the Haiti adventure: some details

My mind is swimming in details tonight: To sell the house or rent the house? Travel vaccines and passports for the kids. Packing. Moving. What to sell vs. what to keep for later vs. what to bring? Fundraising. Yard Sale. Update our will. Get P.O. Box. Buy 18 duffel bags. Find boxes. Health insurance overseas. And so on and so forth.

But I really should backtrack to the beginning of the story.

Early in our marriage we knew that the Lord was calling us to do two things in our lives:

1) Adopt
2) Serve overseas as missionaries

Now, to take a very quick rabbit trail...I feel very strongly that all Christ followers are commanded to take adoption and missions seriously, whether that is in a supportive or active role.

For us, we knew that we would not just be supporters of these two callings, but active participators. We knew no details or specifics...only that someday it would happen. A "when" not "if" scenario.

It was during our first trip to Haiti that the Lord revealed to us that it was our time to actively participate in adoption...and 9 months later we stepped off an airplane with our Ethiopian Eli.

Numerous trips back to Haiti throughout the last four years continued to strengthen our love for the country, the people, and an excitement to participate in the movement of God that is taking place in the country.

But always...we never felt a release from where we were, or I was pregnant, or we were adjusting to a new family dynamic, there wasn't an obvious position for us in Haiti, and the timing just wasn't right. We were content to help support other missionaries down there.

Until about 2 months ago when a door flew open.

And all the obvious excuses that had kept us from saying yes in the past...well, they just weren't there. And so we agreed to look into the opportunity with the blessing of our families and pastors.

Jeremiah and I flew down the first week of July to check out the mission. After much prayer and wrestling with God and freaking out and seeking of wise counsel...we officially accepted a position as "field directors" (technically there is no title to what we will be doing...but this title seems to fit best in my mind) at Have Faith Haiti Mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Have Faith Haiti is a mission that provides housing and schooling for approx 30 orphans. Sweet amazing kids that we were already privileged to meet on that trip early in the month.

We will be doing a lot of things and filling different roles at different times...a lot of that will be discovered after we actually get down there. We do know that we will be loving on the kids and pouring ourselves into their lives and the lives of the Haitian staff.




We also know that we are completely ill-equipped for this task. Absolutely inadequate.

Which is ok.
Because we know who equips us.
We know who is made strong in our weakness.
We know who goes before us and with us.

We've been telling the kids that this is an adventure. That God's story is always an adventure and we are awesomely invited to participate. What a crazy ride we have ahead of us!

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