1/30/13
Happy 6-month birthday Paisley!
- Woke up early and went to Prayer Mountain.
- Wait, before that. Woke up to the sound of singing at the church next door. At 5am. Yep. And they sang for hours last night. And there were goats and chickens and roosters waking us up too. :)
- Prayer Mountain was pretty awesome. AMAZING view. Seriously. It looked fake. And random people were just there, praying and singing. How awesome to have a place to gather and do that! Anybody, at any time, for any reason. Hmmmm....
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| The view at Prayer Mountain during sunrise. |
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| The FW girls in the back of the truck. Ready for another day! |
- Went to the hospital/rehab place/children with disabilities home. Super awesome.
***Side note: A little bit about this place. It's a hospital that's run by a British couple. Some of the only other white people we saw all week! It has "regular" hospital stuff...an ER, maternity, surgical, pediatric unit, etc. But it has an AWESOME rehab facility too. Extremely nice facilities for Haiti. Several of the guys were training for the Paralympics in Rio in 2016. And one of them won a gold medal in London 2012!
There is also a home on the campus for children with disabilities. Most of the kids only came a few days out of the week, just to give their parents a break. A few of the kids actually live there. In Haiti, a child that has a disability of any kind is considered a shame to the family. They almost never (if ever) are allowed out of the house, because the family doesn't want the child to be seen. The Creole word for kids like these is the same word as "worthless." At this home the kids are fed and cared for by several caretakers.
*Back to my journal now.
- Made salvation bracelets with some men in the rehab center. They were actually really into it and appreciated it! And the nurse too. She told us (through our translator, Tiroro) that she never liked the color purple until today, now that she knows what it means. And she will use her bracelet to preach to others. And Bernard, what a sweet man! Taught us how to make a slip knot. And called us friends! And the paralympic champion was so cute! Such a proud/shy smile when we clapped for him!
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| Learning the slip knot from Bernard. |
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| Some of us with the paralympian! Leon Gaisli. Gold medal at London 2012. It's true. Fun fact: he also knows how to crochet. Here he is working on some hats to sell. Also, the nurse who learned to love purple is on the far left. |
- The KIDS. Oh my word! So precious. The phrase "the least of these" kept running through my head. The little girl giggling when I answered the toy phone. The other little girl squatting to pee in the dirt. The older girl's smile when I made a big deal about her. Little Shante walking with me. And just looking at them look at me playing guitar. Ahhhh!
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| Little Shante. |
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| Making sweet music together. |
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| Connie loving on some boys while I play guitar. |
- I found myself calling the little girls "sister" or "sis." That's what I call Paisley. It surprised me at first, like maybe I shouldn't call them that. Like it was reserved for my own daughter. But then I thought, "Why should I reserve this term of affection only for my own biological daughter? Whey can't I show these girls some love too?" And just calling them "sister" made me feel more bonded to them somehow. Did they sense it? I have no idea. But I sure did.
- As FanFan and Julie started singing "Glorious Day" I started to get teary. I looked around at all the precious kiddos. And thought about how they will be in heaven with us. And how they will be full and complete and whole. Oh Glorious Day!
- I got a little choked up on Jesus Loves Me too. "Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong."
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