While I'm Waiting...

While I am waiting for God's calling to return to Haiti and I struggle daily to stay focused on what God has placed in front of me now...I find my mind wandering to my kids in Haiti. To there smiling faces, to their laughter, to there cries, to Den-Den wheeling his wheelchair around like a maniac, to cuddling with Job and wiping his tears, to watching Ju-Ju stand up on her own for the first time. While I am at placement I am constantly thinking of ways to apply what I am doing and learning to my kids and work in Haiti. At times I feel out of place here, almost like I don't fit in. It is hard when you heart and mind are someplace else. When those around you understand your heart but don't really get the depth of your passion. It is hard when everything here and around you just doesn't seem to fit right. Is that because I have changed? Is it for the good? Tons of questions rush through my head. This has been my struggle the past 6 weeks. I know Haiti is a part of me, apart of my future but RIGHT NOW....well, it is not. God has placed me here in America to learn, study, and allow him to prepare me, for when he calls me. I know he is working in ways I cannot even see. I am learning to wait upon the Lord and his timing. I am trying to live in the moment and have no regrets. I know God can use me everyday in every situation if I am willing and open to it. I want to live a surrendered life in Christ. The song that has really touched me the last few days is "While I'm Waiting" By: John Waller

I'm waitingI'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am hopeful

I'm waiting on You, Lord

Though it is painful

But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident

Takeing every step in obedience

While I'm waiting

I will serve You

While I'm waiting

I will worship

While I'm waiting

I will not faint

I'll be running the race

Even while I wait

I'm waiting

I'm waiting on You, Lord

And I am peaceful

I'm waiting on You, Lord

Though it's not easy

But faithfully, I will wait

Yes, I will wait

I will serve You while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting

I will serve You while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting

I will serve you while I'm waiting

I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

My deepest prayer is that while I'm waiting I will serve God with all I have, That while I'm waiting I will worship Him. These lyrics are so powerful and they truly are the prayer of my heart while I'm waiting for God's call to return to Haiti.

Overflow

I chose to name my blog overflow for a couple of reasons. First after a song we sing at my church in Erie called "Overflow" written by Brian and Rachel Lusky. The following are the Lyrics:

As you call me near, I come

Drawn with holy fear and awe

Into heaven’s doors to see u as you are

You who formed the earth with your hands

Sun and moon shine at your command

Who can know the vastness of the Lord most high

Bridge 1

As I draw near I offer my life to my Jesus

Who fills me with mercy and grace

As I go out I will open my eyes and awaken

You will be a blessing through me

Chorus

You’re the overflow

The sustainer of my soul

Pouring out of meLiving water for the weary

Bless me so I might be a blessing

Heal me so I might bring healing

Cover me, so that I might be a covering

For you

Vs.2

Its because of you, I must go

Sent to tell the world and to show

Friend or enemy, the love I com to know

Where confusion reigns I will be peace

Where there are bondaged chains bring release

Where there are tears and pain, may I be the joy of the morning

Bridge 1

Chorus

Bridge 2

Heal me with your love o Lord, pour out till I overflow (4x)

My deepest cry of my heart is to be Christ's servant, to go wherever he calls me. I want to be His hands and His feet on this earth. I want to overflow into the lives off those around me. I want people to look at me and know there is something different about me by the way I act and the love I am able to pour out. I want the Lord to bless me so that I can be a blessing. For him to heal me so that I might bring healing, to cover me so that I might be a covering to the broken and weak, to the weary and meak. The Lord is the sustainer of my soul and I want that to pour out of me.

God has blessed me with the most amazing summer of my life serving in Haiti and this song has a deeper meaning to me now that I have returned from Haiti than when I left. I feel God's leading to return...to go be a blessing to his precious children in Haiti, to continue to allow him to pour out of me to touch the weary, the weak, the broken, and the meak. I am in deep prayer about my future. Where God is calling me, I don't want what I want to get in the way of God's calling and plan on my life. Please continue to pray for me as I discern the possibility of returning to Haiti next summer for 3 months after taking my boards and continuing the work God has started through me in the Miriam center. I am then discerning about becoming a traveling therapist which would allow me to go all around the country doing occupational therapy. This job pays really well and has a lot of good benefits. IT would also allow me to pay off all my loans in about 2 years. This would give me time to discern God's calling on my life in the mission feild whether it is a STM based calling or a LTM based calling. I know whatever God's plans are they are good and I am excited to see where he leads me and takes me.

