In love with less...

Well, it has been at least a week since I last posted, there is so much to say I don’t even know where to begin, which is a common occurrence with these posts! I guess I can start with another epiphany that I had recently… Ken, Matt, Stacie, Cameron and I were hiking up the aqueduct behind our house. It is an absolute gorgeous view! While we were on our way up to the 2nd lookout point Stacie and I just stopped to look at the view; we looked out over palm trees, down green hills to the Caribbean Sea, it was breathtaking. I began wondering, as I often do, how a place SOOO BEAUTIFUL could be in so much pain. I still don’t have the answer to that question, if any of you have any insight I will gladly take it. We started talking about our lives here and what they consisted of, or rather, what they no longer consist of; no coffee shops, no TV, no hot showers, no vehicle to drive at your will, no popsicles, and the list can go on and on…In that moment I realized, as much as I miss all of those ‘things’ I could care less if had them again, I was madly in love with less! This is so against everything in our culture, we are taught the more we have the happier we are. For me, if I had to choose between the two I would rather not have those things but have 87 children who love me dearly in a country in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Thank you Lord for causing me to fall in love with less…
A couple of weeks ago we had a young woman come to our gate to give us her baby to care for because she didn’t have the resources to care for him. She was younger, I wouldn’t say much older than 18, if that. You could tell by her face that she did not want to give this baby up but she knew she had no better option for him. She herself was an orphan with no family, living with friends, with no work and trying to care for both her and her 1 year old child. My heart ached as I watched her, her eyes welled up and she began crying when we asked her questions about the baby, and if she was able to take care of him would she keep him, she said yes, but she didn’t see a way that she would possibly be able to care for him. Well, in order for us to care for a child we must have the proper paperwork and she didn’t have any of it, she didn’t know where the father was and she didn’t have a birth certificate of her own. Diane decided that we would go check out this young girl’s home to see where she was living…it was heartbreaking, there were approximately 8 people living in this tiny cement home of a side road just outside of Cyvadier. We want children to stay with their families if they have them, and we will do everything in our power to keep them together rather than separating them. We gave her some rice, some formula, some milk and clean water…We have yet to hear back from her so my prayer is that both her and the baby are doing okay, and that if she still needs help she would be humble enough to come back and ask and know that we will do everything we can. Never even my life did I think I would be a daily part of these conversations, to witness a young woman in such despair to want to give up her child because we could care better for them… It will never stop breaking my heart! I can’t even imagine being in that position, to be so broken, and so vulnerable that the only way you can see hope is to give your child up, to sacrifice your relationship with them. It reminds me a lot of God… After looking in that young girls face, seeing her cry with the thought of giving up her child, I began to see the face of God as He gave up His son, to save us. The only way He knew that would fix the brokenness was to make a great sacrifice. This young girl only knew how to fix the broken pattern of her family was by giving up her son…ugh my heart aches.
On Sunday we took the kids to the beach, as we usually do, and we met this young boy, who I had also met the week before. He is 14 and his name is Roosvelt, he does not speak English well, but by some miracle I was given enough words in Kreyol to communicate with him. God never ceases to amaze me, he gives me words at the right moment, that I otherwise promise I don’t know! Roosvelt is such a sweet boy who is a FANTASTIC artist! He took a stick in began drawing in the sand, I was seriously in awe, I will try and post a picture later, he even signed him named “Artis’ Roosvelt”. He drew a man with a baseball cap on and pretty big muscles (I think he was looking at Cameron haha). But the thing that got me about this situation is he could be one of the next artists that we buy paintings from a couple of years from now. I have SO many paintings from here and I wonder if that is how many of the artists began. Tomorrow we are going to go back to the beach and bringing him pencils and a drawing pad, that way he can practice!
Emi went back to the village where we did the test on the boy who we thought had TB, the test was negative! Praise the Lord, but she did meet an older woman who did return a positive test, pray for her…
I have been traveling back and forth between here and Grand Goave to get updates on our kids there for their sponsors. I love that place. Grand Goave is much different than Jacmel, not in a city, much more rustic, but beautiful to say the least. I don’t like one place more than the other, I just love them both A LOT. Our kids there are amazing. By my second visit they already knew my name and would scream it as soon as I walk up to the gate! The girls love to play with my hair, the boys love to play with my camera! They are so excited to be moved into their new houses soon, yet, we still have a lot of work to do before that can happen! Pray that we will continue to make productive progress and get these kids to their new homes! I love those kids as much as I love the kids here in Jacmel. They came from a very rough background and just need intentional love. I am thankful for Andrew and Angie Sutton who will love these kids well! Pray for the kids that they will continue to grow and learn and open up to those who want to love them well. They have some trust issues, and rightfully so, especially the older ones. Pray for our 31 kids in Grand Goave..
