It Takes A Village

We haven't stepped foot on an airplane, yet I am flat-on-my-face overwhelmed by the way God works in and through people to do his good work.  Here are just a few ways he has already shown up big as we get ready to put feet to words this week in Haiti...

First of all, I have had the opportunity to talk to so many people about this trip, Ella's school friends' parents, family, friends, Paul's co-workers.  The list goes on.  And with such talk comes really pretty phenomenal responses.  I mean, there's the sweet first-grader friend of Ella's who saved her very own twenty-two dollars to buy paint supplies to refurbish the girls dorm at Gift of God Orphanage. 

Or how about my college roommate's Grammy who JOYFULLY agreed to bust out a BEAUTIFUL quilt for the kiddos in Haiti in just a week?! 

And the kiddos, toddler to teen, who stamped their own print to show that they could care about something beyond themselves.

Then there's the mom who took her kids shopping for diapers for dear twenty-two-month-old Frantz, a real life lesson of just what we have here in the U.S.  Or, my neighbor who brought stuff to sell at a garage sale to help with our expenses.  Then there are the friends and family who have written checks and offered up prayer and encouragement time and again these past weeks as we prepare.

Of course we can't forget Brad the plumber, from right here in Camas, whom none of us has met.  But, he just happened to have a passport, and happened to be able to get free this week (with days notice) to work on the new home and admin center being built in Port au Prince.

There are the beautiful conversations we've had with our own kids about what the heck we're doing for these few days so far away...Lindsay's talk with her babes about why the little ones in places like we're going don't have shoes...watching them "play orphanage" or pretend to fly on a plane to Haiti to help the kids who don't have mamas or daddies.  Really the list goes on and on. 

And, that first tiny step hasn't really been taken yet.  What in heaven's name have we in store for ourselves?  Looking forward to God's good work this week!
Lisa