Guardian Angels.

The other day I was dropping off baby Darbens back home.
      As I jumped out of the Canter with his bag I set off to cross the crazy road for his house
 but forgot one thing:
             the baby.
  The 2 Haitian workers who were with me yelled at me to come back.
         And laughed profusely
    As did I.
I grabbed Darbens, made it safely across the street, and made my way through the winding dirt path to his home.
  After a quick conversation in Creole with his grandmother, I back tracked to find my ride had left me.
    I was alone as the sun was setting on the main road about 5 miles from home.
 It wouldn't have been a problem if I had money with me as I could take a tap-tap home.
  But, my pockets were empty except for my phone which was of course useless because it had no minutes on it.
       So I began to walk in the direction of my village.
    It's not the safest but I had no other choice.
              After about a mile of walking (and secretly loving my little adventure),
                      a motorbike pulled up with 2 men on it.
        They said my name and asked in Creole where I was going.
   I told them I was going home.
           They offered me a ride, I quickly thought this may be dumb but why not?
      I didn't know the driver, but I recognized the man on the back.
    So with that and them knowing who I was, I decided it was safe.
                    So I jumped on and off we rode.
        They took my right to the mission gate.
                It was a blessing.
      There was no way I was going to make it home before dark (which is dangerous)
 and it was free when I didn't have any money.
                  It was perfect.
             I love the way God always provides!


 

The Missing Goats.

This afternoon I wanted to go on an adventure.

     I never did make it out to go find one, instead one found me this evening. 

  One of our goats and her 2 babies went missing. 

         Candice, Cayil, and I spent an hour searching high and low for them. 

     We looked until we couldn't see through the darkness that encompassed us. 

In fact, I got trapped in the dark, thorny forest and I had to follow Candice's voice to make it out on the path. 

This land is covered in thorn bushes and Cacti, 

            there is proof of this all over my scratched body. 

    For those of you who have read the Hunger Games,

 I pretended to be Katniss as I climbed all around, through the thickets, and in the rain. 

                Sadly though, we never found the goats. 

Maybe they will turn up in the morning. 

     But, at least I had fun looking for them. 

The Lost Roof.

The rainy season is starting and there are times when the rain comes down so hard I feel like the roof is going to cave in.
   I only think this, knowing it won't happen to me.
         However, it happened to Kettma.
[The woman we are doing a micro-finance project with. She was a prostitue but is now selling clothing and attending cosmetology school]
   Kettma and her 2 young children live in a home made of tarps.
The wood is warped and weak and the heavy rains collected in the tarp.
       Last night as Kettma and her girls were laying in bed, the wood holding up the tarps collapsed.
    She barely grabbed her children and made it out of the way in time.
As you can imagine, she is very distraught and having a hard time with this.
       Everything she owns is soaking wet- some of it ruined and she lost her "celiing".
    She feels hopeless.
 
        I am so ignorant.
I have had a sturdy home/roof over my head my entire life and yet there are many here who dread the rains because it means their house will flood.
    What would it be like to not have a dry place to escape to in times of the rain?
 What would it be like if I had no where to take my children for dry and safe shelter?
              I can't imagine.

They were on the bed. 

After the rain last night.  

Kettma and her girls in front of her Home, before. 

The One with Death and Life.

A couple weeks ago, a little girl ended up on our porch. 

      She had the face of an angel and was suffering beyond what I could imagine. 

   She was very malnourished and straining to breath. 

           I gave her some milk and the caretaker money to get her to the hospital right away. 

     She went to the hospital but it was too late. 

  She died that night. 

            This beautiful child of God was only 4 years old. 

We can't always save everyone that ends up on our porch

          and this reality breaks my heart. 

      [But I know she is dancing with Jesus 

                  and that is far better than anything this planet has to offer.]

There is hope in salvation. 

        Without the cross, there is nothing. 

     Living in Haiti is a constant reminder of that.

 I don't know how people live without eternal hope.  

The exciting thing is there are some people the Lord allows us to help save. 

     Like baby Dabens - aka "David". 

   He came to us at 3 months old weighing 3 pounds. 

 He surpassed the odds of death and is now 5 months old. 

Watching him grow and seeing Jesus at work in his tiny life has been such a joy and blessing! 

    God must have big plans for this child! 

When Dabens first came to us at 3 months.

Now, at 5 months. He looks like a cute, healthy baby! 

Before Jean Fritz could only look at Dabens. 

Now, he gets to hold him- something he LOVES! 

Finding Nourishment and Love.

