A Thousand Words in a Handful of Pictures

 Claire with Gabe and Meilani. Always a silly bunch.

 The view from the Pignon orphanage.

 Two of the boys at the orphanage. Cuteee!

 New friends!

 Learning the art of soccer in flip flops on rocks.

 Claire and her Gilmore girls.

 Some kids from the town. Curious.

 We could always find Claire hanging with the orphan girls. She loved helping them wash clothes.

 Gabe brought a small chess set. He taught the kids. Super!

 A bathing beauty.

 Life-saving nets.

 My Haitian Husband. These kids loved him!

 Washing ribbons.

 A journey to the Saturday market.

 Tanner, Gabe and Missionary Gilmore!

A Precious Gift

 After a "good" breakfast of spaghetti and eggs, we set out on another journey to meet one of our World Vision boys.

We decided to sponsor two children from Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
We teach our children to pray for different nations around the world as well as our own nation daily. After the devastating earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people, we struggled to find a way to give our kids more of a heart for others.
By sponsoring two boys in Haiti, we could give them a face and a name to Haiti. They pray for these boys every morning and night. They tell their friends they have two Haitian brothers.
As you can imagine, our kids were dying to finally meet these boys in person.

As many things in Haiti require waiting and random, ever-changing schedules, we had to wait until after lunch to meet out first boy.
The World Vision chaperones were headed to our mountain town from Port Au Prince to pick us up. Did I mention that is a six-hour drive?!
Our two chaperones arrived just as we were sitting down to lunch, so they joined us for a quick bite to eat. Tanner hit it off instantly with our translator, Jocelyn, who is also a big weight-lifter. They are now Facebook buddies chatting daily.

Jocelyn and his driver, Matthew, drove us in the World Vision Land Rover to the next town, Hench, about an hour or so away. The road is rocky dirt. Similar to driving in a rough dried out river bed. Not much pavement in Haiti.

The kids squealed with delight with each huge bump we hit. Finally, we began to approach Hench. Everyone became quiet, waiting and knowing that soon we would meet our first boy, Garisson.

We pulled into the complex and walked into the building. There greeting us was Garisson and his mom. They both greeted us with a kiss on each cheek and a warm hug. Claire squeezed Garisson so tight! Garisson is nine and about the same size as Gabe.

We took a moment to get acquainted, then started the gift-giving. When we mail packages to Garisson, they have to be small, so we took this opportunity to go big.

Gabe and Claire loved helping him build an amazing Lego set! We brought clothes, a brand new soccer ball, DVDs, and gifts for mom, too. I love giving gifts!

The kids worked on the Lego, while we chatted it up with mom. Isn't she stunning?! I really believe Haiti has the most beautiful people. They could all be super models!

The Lego jet!

Garisson's dad died, so his mom raises him on her own. She has no family around for support. We asked her if she had any business ideas. She said she would love to open a small clothing boutique one day. We are praying about how we can help her get started...the cost is only $230 a year for small space to rent.
 

I can not even begin to tell you how much we love this boy. We feel he is part of our family. Meeting him was a dream come true. It meant so much for us to meet him, but it meant the world to him and his mom that we would travel so far just to spend an afternoon with them. 
We can send all the money and gifts in the world, but what meant the most, was that we came in person.
We eventually had to part ways. Claire hugged and would not let go. It began to rain. The rain drops mixed with my tears as I cried for my boy. We all cried inside. This boy is our family.

If you want to support a child through World Vision, please do it now! It is only $35 a month. A small sacrifice for so much joy!

The First Days

 Our journey began on Tuesday, June 26 at 4 a.m. We left Fresno early, first flying to Dallas, then to Florida. It was a long day of flying. We had nine suitcases and three backpacks to tote to our hotel for the night.


This was to be a short rest as our next flight to Haiti was leaving at 6:30 a.m. The kids slept great, Claire slept in a chair...I'm beginning to think she can and will sleep anywhere.


We barely made our flight from Florida, only 2 minutes to spare. We were the only white people on the flight. As we boarded and made our way to the back of the plane, we were followed by white eyes and pearly white smiles on deep chocolate skin.


The Haitians were already welcoming us to their country, so thrilled to see our young children.


This short flight, 1.5 hours landed us in Port Au Prince Haiti. As we began to approach the island, Gabe shouted, "I see Haiti!" He was beaming with joy.

Then the cabin of brown-skinned love cheered as we safely landed.

The airport was near-chaos. Hot, dark, crowded. Two men were chosen to retrieve our mountain of bags. They wanted $40 for their services. And the negotiations began. We settled on $20. 


They walked us down a long outdoor corridor to the waiting area. We had to wait about an hour for our Haitian friend, Peter. He is the director of the mission in Haiti. What a relief when we finally saw him pull up in his truck.

 He drove us a mile or so to our next flight which was on a small plane flown by MAF, Missionary Aviation Fellowship. It was a nine-seater flown by a Tennessee native missionary pilot.

 This 22-minute flight replaces the over six-hour drive into the mountains of Haiti. Well worth the money!


As we flew over the outskirts of Port Au Prince, we could see many homes still in ruins from the January 2010 earthquake. Then we saw this....

 This is a huge area outside of the city of hundreds of small shed-like homes and tents. So many Haitians have been relocated here since the earthquake. Remember this, as later I will show you closeups as we returned here on our way home. 


After two long days of travel, our little girl finally fell asleep on our shortest flight. Go figure.

