Tag Archives: Haiti

9/40 – On “how I met your father”

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A lovely friend (thank you Anna) gave me some amazing ideas for specific moments in my life she was curious about. I work well off of a list to check off (enneagram 3 coming in hot here) so let the fun begin….

It was March 2010 and I was coming off of a breakup…my HSLP Elke had agreed to a mission trip to Haiti and asked if I would come along. I needed a little something extra fulfilling in my life at that moment and said yes!

One funny moment happened at the planning meeting before the trip – I showed up in all my Ferndale volleyball gear coming straight from practice and met Scott for the first time. After the fact, he shared that he was 100% convinced I was a high schooler at that point in time (we were hanging with our fave high schooler Julia so that made sense).

Once to Haiti, we ended up having beds next to each other in the church building on site at the orphanage. This meant lots of exhausted moments trying to escape the heat and children crawling all over our laps while said rest was trying to happen.

A lot of time was spent falling in love with the children there and being safe spaces for them to get love and nurturing from.

At this trip, we had a conversation about our intentions to adopt children as the primary way to build our future families and I remember thinking that I had never heard someone else (let alone a male at that time with my circle of peeps) feel the same way I did. Also, on this trip, I got to sit next to Scott on the flight home as he had literal panic attacks from his fear of flying…..I kept him busy with aggressive bantering and tales of Haitian babies to keep him occupied.

A week later, he texted Elke to ensure his odd of a “yes” from me was in his future. We drank too much wine at Scotty Browns on our first date as we spent hours talking about our trip. And the rest is history!!!

A year later, we were fortunate enough to take a return trip to the same orphanage together. Oh did our favorite little Haitian crew (and Julia of course) love that we were dating.

So all of this culminated in my all-time favorite picture of me and my husband atop a Haitian hill at sunset with our little loves playing with garbage and loving us. This picture serves as a quick dopamine boost whenever I need to remember our story, our collective purpose, and the beautiful start of the broken road that led us to each other .

WonderGIRL heads to Haiti

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My WonderGIRL is heading to her first missions trip to Haiti tonight…..I wanted to capture some of her thoughts and feelings here so she can reflect on them after she returns and years later to fully re-live her experience. Our house has been a minefield of emotions this past week as she sorts out different feelings of excitement, nervousness, and the fear of abandonment. She put it quite brilliantly to a family friend last night saying, “I am really excited to go on the trip, but I am super nervous to leave here.” This tension is heartbreaking but what I do feel confident in when sending her off is the ability for this challenge and experience to help her grow, not only in giving back to others but in growing confident away from our house and me in particular.I am excited about:
– seeing all these kids
– hand out lollipops to kids and see smiles on their face…..I like seeing kids smile and then it makes me smile
– they get healthier because we have medicines and doctors to make them feel better

I am nervous about:
– potentially getting sick
– messing up in giving medications that I might give someone the wrong thing
– seeing things that might scare me (destruction or sick/dying people)
– wanting to give the kids everything but I can’t do that
– Mom forgetting me at home while I’m gone
– leaving the house for that long of period

I wonder about:
– How does the food taste?
– Why are some people super poor?
– Why are the stores so expensive can’t get what they need?
– How people in Haiti look at God…..is their God the same God that we worship? How is he/she different?

I predict some changes when I return:
– better behaviors at home
– respecting what I already have (sometimes when I feel like I don’t have enough or I want more…..to know I have a lot more than other kids)

Prayers for both of them and the children and families they are about to touch in Haiti greatly appreciated!!!!

and on his 9th trip to Haiti….

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I am in awe of his passion and love for this country and their people. I love that this little country (and the Haitian babes) brought us together and paved an amazing path of compassion and service for our future relationship. Here is a picture from 2011 on our second trip together (also known as my most favorite picture of us EVER)….
Unfortunately, my beloved anxious traveler is having a few doubts about leaving us (but mostly the kiddos) for his trip with an amazing charity called One Spirit Medical Missions. We would love your prayers and calming thoughts for him as he travels for the next day and impacts the children and people of Haiti in huge ways through medical outreach for the next 10 days. I am so proud of his work and even more excited that our wonders get to observe firsthand what it looks like to have a servant’s heart and sacrifice comforts, money and leisurely time with us for a greater purpose that he has been called to.

Please also pray for WonderGIRL and WonderBOY to have faith that Daddy will come back home safe and sound and for their own anxious hearts to be filled with the same love and admiration that I do thinking about his outpouring of love and passion for Haiti.