Last week we visited one of the orphanages Lifeline provides food for in Port-au-Prince with a medical team. We hadn’t been there since October and were sad to find the children still in poor condition. We have concerns about dishonesty going on within the system and sadly, the children suffer for this. Please be in prayer for this situation.

Junior is a small, 7-year-old boy living at the orphanage. He is one of the more malnourished children and clearly needs proper nutrient care. On Tuesday, Jacques drove me to the orphanage again to take Junior to the hospital. The doctor was not in at 2 in the afternoon so I decided to bring him back to Lifeline. In the hour car ride back, he sat on my lap and I was terrified if I held him too hard I would break a rib, but if I didn’t hold hard enough he would fly off my lap from the bumpy roads; but as we sat there I had a strong feeling he would be at Lifeline with us for a while.

Once back at the mission, we (Adrian, Candice, Donald, Osmy, and I) quickly decided it was best for Junior to stay with us for we would be giving him the same care a hospital would (we have a doctor here 5 days a week if we need anything), plus we would give him love and constant attention.

Just to give you an idea of his size—he wears Jean Fritz’s clothes and weighs the exact same amount as Jean Fritz. They weigh 31 pounds and wear size 2T pants and 3T shirts. Junior is 7 and Jean Fritz is 2. They are 5 years apart…

It’s been a mere 4 days since Junior came to stay with us and we put him on a eating/hydration plan and we have already seen significant improvement! Adrian is playing soccer with him right now and I can see him running around on the soccer field. He could barely keep his eyes open when he first came.

He smiles a lot now too. He takes joy in such little things, like bath time and being read to (even though he can’t understand English).

The pictures are from the second day he was here, as you can see he still wasn't smiling a lot. 

Jean Fritz and Junior

Please be praying for Junior as he finds nourishment and love. Also, please be in prayer for his future as it is unknown.

2 years later. 12-Jan-12

300,000 people lost their lives this day exactly 2 years ago.
     As I go through the streets of Port-au-Prince the physical damage is still obvious.
  Rubble still sits in lots,
               tents of the displaced line the city,
          people live and use whatever collapsed portions of buildings they can,
    and areas of piled concrete sit abandoned as a reminder of the day that changed this country.

Haiti has come far in the rebuilding process,
       but they had far to go before the earthquake-
they were the poorest country in this hemisphere before the earthquake,
    now consider the poverty level after as they slowly recover.

     But here is the good news,
        God is the man with a plan!
   He sent Jesus as THE redeemer and will redeem this land.
         

     Watch the video of Haitian music artists and Haiti's president
                                                         (he was a popstar before he was president)
            I think it says it all perfectly.
 
   

World premiere HMI STARS 7.0 Official Music Video [HD]

The Road Less Traveled

Somehow 2 months have passed since I last updated this.
    I have so much to say- so much has happened.
The time passes so fast and I am often too exhausted and/or distracted to type.

  And now I sit here attempting to reflect on the past 2 months
     and there are not enough words to describe my thoughts, feelings, and adventures.

I am absolutely falling in love with this land and these people.
     More so than I expected.
 God has given me a heart for this place and I am so joyful I get to live here!

   And it is only because of God I am here.
I distinctly remember when I was 12 saying I would never be a missionary.
Then God helped me understand my compassion and gave me a huge heart for missions.
     My freshman year of college one of my classmates went to Haiti for his internship,
  I clearly remember thinking I didn't want to live in Haiti because it's too close to the US.
       (Yes, I was a spoiled brat who enjoys traveling a little too much)

Then 2 years ago tomorrow, the earthquake happened where over a million and a half people were displaced and roughly 300,000 people died. 

  I clearly remember where I was when I first heard about the earthquake.
          I was in Iowa visiting my parents.
                    As the news continued to cover stories, I just sat in front of the TV weeping.
         I remember feeling like I belonged in Haiti, like I had a weird connection to the country.
 [Even though I said I would never live here because it's on this side of the world (ridiculous thought)]
 At one point I was up in my room just thinking about everything happening and
                         so I walked down to the kitchen and told my dad I had to go to Haiti.
         He said no.
But God had other plans.
       [A year and a half later, I moved to Haiti.
   And 2 years later, my mom, dad, and a brother came to visit]

God clearly ignored my idea of the way I wanted to live,
               but He called me to live a better life than I could have even imagined.
       He's allowing me to be apart of so many amazing peoples' lives,
                                               given me so much joy, and immensely blessed me here in Haiti.

Walking in Haiti. 

My dad in Haiti!