thankfulness [lately]

this is my familias... circa fall 2010. so a few of us have changed a little since then :) lately i have been so incredibly thankful for these 5 people. they are absolutely beautiful inside and out. they all love Jesus which i realize doesn't happen too often in most families. the remind me to be thankful for game nights playing nerts until all hours of the morning, for beautiful haitian children that light up your world, & for time well spent together over coffee & gran's rusks. they remind me to not take myself to seriously, to laugh often, to love others well, & to make the most of every moment. they remind me that God is good, that He is in control, & that He loves me unconditionally... even when i don't deserve it in the least.

my parents are such a sweet picture of what a God-centered marriage looks like. they love the Lord & love each other so well. it has been a BLESSING to watch them fall more in love with God and each other as each year passes
my "little" brother, andrew, has turned out to be an incredible man of God. he has such a big heart for other people. so thankful for the man he is becoming... which is so wierd (but awesome at the same time) to see him grow up!

elaine is beautiful inside and out. she has a heart (and head) of gold :) i cannot even believe she is almost done with high school!!! her love for other people is absolutely contagious.

chrissy (aka my little twin) is growing into a beautiful little lady who loves Jesus and wants to be close to Him. she is beautifully strong. i love seeing her little personality continue to develop and grow! who knew that when i prayed & begged God for a little sister after andrew that He would give me TWO?!

in conclusion, i am blessed beyond belief with my family. this week i am reminded just how thankful i am for them and how often i forget to thank the Lord for His beautiful blessing. the end.

haiti through a camera

day one: travel

getting from the airport to the bus was crazy. the picture on the left shows the amount of people around there... but then we tried to get out of the parking lot. lets just say, i would never want to drive in haiti... ever. the picture on the right is of the "tap tap" trucks that were everywhere... they are the haitian taxis/buses depending on how many people you see riding in hanging off of these things.



this is mission of hope and many beautiful breath-taking views around it. mission of hope is located right outside of a village called titanyen. on their campus is a school, church, orphanage, places for teams to stay, a clinic, haiti one distribution center, and 3 cords. BUT this is just some of what they are involved with in haiti... they partner with villages/churches/people all around them in order to accomplish their mission: to bring life transformation to every child, woman, and man in haiti.

 

day 2: simonette

in my first haiti post i mentioned the story of the little boy in green with no pants... one word: precious. these people are just stunning. the joy they have in playing little sally walker, their sweet voices singing "papa abraham", and their sweet laughter that filled the air that afternoon.

 

day 3: leveque

 

 

ugh so many pictures and so many stories... leveque is a beautiful village in which mission of hope is building 500 homes (200 left... insert amazement here). they are for the families of leveque who are living in tents/temporary housing. we played soccer, got our hairs did, met buckwheat from the little rascals (see 8th picture), watched little boys ride donkeys like pros, played with pant-less kiddos, and even met this little 5-month bundle of joy, Ruth. special story about Ruth: when my brother and his girlfriend, Tiffany, interned this summer with mission of hope, Tiff built a relationship with Ruth's mom. When Ruth was born in June, her mom asked Tiff to name her new little girl. Ruth (pronounced "Root" in haiit), is now 5 months old, healthy, beautiful, and growing.

day 4: church & hanging with the mission of hope orphans

unfortunately the ONLY picture i have from Sunday is this sweet little bunch from one of my little sisters, Elaine. that morning we sang worship with brothers and sisters in haitian creole. they sang some of my all time fav worship songs, so it was an unreal experience to sing in english alongside creole. that afternoon we made bracelets, tissue paper flowers, clothes pin dolls, played basketball, soccer, & got to know some of the beautiful mission of hope orphans. the little one above is Pierre... see the first haiti post for his story :)

day 5: 3 cords & beach

all trips that come to mission of hope are taken to the beach on the last day/afternoon of the trip. their reasoning behind this is to see the beauty of haiti and not just the craziness. it is the most beautiful place i have ever been to. the pictures that we brought back don't even add up to the beauty in the pictures in my head...

pictures while driving around

these are just some of the moments that i tried to capture as we drove. i am still processing everything i saw, the people i met, and what the Lord is teaching me in all of this. the one thing i keep coming back to is that God is sovereign and He is present. i've learned that God doesn't do things the way i think He should... and if He did the world would be one messed up place :) He loves these people. He died for them. He has a plan for them. He is with them. i can only do a little to help these people for a short time, but He can completely transform their lives. 

lessons learned

my family and I just got back from the beautiful Haiti. we partnered with mission of hope just outside titanyen, haiti. my whole family had been here before and fallen in love with these people. I finally got to see the people and place that stole and family's hearts. it is absolutely amazing. the people, the colors, the textures... there is no way I can relay in words all of what went on in my heart this week BUT I am going to try. unfortunately (or I guess fortunately for y'all) I can't fit this all in one post. so I will try to get all the words and photos into 2 for this week :) this first post is all about lessons learned along the way of this Haitian journey and in the second post I will do my best to recount all that we got to do and see in Haiti....

