power &vbs

I heart VBS! I so do! I have been attending/ working VBS my whole life. I love that kids can  have a chance to come a whole week, play games, meet friends, load up on sugar & most important learn about Jesus. It's such a special time for kids. Its not church like they are use to and their little hearts are open for what God has for them. I just love it! This year was a very special year because I switch from teaching music to leading the 1st graders to each class. I got to know the kids from our church better and meet so many new funny kids.

I loved the lessons we learned too! I love how God's word, even when it it simplified for small ears, can touch our heart no matter the age. We learned about God's amazing wonders & awesome power!! His power over nature, circumstances,sin, death and life. I was so proud of all our teachers and workers. Their hearts were into telling these students about God and it showed in the way they taught.

Unfortunatley Friday VBS was cancelled due to a storm knocking out the power at the church. Funny that "power" was the cause of us not having it since we had been talking about God's awesome power all week. One little boy who came to the church only to be told it was cancelled was so devasted. He
reminded us that God has awesome power over nature and circumstances! It was awesome to see such a little one putting God's truth in his heart. Sadly the law doesn't allow us to hold church with no power! But God is still powerful. His wonders are amazing and is power is awesome!!

Here are some wonderful photos from the week. Most of them are from Nailed Free Media (by Kaitie Blades)http://nailedfree.org and the not so pretty ones are from my phone!!

music for all!

this is Alex, one of our youth who lead 1st grade with me :)
i was so proud of the youth who worked vbs. They are great!

flying to bible study!!

these four cuties accpeted Jesus into their hearts on Wednesday
I was overwhelmed with their excitement!

i love Lauren's face!! this was the trust fall!!

weirdos

Haiti...finally (it's a doozy)

Finally I am able to sit down and write about the our trip to Haiti. It's not a blog i wanted to just gloss over...sorry for the delay.

It's been about two weeks that we have been home and i will honestly admit that Satan has been on me like flies on honey. I am not really sure why I am such a target but I take it as a compliment that Satan would be worried that God is moving in my life. I am so blessed to have a terrific husband to calls me out and rebukes me when I am being a total hot mess. God is doing really awesome things in Haiti and what a blessing it was to be a small part of that.

We were there from Friday to Friday so we were able to experience a full week of what life is like in Haiti. We worked on the house sites Saturday then Monday - Wednesday with a dedication of the homes on Thursday. The work was hard but not to overshadow the rough terrain. All of Haiti is rough terrain it seems. We had a large enough team to build two homes and we were split in half. Obviously I can only cover our work site since I wasn't on the other team but we all worked hard. Each site had their downsides. Site one (my site) was shady and cool but had a tiny hog path that was rocky and steep. We had to carry all our supplies (block, sand and 94lb bags of mortar) down this path. Site two had no shade at all...direct sun all day but their supplies were able to be unloaded right to the house.
We were working with a Haitian mason team. Our team we all believers and sometimes would sing a hymn while working. Mostly they just laughed at us and cracked jokes on each other. Even though we couldn't understand what they were saying we knew when we were being talked about. It was all in fun though. The general mood of our site was cheerful and light hearted. Something I learned right off the truck was that Haitians work hard. This was affirmed when we met the family we were building for. The grandmother helped carry supplies as well did the children. They carry mostly everything on their heads!! Truly a skill you learn young. Sometimes the grandmother would disappear down the mountain with a bucket and return a long time after with it filled with water. Really makes me think twice every time i turn my faucet on. The ladies cooked all day it seemed. The result was a heaping pile of rice and veggies with what appeared to be a tomato sauce on top. It smelled delicious and i didn't hear any complaints from the mason team who the family feed every day.

the site when we arrived

a little bot carry block...sometimes two at a time

that's a bucket of sand on her head & its so heavy

Sweeping out all the broken block from the house. What a broom!

Sunday we went to church just a short ride off the mission. This was one of my favorite things about the trip. I found myself getting choked up several times during worship. It was so beautiful to be part of their worship and knowing that even though I didn't know what they were saying God did. I think we so often forget that God is being praised in other languages. But the awesome thing is that its the same God. It was beautiful. Haitian really sing too. Their voices were raised like they we literally trying to be heard in Heaven. I loved it!! We actually heard people singing all week long because the church at the mission was right beside where we were staying and they were having revival all week. It was a great way to wake up! After church on Sunday we went on a hike down to a waterfall. (and i mean down...literally down a mountain) It was very tough and I had the most difficult time breathing (not a good time to be without an inhaler) but i would do it again. God taught me a lot walking back up that mountain. It was also a great marriage builder because Bobby was my breathing coach. I am fairly certain he is way i am still alive. I was ready to just live on the side of that mountain.

this is at the top...we went all the way down and in between the two mountains

We had the ability to go to the market on Tuesday. I could talk forever about it but it wasn't my cup of tea. It felt like chaos to me. Cars zooming by while i stood on the side of the road trying to haggle in a foreign language with a currency i knew next to nothing about, a pig screaming because it being stuffed into a brush guard of a truck...people and more people. It was nuts. People come from miles up the mountain to sale their produce and animals though. A concept we know little of. We have ebay and craigslist. I was humbled and terrified all at the same time. I will never complain about the one lane that's open at walmart again.

