It's Rainy Season!

Living arrangements have also changed dramastically for Odessa and I. The provided housing that Angel Missions Haiti isn't ready for us until after June 10th. So for the past month we have been living in a Haitian house-totally Haitian style. Now I can say I've done it all in Haiti. We have no running water and cook over charcoal for every meal. So that equals bucket baths (which Odessa loves!) and catching every drop of rain water you can so we don't have to buy and carry water home.

At least it is rainy season now in Haiti so we are getting rain nearly every day.

Here of some pics of this evening's hard rain and the group effort it takes to fill the buckets, drums and anything else we can find. These are taken inside the house. Yep inside the front door. This pic to the left is a drain from the roof which spouts down water inside the living room!



Whenever I am doing hard, manual labor (which is NOT very often) I am always reminded of when I was in grade school and my dad making my brother and I work in the garden behind the house. We hated it. And he always got us started and then managed to "move on to another project" like mowing the grass with the riding mower or stacking firewood-both of which are WAY better than pulling weeds in the garden.

Well as soon as dad was out of earshot, my brother and I would begin singing:

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you.
If Heaven's not my home,
Then Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me
From Heaven's open door.
And I can't feel at home in this word anymore.

This of course was sung in the most pitiful, fatigued, overworked voices we could make.

So tonight while swinging the buckets of water and siding the full drums across the floor-those weed pulling muscles triggered an old memory.

I was about 2 lines in when the others started singing it in Creole.

This World is not my home.

The King of Kings has prepared a place for me-that's my home. There will be no sin, death or carrying buckets of water. Thank goodness-I was not designed for manual labor!










***I had to put this last pic in so my grandpa could see how the electrical/battery system is set up in this house. By the way Grandpa-does it matter we are standing in front of it on tile floor with rain water everywhere while barefooted? Just wondering.

I have been training for my new job here in Haiti. It's so different from the village nursing i was doing before-but change is a good thing and I am still working with the Haitian people i have come to love. Now I am meeting different Haitians in the over crowded city of Port au Prince and starting to build new relationships.

Last week I went to the American Embassy for the first time. Angel Missions was requesting 3 medical visas for children who needed to go to the states for surgery. All 3 were approved! One of them is a little girl who is about 6 years and was born without a right leg. Before the earthquake she was getting physical therapy and prostesis fittings at a hospital here in Haiti. That facility fell in the earthquake and the services she needs are not offered anywhere else here in Haiti.

Another one of the kids is a newborn with hydrocephalus who has been in and out of the hospital here in Haiti for most of his life. He will go to get shunt surgery and then return to the orphanage where he is living.

Another is a 3 or 4 yr old boy with Cerebral Palsy. He needs extensive Physical Therapy work up and braces fit for his legs b/c he doesn't walk yet. He is absolutely adorable with the longest eye lashes i have ever seen!

Pease pray for these children.

Thank God for the opportunity for them to go to a country with great medical care.

Pray for their biological parents as they wait here in Haiti the several months their children will be gone.

Pray for the host families in the states to be a loving surrogate family until the children are reunited with their families in Haiti.

I am truly thankful God put me in a place to be able to help these children.

Ever notice how things you once thought to be abnormal things start to seem normal after you see them over and over?

Begging is a very common practice in Haiti. Very abnormal to this midwest girl. It is not uncommon for me to walk about 5 blocks down to the grocery store here in Port au Prince and have at east 10 people straight up say, "Hey White Girl, give me a dollar."

And they are dead serious. I think they fully expect me to pull a dollar out of my pocket and give each of the them I pass by. That's great stewardship of mission money right? We will eradicate poverty in Haiti by handing out money in the streets.

Riiiiiiiiiight.

It is also common to have people come to to your car window and beg. There are "street boys" in Port au Prince that do this with well-practiced perfection. It is so hard to look at their cute faces and huge smiles and not give them money. I am not going to say I have never done it. And I am not going to say I have never thought of bring them home with me. (They are so cute!)


In the midst of this begging lifestyle I have become used to, something happened yesterday. I was riding in a rented van and stopped at a stoplight. I saw across the intersection a brand new Toyota Hilux truck stopped with a well-dressed man sitting in the driver's seat, talking on his brand new looking cell phone. His name brand sunglasses blocking his eyes. I could see his HUGE shiny gold watch gleaming in the sun from the other side of the intersection.




On the other side of that shiny new truck door stood another man in bare feet on the hot pavement. His clothes were torn and dirty. His hair was shaggy and uneven. And the profile view of his face I saw showed despair. If he was acting-he was doing an excellent job. I didn't need to hear what he was saying-I saw it in his out stretched hand.

