Pages

Friday, March 11, 2011

Love & Respect

So I picked up this book thinking I understood what was in it. I didn't.
Wow. If you are male or female, you should read it. It may change your life.

[Warning #1: you may throw it across the room a time or two before you finish it, but that is o.k. God understands. Just do not throw it at your spouse.]
[Warning #2: for the women, you must make it through to the last half of the book because he predominantly writes towards the women first. I found that difficult. Skip to the back chapters for a while if you need to. It is o.k. It is not a novel and will not spoil the end.]


Happy Spring 2011!
Do not forget to change those clocks Saturday night.
Hugs and prayers to all of lovely friends and family.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Haiti - Part 2

Welcome to your continued tour of Haiti!
The picture below gives you a view down the street where Arise Haiti is located.

How would you like to go deep sea fishing in a boat this size?
Makes me wonder what the boat Jesus fell asleep in looked like on the inside.

The team! Look at those smiling happy missionaries "suffering" for Jesus.

Not really a bank on the side of the road. It's a (ahem...) place to stop and play some "numbers."
On a forty-five minute drive the team counted 185 such "banks".

Sweet 'taters!  They grown them next to the beach in Haiti!
Guess you don't need salt when you cook them.

Ever wondered what the inside of a dug out canoe looks like?
Well, now you know.

A foreigner on the beach getting ready to do some crazy wild kite surfing!

Most places you see a lot of glass on top of the fence. 
Creative folks in Haiti use conch shells!

My neice taught me how to play mancala.
On the beach you do not even need a board!
Just dig some shallow holes and gather rocks. 

Paul getting the missionary children addicted to his favorite passtime... farkle!
He taught them to play and left the game for them.
Poor parents!

The watch dog. (Really!)

Get ready.... get set.... and....

.... GO!!!!
This is what happens when you have kids club every Friday. 
Oh, missionary James... come to my neighborhood next! Please.

There were over 300 kids who came this week!

When the children leave the teaching, they take home a bag of food for their family.

Well you know you have to always have a cute kid picture in the mix.
(Dr. Jim had to get in the pic too.)

Isaiah 25:4
You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat...

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Haiti 2011 - Part 1

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. So I figured I would let the pictures do the talking for this trip. Missionary Man (MM) standing next to a boat.  The creole name translates into "God is Able!"
It was a long row to Haiti, but MM finally arrived.
Flying into the bay area is a magnificent view. Such a beautiful Caribbean ocean and island. From the air you cannot see the devastation and poverty.
Port Au Prince
 Look at the front center area of the picture.  Can you see the "tent city"? These were set up after the earthquake. Look throughout the entire picture and see how many "tent cities" you can locate in this picture alone.

Arise Haiti is a medical mission ran by the Courters (an awesome couple with 4 kids).



















When you can't get the bag open and you have no kitchen shears, what do you do? Use a machete', of course!
 

While MM (a/k/a machete' man) set up the pharmacy, the doc, PA, nurses, PT set up  the clinic in a church.

Crossing the beautiful countryside to get to another clinic site.

MM said this is called a Haitian "standoff". Which one will backup first?
O.K. since the med-mission team was in the back of the white truck, they acquiesced first.

I wonder if they called these guys "island cowboys"?

Just a note about this picture: according to the locals, the lady in the pink dress... is 100 years old!

The next clinic was at a school. They were in session and stopped when the med team arrived.  Notice the cute little children all dressed alike in this classroom. It is a privilege to go to school in a country where you have to pay to go.
What no machete'??

Always the curious children looking through the window.

It did not take long for these smart people to set up an awning while waiting in the sun at the clinic.

The school building with people waiting out front and to the side. More people waited down the hill under a few palm trees.

Setting up another clinic in another town. The rafters in the building were phenomenal. See if you can see the tree trunks in the picture.

That beautiful Caribbean ocean again.

Back at the main building of Arise Haiti, doing what the man does.

Look at that multi-talented guy.

You can see Paul (another HCM Missionary Associate) running the eye clinic.

Arise Haiti's compound.

Waiting just inside the compound to be seen at the clinic.

Is not God just amazing. I look at the photos and see an ocean, land and culture completely unfamiliar to myself. Yet, the Creator of the World made it all and blessed it. He knows each person, place, culture and part of nature intimately.

Psalm 113


1 Praise the LORD.[a]
Praise the LORD, you his servants;
praise the name of the LORD.
2 Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised.


4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the LORD our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8 he seats them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He settles the childless woman in her home

as a happy mother of children.
Praise the LORD.