As I sat down to write, this song came on in the background and struck a deeper chord than usual. It's by Plumb and is called "Lord I'm Ready Now"...
Lord I'm ready now
All the walls are down
Time is running out
And I want to make this count
I ran away from you
I did what I wanted to
But I don't want to let you down
Lord I'm ready now
Today we split into two groups and visited Home for Sick & Dying Babies and Dare's Orphanage. I led the group that wanted to visit Home for Sick & Dying Babies and we spent a few hours there. We arrived in time to help with breakfast, and spent the remaining time holding, playing with, and loving on the children there. Many of these children have illness of varying degrees and are there to get well. Some have parents who visit daily and others do not. All want some form of loving interaction, whether it be sitting on a lap, playing with a toy, or just holding hands. I was blessed to hold and play with two little boys initially, and was later given a little girl to hold and love on. The Sister shared with me that she is very, very sick, and has no one visiting - all she gets is to lay in her crib all day - so I should hold her and encourage her. She was awake but not very alert, so we had little interaction - but I held her close and talked and sang to her. Later I asked Deb to pray over her and then it was time to go. Heartbreaking but very blessed to be able to just love on that little beauty.
Haley led the rest of the group to Dare's Orphanage, and through pictures we saw that they had an absolute blast. Dare's is a special needs orphanage with about 15 boys and girls of differing ages and abilities. They sang, played music, played with Legos and other toys, and shared lots of laughter and love.
We had a midday break, then went to the ApParent Project (www.apparentproject.org) for a tour and some shopping. Their mission is to provide jobs and prevent kids from being orphaned. Their organization is still quite young overall, and is absolutely exploding. Awesome people with great vision and passion. Check out their website!
Tomorrow we will visit Grace Village and the new bakery. We will also have an opportunity to visit three elders in the area, who are cared for through Healing Haiti's sponsorship program. It is such a privilege to spend time with these amazing men and women! Stay tuned :)
Love,
Jaime
