She greets us at the door with shy hugs. The kids leave and return with plastic lawn chairs to supplement the tattered gold sofa. She wants us to sit. There are no windows, so we strain to see, strain to hear her heart through the rhythm of the rain as it pulses on the corrugated tin roof, crescendos and […]
To Know Their Names
I’ve been working out of my quart-size baggie since getting back from Haiti last month so I didn’t have to rethink and repack it. Today I’ll add a little more moisturizer and a little more foundation to the mini travel containers and set out my malaria med to start tomorrow. Friday I’ll say goodbye […]
bless the mamas
They mother the motherless, the mamas in this orphan village. The team that traveled to Jeremie, Haiti, the month before us went specifically to love on them. The photo of women washing the feet of women who wash feet nearly undid me. These mamas carry hearts heavy with Jesus. Though some bring their own children […]
31 Days on Coming to Grips with My Age ~ Day 11: For When You’re Expecting to Explode
Sixty-two. That’s the life expectancy of a child born in Haiti today. In 2000 a newborn could expect to live almost fifty years. But today’s two-year-olds, those born in 2010, they could die before they’re thirty. Thirty. That’s two years shy of my daughter’s age. My wee grandgirl is two. But because she lives in […]
Just Enough
I sandwich a thick slab of clothes between my hands and lift them, hangers and all, from closet, plop them on bed. Grace and I sort through them. This shirt is stained. These pants are too small. We dump drawers, make three mounds–keep, toss, give away. The first is the highest. And this is just […]
So We Give All . . . Third World Symphony First Anniversary
She lives in Kenya. I sit down this morning to write to her, her last letter at my right hand. She tells me she was in position 1 in the first term of school and in position 3 in the third term. She tells me that she and her family are in good health and […]
When You Wait for Love…And Wait…And Wait…
. . . and your heart aches like the hollow of your hungry stomach. At least like your stomach used to feel. Because now something called Compassion has opened a program near your home. There’s food there. And you can go to school and learn to read and write. And you can learn about how […]
In the Presence of Hope: A Review of The Unlikely Missionary by Dan King
Part of me hates to read mission stories. Especially from those who have traveled to Africa. I battle jealousy because that’s been my dream since I was a young girl. But the opportunity has not yet presented itself. It did for the BibleDude, though. I read his story in his book, The Unlikely Missionary: From […]
So We Give All . . . Third World Symphony
She lives in Kenya. I sit down this morning to write to her, her last letter at my right hand. She tells me she was in position 1 in the first term of school and in position 3 in the third term. She tells me that she and her family are in good health and […]
