Someone told me once that Haiti was hopeless
I tend to disagree.
Even more, I think there may be more hope there than this grand ol’ state I live in.
Because life is raw there, not clouded by busy schedules, commercialism, and entitlement to name a few.

Hear me out.
To look at this island nation, to meet the amazing resilient people, to spend time seeing the beauty rather than focusing on the negative
well, you can’t help but see hope.

Hope for the future, a better tomorrow, the willingness to work hard at it
This is Haiti.

(some pictures of Haiti that you will probably never see in the news here. The beautiful land)

from our trip to Haiti

a random snapshot in a mirror

me, no makeup and dirty and sweaty,

with a bunch of kiddos at an orphanage.

while Brad measured rooms for paint,

we played ring around the rosy

took pictures that they laughed and laughed at

and I pray that in the midst of their hard little lives

that maybe playing with a girl with a camera

brought joy into their life for just a minute

it’s kind of where I feel most at home

give me flip flops and sand any day

these are pictures of pictures of me when I was 12, we lived in Tonga at the time

have you ever heard this song?

“there is something about the ocean that makes me rise up and praise

there’s something about the heavens makes me stand in awe again

there’s something about the sunrise, reminds me of your faithfulness

there’s something about the ocean, and I’m lost in love again”

**

that is what the ocean does for me.

makes me fall in love with God again.

Here are some pictures of the ocean in Haiti.

It was my first time experiencing Caribbean ocean

it was primitive, non-commercial, and simple

my kind of ocean

I think I need to go back:)

Days that define you,

made you look twice at your life,

gave you a glimpse of what heaven must be like?

that was what Jan 12, 2011 was for me.

It was a normal day in most regards.

A normal day with a dark subconscious.

You thought about it constantly,

what these people were living at this moment one year ago

**

that night they had church

and it changed me.

they got on their knees and prayed

Psalm 23

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

then in the quiet after saying that prayer, some cried out and wailed

mourning in that echoing, haunting wail

that comes from the depths of your soul

when you have lost it all

there, kneeling in the dirt under a tent, I was wrecked

with my hand around a little sobbing orphan who had lost her home and her sister

i.was.wrecked.

**

but then what happened is what made me fall in love with this country even more

they stood up

and thanked God

and not in a Southern church on the corner way.

No, they THANKED God

they worshiped Him

unabashedly

With a faith that I can only wish to have someday.

Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me

Hard to put words to

to give the situations justice,

to give God justice in all He does

so here is my first very humble try

**

so I want you to meet this family

who are close to some families here in Knoxville through adoption

who suffer more than any of us could imagine

but smile in the midst of it

and a little boy

who is a beautiful child of God

that earthly doctors can’t do too much for

who will one day be in his absolutely perfect forever body

all because of redemption

hardship. beauty. pain. love. redemption.

this is Haiti.

that very week.

I wrote this before I left and scheduled the post to post on 1/11/11

On the few days leading up to the 11th

I said those words over and over in my head

“God, in his infinite wisdom, knew exactly where I would be this day”

and the reason I’m saying all this is I want you know how amazing God is.

like, really amazing.

In the midst of everything we go through in this human life

God is so so good, all the time.

**

on 1/11/11

my due date

a beautiful little girl, Mylove, was born

in our small clinic in the hills of Haiti,

in a small cement room

in an infinitely better situation than she would have had if we weren’t there.

and God, in all his knowledge, knew my fragility that day

allowing me to be there during her labor and then after

but as Mylove was being born,

in that moment,

I was walking through the hills of Haiti with kids draped all over me.

Bondye bon tout tan (God is good, all the time)

they use their God given talents, their education, their resources

and they save lives.

but this time

letting him sit in your lap and laying a hand on his little shoulder and praying

is all you can do.

Amongst the medicines, the needles, the bandages,

prayer.is.all.you.have.

and you’re praying so hard

that his suffering won’t be hard,

(because this life of his is so hard already. it doesn’t really seem fair.)

and that he’ll know, that his parents will know, that even in his little life

he touched people.

He touched us.

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes 1:18

(I’m not really sure what exactly was wrong with this little boy but I do know that the doctors and everyone took time to gather around him before he left and pray. And it was powerful. and heartbreaking.)

is the village life of Haiti

its slower, takes its time

lets you breathe it in

and, at the same time, takes your breath away.

this was a church and school, its now a complete lost and will have to be torn down.

this is where they meet now for church, this is set up on the site where a 3 story orphanage once stood.  It collapsed in the earthquake and they have since cleared it, using the crumbled concrete to create a road into the village so now you can drive in rather than walk from the main road.

and stop along side the road at a seemingly random spot

get out and cross the road to find a path

(a rocky path that makes you wonder how they walk over it barefoot)

and you walk for about a half mile

you come across several little one room houses

and you meet this man

who looks to be older than he probably really is

who has a cleft palette but whose smile will brighten the darkest day

and his love for life?

well, its contagious.

**

and he makes baskets

beautiful handmade perfectly imperfect baskets

productivity isn’t high and selling is limited to those that may wander down his path

but, wow, those baskets are made with love

**

a group of us prayed for him after buying a basket

his only basket

pretty sure if he had more we would have cleaned him out

because its so much more than a basket.

(this is him while we prayed for him…one of my fave shots of the trip)