Sundays

We used to post a lot on Sundays. A slower paced day and a little extra time seem to be the secret ingredients for thinking and writing.

When we used to live at Children of the Promise Sundays were a day to keep the gates closed, to dress the kids up for church or to hold a relaxed worship circle under the Mango tree. I enjoyed grabbing just one child to practice my hair braiding skills or to spend some time with the nannies by getting my own hair braided. If sitting for three hours getting your hair yanked on doesn’t inspire rest… I don’t know what does…;)

amy, circa 2010 

When we first moved back to Cap this past January after 3 months in the States, Sunday was a day to explore what it meant to live in the city. We used Sundays to figure out things like where to buy rice and how much to pay. We rode Tap-Taps to Cap’s mega church and treated ourselves to brunch at the bakery on the way home. After all going from living on a big compound where meals were served hot off the stoved to living on our own with our rice cooker was a bit of an adjustment…for us, in terms of health and rest, it was a good one.

Later, we busied ourselves with Sunday afternoon excursions to visit our friends in the villages surrounding Cap. We’d walk, drive, or take motos to spend leisurely visits with the people we love. We’d come home with sun burnt faces and full hearts.

After I started working for Caris (a Monday through Friday job) Jenn would use the weekends to get me up to speed on the progress of our Second Mile Haiti compound. We’d make quiet “vision” visits to the land. We’d relax some and then when our bellies started growling we’d head to the market. Sunday, early evening, turned out to be a great time to stock up on produce for the coming week.

market day, always a game. 

guess how much we spent...

($12.75)...!!!

During the months we acted as fill-in moms for our friend Kelinise we spent many a Sunday at the hospital. Her regular doctor visits for diabetes usually fell on Thursdays. Depending on the issue (hypertension, high blood sugar, skin abscess, etc…) the doctor tended to prefer to keep her at hospital over the weekend. This was a stretching time, as driving to and from our house, her orphanage, and the hospital was expensive and didn’t allow for much rest. We love her though, and are so thankful that she has been relatively healthy and living with her Dad for almost two whole months. 

When we started to have a string of visitors we used the weekends to show them the sites and sounds of Haiti. We have spent many of our Sundays letting our friends experience the wonderful Cormier Plage, a beach resort close to town with breathtaking views and a stellar rum punch.

Today? A morning mix of silence and reading and getting ourselves focused.

 does our porch not literally breath, "come, relax, take a load off..."?

Jenn spent several hours lounging on the porch engulfed in the Secret Life of Beads---I mean Bees. I dug into a new book sent down by a faithful friend of Haiti. I’m continually amazed by how God seems to hand select certain books which are then gifted by special individuals with impeccable timing. Come Talk with Me, Jesus Calling, Kisses for Katie, and now one called Sacred Rhythms... It’s happened too many times now to write off as coincidence.

After we had our fill of peace and quiet we opened the computer in search of some tunes and like magic, our internet connection appeared for the first time in 3 days!

As I finish writing this post Jenn is busy beating the keyboard with speed and enthusiasm, intent on using this window of internet to the fullest. She’s posting photos from the last few days, thrilled to announce that we’ve broken ground once again, this time for the construction of the mom/baby homes. Less exciting, or more, depending on how you look at it is her role as the official accountant. It’s a good thing she loves numbers because staying on top of “the books” requires daily attention. The first thing out of her mouth when she saw that we had internet was “yeah! I can get the spreadsheets up-to-date.” I'd probably be more excited to check my email, but to each her own.

Equally important is her communication with the Gigures which these days seems to be nearly constant as they plan for the distribution of finished bracelets and Jason’s upcoming trip to Haiti. He and Jenn have their work cut out for them as they will be sorting out the gardening, water, and septic situation on the Second Mile Haiti compound. We can’t wait for his visit as he will be bringing A TON of seeds recently donated for our ministry and the families we support.

  the Gigure clan sortin' seeds

I now work only part-time with the Caris Foundation. We made this switch in hopes that I would have more time to work with Dorothy and Louismene, our magnificent bead makers plus a little time to support Haiti Babi another brand new organization operating out of our apartment. We are partnering with Haiti Babi to empower mothers through employment and the skills of crochet and knitting. These past two weeks have been full to the brim with activity as four women are being taught how to make designer baby blankets. Our apartment is an explosion of cardboard, yarn, HIV testing supplies, but it’s good. Very good.

haiti babi - learning in motion

I suppose I'll spend the rest of my afternoon sorting out the bead operation as we prepare to send over 2,500 finished beads state-side. If time permits I might need to prepare a little for Kid’s Club, a club/support group that The Caris Foundation hosts for children living with HIV. Tomorrow in between fun and games we’ll be broaching two loaded topics, SEX and PUBERTY. A little prep wouldn’t hurt…

As for this evening, looks like our empty shelves and lack of toilet paper will send us back to the market. 

