Joyeux Noel !

Happy Birthday Jesus!...... Merry Christmas everyone!
Today I know will be an amazing day. Full of beautiful memories, and I know, since they have already started, many tears. It seems as though everything is reminding me of my "Little Man" today. It started with a gift I received from my girls and Jo-Jo that my Mom had gotten for them to give to me. As most of your know Jonas's bedroom is going to be Snoopy. His bedding came this week all decked out in blue, yellow, and white with a big Snoopy dressed as Joe Cool. Anyway back to the gift. It was a tee shirt and lounge pants all blue with Joe Cool all over. Needless to say I cried, and cried. I just sat there and hugged them as though he was right there in my arms. I miss him desperately today. I picked up his Santa hat eariler and cried again.
God is so amazing how long before the begining of time he placed in my heart a love so big that I just feel like I could explode. I praise my Savior today that this will be the first, and last Christmas that WE (the Evansville Haiti Crew) will spend without our kids.

I have to share with you a Christmas card that Lillie made at school for Kristina and I. It read as follows:

Dear Mom and Dad,

You have been a good mom and dad. When you told me you were adopting Jonas I was so happy. I'm glad that daddy got to see Jonas. Thank you for pushing me on the swing. I like snuggling with you after we pray.

Love,
Lillie 2006

and yes...I cried when I read it and again just now as I shared it with you. We are so blessed with three beautiful daughters. They amaze me everyday with their hearts, and their love for people. I can wait until we can all go to Haiti together.

Let today be a day filled with the Joy of Christ. Let us always look for the brilliance of Christ in all things, especially in the midst of the world we live.

So from katouche and his sisters along with Kristina and I...........lots of Love!

Have you ever had a time in your life that you just wanted to be loved? Just a time when you wanted to know that someone...anyone...cared about you? One of the things I believe God revealed to me most during my week in Haiti was that this is a country of the most beautiful people on the planet. A people group that just wants to know that someone cares. To just be loved.
I saw some really amazing things. Homes that when photographed look somewhat like an unfinished set from Lord of the Rings, but looking closer you begin to see families on the roofs of these unfinished homes. Children playing on the roofs of this concrete jungle. Homes built like compounds, surrounded by walls with broken bottles cemented to the tops of the walls to keep people out.

People on the streets. I wish that I could really put into words what life is like on the streets of Haiti each day. People lining the streets selling just about anything they can to provide for themselves and their families. Women caring buckets of water on their heads to sell by the cup to others on the street. People wearing live chickens, tied together by rope, around their necks like a nice fashion accessory, Selling them to whoever would buy. Men rummaging through mounds of trash on the sidewalks looking for food as a stray dog ,that looks as though it hasn't had a meal since birth, urinates on that same mound of trash. Children just wandering the streets because their parents can't afford for them to go to school....and yet... in the midst of all this, what we would consider beyond chaos, and despair there is more joy from these beautiful people than I have ever experienced in my life. In the midst of shear poverty they are happy...joyful...and giving. They have servants hearts like I have never seen.

God has forever connected me to the hearts of these people.
So amazing...so beautiful...so brilliant.....and just longing to be loved.
I pray that as you seek Gods will in your life, that you would keep your heart open to where He might lead. As a good friend recently wrote let God write the story of your life. (Thanks Shawn) I pray that as this year comes to a close and a new one begins, that God starts a new chapter in the story of your life, and that it is a great adventure.

Two Amazing Souls

I took this amazing journey last week. I went to this beautiful country and met some of the most wonderful people there. Two of which are pictured here....... You-You and E. Thanks for all you do to make a difference in the world around you.
I love you guys!, and yeah...I'm gonna plastificate this picture!

Before the sunrise

Most people start a story at the beginning, but those of you who know me know I very rarely do anything the way I am supposed to "so sayth the world" so why would my journey to Haiti stories be any diffenent. So this one begins where I will call the morning after arrival, and will be titled...Before the sunrise.

"Papa" I hear this little voice say. At that moment I look over the edge of the top bunk to the floor below.
"Papa come on" the little voice says again as I climb down from the bunk and take his little hand as he leads me out the door to the sitting area just outside the room we stayed in.
"Papa come on" he said again as he lead me to the couch. As I sit he climbs up and lays partly on my lap. I rub his belly as he smiles up at me. He wiggles and rolls over. I rub his back.
He gets up. Takes two steps. "Papa come on" he says again. "No Papa stay here" I reply back.
He climbs back p on the couch lays on his belly and pulls up the back of his Scooby Doo PJ top to let me know he wanted his back rubbed again. As I sit rubbing his back I hear that little voice again. So soft and quiet I have to lean down to hear it clearly. "Papa Jo Jo" he is saying over and over as I rub his back.
What an amazing moment that was. To have that quiet and completely amazing moment with my son. This became our morning ritual for the next four days...before the sunrise.