Heading to Haiti: June 2014

Party of 8!

Last week was filled with emotion. We had a visa appointment on Monday that went well. There was expectation of travel papers on Wednesday which actually materialized on Thursday. There was waiting. There was crying. There was other weird stuff that came out of the children who live here that we were not familiar with. There was more waiting. There was frustration, and there was impatience. I know the blog does not tell a continuous story at this point.....we fell off the wagon for a bit, but our 2.5 year journey was inching its way to the completion. Al of the love, hurt, waiting, brokenness, love, waiting and love were raising to the tops of our souls and then they started bursting out of us. My favorite moment to illustrate the point was when one of the children tried to address a letter to dear friends who now live in Texas. Said child is a competent envelope addresser, but it took 5 attempts tot get the address just right. FIVE envelopes, many tears, and several minutes of just being held. I quickly discerned that this was not about the envelopes. It was about the sisters who were on the other end of two plane flights waiting for us.
At the pool with friend we got the word that we were cleared to travel-the papers were ready and there was nothing stopping us from getting Sunshine and Sleyca. Within minutes flights were book, calls were made and we were headed with the swim team to celebrate at Sweet Frog!

The first many hours were reserved for joy, exclamation, sharing the news (and eating sweet frog!). Then, as I tucked kids in and final things were packed into back packs, the anxiety set it. Nothing major weighed on me, but EVERY MINOR DETAIL weighed on me. I did not force myself to acknowledge them hoe GREAT my God is. I had a learned a song at Lifeline when I was there a while back that goes like this, "I've got a GREAT BIG God-Oh, by my side, by my side." Let me run down some of my little worries and how a GREAT BIG GOD responded.

The contents of our 4 bags which MAY have been a little too heavy!

1. My checked luggage was probably just a little bit too heavy (4 huge bags crammed with 100 gift bags for the children and staff that were made by our church at VBS last year). The agent who checked us in was confused at why one would travel to Haiti for an overnight trip with 4 huge bags. We explained our situation and he was so happy for us that he didn't even weight the bags....just put tags on them and off we went!!
2. When we arrived in Haiti we might not be able to find our driver easily. As soon as we walked out of the baggage area he was standing at the front gate with a sing bearing our name.

3. What if the girls rejected us? As we pulled in to the compound and stopped, I saw my sweet Sunshine peeking out of the front door with anxiety in her own eyes. I leapt from the car and ran to her. The closer I got the more joy filled her face. She remembered. She was excited, and that joy and acceptance helped Sleyca's as well. We were together now...forever.

4. We had the making of a party for the kids but what if there was not time to put it together or what if we were not allowed to bring all of the children into the guest house to celebrate? The director welcomed us with dinner (which was amazingly good). Then she provided us time and space to set up our party. She was grateful for all we had planned and brought with us and was thrilled to see the children celebrate with our family.
5. What if it was miserably hot and the A/C was not working and we couldn't sleep? Well, it was, and it wasn't, and we didn't. But it was the best not-sleeping I've ever done! The girls slept peacefully, Ryan was restless and a little gecko chirped at me all night long. At one point I got a text from my brother reminding me that there was a team of people who were taking turns praying for us each hour through the night.....what a gift from our God!! Who needs A/C?? :)
6. What if we had trouble at the airport with the documents? Again, my God had this covered. We were treated like royalty, taken to the front of every line (okay, some of that was for a tip.... a generous tip), given seats together i the waiting area by missions groups who congratulated us and were excited with us. The time passed quickly and we were on our way!!

The window shade went up and down hundreds of times....who needs crayons when you have a window shade?

Miss Manners made sure her napkin was on her lap during snack time

7. What if the girls get scared on the plane? OR maybe they will get sick? Again, not an issue. They flew well, not a tear was shed, they loved the plane. Well, there was a little hiccup with Sleyca wearing a seat belt on the first flight, but on the second flight the stewardess actually asked me to just hold her because she is so little! WHAT? God would be so good to this little girl that he would not even ask her to wear a seat belt! He loves her in ways that are big for her, and that blessed me greatly. We had seats all together on every flight even though we started with four separate seats on each flight.

So, in case I was considering taking up a life full of trivial worrying, let me assure you, "I've got a GREAT BIG God-Oh, by my side, by my side." (The sermon in church yesterday was even addressing this specifically-Thanks Stuart!) The girls are settling in very well. We've had consistent times of giggles, playing, laughing, and fun. There has been much playing, silliness, learning of English, and we've been able to communicate well despite the language barrier. They are both eating well and sleeping well. God continues to protect us and care for us. While we know harder days will come, we are choosing to drink in the goodness of today and not worry or fret about tomorrow. (As Stuart reminded us yesterday, that would indicate that we do not believe that God will provide for our future.)

The girls saying goodbye to Mama Nicole

Thank you for your prayers, for the meals, for the warm welcome at the airport, for the gift you have been to us as we have walked the first part of this journey. Thank you for sticking with us in the days, weeks, and months to come. We are excited to see how our GREAT BIG GOD will continue to reveal himself.