In summary, we love Sundays for so many reasons. It's fun to reminisce on where we've been by examining the types of activities that have filled our Sundays. We’re incredibly grateful for this particular day and it’s perfect marriage of rest, soul care, and productivity.

We hope you’ve had a lovely Sunday too.  :)

On fear and trust...

It’s an unwieldy mix of emotions, those feelings that surface when I set foot on the land. You see it’s not just a wide open space anymore. The clock is ticking and the space of time before we're "operational" is growing smaller and smaller. There are buildings now and where there are not buildings I see a thin white thread tied to bamboo fragments outlining the soon-to-be buildings with halting finality. I should be bursting with excitement but instead I feel an unpleasant shade of fear.  

And then there are the walls which continue to make me a bit anxious. In Haiti walls mean rules. Rules decide who comes in and who stays out, and when. Being in charge means that all of this falls under our discretion. I’ve never much cared for walls or rules. This complicates things.

Where was I? Oh yes, my feelings...

"the gallery," an area in the clinic set aside for waiting and learning

(mostly learning while waiting and maybe some praying too)

As we put money, your money, into tangible things like cement blocks and gardens and consultation rooms and toilets and chickens I can’t help but feel the pressure. Will our compound really be able to accomplish all that we’ve set out to do? There’s a goal. Yes. And we have experience with the sorts of things that prevent families from "making it." It all makes sense on paper but.. will it work? Will the buildings be adequate to serve the functions we’ve assigned to them? Will moms get to keep their babies and will lives be changed?

* * *

The discussions are endless as we corral our ideas, turning decisions over and over until they are refined into something that makes sense. The prayer has been the same from the start. God help us to hear you. We trust you and we want to dream and believe on your level of awesome, not ours.

Trust is an amazing thing. I can’t claim to be good at it all the time. But one thing is for sure, it puts things into perspective. To say God you’ve got this and really mean it means that not only do you trust that He is capable but to also trust in the way he is using you and making you capable.

I look at the land and am astonished by how much has been accomplished in just four months. I can’t help but grab Jenn by the shoulders and tell her I’m proud of her. I’m proud of her for trusting in the way that God has equipped and empowered her to face each day and tackle the decisions at hand. She doesn’t have the background, the training, or any sort of former experience that would lead one to believe that she’s the director of operations behind this project. And that’s just it. God's got this.

Earlier today, when those feelings of fear were bubbling within me I took a long hard look at the nearly finished clinic, the perfectly straight cement block walls that seem to stretch on forever, and the bamboo and wood post fences that enclose what promises to be a field of delicious life. It is all more beautiful that I could have ever imagined. The degree of awesome reflected in the finished work points directly to Him. 

We can relax and enjoy knowing that ultimately he is in control…of every detail.

details

scaffolding

the bamboo barricade 

a temporary structure that keeps cows and goats from participating in the block making

and separates the garden area from the rest of the land

help us by praying for the future of this space, might awesome things happen here!

 Proud of her. 

Thank goodness there is someone much bigger and wiser that seems to want this thing to succeed.

So we trust and watch and expect [great things to happen].

and... we're back.

I had to do it. I had to bite the bullet and check how long it had been since our last blog post.

...5 weeks...(shudder). 

It’s dangerous, or should I say deadly, to pass the 4 week mark. Let two weeks slip by and there is still room for redemption but four weeks... With each day it becomes harder and harder to hit the keyboard. I’ve seen one too many blogs forever abandoned after the 4 week mark. Sad, sorry fate. 

I’m here to announce that Second Mile Ministries is alive and well and this blog ain’t goin’ nowhere. Thus, we’re back! 

We have so much going on right now, it’s ridiculous! In a good way.  

Remember that little fundraising/connecting trip that Jenn did last month? She checked in a few times while on the move but of course, we’ve haven’t written since. The purpose of that trip was to connect with supporters; past, present, and future. So many different people were praying for us during this time and as a result we were able to really see God moving both here in Haiti and in the States. Somehow we were only shy of our goal by a few thousand dollars. It literally gave me the chills as I sat here in Haiti waiting till 2 or 3 in the morning until Jenn could get online and give me the updates. Our goal was $30,000. That may seem like a small sum to some but whoa baby that is HUGE for us! 

