I Never Want Saying No to Get Easy...

It was Thursday. I had just returned to the office from lunch and there she was. A slightly built brown-eyed girl with a tattered t-shirt and dirty skirt, sandals worn so long they were paper thin hanging loosely from her feet which were dangling from the chair since they didn't fully reach the floor. When I walked in, I sensed she might be waiting for me. With school starting on Monday, the flow in and out of the office had been pretty steady but this was a girl I had never met before. As soon as I sat down at my desk, Ruth, the receptionist, came to say that the girl was waiting to talk to me. 

I sighed inwardly, said a quick prayer, and went to talk with her. Ruth translated that she lived just up the road from the campus, that she was 12-years old, and that all she wanted was to be able to go to school. She is the oldest of three children and she told Ruth that her mom couldn't afford to send her to school. 

Knowing we have lots of children already awaiting sponsors through Starfish Kids, and knowing that there are literally a million other kids throughout Haiti who aren't able to go to school, I wanted to say, "I'm sorry..." But, also knowing she walked all the way to the office alone, patiently waited to see me, and without demanding or begging just quietly said, "I want to go to school," I was moved by her haunting, hope-filled eyes, and her quiet resolve to even be brave enough to speak out for what she wanted.

I talked with the other Starfish Kids staff and we agreed, if she came into the office with her mother on Monday, we'd see what we could do. When we told her to return with her mom, she protested, shaking her hanging head saying that her mother wouldn't come. She said her mom had a baby and couldn't come, but the staff took up the conversation and said that yes, she could come and she could bring the baby along.

After she left, I went back to my desk and sat for a few minutes thanking God for His presence and peace, and for reminding me that Starfish Kids IS about helping one child at a time. The program is good and it helps so many children and it's easy when I'm sitting at my desk - removed from the personal interaction with the children and their parents - to make decisions about implementing the guidelines and rules, but OH how it's different starring into the eyes of a little girl or boy! And yet, if my heart gets so hard that it becomes easy to say no, that is an even bigger problem and I never want to get there either.

Starfish Kids' goal is to evangelize and education the nearly 7,000 children in our over 35 schools throughout Northern Haiti. Today we have 1,200 of those students sponsored. I pray that God continues to open doors and opportunities for us to share the story of Starfish Kids and to provide an opportunity for more and more children in Haiti to hear the message that Jesus loves them and He died for them through the gifts provided by generous sponsors. Just $25/month allows a student this chance. 

I don't know if the girl will come tomorrow with her mother, but if she comes, I'll do all I can to see that she gets a chance, at 12 years-old, to go to school for the first time, and I will trust God to provide the resources to make that happen.

Keeping His Feet on the Ground...

Since returning in June, we've had lots and lots of emails and notes asking about Bud's recovery and progress. So many of you have been faithfully praying and we thank you all for that immensely! When we first returned in June, the pain continued to keep him awake most nights and the meds we had weren't making much of a difference, however, that has greatly subsided and we give God the glory for that. Although he has faithfully been doing his physical therapy exercises, he was seeing "piti-piti" (little) progress. Then, two weeks ago, a small four-person team came from Northern Ireland, one of whom was Julie Edler, who served here for a year as a physical therapist! About three days into her 10-day trip, we made the connections (thank you Kate Z.) and Julie began working Bud over. His comments afterward, "How can such a wee little lass make me hurt so much?!" Alas, Julie left Bud with some new exercises which he's been doing now and praise God, he is seeing definite progress AND is once again able to raise both his arms fully to the ceiling! Although his strength is not 100%, it's gaining! Praise God!

So, in a few short months when we return to Oregon for a visit, don't be surprised to see Bud standing in church services with BOTH of his hands raised praising God once again for His faithfulness in our lives.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

And just to be clear, Bud is doing great at staying off ladders. We've had a limb hanging over our tool depot for several weeks. Last Saturday we heard a guy hacking away with his machete out back in the garden area, so Bud played charades with him until they struck a bargain for the guy to trim the limb. It was well worth parking myself out on the back steps with a cool beverage just to watch this guy work. (And yes, I shared a cool beverage with the "hacker" too!) It was amazing! The whole time Bud and I were saying over and over, "Wow, how does he do that?" He even swept off the roof of the depot and was thrilled to get his $5 (yep, just a five-spot) and the biggest bonus to him, he got to chop and haul off the wood, too.

He cut notches out of the trunk as "steps" to climb up. 

Assessing the best place to start...

The leftovers afterward!

He's really up there!

That limb had been there a while and every time I opened the back door I'd think, "Ugh, how are we going to take care of this?" Not that it weighed me down all the time, but why do I always jump to the "negative" side of things instead of "taking captive every thought (or annoyance)" and give it to God first! Instead of even taking the time or energy to question God for the need, I need to trust Him immediately! I pray one day my automatic thought process will be, "Thanks God for another opportunity to see you work in my life."

2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 

Just so you know...we're not dead!

My dear, sweet friend, Stacey, (who is an avid and most interesting blogger!) kindly emailed to say if I didn't update my blog, people would think we are dead! In fact, even though she's seen me quite recently, she said she was beginning to think I was dead so I thought I better get crackin'!

Bud and I are not dead and in fact, are doing well. Yesterday, September 13, we celebrated one year since our arrival to Haiti. When I think back over the past year, there have been great days, good days, hard days, long days, amazing days, and many other days that fall in-between, but the thing that always holds steadfast in our minds is, "We are here because of God's calling and faithfulness in His timing and for His purpose". He continues to show His faithful hand in our lives every day in big and little things...for that we are so thankful.

Just last Saturday, Bud took a team to the airport. Had stopped at a store in town looking for materials on his way home and when he returned, he couldn't find one set of his keys - the "smallest" of the four sets he carries around that included our house key, the depot with all of his tools, and the key to the compound office. As we walked around the compound retracing his steps, I was praying, "Lord, help us find those keys!" Well, we returned home without the keys and just decided we'd have to "wait". A little later, Amos, one of our dearest friends here stopped by and we, through our broken Creole and his broken English, explained about the lost keys. He quickly offered to call the store to see if the keys were found there (a task that we couldn't have accomplished on our own!) No keys...hmmm...still waiting.

Praise God, Sunday afternoon one of the watchmen scrambled up to the truck when we returned from church with the keys in his hand! He'd found them lying on the ground. This might seem insignificant, but this is a 32-acre grass-covered compound and Bud walks all over it daily and had been all over it Saturday before he discovered the keys were missing. They might have never been found, or, might have ended up in the wrong hands, but thankfully God even took care of this little thing for us! What a relief and another reminder that we are never outside of His sight.

Thanks for the kick in the pants, Stacey! Next time, pictures I promise!

Love and prayers - miss you all!
Bud and Cindy