days like these

Today...  I have to say that today was exceedingly unique.  I'm not easily surprised.  It seems that I expect certain things, and they happen.  Nothing is ever so different that I'm caught off guard.
One of the things that I have loved this summer is how full it has been of surprises.
So this is a missions internship, and I am a missions major, so I am fully equipped, right?  Well, I would say that there are a million situations that could have come up this summer that would have satisfied exactly what I already know how to do and what I have already learned.  There are a million contingencies I would have already known how to deal with.  Yet, the challenges of this summer have been different.  Most of the struggles have occurred outside the realm of what I expected and what I was prepared for.
And I really love that.  I love the adventure that is figuring out something that is completely new.  It's frustrating at times, especially when I feel like there is no right answer that I can get my hands on.
All that to say, today was really odd for me.
First, I received the best gift I have ever gotten.  Lovingtsky (whom I blogged about a few blogs ago) grabbed my hand right after I got out of the car at Tree of Life.  That in itself is not unusual, but he clearly wanted to show me something.  All I could make out was "me...you... house."  You know, my Kreyol isn't too great, but Lovingtsky also doesn't enunciate well because of his hearing problem.  He led me to his room and motioned for me to close my eyes.  I did, and he brought me into his room.  When he told me to open my eyes, he was holding a little house made out of cardboard.  (I will try to remember to post a picture one of these days.)  It has many sweet words on it like "I love you a lot a lot Shelby" in both languages.  Clearly, a lot of hard work was put into it, and he was so excited to give it to me.  I don't even know how to explain what that moment meant for me.  It was beautiful.  It was also a good reminder that the love that I have given away this summer has not been a waste.  My prayer is that he will always know that I love him because of God's love for all of us.
By the way, I don't think it was super easy for him to find those random scraps of cardboard... Just saying.  =]

That's not all, either.  If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that we've been through a lot trying to find a home for these kids (three remain with Martine at Tree of Life).  Today, we dropped Dudeline and Dudevaline (twins) at Heart for Haiti.  It's this beautiful orphanage run by a great missionary from Holland (Papi Johan) who has lived here for 30 years.  My favorite thing is the family style living.  For every 14 kids, there is a dining room and two "aunties" who take care of them.  This place is so nice that it even has a POOL!  That's insane, you know.  It's probably the only orphanage in Haiti that has a pool.  Just saying.
The whole process was surreal.  I barely had any idea what was going on, but I did know that I could hold Dudevaline's hand and pray that she will transition well.  They were definitely happy to be finding a new home, but they were a little apprehensive after arriving.  They were shy, not that I blame them.  I can't imagine what it's like to just be taken to a new home with all new people just like that.  Without so much as a visit beforehand.  Papi Johan's wife (a Haitian woman who is basically in charge of the kids) was so wonderfully welcoming.  I understood her telling the girls that all these other girls are their new friends and that everyone will be nice to them and no one will be mean.  It wasn't hard to leave them there, but it was just really weird.  The only thing I can do is completely trust God.  I wish I could just raise them myself.  It would be so much easier to feel like I have any say in what happens, but I don't.  I am very thankful that we are going to be visiting them every Friday until I go back to America.  I just hope that we can make all this change just a little bit easier on the twins.  I love them so much.  When I was standing there, holding the twins' backpacks and their birth certificates, I couldn't believe that such a huge decision could be made so easily.

Anyway, please pray that my girls would be able to flourish in their new home.  www.hartvoorhaiti.com

And you can pray for me, too, because I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what the future might hold.  I've got a lot of ideas....

Love Shelbs!