There’s a billboard in town that I find myself reading out loud every time I pass. It reads “Tipa, Tipa Nap Advanse.” Tipa, Tipa... You have to admit that just sounds cool. Read it out loud again. I dare you not to get addicted. 

I love it for multiple reasons. The billboard is sort of a beacon of hope for folks in Northern Haiti. It’s declaring that over the next few years thousands of jobs will be available. They are building an industrial park just 30 minutes outside of Cap Haitien. It’s a pretty big deal because, well... it’s actually happening. 

It’s not every day that a promise like this one actually makes it way into reality. 

The image on the billboard is something that resembles a bar graph showing the project’s progress. Translated it reads, “little step, by little step, we are moving forward.” 

Great imagery. Great perspective. And so applicable to where we are at as well. 

The beauty of being such a itty bitty organization is that every “tipa” is so apparent. 

Little advancements occur daily. Right now we’re rolling beads, making blocks, fencing gardens, and finishing our first building. We have some new partners, new employees, and several new families that have found their way into our hearts. To put it simply, we have news. We’ll try to update more often. :)

Thanks for your prayers, your money, and your love. We’re humbled that you’ve chosen to trust us and that you continue to come back and see our mighty God at work. 

bead making in full swing

view from the roof of the clinic

Jenn and her best friend, and the new fence! 

better than awesome

Jenn has been keeping the blog very up-to-date from the States! Her trip is going so well!
Since this is Second Mile Haiti and since I'm here in Haiti, I thought I’d chime in too. The answer to the "what's going on in Haiti?" question lies somewhere in between same ‘ole-same ‘ole and
awesome!
incredible!
exciting!

I debated whether or not to write a post yesterday about what makes Saturdays unique. But I concluded that Saturdays aren’t really all that unique after all. They’re pretty much good for everything you might do on a weekday plus some. I found myself at the airport and at the bank yesterday and both places were packed. People who work Monday through Friday only have a window of a few hours on Saturday to do their banking. ATMs aren’t totally a big deal here just yet. Although recently, I have heard several radio announcements raving about the ease and pure magic of the things. Maybe one day Cap Haitien’s one and only ATM will be a buzzing hub of activity. Until then, for us Saturday is a day to clean and roll beads.

Yesterday we did both.

beads, getting better.

 

Now its Sunday and I’m sitting on the roof of our apartment enjoying the sun and writing with pen and paper. It feels very college/So-Cal where it was always too sunny to bring out the computer but you had to come up with some way to still “study” while soaking up the sun. Actually, it feels like heaven. The only thing I can hear is the wind, the clanging of that metal door against the cement, and the squeaking of that pvc pipe as the wind sails it back and forth…Sure looks like it has an important job.

bliss on a roof

Here, where the working world is resting up for the start of another week, silence is sacred. Not even the neighborhood dogs dare disturb it.
Did I mention the view!? I’m afraid it comes at a price. If I was in the Hunger Games I’d be shot from my perch in seconds.

Good thing that’s fiction.

God is growing me through these weeks of being by myself. I’m pleased to report that I haven’t had any more ‘bad attitude attacks’ like I had mentioned in my last post. God’s showing me how to tackle my fears by surrendering them. All those things I think I have to figure out on my own…Yea, he’s already got them figured out. I won’t go into all my shortcomings and weaknesses right now, but let’s just say God is giving me ample opportunity to practice living through his strength while there’s no one else around to fall back on. I crave this kind of growth. It’s been awesome.

-I’ve also had time to reflect on what a good God we serve.- I’ve also had time to reflect on how the word good just isn’t sufficient. Yet we use it all the time. I remember as a kid when someone, a Sunday school teacher maybe..or just some other concerned adult, instilled in me the conviction that I shouldn’t just throw around the word -awesome. God was awesome, not my new shoes. And if I wasn’t careful one day I’d be sorry

At the time I'm sure I thought this "old" person was just trying to suck the fun out of life. But sure enough I regret not having a way to differentiate between my awesome friends and my awesome God.

It hits me most when I’m sitting at the table with our two employees thinking ...God, you are so good to have brought us all together like this, so good to let us in on your plan. God you are so faithful and loving, so good to let us experience the blessing of watching you rain down the funds for this project.

You are so good, so awesome..so indescribable.

Ah.. the contientious adult from my childhood was right! I’ve run out of words to describe his awesomeness!

I caught Dadou and Dorothy talking yesterday about how Haitian Jenn has become now that she speaks Creole. He was fishing for some credit there as he reminded us of how much time they spend together. I went ahead and gave him all the praise he was after. It was obvious he misses his construction partner.

