Hello from the Nuthouse

My grandpa's last name is Nutter and his house has been nicknamed "The Nut House". Very fitting considering my mom's side of the family. Including myself!

The beginning of this week lots of changes and additions came into our house here in Haiti. So I am writing to you from the new Nut house a little farther south than the original one. But just as crazy...I assure you!

It all started with a 14 yr old girl named Ayi that David and I have known for the past 2 years or so. She was living in an orphanage when some drama happened and then she found herself back out on the streets. Her parents died when she was young and she has lived in a variety of different living situations. We had heard about her struggles and went to visit her a few months back.

What we found made my heart hurt. This once happy, healthy teenager was not the same young lady anymore. Her smile, which once showed you a piece of her heart, was now superficial. The clothes she had on were 2 sizes too small. The word that best describes what we saw: Lost.

This child of God was lost with no hope. I of course wanted to put her in the truck and bring her home that very day. Convincing David of this rash plan was another story altogether...I am still learning that as a married person I don't get to make all the decisions anymore.*sigh*

So I invited her to the beach with us, had her over for dinner, basically spent time with her to help David see how much this girl needs a family.

One day he was telling me how sad it was that she had no one. He has a younger sister the same age as Ayi. He couldn't imagine her in the same situation.

We talked with the Invest Hope mission board. They were in full agreement that this is a great opportunity to show hope to a child in need. We also decided to do this in more of a foster care type approach than as an orphanage approach. She would move in with us and we would raise her along with Odessa.

The next day we took her to Social Services and got guardianship of her.

So meet the newest addition to our household and the Invest Hope family!

 Ayi, 13 years old

Please pray with us for her to feel loved and accepted by not only us, but her Father in Heaven. Pray she learns how to move on from the past and embrace the future.

After that post you're probably wondering why that makes our house crazy right now.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. Ayi came last week. Two more teenage girls came this week...one with a newborn baby!

So now you can believe me when I say...

Goodbye from the Nut House!