let's do this

lesson 1: always always ALWAYS remember to pack your passport when going on any trip out of the country.  so I had to learn this lesson the hard-ish way (could have been worse, but def not ideal). after work last wednesday night, I left bentonville, ar for dallas, tx. we were to meet at the dfw airport at 5:45 am the next morning. the plan was to get home around 9:30pm wednesday, shower, finalize what I had packed and get some sleep before leaving for the airport. about an hour and a half from home my dad called and asked if I had my passport. it then dawned on me... SURE NOT! so turned around to bville and was able to make it back just in time to meet the team at the airport thursday morning.... yes it took me 14.5 hours to drive from bentonville to dallas... #fail

lesson 2: little boys with no pants, big crocodile tears, and smiles as big as texas not only steal my heart but also teach me so much about the way God loves us. the very first afternoon spent in Haiti we went to Simonette, a sweet town full of beautiful people. we played with some of the village children in a local school. this little boy got kicked in the face when he ran under the monday bars to retrieve the football. he immediately cried, got so angry, and began smacking the kid that accidently hit him. I grabbed him up and held him. he quickly melted into my arms and cried hard. after wiping his tears, we joined the rest of the group laughing and dancing while singing "papa abraham". this just reminded me of all the times I get hurt when I make stupid decisions against what God's will is for me. I get so mad and start hitting and lashing out, but the Lord grabs me, holds me, and doesn't let me go until I melt into His embrace and He wipes my tears away. this sweet little boy (who never would tell me his name) taught me a lesson that grabs my sole each time I think of him.

lesson 3: I can't fix everything. while actually admitting this goes against everything in me, this little girl with big brown eyes, a sweet embrace, and joy for life reinforced this lesson for me. this little sweet heart from Leveque had sores/scabs all over her little arms and legs. while we were all sitting and listening to the story, she was getting irritated and frustrated with the bugs crawling in her sores. watching this little girl try to get the bugs out completely broke my heart. she was so precious and I couldn't stand watching her be in pain and uncomfortable. everything in me wanted to take her home, give her a bath, feed her some good food, and shower her with love. BUT I couldn't. I had to just hug her neck and tell her that Jesus loves her. it was right then that the Lord just whispered that He also loved this little one and that He wanted her to know His love as well. He reminded me that He loves her more than I do. That He would take care of this little one just like He has taken care of the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields. I looked around and saw all the little children around me... and I realized I cannot fix every little thing that these children need, but I do know the One who can.

lesson 4: never, I mean NEVER sing "Jesus loves me" to this little joy unless you are prepared to bawl your eyes out in happiness. this is Pierre. this little bundle of pure joy has cerebral palsy. you can't tell from these pictures, but his little eyes have a hard time focusing. the other thing you can't tell from these pictures is his mind is so sharp. Pierre lives in the mission of hope orphanage for now, at least until the family who is adopting him gets the ok from the government. Pierre is so smart. he knows the words to the song "Jesus loves me", and when you sing it to him, he sings with you. no one warned me of this. no one said, wait... he will pull at your heart strings and make you bawl out of sheer joy. are we kidding? oh my word... this little one laughs and sings and smiles with everything he has. sweet, sweet little Pierre is such an amazing reminder of having joy in any and every circumstance. ugh amazing...

lesson 5: don't lose a farkle game when playing with watermark peeps. this is just one of the many priceless moments that happened on the watermark family haiti trip because of farkles. the airport christmas carolers, the enthusiastic close-talker, the lone little sally walker, eating off of other people's plates... and oh so many others. one of my many favorite things of being around watermark :) leave your fears of making a fool of yourself behind!



stay tuned for more haiti happenings and pictures later this week :) happy thanksgiving!!!

one week people

1. in exactly ONE WEEK I'll be on a plane headed for Haiti with my familias! It's crazy how time flies. I feel like it was just yesterday that we decided to go on this trip and now it's HERE!! so much to do between now and then and time is obviously limited... so ready to be on that plane :)

2. there is a new person in my family's life brought to us through my brother. her name is tiffany, and she is so fun sassy great! she came to visit andrew this past weekend in arkansas. we went thrifting, had stare-downs with art, explored crystal bridges, and stuffed our faces at chili's... overall I'd say it was a pretty successful weekend. excited to get to know her heart better :)

 

3. I've been planning our new spring break Dallas trip for SB'13. budgeting, check. vans, check. lodging, check. parent meeting, almost check. sign ups, not check. you never know how much planning goes into a trip until you actually plan it. (insert craziness overload here)

 

4. this is one of my favorite times of the year. the holiday season is just so FULL. the colors, the slight chill, the occasional snow fall, the chai teas... ah it makes my heart so happy. even the trees yell out their love for this season!