As much as we miss Jenn, thoughts of her quickly bring us to thoughts of how well this trip is going and how thankful we are that God communicates with his people. We are humbled that he led us to stop work when he did and that he is now giving us this time to watch and see how good he is. There's that word again.  

So we sit at our bead-making table with full, expectant hearts, literally feeling like every cardboard box that shows up on our door is a gift from Him and that virtually every bead we roll has promise, promise to impact the person who made it and, the person who wears it.

Thanks for the positive bead feedback and for praying for this little ministry.

Open your mouth and taste.

Open your eyes and see---

How Good God is.

Blessed are you who run to Him.

Psalm 34:8 (The Message)

Cap-Haitian countryside

credit where credit is due.

Hey, I made it to Seattle! Right now I'm in downtown Seattle to be exact.

I'm still fundraising. And I'm still wanting to go home.

We are getting closer to our goal of $30,000. Last blog post I wrote that we'd reached the half-way point. We now only have $8,000 left to raise. $8,000! Amazing huh? We received $7,000 in donations over the last three days which brings the total to $22,000 in about two weeks! I feel instead of writing a blog post I should be writing a book. Have you ever felt like you need to give God more credit or maybe more glory for something?

I'm having a hard time stressing to people how amazing this journey has been. Nothing I have physically done through my traveling in the States has affected our fundraising or at least the money coming in. NOTHING. I think this has been an eye opening experience for me. We always say "we give the glory to God" after maybe winning a huge playoff or championship game. I think it's probably fair to say that even though we "gave God the glory" we didn't forget about the touchdown I scored in the last couple seconds, or the penalty kick I scored to win the game, or the amazing catch I made to end it.

When does it become a phrase we don't just throw around but instead save it for when we really truly mean it?

Well this is how I'm feeling. I mean it. I feel as if my heart wants to explode, and I want to shout over Pike's Place.. "yeahhhhhhhhhhhh, Go God!!!" 

*so since I don't have a picture of me screaming and dancing*

One thing has hit me as well. Some people may look at these posts and fundraising goals, and laugh. Maybe to other organizations $30,000 is easy. Maybe it's not a big deal. I LOVE that $30,000 is a big, big deal to us. I love $5,000 being a big deal. Heck, we love your $20 donations. I don't think the amount is what does it for us.

It's the random emails we get from someone that we haven't seen in 4 years wanting to donate. It's our second grade teacher. It's another humanitarian reaching in their pockets for the cause. It's our family members starting to accept that we won't be coming back and doing what they can to help us stay. It's that random person you meet on the bus that gives you $20 like "Hey, go get 'em." It's the kids that walk up to you after church and pull out their coins. This is what it's about. It's about these people. This is what it always as been about for us.

Looks like I've got my preacher hat on today 'cuz here I am wanting to pray.

God, I pray that we do not loose sight of giving you the glory for how much you love us and for how close you are to us, and especially for bringing these people into our lives. I pray that we always make these people feel involved. I pray it never becomes about big donors. I pray that no amount is ever too small. I pray that children continue to come up after church and offer their coins. I pray that our response will always be, "you are making a difference." And God I pray that we will never give anyone else the glory. 

Starbucks, the travellers home away from home.
You can chill from 6 am to 6 pm, WITH suitcases and they still won't kick you out. ;)

God's country

It's Jenn again. I’m sitting here with all the windows open. It’s chilly here. It’s a nice chilly. I’m not sure if you realized it yet, but I’m not in Haiti. I’m in "God’s country," as Karen would say. Good ole’ Wisconsin. I’ve never been here before but I haven’t seen anything I didn’t like. It reminds me a little of Texas.  I have been here for 6 days and it feels like I’m part of the family. It doesn’t feel like I should be saying good bye to the Gigure family tomorrow. I mean I just now started realizing how to open all the cabinets and doors with their child proof locks. I just realized I shouldn’t get out of the bed in the morning without a sweatshirt. Henry their 4 yr old son has stopped being nice to me. That means I’m fitting in. I’m not new anymore. He doesn’t have to impress me anymore.

My time here has involved amazing conversations, delicious frosty beverages, good meals, speaking at church, making bracelets, church camp, hot showers, Star Wars on the Wii, adoption and haiti talks… let’s just say I had an amazing time.  I have enjoyed every minute of being here.