 Then we started getting close to Pignon, our home for the next 10 days. The mountains are more lush and tropical than the city.

 At the top of the picture below is the grass airstrip we landed on. Fantastic! I have not done this since my time in Papua New Guinea, but a first for the rest of my family.

 This is the "airport" in Pignon.

 Our friends, the Gilmores heard the plane fly over and jumped from their shower to come get us. They arrived with hugs and shouts of joy as our children greeted each other with love. The Gilmores have three young daughters, who were eager to have Claire and Gabe to play with and speak English with.


We headed off to their house and the Christian Friendship Ministries compound. We were then greeted by the beautiful children of the orphanage.

 The Christian Friendship Ministries compound was first built by Ericlee Gilmore's grandparents in the 1940s. The original farmhouse is a charming, yet termite-ridden wood, stucco, and metal structure. The house is built on the edge of a valley leading down to the river. A beautiful view!

The compound houses a large school, an orphanage, a church and a medical clinic. 

On this first day in Haiti we got acquainted with the heat, the bug bites, the new food and best of all, the beautiful people!

The Lord is My Banner

It is true kindness, generosity and faith that have motivated so many of you to give to Haiti.

-72 people or families have donated money

-$12,000 has been selflessly given

-So many other donations have been given in the form of swimsuits for orphans, soccer balls, water bottles, toys/gifts, jump ropes, solar mini-cars!....the list goes on and on.

We have five days left here in California. In the sweet-smelling comfort of our air-conditioned home with our easy food and silky sheets... and our abundant internet access.

I went for a run tonight. God painted the sky. Did you see it? Then the stars began to shine. The same stars that shine over Haiti. The same stars that shine over our two boys, Garisson and Hegel. I wonder, can they sleep at all waiting in such anticipation? I know I can't.

So easily I have become caught up in the stress of preparing to travel. Endless supply runs, packing 12 bags, emails to Haiti, paying bills early, ugh, who does that?! God reminded me to slow down. Enjoy the last few days here. Who knows, we may not be coming back... ;)

Then I read the story of Moses and the Amalekites.... The who? You know the Amalekites. Joshua and the Israelites were fighting them. 

The Bible says, "As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amakelites were winning." Then the Bible says, "When Moses' hands grew tired....Aaron and Hur held his hands up, so that his hands remained steady till sunset." The battle was won. Moses then built an alter to God and called it "The Lord is my Banner."

I thank God for so graciously giving you to us...to hold up our hands. This is a battleground we are entering. The nation of Haiti has been dedicated to satan. We are bringing love, hope, light and resources. And as long as you are holding up our hands, we will finish the task.
 
We have been given so much, but we know God still wants to do more. If you have been wanting to give there is still time. Please donate here or bring donations to us at our house, at the gym, at the store...wherever you can find us! May God richly bless you and your home!

A Reading List

I guess I read a lot. 
              Like more than the average person. 
All those years in school made me a fast reader, but now I get to read for my own personal enjoyment. Some of you have been asking what I read so I decided to give you a summer reading list with reviews. 

Even Tanner makes time to read to cute kids.

             I hope you have time to read this summer. Maybe you can read one of my listed books and then we can chat about it.

What I'm reading now:

-Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

I just started this today, but so far, so good.

-A Farmer's Year Devotional by Angus Buchan

I read this everyday and have for 3+ years. Tanner reads it, too. Good stuff, for non-farmers, too, although I do have a garden if that counts.

-The Bible, of course. Sometimes I pick a book and read through it. Sometimes, I read a Proverb a day since there are 31, so convenient. Sometimes I just pray and wait for God to show me what to read, very fun.

-The 52 Greatest Stories Ever Told by Ken Boa

This is a wonderful 5-day-a-week devotional highlighting 52 Bible stories. We read it together at night. It is perfect for me since I did not grow up reading the Bible.

What I just finished reading:

-Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony

Super good read on parenting the right way. Major takeaway, "Teach your children to ask the question, 'What needs to be done here?' every time they walk into a new room or situation." Love this one. I really don't enjoy lazy, unthoughtful children or adults for that matter. Sorry, if I have been in the past to you. Moving on, growing up.

-Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker

A fantastic story of how a funny lady and her pastor-husband started a new kind of church in Austin, TX, mostly ministering to the homeless and poor. Love this book. Really challenged me to think about most churches and how we just keep churching the churched and blessing the blessed. God is stirring us through this book. Look out!

-7 by Jen Hatmaker

Wow! Jen picks 7 things to do for 7 months like, month 1: eat only 7 food items. She also wears only 7 items of clothing for one month and shops at only 7 stores! She also has a great chapter on living green. Love it!

Must reads: 

-One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Amazing journey of finding joy in everything. Love her blog and love that she is going to Haiti same time as us, too. Cool.

-Crazy Love by Francis Chan

If you have not read this, stop, drop and roll! Read it now.

-Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

Teenage girl moves to Uganda, adopts 14 children, starts her own non-profit before she even turns twenty...need I say more. Amazing! All teens must read. All non-teens must read. It is never too late to do something bigger than yourself. Get on it! Her blog.

-Radical by David Platt

If you want to stay the same, please don't read this book. Continue in your lame, boring life. Just kidding! It is super good.

Books are everywhere in our house. Messy, but good. Look at these little kids I use to have!

There are so many more. Some are also listed on my virtual bookshelf to the right. Check it out. 


Have you read any of these? Comment, please. If you have another good one for me, do tell!