5. have i mentioned that in 7 DAYS I will be on my way to haiti for the best trip ever?! (heart be still)



craziness lately

there are so so many things in the past week that can only add up to one word: craziness. I love love LOVE when weeks are like this though because they are full. last weekend my 7th grade cell group had our first (of many to come) sleepover! *sidenote #1: why in the world are they called SLEEPovers when everyone knows NO ONE (especially 7th graders hyped up on sugar) SLEEPS??

Anyways.... we conquered the corn maze, demolished some chick-fil-a nuggets, roasted s'mores, practiced our craftiness, and even squeezed in some aaaaw's during pride & prejudice.

Sunday, my little brother came over for lunch and some quality time. always a highlight of the week! unfortunately, this little cough sickness came over me and knocked me out for a couple days after that. There are always little blessings in disguise though. It was a blessing that I was able to get rest (and by rest I mean I slept all but 3 hours on Monday... what?!). It was a blessing that in those three hours that I was awake I had time/energy to do one thing... read. I had started a great book called girl soldier  the week before, but got to finish it Monday. It's about the LRA's child soldiers in Uganda. The beautiful story of a little girl, exposed to terror, forced to do unthinkable things, how the Lord rescued her, and her beautiful, God-given hope now. Reminds me to be thankful for ALL of the blessings I have and to be a voice for the voiceless.

 

Are you ready for this??? 2 WEEKS until Haiti!!!! to say I'm excited would be an understatement... I'm so PUMPED! 1. I get to serve with my family in such a different, cool way, 2. I get to see the place the rest of my family has fallen in love with, and 3. to squeeze some little necks and tell them that Jesus loves them!

*sidenote #2: I am convicted all too often even in my own writing of this that I don't have to wait until Haiti to love other people. I can do that right where I am, in Bentonville, AR! In fact, that's what the Lord has called me to! I should be this completely excited everyday that I get to tell people about God's greatness, His sweet mercy, and His crazy LOVE for them! hello, ally, WAKE UP!!!

21 days

the past week has been... eventful... to say the least. hanging out with the name twinners this past weekend was so needed refreshing! we rented chickie flicks, stuffed our faces with crepes @ the bville farmer's market, & went hiking in lost valley... we even did the bville thing and went to crystal bridges (insert trendy/artsy feeling here)

 

to cap it all off allison came to work/church with me... and we had a bomb threat. say what?! yes, that is correct... a bomb threat. nothing happened and it ended up being not a credible threat, but still... craziness! then we came back to my apartment only to find this...

you might be wondering... what is this? i'll tell you what it is, my water heater flooded my apartment!!! yes, flooded. like noah and the ark. ok maybe not that serious, but it seemed that serious when it happened :)

 

i was so blessed to be able to stay with my arkansas family, Maura's parentals, while my sweet little old apartment maintenance man fixed everything. i now have a new water heater AND professionally cleaned carpet (insert 2 fist pumps here).

 

we also had team day yesterday. the student ministries team spent the day together hanging out, playing games, leadership training, and talking about our team values. one of the best parts of the day is summed up in this next picture...

we (everyone but simon and garland) decided to have a little fun with the 2 crazies. the plan was simple but great: finley told everyone that i was in charge of the devo that morning. i then had to convince them that i was COMPLETELY SERIOUS about our team bonding and unifying through the ancient practice of yoga. we all died laughing because they totally went for it :) apparently i have a pretty good poker face? #whoknew

in other news... i am 21 DAYS away from going to Haiti and working with Mission of Hope for a week. insert excitement/panic-mode here. #bringiton



 



#blessed

one of my sweet, sweet heart friends got MARRIED this past weekend! it has been such a blessing to watch maura & mark date and now be married. they definitely have made God the center of their relationship.

it was a beautiful, DIY wedding that completely reflected maura's creativity. she, of course, was STUNNING! the picture above is of their first kiss a couple... ever!

 

one of the sweet blessings that went a long with the wedding is that my family was all in town to celebrate mark & maura. one of my favorite parts of the wedding was dancing at the reception with my brother, his girlfriend, & my two sisters. we had a BLAST!

NOT ONLY THAT but... two of my other heart friends came in town! shana boyd and julie hall!

 

shana and i hung out sunday afternoon. we talked for hours, stuffed our faces with hog haus burgers, white queso, sweet tater fries, & pumpkin froyo, and finally went to find our names on the arkansas graduate walk.

 

i get to spend this weekend with yet another sweet heart friend, miss allison berry. we have been friends since 6th grade... it all started when we decided to run for class pres & vp together as al(l)ison squared. yes she is my name twin, but other than that we could not look or be any different! allison and i have laughed until our sides hurt, cried on each other's shoulders, gotten on each other's nerves, loved each other, and been sisters for YEARS now. i am so thankful and blessed.

 

days until haiti = 29

days until turkey trot 8 miler = 36