How to fall in love in 7 days.

Favorite memories:

Vincent: The Haitian church service; the sound of their voices, the emotion and passion they exhibited. 

Shirley: The last night at dinner in Haiti, Sandy shared her chameleon story. When she was ten, she wore her live pet chameleon as a necklace (complete with a bow around its neck). She used to trade hers with her friends, and they'd watch the reptiles change colors with each different shirt!

Kim: I really loved seeing Sandy teach the ladies how to bead. Their enthusiasm, especially when they understood, really warmed my heart. I also loved watchin' Mama Haiti strut her stuff with the bucket on her head!

Megan: I enjoyed praying for the people whom we visited throughout the week. It was amazing to hear their stories and be able to pray for their needs. 

Kristin: This is my second trip to Haiti and there was one face that was engraved into my heart after the first one. On trips like this, the reality is that this one week may be the only time in your whole life that you get to see the people you meet. To see and have the chance to spend another week with little Abouna, a 5 year-old with the most beautiful smile and heart that just connects with mine was so much more than I could have asked or imagined. I will forever remember what it feels like to look into his beautiful eyes.

Helen: There are so many things I enjoyed but I have narrowed it down to two favorites.  The first was teaching the same Haitian women from last year how to make earrings and watching them pick up new skills that will help their business prosper. The other was cooking in the kitchen at the Boom Boom Cafe. After 3 trips to Haiti eating traditional food, it was really neat to get in the kitchen and not only see how it was done, but to help them make it too.  

Amber: If I have to pick just one thing I absolutely loved this week, it would be loving on the children. The kids were so trusting and wanted nothing more than to be held and entertained. I will definitely miss them!!

Donna: I will never forget holding & cuddling 8 month old Regina while her mother was learning how to make beaded jewelry. 

Sandy: I will cherish forever this whole trip, but especially the moment on Thursday when Mama Haiti grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek along with a HUGE hug.  After she kissed me, all the ladies grabbed us and we were kissing and hugging each other and laughing!!!  It was a wonderful expression of love, family and friendship; especially the silly laughing!!!

Mary Beth: I loved when Haiti Mama did her fashion show with the bucket of water on her head.

Yolanda:  Anticipating my second year coming to Haiti, I thought about the two women, Malonda and Suzette, that I connected with emotionally and spiritually last year. Would they remember me?  My reunion with them was wonderful. Hugs, tears, and total elation was felt by all of us.  They are like family to me. And while I was here it meant so much to me to have the honor of praying for Suzette, her daughters, and her home. And to help hoe the ground where Malonda would plant a garden. But most of all, to finally hold the baby I had prayed for for so long.  A beautiful baby girl named Regina.  I will definitely miss my Haiti family when I leave.

Tracey:  The beautiful singing floating up to the heavens as we arrived at the church, the laughter of the children, their bright eyes, beautiful smiles and the feeling of their arms around my neck as I carried them up the hill, being reunited with familiar faces,

and the daily commute with the majestic mountains on one side and the blue sea on the other, listening to Delirious sing "Did you feel the mountains tremble? Did you hear the oceans roar?" all the while remembering how mighty and great and powerful our God is to handle anything in our lives. 

MaryChris: Loved every moment. My favorites are Momma Haiti's laugh, Julie's smiles, pastor Williams prayers, Bertie's cooking and Mackinson's leadership and strength in taking this community farther and father towards independence. And the deepening relationship with my team. I <3 them! 

 

Holiday away from home!

Happy 4th of July from Haiti

Today was different for us. Instead of sitting with our families grilling hotdogs, burger, hanging at the beach or pool, we cooked beans and rice and friend chicken with our Haiti family. Our restaurant was the Boom Boom cafe. Helen, Amber, Kristin and Marybeth have all the skills and recipes. 

Laney sent red, white and blue hair bands for a morning reminder and fun. We hung a flag and opened glow sticks and had our own fireworks. 

In the community in addition to cooking we had prayer walks, observing new houses that are being built.   Yolanda, Megan Marychris and Vincent walked around the community, prayed with families and played with the children. MaryChris jumped 6 feet in a hole that is being built as a latrine...Mackinson and Karlens helped her out.

Sandy, Kim, Shirley and Donna met with the ladies who are over joyed at their new skills in bead making. Donna played part of baby whisperer, Kim was the mackdaddy translator, Sandy and Shirley were amazing teacher who not only helped some increase their skills but she taught it to 4 new woman in the community. It was so heart warming to see the woman who have been doing this be willing to share with new woman and never looked at them as competition. 

We ended our day learning how to carry a bin on our heads. But no one can strut a catwalk with a bucket on her head like momma Haiti!

Even though we went with a plan, and it was not our normal Independence Day celebration it turned into the most incredible Independence Day. 

Our independence day was helping more Haitians become more independent. 

Today's blog chicks are Amber, Shirley, Yolanda, Sandy, Megan and MaryChris 

Wordless Wednesday

Cultivating....

Bonswa! (No, i didn't spell that wrong; it's Creole!) Another great day in the community....

We began our day breaking up the soil behind a young mother's home so that she may grow a garden. We were so grateful to have so many workers and marveled at how long it would have taken to break up this land alone. We soon realized just how vital this task was when she suddenly passed out, likely from anemia. The community here is so supportive of each other. When Mirlande passed out, she immediately had Deaf neighbors at her side, concerned and offering their support. Once she regained consciousness, we learned that all she'd had for breakfast was coffee. She has 3 very young children, and her husband is away, caring for his sick parents. Her parents are sick and don't live nearby, so they are unable to help. She needs work to earn a living to provide for her family. Right now, she is a single mom, essentially. How blessed are we that we, even when we think there's "nothing to eat," we can actually stroll into our (air-conditioned) kitchen and use electricity to cook something that we haven't had to kill or harvest ourselves?

One of the pastors here was speaking matter-of-factly about the daily struggles Haitians face. He asked if Americans face the same struggles. We told him no, that their are millions across the world who face similar or even harder struggles, but that America is abundantly blessed (even if we rarely realize it). Pastor Greg once did a series of messages on "How to Be Rich," and one of the statistics was this: "If your family income is $10,000 a year, you are wealthier than 84 percent of the world. If it's $50,000 or more a year, you make more than 99 percent of the world." Read that again. Even our most impoverished Americans are wealthier than 84% of the rest of the world. And middle-class Americans are richer than 99%! 

So, while we are giving of our time this week, we are getting back so much more in return. While we cultivated Mirlande's soil this morning, Tracey correlated the breaking apart that hard soil so that something will grow with how God breaks our hearts for us to grow. How true is that?

We finished out our day with some playtime with the kids from the community. I have to be clear when I say this, because there ARE baby goats roaming freely here, but I think you know what I mean by "kids". We pulled out frisbees, punching balloons and jump ropes and let the fun begin. Vincent can jump a mean rope, and Donna is a veritable pied piper when it comes to herding children. And the children love to yell, "YoLANda!" We finished the afternoon with MaryChris's enthusiastic retelling of the story of Jonah and the big fish, translated into Haitian Creole and sign language. 

Tomorrow, though our plans may well change, we hope to be teaching a jewelry-making class to the community ladies and engaging the children again with more Vacation Bible School activities.

Until tomorrow, this blogbabe (Kim) is signing off!