Haiti...

After 6.5 hours of flying, Haiti was finally in sight. As we flew into port au prince I caught my first glimpse of  the now famous tent cities, unfinished buildings, palm trees and broken roads. After making it through the chaos that is every airport I've ever been in, we greeted the family we missed so much and pressed through the crowd of people into the intensely hot sun. We loaded all the luggage into the truck, and then squeezed 10 people into their "machine". We took off towards Gonaives, and the 67 kids waiting there to meet us.  Pulling into the orphanage was so weird for me. I have been hearing stories and piecing together images of this place for so many years, that I had a lot of adjusting to do.  It was humble, beautiful, broken, and somehow comfortable. Obviously my kids felt the same way, because when the truck stopped, Genesis jumped out and and sat in the dirt and proceeded to bury her feet and play like she'd been there all her life. Cyrus wasn't far behind her. :) We moved into our missionary stay room and spent our first night under mosquito nets. We were so excited to be in this place. We spent time getting to know some of the kids the next couple of days while we adjusted to the heat. Cyrus and I became bug candy despite the mosquito nets, but we survived. :) As a treat our parents wanted to take us to a little oasis that they found in town where there is a little pool, and we could order lunch. While playing in the pool, Cyrus slipped and went under the water. I was right by him so I scooped him up and started to check him over to make sure he was ok. Jake noticed blood coming down from his ear, so I moved his ear to look behind it...and it just kept opening. My heart flipped and I handed him to Jake and told him it was bad and he needed a hospital. Here we are in a third world country, and my two year old son needed emergency medical attention. Mommy freak out moment. God is amazing with his timing however, and covered us even in this far removed place. That same day another couple that runs a ministry in town was coming to that very same oasis. They happen to run a medical clinic 15 min away, and they just happen to have finished a class there and the nurse waited for Jake to get there with Cyrus. He ended up with three stitches and didn't even notice them the rest of the trip. :) That afternoon the rain started and didn't stop for quite a while. When we attempted to drive back to the orphanage, we found that the road had been washed away in three places and that we couldn't make it back to orphanage that night. Once again, God was beside us as your prayers covered us. That same couple that fixed Cyrus' ear owns a house that is bigger than any I have ever been in and they were in town, with room for all 13 of us to stay the night, because their next team didn't fly in until tomorrow. Every step of the way, there was the Lord's covering. We made it home later that evening only to discover that our rooms were flooding and the wind was blowing so hard we couldn't even keep the windows covered. At this point you start to wonder if life is always this wild here, or if this is just a special sort of week. Lol.

One of the days we went to visit the market to get a more complete picture of Haitian life.  It was busy and loud and lively. I was really enjoying myself just walking around trying to keep Eden's head covered from the sun (it was super hot out that day). I noticed some of the people trying to figure out what was in the pack that I was carrying in front of me, so  I lifted up the blanket a bit to show them the baby. I was rewarded with huge gales of shocked laughter.  The word that a white lady was walking through the market place with a tiny baby in a pack on her front, spread like wild fire before us. People started to follow me just to stare at her, and ask me questions about her. Every time we stopped at a stand, they brought me a chair to sit on and chattered at me excitedly. I have never been such a novelty before in my life, and it was  a little unnerving, and exciting all at once. In America, even really unusual things don't cause that big of a ruckus. Lol. Eden even made a splash with some of the missionaries there. They were pleased to see such a young baby on her first missions trip. ;) The kids in the orphanage would take turns pushing her up and down the porch in her little stroller and when we went up to pass rein for church on Sunday several of the ladies took turns holding Eden.

In two weeks, God gave me a picture of what life in Haiti can look like. Laundry by hand, emergency medical situations, storms, bugs, heat, hunger, and so many more things. Every day I spent time reflecting and sitting on the roof staring out at the surrounding country.  There is beauty there that seeps into your heart. Amongst the shanties and shacks, beautiful souls are hidden. The people are passionate, and the skies dramatic. As difficult as life can be there, there is a feeling of rightness, of
completion, and of home. Danger is everywhere, but so is love. Satan is everywhere, but God is extinguishing his fires. I find so much of the brokenness beautiful, because out of ashes, much can grow.