Saturday, June 28, 2014

Jennie's First Trip to Haiti

You read that right I am going to Haiti! I am privileged to have the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Port-au-Prince with an amazing organization – Heartline Ministries - Haiti. I will be going from July 27th to August 2nd and I could not be more excited. My heart for Haiti grows daily as we await the progress of our adoption and I know the opportunity to go and love on the people their and experience this new world will be life changing for me and prayerfully for the people of Haiti as well.
The ultimate goal of this trip will be to help develop long-term relationships with those we serve in order to see the Gospel advanced in Haiti. This team will consist of women only (5 from the church I attend and 17 from across the USA). One of the primary ways we will be serving is through the Women’s Program in which there are 150 Haitian women enrolled in one of several educational programs – sewing, cooking, beading, and literacy. We will be serving in various capacities depending on the current needs: there may be a large scale project such as moving into a new facility or helping to build the new Maternity Center or we will be busy doing smaller projects. We will also be serving food that some of us packed through Feed The Hunger ministry and even providing shoes and washing feet through Samaritans Feet ministry. Primarily they asked that if we wanted to go we simply needed to have a flexible attitude and a heart for loving the women of this program and the people of Haiti through the gospel!
I am writing to ask for your prayers as we prepare to embark on this adventure and to pray for me (us) as we go. Pray that the Holy Spirit would already begin working in the hearts of the people that we will encounter, allowing them to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that they may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-21). Pray that God would prepare all of us for what He will do during our trip. Your prayers are greatly needed before, during and after so thank you! 
Thank you for sharing in this journey with me, with our family and with the people of Haiti.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The Journey Continues...

They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step....

Well, I am not sure what step we are on but I can at least confirm we are stepping!

We THOUGHT our documents were headed to Haiti back in April; alas, we were mistaken. A couple forms later and we are back in business... such is the story of an international adoption.

Our Dossier was mailed to Haiti on 5-27-2014. 9 Months from our acceptance into the program and our official beginning date. In some ways, it felt almost like a pregnancy (well at least one of mine)! So much work and waiting and work and waiting...

It is now there... in HAITI......HAITI, yes folks that's right its finally not in the US. WOO HOO!

We have probably another 6 weeks or so... before we are officially waiting but you know,  it's totally OK. We have full confidence in HIS timing.

So again we wait and pray. We create memories. We talk about her as a family. Mia Grace and Anna Beth love to ask about "our new baby sister".  Its precious, we cherish it and we get our hearts ready to be "The Fisher Five".

I read a quote recently from an adoptive Mama and it melted my heart... what a powerful reminder it is for the journey we are on. I don't know who our princess is yet, she doesn't know me, but I sure know I am already her Mama in my heart, even as she was birthed out of another heart. What a gift her mother is giving us. What a gift we pray she sees in us, even if she never "sees" us.

"A child born to another woman calls me Mama. The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me." - Jody Landers

And so we journey on....
Step by step...
Prayer by prayer...

Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen"

(photo credit: google search result)