Begging.

Just as I had seen at east 50 other people doing that every day. Why did this one particular event of begging stand out?

I am thankful for this wake up reminder that this is not normal. And for the drive it gives me to help others and stand up to injustice, to try to change the wrongs-not just accept them as the norm.

Jesus stood up to the normalcy of the money changers at the temple. He healed on the Sabbath. Daniel prayed 3 times a day-even when faced with death.
Esther.
Moses.

The Bible is filed with examples of people who stood up against the normalcy of their time because what what normal wasn't right.

What are things in your life that have become normal because you see it so much?

God is providing and showing my ever wavering heart to it is OK to put all my trust in him.

Why is it that I don't seem to remember this lesson I have learned time and time again?

It's not that hard of a concept.

God is my father.

I gave Him my life.

I know He's in control of the Universe.

He even MADE it.

So why do I sometimes think He can't fix my problems? That I could do a better job worrying and fretting about it?

(sigh)

So I hand over the worries, fears and doubts. Shake my head and think, "God I'm sure you can do better than I can."

DUH! AFTER I've tried everything I know.

And sure enough, like every other time, He takes it and makes a way.

The plan He had all along.

Please read Philippians 41:4-20. Paul is thanking the Christians for sending him help when he needed it. And most importantly he gives all the glory to God the father.

Thank you all for providing for me in this time of need. When I left Haitian Christian Outreach I was not given any funds to "restart" in Haiti. While it has not been easy-God has provided-through you. I have found another mission to serve with in Haiti but as with most missions, you have to raise your own support.

And I am so very thankful for all the faithfulness you all have shown towards my ministry and am giving all the Glory to the Lord.

If you would ike to donate to my ministry in Haiti, please send a check to:

Licking Valley Church of Christ
C/O Mission Committee
1578 Dayton Rd
Newark, OH 43055

Please designate on check memo line "Ginny Andrews".

One year of Motherhood

One year ago today I held in my arms the little girl who would completely rock my world. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I knew I was supposed to be her mother.


I had no idea the ride I would be on for the next year when I decided to adopt her. Sometimes I just held on. Actually most of the time I just held on. Odessa's grandma-AKA Mama Lynn-says God answered the prayer she would pray when her own daughter was little. Mama Lynn says her little girl was stubborn, strong willed and very determined and in moments of despair Mama Lynn would pray that God would "repay" her little girl by giving her one just like herself one day.

Mama Lynn was very happy to see that prayer was answered when she came to meet Odessa in December.

I am the proud mother of a spunky, stubborn, smart, sassy 2 year old-
and I LOVE IT!

I can't say I love it all the time at the time. Like when she threw the house keys out the truck window in the dark going down the road at night, or how she picks out all the M&M's out of every bag of trail mix.

Motherhood is a lot scarier than I thought though. I never thought I would be a single mom. While it's nice getting to make all the decisions myself-I HAVE to make all the decisions myself.

Discipline, diet, education, etc...just praying I don't mess her up too much ;)

One thing I promise you Odessa Lynn-we will stay together. No matter the place, no matter the amount of time. Because you are mine. One day you will legally be mine-but that's just a piece of paper. I am one stubborn, determined mommy who is head over heels for you. The Haitian government can take their sweet time (just kidding-we would like to go to the states someday), the American government can make me jump through hoops but one day you will be an Andrews and become part of long line of stubborn, determined women.

In the meantime-your mommy has praying to do.
Lord-please give her a daughter
EXACTLY like her.

Just wanted to take a minute and thank you all for the emails and encouragement you have sent the past couple weeks.

Odessa and I are doing fine, learning our way around the big city. I always told God I would be obedient and go to Haiti but I wouldn't live in Port au Prince. Well...here we are! And He is still taking care of us just as He promised. People can and will let you down but not the Lord. What an awesome privilege of being His child.

Life is much different here but the Lord is opening doors. I am learning the public system of tap-taps while praying for the money for a vehicle the whole time! But it is a good learning experience. And I am quite the entertainment for all the other passengers.

I am currently working with a mission based out of Virginia named Angel Missions Haiti. Check out their website. I am going to help them with existing projects including getting medical visas for children needing to go the the states for surgery as well as working in a Ravine Project they have in a slum here in Port au Prince.

I am excited about the new programs we are going to be starting too. Please pray for them as we start them from point zero-that the Lord's hand will guide our decision-making.

Thanks again for the prayers and your friendships. It is such a comfort to us.