My "new" car?

Goldilocks started this morning. A few more tweaks, a rotation of (or 2 more new) tires, and she may be juuuust right. (Well, enough).
Of course, she needs a renewed registration and license, too...

Tears @ the Dr.'s office

Children's screams take a different toll on a soul than other occurrences. There is something so obvious in the visible anguish of a 4-year old girl who's bleeding from a gash in her head than hunger, sadness, loss or other destructive blows to a life.
When a 7-year old boy lays keeled over in pain from a tetanus injection to his rear end - made necessary by stepping on glass or a nail lying around that penetrated the bottom of his leathery, calloused foot - there are no magic words to soften the blow. No matter how much I tell him to squeeze my hand, no matter how many times I say to watch me & talk to me and not pay attention to the needle, the pain still comes and is still all too real.
I guess sometimes I try to pretend the pain isn't real. I wish sometimes I could be more like a child so people might know my pain and come rushing to help, too.

www.

Waiting is the wreckage of my warped soul, wavering relentlessly in winds that wish to win over what once was found, where my wanderings remained within whispers of a wave of love that washed over me like grace: wondrously, worshipfully, and without ceasing.

We tried to kill the root.

My own two hands (and a sore back)

Something stirs in the soul when confronted with the reality of scrubbing clothes with your own two hands.
It's difficult to take things for granted when doing the same job a machine has done for me since - was 12 years old. But there is was, scrubbing & plunging, plungimg & scrubbing each article of clothing for a sum total of much, much longer than any wash cycle.
Even in Indonesia I had a washing machine, but not here, not anymore.
And to be honest it was kind of fun - briefly exhilarating, even - to know thay I had the power and ability to do the job.
Except, really, I didn't. Without Violet & Jerry to help me the job would've taken 3 hours, not one. And the clothes would probably still be a little dirty, or unrinsed, or not wrung out enough to finish drying on the line in a reasoable amount of time.
All of which tells me that: 1) I can't do this alone, and I'm glad I'm not, so I'm thankful for all my friends here and all the friends I miss for their genuine love & support I can feel and see. 2) knowing how to do the job by hand is a necessary, humbling, and motivating challenge/experience.

Seeds of change

Last week we held our very first vocational training program at the Center of Hope here in Haiti. Although it was packed with challenges (see below, IF you have the time :) the root of the fact is that an opportunity for lives to be changed AND impact others was made.
IYI is proud of and thankful to the teachers/trainers from Mosaic who taught experienced and wannabe teachers how to organoze a classroom, plan & prepare, ask better questions, improve communication & involvement from the students, and just how to further care about the overall welfare of their students. It was a training rooted on developing character & integrity, not just skills, for the 20+ participants.
We look forward to the next series of trainings for pastors, leaders, construction workers & other manufacturing vocational trainings as well as English language development.

--------the nitty-gritty of the conference-------
So, if you really wanna know, I learned more about the rules of shopping for 45 people on-site during the week, tried to oversee the preparation of meals, run any necessary tasks and, of course, almost get robbed in the process (another story ;)
It was great. Definitely tiring. Very rewarding. I'm excited for the future!

Going mobile, take 2

Ok, this should be the right picture....
Haiti direct: (+50938953360), BBM: 24B46DD9

HaitiSand goes mobile

Just like this picture of me sitting in the back of my friend's car while driving through PaP (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) I'm taking this blog mobile so I can post more often for all my friends, family, or anyone else who wants to get involved or keep up-to-date.
Of course, my fingers are crossed hoping this all works, too... :)
Haiti direct: (+50938953360), BBM: 24B46DD9

Bus rides are NOT my fav

I've taken several long bus rides in my life - it's not something I relish by any means anymore...  Here's why:

July 28, taking the bus back to Santo Domingo from Port-au-Prince...

I woke up at 520am. Left the house at about 620am. Got to the bus station at 645. Waited until 730 for the terminal to open. Waited until 9 for the bus to arrive. Left at 920. Dude stapled something to the leather bag... And am now passing back by my compound at 940am. I will never take the bus again. Yes, it's 1/2 the cost, but for the time I feel I've lost (I'd have already LANDED in Santo Domingo) it was a  unfortunate decision. Epic fail for $85 saved. Especially since I have 5 hours to go... And that's the terminal in Santo Domingo, not even the house...  :(

Ok, its 1210; just spent at least since 11am at the border b/c even. though the bus was supposed to take care of it, there "was a problem" and we all had to get off the bus and go through Exit immigration. Now I have to wonder if entering the Dominican Republic will go smoothly. I hope so.
  And this means its already 110pm in Santo Domingo now... there's a possibility it's only 4 hours after getting past all the gates at the border...

Whoops, I forgot about the lineup of cars... Let's see how long this takes!

1230 and we haven't moved.

1250 and we haven't moved.

145p just changed gears.
200p nope I was wrong, just rolled back a little bit.

210 and she's giving us our passports. Hopefully that means she just got them and we're receiving the green light to move on. But I have no idea.

Here's the thing about how suffering produces endurance which produces character: that passage is about suffering for the sake if the cross. This didn't feel like that and now I'm tired and it doesn't really give me better time to rest in Jesus, which I could use right now after 2 straight weeks of working. It just gives me sadness that I could be really sabbathing or getting clean or preparing for tonight's meeting/dinner or writing proposals/fundraising letters. Instead I'm stuck on a bus at another border crossing - which I've done in my life.

215p and the bus just moved forward. A meter. Please please please keep going. My god, my god, please open these gates and let us pass. I don't just pray this I beg this of you. Please move this bus, my journey, and my life with you forward, pressing on to the goal.

Nope, instead we've moved off to the side. Wow.

225 signs of life. Traffic moving a liiiitle bit. Advanced a full bus length or 2...

I can actually see the Dominican flag that I saw when I walked up to it at 1130 when the lady said I could go find the bus, except she hadn't said it was behind the building we were in, so I walked to the border and decided it would be a bad idea to pass by without my passport which hadn't been returned yet. And now I can see it again, and that makes it all the worse...

245 haven't moved again.

255 another short length. The restlessness stirs within everyone on the bus when we move at all. It's just complete despair coupled with loss of control, and this is just transportation - not even life or death.

320 just got back on the bus after getting my passport stamped into the Dominican. At this point I'll be arriving over 12 hours after intending to leave, which is longer than it takes for me to get to Los Angeles. Hopefully everyone will be done and on board soon.
  Of course the worst thing in my opinion is that another TerraBus just pulled up beside us which means they caught up or something, which is just frustrating & disappointing.

335 finally past it all including the one-vehicle-width gate. Over 6 hours spent so far... And since we're in the DR now I'll say it's 435pm because we're in the eastern time zone again. Silly Haiti!!!
------------
435p I'm in the DR.

6pm and all I see is jungle. I hav e no idea how far it is to Santiago, and then how much further to Santo Domingo... I've lost an entire day on a bus - alone. Something I pretty much swore I'd never do again. I rest in worship music & I think, but I also contemplate being clean and talking to friends & family via phone & relaxing from a patio or something... anything other than sitting on a bus all day long - alone, with only you, God, to keep me company, but distressed that THIS was my first day off in 2 weeks and that it was spent on a bus.
I'm thankful I take my rest. I've prized it and stolen time away from other things in order to be capable of working so much so constantly. But I lost any time with the boys - NONE of whom are orphans, btw - and I dealt with politics & money & other challenges around every corner.

830pm the bus arrives.  But I have to get a taxi.
930pm i make it to the house...  It's been a loooooong day.  I'm flying from now on if I go solo.  :-)

an article about what we're doing

http://www.brookfieldnow.com/news/98925789.html