Perhaps my favorite part of Haiti (other than church) is the people. I fell in love with them immediately. I can't put my finger on why i felt an overwhelming sense of love for them. Most of the people we worked with were believers. Maybe it was a sense of being around my "family'. I don't really know what it was but my heart was broken when i sad goodbyes. The kids on our work site were curious and stinkers. Especially a sweet & rotten to the core girl named Fafa. We feel in love with the kids sweet faces on day one and i sure they will be occupying frames in many of our homes. The sweetheart of our site who stole every ones heart was Fabita. Her bubblegum pink tongue was always out and her smile made my heart smile.

Fabita

Alex who we had to make sure didn't end up in Megan's luggage

I will end with the most exciting part even though there is a book full of photos and stories to tell. Baptist Haiti Mission has a child sponsorship program unlike any other. Not only does all the money go to the children but you also have the chance to meet them. Your money goes to provide an education and all the books, a hot high protein lunch, their school uniform (which is precious) and medical care. Bobby and I felt called to sponsor a child and I will just tell you now I am nuts about out little buddy. His name is Fredo (pronounced something like Fra-do) he is 3 years old and live in Calabasse. We meet him on a Wednesday morning at his school. He was ill that day but his aunt brought him in to meet us. I felt so bad to make him leave the comfort of home while being sick. Not only was he shy because of meeting strange white people who wanted to snuggle him to pieces but he wasn't feeling well. To top the cake it was recess and the entire school was outside staring at us with him. But seeing his sweet face in person made all the difference in my heart. The info we read said to think of him as part of our family and we do. I think about him all the time. Pray he stays healthy, that he learns with easy, that he makes new friends, that he has enough to eat and clothes to wear. But most importantly we pray that he comes to know Jesus and that he because a great man of God. Now that we have met him we have to return to Haiti....we just have to!

If you would like to help a child go to school and have medical care check out the link below. Every single penny goes to the child. http://www.bhm.org/ministries/child-sponsorship/

Sorry this was such a lengthy blog. There was just no way to write a short one. Thank you to all those wonderful people who prayed for us and supported us financially to go. Without you this trip wouldn't have happened. You were every bit a part of what happened in Haiti...you helped every block be laid and every life be changed. Thank you from the bottom of out hearts. Bobby and I were truly blown away about the love and support of friends and family. God is so very good!

His protection is sweet

Yesterday was an eventful day. I started my summer internship at church to help with youth and children. I am so excited to be working alongside Erin and to hang out with the awesome youth we have at bloom. A lot of the day consisted of finding where stuff is and how to work this enormous new printer/ copier we bought while we were in Haiti. The morning was great and u left feeling hopeful for a great summer!

I arrived home to an empty house because no matter what job I have Bobby and mines schedule just never match up. I was a little excited to sit around and frankly be lazy without my husband seeing it. Soon after getting home I get a call from my mom that stopped my heart. My brother had been in a car accident!!! Anyone who knows my brother and I know that we are close ( sometimes creepy close) A million image flash through my mind of life without my brother or seeing him severely injured. Thankfully the only think injured was his car which was wrapped around a tree. I am just like my mother and had to see my brother with my own eyes to know he was okay and after wrapping my arms around my baby brother I realized it wasn't just luck that allowed me to still have him.

The book of job speaks of a hedge of protection. When my brother and i were born my father began praying that God would place a hedge of protection over us. My family felt God's hedge of protection yesterday! How sweet that protection is! Today Bobby and I woke up praising the Lord for His mighty protection over my brother. Today when he and Christy came over I was so grateful for the blessing of their fellowship

Haiti trip ....chaos

I am currently sitting in Miami airport waiting for our flight to Haiti even though 3 hours ago I thought this moment would never come. Even though you plan and plan there are always ALWAYS things that go wrong.

We are responsible for bring our food for two meals each day. Gratefully my grandparents church donated all the food for us. We had that loaded in two army trunks Bobby brought home from Iraq. No big deal...easy peasy. Wrong, apparently you cannot take this trunks. Somewhere along our journey some airport personal would make us leave them behind leaving us with empty bellies. So we do a mad dash of shoving peanut butter and chips into check bag trying to also keep them less than 50lb. Super fun! God was with us and we were able to save most of it.

As we got all out bags in check and all of us checked in we only have had a small window of time to get through security and to our gate. The airport was crowded! Everyone got through other than megan and myself because we were criminal and had too many liquids so we had a little talk with the nice fellow in security, threw away things carelessly hoping others will share. Our gate was clear at the end (of course) and we had zero minutes to get there. Meg and I ran and ran and weren't the last people on the tiny plane.

It's so apparent that Satan is working hard to get us not to go to Haiti. Which to me means God is going to do something amazing! But satan has no authority here. Jesus will prevail!

Please pray for us as we fly to Haiti in about 2 hours. Pray for a smooth customs experience and save driving once we land. Pray for Satan to just shut up and for God to speak loud!!
Hopefully i will have a chance to update while we are there but I am not banking on that. Pray pray pray!! Nothing happens without prayer!