I have been so blessed the last 3 years to get to know so many of my Hatian brothers and sisters as well as many of the missionaries and group members that have joined me in Haiti.

Construction Continues

As I posted earlier this summer we have begun construction on what will be our new Miriam Center. When I left Haiti on june 27th We had knocked down tons of walls and new walls were put up to create wide doorways and hallways, Glass block windows to provide privacy & interior windows so you can into different rooms. The new building has 2 huge storage closests one for our educational toys and crafts and another for food. We also have another closet by the two bedrooms for the storage of closets. A group of probably 10 Haitian men were hired to work on this project. Since I left a few weeks ago, alot has been accomplished. I hear that all the walls have been sanded down & paint is going up. The glass block windows are in, the new sink wall is being installed, and a counter has been installed in the feeding room. Courtney & I cannot believe how fast construction is going. Especially since when I went into Haiti we did not plan on starting to build a new building till January. These kids are going to be back into their play room real soon which is so exciting. Here are some pictures I have, when I get updated pictures from Haiti I will post them :)

Before Demolition Began...

)

Demolition Has Begun...

Construction has begun...Look at our beautiful walls and windows.

I should of stayed in Haiti…58 hours later…and finally Home

Well, after a long, exhausting God filled trip home I have finally made it home. I have to tell you all it sure was an adventure home but God was so present and worked in so many different ways. I am going to write about them in small posts breaking up the long story. Into different sections.

I will post more stories from Haiti I did not post while I was there due to time restraints later on this week. Please pray for my health as I got sick on my trip home and have sinus infection and my jaw is acting up pretty bad. Please pray for me as I start my internships tomorrow and I have no clue what to expect. Also please pray as I go Thursday to see a specialist in Clevland about my Jaw.

Thank you all for all your prayers and support while I was in Haiti. I had the most amazing month of my life and my heart hurt that I had to leave what the children I love so much and the place where I feel I can make such a difference and my talents are best used. Every time I come to Haiti I fall more in love with these kids and see more potential for these children. I am leaving Haiti with a broken Heart and part was left in Haiti and I will be going back God willing to meet back up with it. Until then, I know God has great plans for me in the states with internships and teaching me more things spiritually and occupational therapy wise that will be helpful in the future in Haiti.

SIT BACK AND ENJOY MY ADVENTUROUS 58 HOUR TRIP HOME!

My Last Day

So it all started on Thursday. I woke up at 6AM knowing it was my last day there and I wanted to make the most of it. And what a busy day it was finished typing up some evaluations, helped the kids put another layer on the piñata so it would have time to dry before the afternoon, went to the Gran Moon Carnival, prepared for a meeting with my workers in the Miriam center, helped feed the kids, went over to the roof of the church to get some pictures, and filled the piñata for the party… That afternoon at like 3:30 while Courtney and I were with all the Miriam Center Workers having an educational meeting about the children. How to properly feed the kids, how to take care of Job, What to do when Belle acted out, ect. As soon as the meeting was over Danielle came up and informed me that a big group of us was going to have to ride the buses out tonight at 7PM because the little planes were not flying tomorrow morning. My heart dropped and I just wanted to start crying right there. Not only was my time cut short with me kids, I was not prepared to leave in 3 hours I still had Steven’s B-day party, paperwork to do, pictures to download for people, and goodbye’s to say PLUS 9 hour off roading bus trip through the night to Port-A-PrinceL not much fun especially when you have been sick all day… BUT I pulled myself back together and decided I was going to make the best of my last 4 hours at the mission. I made priorities first Steven’s Birthday Party, I wanted to be part of it and it turned out to be a huge success. I will blog later on this week about Steven’s Party and some other specific events I did not get a chance to blog about while I was in Haiti.
I fed Job for the last time and then carried him upstairs to hold him while I ate dinner (well, I did not eat dinner because it was something I didn’t like), I finished packing and then sent a quick email home and posted a quick blog letting you all know I was leaving early. I then went back downstairs to take a few pictures and say goodbye to the kids and then came back upstairs to pack. We ended up leaving the mission closer to 6 which was probably better because it gave me less time to say goodbye and cry.
I said a lot of goodbye’s and shed a lot of tears as I made my way to the buses. I was showered with love by my mission family and going away gifts. Miriam and Courtney stocked me up with snackfood (which came in Handy on the long trip)and the kids made me the most amazing pictures. When I finally got to the bus I realized I forgot my journal and had to run upstairs and grab it. It was funny because all month I was constantly losing something and looking for it. In fact one of my going away gifts from Miriam was her shoes since I lost mine 5 days before and I did not think they would let me through the airport with no shoes.

