One of those days...

Yesterday was one of those days I wasn't ready for… 

I was ready, however, to take a trip home... 

I was ready to feel air conditioning again… 

I was ready to go on a real date with my husband (you know at a real restaurant with rich, delicious food including dessert and then a movie that isn’t created to entertain a 5 year old)… 

I was ready to see my brother again and get one of his great big hugs... 

I was ready to take the kids to Smoothie King or treat them to an ice cream cone… you get the picture…

It’s no surprise that we’ve all been a little homesick after so many people have just been here from home but I was really sick last week and when you’re sick and worn out there are few things that make it “all better” like the comforts of home and I was really tempted yesterday to fall into the trap of the “if onlys”.  

I had one of my terrible headaches and I almost gagged at the thought of another peanut butter sandwich when lunchtime approached.  

It was so hot I would swear my skin was about to explode by mid afternoon, the chateau (water tank on the roof) has been empty all week and there was no water in the buckets upstairs for flushing the toilet or washing our hands… 

I was definitely feeling stretched and outside of any comfort zone!

I was reminded of one of the devotions from our children’s devotion books.  It was called, “One of My Days”.  The verse in the beginning was 1 Peter 5:7 which says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you.”  It talked about when we have one of those days where everything goes wrong.  It said, “Do you trust the Lord enough to let Him lead you through the days when everything goes wrong?  Or are you determined to fix it all yourself?  If you keep trying to make things go your way while He is leading you in a different way, you make your desires an idol.  Instead of doing this, cast all your troubles and worries on the Lord.  Then He will turn ‘one of those days’ into one of His days!” 

I was quickly on the path to making my desires idols yesterday.  My ‘if onlys’ were becoming idols faster than I could say ‘if only’ and I sensed it but it was like I was in quicksand with no hand in sight for rescue.  The kiddos had all finished their schoolwork and my head was pounding so I declared mandatory rest/quiet time and I did the only thing I knew to do.  I prayed and then I tried to take a nap, myself.  I woke up sweating, my head still pounding and my mind immediately went back to the negative thoughts I was fighting before I fell asleep.

And then I saw it….  right next to me on my bed was a card Caleb made while I was asleep.  It said “Hope You Feel Better” and it had 3 beautiful butterflies and 3 amazing flowers on it.  Talk about a perspective changer…  Suddenly I began to smile and I started thinking about all that I have to be thankful for instead of all that I had to complain about. 

As Lysa TerKeurst once said, ‘God loves to invite us outside of our comfort zone and then he gets all the credit.”  See, God is due all the credit but sometimes I forget that.  Sometimes I put myself in the credit seat and when I’m having one of those days I act like I am owed something.  I start processing what I deserve and I daydream about how much better things would be if… but this is a dangerous place to be.  As Oswald Chambers put it in My Utmost for His Highest, “You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity.  Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinary pure His Son is.”  He also goes on to remind us that, ‘ If God puts you into adversity, He is adequately sufficient to “supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19).’ 

Some days are just harder than others.  They will be until I see Jesus face to face. 

Some days I will crave the comforts of home more than other days.

But you know what else?  I serve a compassionate God that delights in blessing me (and you, too), every day!   Regardless of how many times I fall prey to the ‘if only’ days, my God is quick to supply my every need and He even supplies some wants, too.

John had to go to Cap Haitien yesterday to pick up our mail from the airport.  Guess what was delivered YESTERDAY (yep, on one of those days)……  5 goody boxes from 2 of our friends and 2 of our family members that sent "little pieces of home"!!!  

I had to laugh with excitement… my God knew all along what kind of day I was going to have when he impressed it on the people’s hearts to send what they sent the very day they sent them.  Some of you will shake your head and say it was pure coincidence but I know better.  Now, will I always get care packages on the bad days?  No and I won’t always get gifts that I can hold in my hands when my heart needs them most but I did yesterday and I want to be quick to give praise to my Great God who made it happen! 

We got Peanut MnM’s, plain MnM’s, Cheetos, Doritos, Fruit snacks, Twizzlers, Yummy Sugary Cereals, Muffin Mixes, Cake Mixes, Icing, Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies (MY FAVORITE), Jell-O and Pudding Packs, and more.  Cabila even got (3) “welcome to the family” gifts!  Isn’t God good???

I am convinced that when we give Him 'those days' that He is more than able to turn them into one of His days!  