Lately Stacie and I have been talking a lot about the Restaveks in Haiti…and since our conversations have begun we have met at least three young restavek girls. I don’t think it is a coincidence either. The Lord has honestly been stirring something in my heart for these kids who lack education simply so they can be a ‘slave’ to another family. Most restaveks are either abandoned or orphaned and just not lucky enough to be brought to a loving family such as ours, but rather are taken advantage of by extended family or strangers. My heart aches for these children especially these three little girls! Magda, Kettia & Santana are Restaveks in our town….the difficult part is, it is legal here, and not much that we can do about it. But Stacie and I have made it a point to walk each morning and call these girls by name and tell them that they are beautiful! Today we are going to get some dresses for them and make sure they know that they are well loved. Pray that we be given passions of how to serve these children…My eyes well up thinking of their smile despite their circumstance. Haitians are a resilient people.
Friday was a special day for me here in Haiti. Our church back home in California decided to the Kids Mission Project that Hands and Feet has produced, and incorporate it into their VBS. You can check out our new website for info on how to get the Mission Project FREE! It is a cool way to have kids raise money to build more homes for kids in Haiti. This is the first year our church has done this and at the end of the week we were able to skype with all of the kids! I had about 7 or 8 of our kids here on skype with hundreds of kids back in California. Despite the bad connection it was such a beautiful thing to see! To witness two of my worlds coming together for one common goal. These kids were sacrificing their money, their parents money haha, and much more to serve these kids that I have taken as my own in Haiti! They raised almost $1300! What a beautiful moment! This place that has been so dear to both me and Cameron has finally connected with our church back home and they were able to ‘meet’ some of our kids…God is so good, and it just reminded me how big He is compared to us…We may be far in distance but we all came together for one purpose! To look after orphans and widows in their distress…Thank you Sutter Creek!
Yesterday (Saturday) was quite an eventful day here in Haiti. We started our summer fun fun fun fun program! The kids started surfing, karate, gymnastics, and art lessons! It was so awesome watching them do all of these things. I am convinced our kids are talented at everything! Around 10 AM a mom who is a part of our feeding program came and dropped of her son (for the 7th time) because he was extremely ill. They lost their home in the quake (if they had a home in the first place) and are now living in a tent city that is infested with cholera and numerous other diseases! Baby Schneider was throwing up, had a diarrhea, a high fever and not breathing well! I took care of him while Diane shuttle kids back and forth to the beach and he seemed to be doing okay, just drinking some pedia-lyte to get rehydrated, and then after lunch he took a turn for the worst. He stopped vomiting constantly and you could just tell he did not feel great. Diane decided it would be best if we could get him to the hospital. We headed to the Cuban hospital with him where the made clear the importance of getting him fluids, but because he was so dehydrated they couldn’t find a vein. Diane and I had to help the doctors hold him and work with them to get the IV in place, after ‘finding’ a vein in his foot we watched the IV bag SLOWLY drip for about two hours and then realized it wasn’t even in his vein! All we had done was give him a swollen foot. They nurses came back and looked for more veins and eventually had to insert the IV into his neck. We had to hold him in a specific position for hours so the IV would drip properly. Praise the Lord he eventually fell asleep so he was not moving too much. I know that the Lord was with us, I have never liked hospitals or needles and here I was helping with IV drips, that strength did NOT come from me. His breathing was getting worse so they recommended we get a chest x-ray but they did not have a technician (so frustrating!) so we had to call around other hospitals to see if they had one. After finding a hospital that had an x-ray tech the doctors told us to get the x-ray, come back, and he would be admitted there but someone would have to stay with him. We were both willing to stay with him, but thought it was important that his mom be there. Diane called a local missionary friend who knows which tent his mom lives in and she went out to find her! She finally found her, and told her you need to come with me, your son is in critical condition. They met us at the other hospital where we had to bang on the door to wake up the x-ray tech to complete the x-ray (that is going in my “You know you’re in Haiti when…. Book). We finally got the x-ray and took him back to the Cuban hospital with his mom, after stopping and getting her food since she had not yet eaten that day… There were so many little things that could have been solved easily with the properly resources! One of the most frustrating things about this place, I just wanted this baby to start progressing and I was fearful that there was no hope for that. My heart aches for his mom- could you imagine having nothing and the only thing you know how to do when your child is sick is leave him with strangers! My heart aches for him- his mom has good intentions but she doesn’t have the competence to care for him well! Pray that his little body will begin healing; we are going to check on him today, and pray that his mom will find the resources she needs to care for him! Pray for my heart to be more gracious to her instead of frustrated. I love this child like he was my own and had a difficult time that his mom just dropped him and didn’t come back, but then saw her sitting on the hospital bed crying for him last night and was convicted of my frustration…..
My time in Haiti is going by too quickly and I hate even the thought of leaving. Pray that I will be able to embrace each moment, and embrace it well. Pray that I will work to my full potential and pray that God will restore His Spirit within me and guide me to what the next step of my life looks like. Right now I am living a dream and I don’t ever want it to end……
Continuing the Journey, Much Love,
Bek