The Bus Trip to Pourt-A-Prince

We took 2 mission buses down over the hill into town where we unloaded onto 2 school buses that were going to drive us to Port-A-Prince. I piled onto one of the buses and was amazed at how nice it was. It had real padded seats, there were airfreshners hanging from the ceiling and the seats were even bolted down. I was impressed. We were sitting there for about 20 minutes when Curtis came on and asked for 2 people to move over to the other bus. I volunteered. So I grabbed my bags and headed over to the other bus which I sadly found to be a normal Haiti bus with uncushioned seates, seats not bolted down, and thin isles you can’t walk through. I stayed positive hey, I get my own seat at least. HAHA well, not so right before I left I got a seat buddy. I started thinking I was crazy for leaving the comfy bus but thought God has a reason for everything.
Well, we started down the road and I began talking to the man next to me. I found out he had been to Haiti 4 times, He had a daughter going to PT school and had 3 other kids, we talked about the work he did that week and I shared my passion for the Miriam center. It really made the first hour go by fairly fast. The next thing I new we were past Port a Pey. Well I knew it was going to be a very long night and if I was going to make the trip it was going to be by God’s grace. So I put in my headphones with worship music blasting and held on to the seat in front on me (for safety reasons ;) The next two hours I worshiped God and was overwhelmed with gratitude for the past month God had allowed me to be a vessel he used to touch these kids lives. I was overwhelmed by His presence and His perfect plans and perfect timing and most of all His love. The verses that kept running through my head were your strength is made perfect in weaknesses and God never gives us more than we can handle. I felt so weak and exhausted and I did not know how I was going to make it through the trip. This made me think about Christ long and exhausting journey to calvary and the suffering he went through for me. After about 4 hours every time we hit a bump I thought my back and head were going to fall off. Around 2 AM I remember praying to God and telling him I can’t take this bus ride anymore I am so tired and every muscle in body hurts and about 5 minutes later we stopped at a mission outside of Port-A-Price to sleep for 2 hours. It was the most amazing 2 hours of sleep ever. I was laying there and in the morning I realized one reason I took that bus ride. I did not want to leave the mission I was not ready to go home but after that bus ride I JUST WANTED TO GO HOME! Lol got to love God’s sense of humor.
I took a flight from Pourt-A-Prince to Miami at 8:00AM landing in Miami at around 12 in the afternoon.

My New Friend

After landing in Miami I went through customs and went to pick up my luggage. While I was waiting for my luggage to come I met another young girl who had been doing mission work in Haiti in the Port-A-Prince area. I later found out her name was Lydia. We helped each other recheck our bags and headed to find some food. We both had not really eaten much yet that day. We ended up going to a Mexican restaurant where you went down a food line and picked what you wanted but then they had a place where you could sit down and eat. She was so sweet and tried to buy my lunch but I told her that was very sweet of her but not necessary. While we ate we shared stories and talked about our lives. She is a nurse at a hospital. After we got done eating a shared a few pictures off of my camara and then she shared with me pictures off her camara. It was very enjoyable and it made my 4 hour layover go by really fast. At the end of our time she gave me a painting she bought in Haiti and said she wanted to give it to me because when I was going through my pictures I showed her a picture of painting I thought about buying but ended up not getting it. She insisted I keep it. I will never forget who gave me that picture and the country where it came from. God sure works in amazing ways to bring people into our lives.