him. He said to meet at the tap-tap station. So, as we passed the car wash I was making a fresh list of what we needed to purchase. At the same time, I was also trying to make some sense in my mind of why there were so many dogs in Haiti and why the Haitians don't love them like we Americans do. There was a dog walking alongside us wagging his tail. Probably one I've tried to whisper love to along the road many a time. When we were in Grand Goave last week we loved hanging out with Boo. We told him every day how fortunate he was, how unusual it was for dogs to get any respect let alone any food, love or affection in Haiti. I don't think he could completely understand what we were trying to tell him. At the job site there were two teeny tiny chihuahua Haitian dogs that couldNOT have weighed 3 lbs each. They were a pitiful sight. Absolutely could have been on those commercials for neglected animals. Dogs in Haiti are running the streets all day and all night searching for ANY piece of food and ANY drop of water possible. During the day I've seen moto drivers and auto drivers swerve or honk to scare the dogs out of their minds. I've even tried to befriend our guard dogs here at the apartment. Their names are Romeo and Juliette and they don't know how to play or take a compliment or receive any affection from us. Partly, I'm glad because they keep watch day and night, but partly, I'd just like to tell them that they are loved and wanted.

Be glad you can't see the backside of this puppy.
It was sheer bones and very incredibly sad.
God, have mercy on these little bones!

Just then a man who was walking about 10 feet ahead of us jerked around suddenly and stomped HARD on the dog's foot that was walking on the road. The dog yelped, cried out, then whined and limped off to the side. Well, that was all I could take. I wanted to bust that man up the side of the head with my fist and then give him my other fist and scream at him! There was absolutely no purpose in him doing that. The dog was just walking along minding it's own business.

Then my mind began to swirl together all these thoughts, feelings and even that song, "this is my commandment that you love one another" and my heart began to overflow with emotions. And my heart and my mind came to a huge crescendo. I was so angry. I was so sad. I was so broken. I was livid. But, what good would that do to sling my whole entire body weight into my fist upside that man's head?! It definitely wouldn't prove that I was His disciple as in the verse of the day. It would not display His love. That was not the way. The people knew us when we walked down the street. We were the missionaries. The blan who came to bring Good News and share hope for eternity. I'm sure from my neck up I looked as red as a tomato. At some point Brynna noticed Peterson on down the street and pointed me towards him. I tried to stop the tears, but they were involuntary tears. I couldn't dry them up even after Peterson reached out and grabbed my hands and stared deep into my soul to try to figure out who had been hurt in our family. I apologized to him for being so emotional, but I'd held it in for so long. He seemed to understand where I was coming from and was so relieved that I wasn't hurt or anyone in my family.

It's Friday night. The lights are ON! We are all back together and going to play some mexican trains. Hoping the water in the hot water tank will be ready in a couple hours for us to take showers before bed. I'm not sure when I last showered... I know it's been a good while since I shaved my legs... Melanie JUST sent me this picture that Blake took at Brynna's birthday party. Looks like SOMEone's in need of a good leg shaving!! But, it's not really me! It's Chris' legs with my skirt. LOL!!

Chester, the dog and my legs that areNOT that... bad.

Talking about shaving legs...

Tomorrow we are invited to a sweet little girls' jungle birthday party at precisely 6:45 PM. We have one little gift, but wish we could find more for her. There wasn't much to be had at the market today. She can be seen standing beside Brynna as she opened her birthday gifts last week. Her name is Blake. Isn't she precious? Would you pray with us for her and her family as they celebrate her birthday this weekend and continue to serve the Lord here in Haiti.

P.S. And then there's that other little tune that goes, "they'll know we are Christian by our love, by our love. They'll know we are Christians by our love." Please continue to pray for our safety and for our walk. Pray that our walk would match our talk. It would have been very easy for me to destroy any credibility we had today. Pray that we always shine His light, His love. Pray that we continue to fall deeper in love with Him and Haiti.