**Thank you, Jesus, for helping me find the right perspective.  And thank you that you will be here for me when I need re-positioning again!**

Levinsky

Many of you have been praying with us for our friends, the Noels, but some of you are reading about this family for the first time.  Either way, we would be so grateful for your prayers for Levinsky (the adorable, almost 2 year old shown here), his Mom ("Betta"), his Dad ("Yehn Yehn") and his siblings (Bernise and Livensome).  They are like family to us and they need our prayers desperately.

Levinsky was hospitalized on the 21st of April due to a really high fever and severe swelling and pain in his right arm.  He had chicken pox so he went to the doctor a couple of days before.  He received an injection at the Dr visit and we've since learned that there was trauma to his arm from the injection which caused an infection leading to the swelling and pain.  Over the course of the last few weeks they've been given very few answers about his condition.  John and I heard from one of the doctors when we visited one day that they thought he had a kidney infection and she also said that there was a problem with his heart in that it wasn't beating properly.  Since then, he has had at least one test done on his heart that we know of but we never did hear the results.  Surgery was done at the end of last week to reduce the swelling in his arm and to rid some of the infection and pain (as best we could understand).  The swelling was down as of yesterday but they are not anticipating that he will get to come home anytime soon we don't think.  His fever was back up today (I'm not sure about the degree, we just heard that it was really high).   

The conditions here in the hospital are disturbing even in the least severe cases.  The patients in the pediatric area are pretty much on top of each other.  Visiting with them the one time we were able to go was heartbreaking.  Being a mom it was hard to process what I saw.  I tried to hide my "how-do-you-look-so-calm-in-these-conditions?" face as we prayed over them.  Betta had one plastic chair that sat in front of a row of metal crib-like beds where she sat holding Levinsky and trying to get him to eat.  (He hasn't been able to do much for himself the last few weeks which is totally uncharacteristic of this little firecracker that we know and love!)  The one large room with sick children opened up to a connecting smaller room with other sick children, in approximately 15-18 oversized crib-type beds in all.  With different children crying at once, silence is pretty much non-existent at any hour I would presume.  I cannot fathom what it has been like for them these past 18 days, not to mention not getting many answers or an estimated time for going home.  

My heart hurts for them over the obvious... a little boy who isn't well that we want to see come home, but also for the brother and sister (ages 8 and 5) left at home with tons of questions and the parents who have to be worn out and stressed with their current situation.  The hospital is over an hour and a half away.  Betta has only been home 3 times since they were admitted I think and both Yehn Yehn and Betta have been gone the last 2 nights.  

Many days I feel so helpless.. we send what we have that might make the day go by a little easier, knowing that it probably doesn't come close while praying and praying that the Doctors and nurses will have wisdom and be full of compassion while tending to them.  The only other thing I know to do is to ask you to join us in this very serious matter and ask our Father to bring relief and healing where this family is concerned.  

I am confident that God has this precious family in His hands.  I know that He is all they need.  Please pray as the Spirit leads you for each of them and as always we thank you for taking time to meet us where we are and for storming the doors of heaven for these things that are so near to our hearts!

~2 Peter 1: 3-8

A little from the last couple of weeks...

God is doing some amazing stuff here in Haiti.  My heart is spilling over with joy!  I have missed writing but these last 3 weeks have been so full…lots of ‘ups’ and some ‘downs’ and emotions I’m STILL processing! 

We had the opportunity to host 18 different people over the last couple of weeks. J

We enjoyed having the Alfriedes here and the Mission Team from LifeBridge Church here for a week, too.  

Along with some awesome work that was done, we loved reconnecting with our friends... 

..and we got to know some new friends from MS, as well. 









The team was a great help!  They passed out clothes, shoes and hygiene kits and information was collected and more pictures were taken for the children's school sponsorship program.


A ton of work was done on the construction of the new bakery..

...and a new roof was put on Herales’ house while they were here, too.

The local kiddos (including ours) loved interacting with the team...

...and we even hiked the mountain again, just like last July! 

We had a movie night with snacks and there was a gift night, too!  

Everyone loved the things the team brought!  (One of my favorites is still the Integrity iWorship DVD’s!!!!!) J  

They did so much while they were here and thanks to some trusted friends, I even got to get out of Camp Coq one day (first time since we moved here in January)! 

It sure was hard to see them go.  They left really early Saturday morning but then Saturday night I got an early birthday surprise.....


My parents came to Haiti!!!!!  

Needless to say, I was so excited!!!!!  

John helped Mom and Dad plan their arrival and he picked them up in Port-au-Prince after taking Pastor Frank and Sister Nicole back for their departure flight.  

One week with friends and then one week with my parents sure does make the heat a lot easier to deal with!!!!!!!!!