paths

There was a very dark time, you could see it in the bags under Julie's eyes. Cholera had come to Haiti, not that long after the Great Earthquake, and it was horrifying, terrifying.  People were getting sick in the morning and dead by dinner, children were dead before they could be taken to the hospital for help...the elderly didn't stand a chance. With over 10,000 deaths before it all was over, I remember eyeing every banana, every head of lettuce, every egg with such caution, such concern. I remember Julie and Hannah and the doctors and nurses at the clinic working almost 24-7, the odd smell of cholera and death clinging to them, all of us, living and breathing urgent prayers and mourning many.

That was 2010, and we never once, any of us, spoke of leaving. It was the time to STAY, the time to do all you could, the time to sit and listen and visit and pray. 

For 48 hours at Christmas, Matt, baby Lily, Hannah, Julie and I loaded into the truck and drove to the Dominican...48 hours escape. I remember Julie and Hannah mostly sleeping at the 'resort', remember trying to pretend for 2 days that this huge imminent ugly thing didn't exist. I remember pleading for our people.

So many missionaries, come and go. The Great Earthquake, political upheaval, so much in between...swinging our babies under the trees in the breeze of the afternoon, talking about the news from town and wondering how long we'd all be able to last with no fuel...with more and more traka, more and more trouble. 

I never would of dreamed then that Julie and I would be sitting around a fire yesterday night with our bundles of giggling children. She left for a bit to marry Bill, but then they were back. They left for babies and brought them back again to grow up with our babies and Lily at the helm.  We begged Bill to help us, role after role, at Emmaus, and never dreamed, again, that they'd still be at Emmaus after we'd gone, or that they'd be leaving Emmaus for good this month and heading here.

The capstone of all the many emotions of 10 days was Ben, saying goodbye yesterday morning to his buddy Jacob.  Three and four, Ben intensely grabbed him and said, "Jakey, we are COMING to Haiti SHOON to see you. We'll play at our Haiti house."

Jacob agreed and off they parted and nobody was correcting anyones sentiments or emotions these past 10 days. 

I never dreamed God had us on a path with the Elders...not the one He had us on, not with a girl from Northern Ireland and some man she met in Indiana from the frozen tundras of Canada.  I never dreamed it would run so long, that path, and even as factual Sam informed each of us, "Girls, I will NEVER see you again, so be ready" I am full-aware that our path with the Elders will never be broken. 

I love that families like theirs are also going out in the world alongside us to live and love and stand like Jesus. We may never live together again, which gets me all kinds of choked up, but we'll never stop working together for the Gospel, and I am misty eyed and THANKFUL sending them off...and grateful for the gift of 10 whole days with our now 11 whole people in the middle of the chaos of their current lives.

They are far more concerned with being used by Him, His way, than they are with getting what they want from this life, and they will always be our family.

Thank you for letting me remember and letting me process, always.