Kingdom Kids: God Cares

It has been a little over a month since I have been in Haiti. I honestly thought I would have had more time to read, keep in touch with friends and family and spend time with God, but each week has had it's own crazy adventures! I was SO incredibly thankful that my mom and 4 other ladies were able to be with me my first 10 days in Haiti...especially my mom! I was able to show my mom where I would be living for the next few months, and introduce her to my Haitian friends. What a blessing it was loving on the children at Tytoo Orphange with her and seeing her servant heart as she served the children and people in Haiti. Thanks mom..and ladies for making it an enjoyable transition to Haiti!

My mom and I in my new apartment!

After dropping off my mom at the airport in Haiti and said goodbye, tears trickled down my cheeks. It hit me that I was NOT just on a week long mission trip this time. I would like to say that my transition to Tytoo Garden's Orphanage has been an easy one, but living in a 3rd world country has been a bit more difficult than I expected. Here are just a few changes in a my routine: Bugspray has become my new perfume of choice, anything with ice is my favorite drink, grocery shopping is an ALL day, FUN day outing ( I get to buy ice cream and diet coke!), people who speak English are my best friends, and seeing pigs tied to a tree is normal. :)

My job at the orphanage is to oversee the caretakers of the 35 children at Tytoo, and provide structure and activities for the children. The children are on a summer break now, so we need to make LOTS of changes with the staff. Please pray for wisdom on how properly train the staff, and for understanding as the language barrier is a struggle.

Last week, after an exhausting day helping care for four 2 year olds, trying to figure out the schedule for the caretakers of the children, and having children in my personal bubble ALL day, I laid on my bedroom floor and just cried. My heart longed to see my family and friends. I wanted to talk to them, laugh with them, and just be near them. As I told God these desires, He spoke to me in a song, called "Fountains", by Jon Thurlow. Here are some of the lyrics that gripped my heart:

"Cast all your cares on me, because I care for you. I care for you.

All your fountains are in me, and I have everything you need, just keep coming back to me.

Those who call upon my name, they will not be put to shame. Just keep coming back to me.

So come to me if you are weary, and I will give you rest, I will give you rest.

My yoke is so easy, my burden is less, my burden is less.

Cast all your cares on me, because I care for you, I care for you."

As I listened to these words, I heard God saying that He cares for me, because He is my Father who ALWAYS loves me. He takes away my stress, and burden of providing good care of orphans in a 3rd world country, and gives me TRUE rest. My Father simply wants me to COME to HIm. I also heard God say that just as I longed to be near my friends and family that know me and love me, the fatherless children at Tytooo have a deep desire to be with their mom's and dad's. The difference is that I know that I will see my mom, dad, and siblings again soon...these children have no idea when and if they will will ever see their parent's or family members again. Some of these children have been abandoned at the gate of our orphanage, some have come from homes of abuse, and some come from parent's who can't afford to feed them. The comfort that I can bring to the beautiful faces here, is that God our forever Father cares passionately about them, just as he cares about me....just as he cares about you. Our Father's love is unending and lasts FOREVER! My prayer is that the children at Tytoo will see and feel this limitless love from God through me and truly know that God cares about them.