Hello,
Hope you are doing well and loving the spring weather. I know some of you are still experiencing winter weather. Mike flew into Chicago first to attend Orphan Summit. He said it was in the 40's. I miss the seasons, but God is good and brings other pieces of beauty my way.
Mike is now back in Lynden, for our annual fundraiser. The dinner is tomorrow, Saturday evening. I hope you will be able to attend. Mike would really love to see you and he will be telling stories from Haiti. There will be Latin ballroom dance performances and prime rib. This morning he was telling me about some of the auction items. One is a two night stay in Semiahmoo. There is also a brand new beautiful leather chair. I have even heard whisperings of a week in Whistler. The event will be held at North County Christ The King in Lynden. You can call Mike for more info. at 360-305-9070.
I wanted to share a poem with you that has blessed us, it was written by a team member who visited us last month. As many of you know Mikes first team devotion is called "What did you go out to the desert to see?"
What did you go to the desert to see?
A bruised and broken and wind swept reed?
Why did you travel so many miles
To a crowded place, foreign and wild?
What did you expect to see?
Just poverty, corruption, pollution, disease?
Yes, I saw the poor and oppressed
Struggling to survive in a land so distressed.
But rising above the blanket of doom
Were servants of God proclaiming good news.
Caring for orphans, the widows, the lame,
Giving sight to the blind in God's holy name.
Claiming a village in Jesus' name.
Spreading the gospel that our Lord reigns
With power and strength to save and redeem
From demons that want to imprison and chain.
I awoke each morning to the glorious praise
Sung passionately by children to start their day.
They sang and danced to the rythym of drums
For the eternal hope that will someday come
When God restores His kingdom of peace
When all our struggling and strivings cease
And we live each day with adoration and praise
To our heavenly Father face to face.
What did I go to the desert to see?
I saw God's love for humanity.
He sealed it for me with sunsets rare
On a tropical beach with fresh breeze in the air.
A bruised and broken and wind swept reed?
Why did you travel so many miles
To a crowded place, foreign and wild?
What did you expect to see?
Just poverty, corruption, pollution, disease?
Yes, I saw the poor and oppressed
Struggling to survive in a land so distressed.
But rising above the blanket of doom
Were servants of God proclaiming good news.
Caring for orphans, the widows, the lame,
Giving sight to the blind in God's holy name.
Claiming a village in Jesus' name.
Spreading the gospel that our Lord reigns
With power and strength to save and redeem
From demons that want to imprison and chain.
I awoke each morning to the glorious praise
Sung passionately by children to start their day.
They sang and danced to the rythym of drums
For the eternal hope that will someday come
When God restores His kingdom of peace
When all our struggling and strivings cease
And we live each day with adoration and praise
To our heavenly Father face to face.
What did I go to the desert to see?
I saw God's love for humanity.
He sealed it for me with sunsets rare
On a tropical beach with fresh breeze in the air.
Karon
CTK Snohomish
CTK Snohomish
While Mike has been gone one of the projects that I have been working on is a small garden in between the front gate of the Children's Village and Nathan and our apartments. The first thing I needed to do was get all the rock, there is no dirt, dug out. Then I had 10 dump truck loads of soil brought in and spread. In Haiti you can't just drive to the nearest nursery and find the plants and pots you need. So I have been slowly gathering plants from friends and planting seeds and cuttings in whatever containers I can find........So now for the adventure. I gathered up most of my children and an extra tag-a-long and asked my friend if he would help me find some ornamental grass to hedge the garden with. My first idea was to visit the farmer's co-op in Ma poo (most likely spelled wrong). They had a few items they could share with me, but had no grass and did not know where we could find any. I had seen it grown successfully at one of my friends in Gonaives so I called her. I did not recognize the name of the village she said she found it in, so I handed the phone to my friend. He told me that the village was very far away, about 2 hours north in the mountains. I said OK meaning I understood. We started driving towards Pass Rein, I assumed that he had another idea, about 20 minuets later we passed Pass Rein and I realized that when I said OK he thought I meant I wanted to drive up in the mountains to the village. We were about 40 minuets north by then and I was up for an adventure so we just kept driving. The mountain pass was absolutely beautiful. It was a total gift from God, my spirit raised as the mountains raised. The village was located at the peak of the pass. When we got out and asked for directions to the place where the grass was, we were told to hike up a little path. What we found was a little oasis that reminded me of the book Heidi. I even found Queen Annes Lace, and what I think is a cousin to raspberries, I had never heard of berries growing in Haiti. I also was pleasantly surprised to be shown real grass, the kind we would use for a lawn in the states. I know these things may not seem like much to you, but you need to remember like the poem says I live in a desert :) But, alas there was no ornamental grass and I did not know the accurate name for it, I was trying to use one of the younger boys that had tagged a long, to interpret because Lucsene and I communicate at a pretty elementary level. He knows some English and I know some Creole. But it is more in the every day terms, not botanical. The funny part was that Kevins, the one who tagged a long kept having to use my daughter Janae to translate the numbers and his first language is Creole. I called my friend in Gonaives back. We then proceeded to have a conversation involving her on the phone, Lucsene, Kevins, Janae, three village men and myself. After three more phone calls to my friend in Gonaives and the phone being passed from me, to Lucsene, and to one of the villagers we finally realized the ornamental grass I wanted was back in Pass Rein along the river bank. It was all around me and I did not even know. Go figure. We had a good laugh and started back down the mountain. We had our customary flat tire on the drive down the mountain pass. When we arrived back in Pass Rien we found a man who said he would find the grass for me and have it ready Saturday. So we will see what we get tomorrow. The day was very enjoyable, but reminded me of a quote I painted a few days ago to help remind me that my perspective is just that, my perspective. It goes like this...."What screws us up most in life is the picture in our head of how it is supposed to be".... I tend to have that picture in my head and need to remember that it is not the only or the right picture. God amazes me how through the same circumstances he is taking some one else through with us, he can teach us each very different lessons. I guess it is kind of like feeling a sermon in church was spoken specifically for you, but knowing others are thinking the same thing. God is so awesome at meeting each of us where we need to be met.
On that note thank you so much for your prayers that carry us and keep us.
Blessings,
Chris
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