Pastor Brian @ Mt. Zion

Some good 'eats' - compliments of Karen

telling some attentive kiddos what life is like where I live

So here I am at 8:00 at night and I need to start packing for my morning flight to Seattle. My 6:20 a.m. flight to be exact. I am asked what I will be doing there but to tell you the truth I have no idea. I have learned to stop planning. Some may ask how do I live my life that way. Well to be honest, I couldn't imagine life being any different.

See after returning from two weeks in the States at two different weddings I was told by God on my very first night back in Haiti that I needed to head back. At first I wrestled a little bit, but it was inevitable.  God always wins huh? Karen had been inviting me out her way for some time so she was the first person I called to ask if I could come see her. She said yes without any hesitation. That’s what landed me in Wisconsin.

Yesterday, we sent out a newsletter and mentioned in it how much money we raised last weekish. The total was $15,000. Oh, I didn’t tell you the best part of the story...God told me I needed to go to the States to raise $30,000. A lot of people commented today saying I must have done very well in Wisconsin. Does doing well mean I raised a lot of money? Because if so then I didn’t do well at all. I did however do well at getting face to face and heart to heart with people and forming what I hope to be lasting relationships with some incredibly big-hearted people (one of who is pictued right there to the left.) Really its been our donors who have just jumped on board and decided to donate more money this last week then they have the last three months. How awesome is that? God’s funny like that. I keep tell people that I'm really not doing anything special with the fundraising. I think I just had to be obedient and answer God.

So here I am happy and home sick for Haiti at the same time. More than anything I’m just in awe of our amazing God. He continues to show us that if we are obedient and faithful, he will provide. Thank you to everyone who has been praying this week, everyone who has given support, and everyone who I met in Wisconsin. Can't wait to see ya'll again!

Come talk with me

I guess it's time for a Jenn blog post. As you all now know I'm in the States raising money for Second Mile Haiti. I can't wait to tell you all the amazing things that are happening, but for some reason I have a story about Dadou on my heart. 

A couple days ago, Dadou and I were sitting at our kitchen table rolling beads. I was telling him about my upcoming trip to the States. He asked me why I was going to the States and as usual I was flat out honest with him. I said we are really low on funds at the moment and God said, "Go now Jenn." I told him that I asked God are you sure I need to go now because it will be really hard on Amy and I both at this certain time. Then again God replied, Go now Jenn." I continued to roll beads, and I noticed that Dadou hadn't said anything. I looked up and his mouth was wide open. First words that came out of his mouth was.... "you talk to God?" It was priceless. This man prays for everything. He's always saying God does this and God does that. So I never thought he would be so confused. I literally blew his mind. 

I started to think a little about this a little more. I was thinking oh man he doesn't know that God talks back? Then it hit me. It was like a slap in the face. I don't always hear God either. Here I am acting like this is an everyday thing. I get busy and I "forget to read the bible." When this happens God and I don't communicate. I don't hear him, and the reason I don't hear him is because I didn't desire to start the conversation with him in the first place. 

This always gets me. We spend a couple months out of the word. We decide to open the bible one morning and we are hooked. We are hooked on his love once more. And the greatest thing is He pulls us in with open arms. It's beautiful. It's His unfailing love. We have better days. We seek him more. We hear him. We tell God over and over I'm sorry for leaving, and I missed you.

Another thing hit me as I continued to talk with Dadou. I was trying to describe my conversations with God. The first thing I said to him was "you need to talk to God like he's your best friend." I told him how I have two best friends, and I desire to talk to them all the time. I want to tell them when good things happen in my life. I want to tell them when something is wrong. I cry with them. I told Dadou that if the only thing I ever told my best friend is that I need this or I want that then we wouldn't truely be friends. Dadou got it. He understood. We have a connection like that. 

Later when I was thinking about this a little more I realized this conversation was as much for me as it was for Dadou. It's interesting that I used a best friend as my example. When people describe our Father's love they can often relate it to their relationship with their own fathers. Well to be honest my father was never around, and if he was around then he wasn't all the way there, if you know what I mean. I don't know what it's like to have that kind of father's love. Neither does Dadou. Dadou's father passed away when he was really young. So maybe it takes us longer than others to get it. But that's okay. 

I can however look back on the last couple years, and recognize that I have been blessed to get to know a couple of men that have come to fill that role. Boy have I been blessed. I have been blessed to live with some of the most spiritual Dads I know. I think the world of these men. Our God is good like that. It's amazing to see the people God puts in our lives. God has given me insight to a father's love. I think I'm realizing that God has been wanting me to see this for some time. He's been wanting to share this with me. Especially lately. 

Well God... I haven't been forgetting to read your book lately and I just wanted you to know I hear you loud and clear.