I know that I have missed a few days of blogging.  Monday I spent the entire day flying home, and Tuesday and Wednesday I was trying to catch up here at home while I fought fatigue and a fever.  I am fine now and back to work.

     Haiti is a very perplexing place.  For every tragic terrible thing you might see there is an equally wonderful, unbelievable thing to see.  If you were to return from Haiti with only pictures of starving children you would only have a selected piece to the story.

     That is how this trip seemed for me.  As much as I came home feeling motivated to do more and that our families needed us more than ever, I also came home with a peace that passes all understanding.  A sense I have never had before that we are truly making a difference.

     For those who know Homebound Missions personally, you know that we are a very small, all volunteer organization.  Our growth has been slow but sure and I have never felt that we do great things in Haiti, but rather small things.  This trip I was able to see how those small things can add up to changed lives.

     My daughter, Magnalie was adopted from Haiti.  From the very beginning of our adoption process, my husband and I, made a committment to her birth family. We saw it this way:  Magnalie's ultimate well being depended on the well being of her family.  She was 13 years old when we finally got her home and she was too old to pretend she didn't have a birth family. 

     Magnalie's mom joined our WORK Haiti program and started to earn money to support her two children still in Haiti and herself, while HM assisted with school tuitions, medical expenses and such.

     When we first met Magnalie's mom, Mimose, she lived in a house shared by many families.  All she owned was a small pull out bed in front of an open doorway, with no door.  She slept there while her two children slept at other places.  This is where she lived when she contracted TB the first time.  Through the years, Mimose has been trying to better herself and her families lives.   This trip I was able to visit her new home.  It is nothing in comparison to American standards, but in Haiti standards she has something special.  She has a very small apartment consisting of three very small rooms. The walls, floor and ceiling are concrete.  One room serves as her and her daughter Rebeccas bedroom.  She even had a very pretty headboard.  The next room is the kitchen and Juniors bed.  There was a table and chairs, a small cabinet that she placed her dishes on, and Jr's bed to the side.  The last room is where she kept her stove, a small charcoal burning cooker and what appeared to be a fridge.

     Mimose's life has been changed.  Once sleeping in front of an open door, she now has a safe place where her family can sleep together in safety.  She even has a door that she can lock.

     I couldn't wait to come home and tell my daughter about her mom's new apartment.  I could see a sparkle of joy in her eyes as I told her that her mom, sister, and brother are doing good.

     There is a very popular story about a boy and some starfish.  The little boy is mocked by someone who sees him trying to save the starfish by throwing them back into the ocean. The boy responds by throwing another starfish back into the water and saying, "I saved that one."   That is how I feel about Mimose and her family.  I have come home with a snese that what we are doing really does matter and it really will make a difference, maybe not to thousands or even hundreds, but one family at a time, a quality, life changing difference, one family at a time.

Luke 18:27

But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."