A week in Haiti!

Words fail me. The experiences in Haiti were humbling, and I’m having trouble finding expression for them. Let me start by saying what an amazing organization Healing Haiti is. Only 15 years old, God’s favor certainly rests on it. Unlike past many mission trips, we did not take anything down for the people there. “You can’t compete with free.” Our leader told us. “Our goal is to create jobs and empower families.” They are doing just that in a phenomenal way. Fleri, their bread business, has rapidly increased in production, now employing nearly 300 Haitians. Many of their customers are wholesalers, who go on to earn their own money from reselling the bread. All of their families, with multiple hundreds of children, benefit. Soon Fleri will purchase more ovens, without any outside help from the US. Truly God has blessed and multiplied this bakery, whose name means “flourish” in Creole. Healing Haiti works primarily in 3 locations: Cite Solei, Port au Prince, and Titianyen. In these places, schools, medical clinics, and churches have been established. They’re staffed by Haitians who are trained and devoted to the improvement of the community. I was impressed that they have nearly 900 children enrolled in school. Some have graduated from Grace Academy and are attending medical school, business school, and other professions- with an eye and a heart to help their people in the future. We ministered to elders in the elder care program, by massaging their feet and bodies with lotion. Rubbing a person’s tough, leathery skin was precious, as I thought of all the places she had walked in those feet during her lifetime. When we sang with them, how their faces lit up with joy! There’s so much more I could tell. Like holding babies at Mother Theresa’s Sisters’ home. And helping slave children carry water in Cite Solei. I really hope you’ll go to the website www.healinghaiti.org to see more pictures, getting a taste of what we saw and did. Personally I was humbled to serve alongside such a remarkable staff. God convicted me of selfishness and challenged me to do more for His kingdom. I intend to obey. After seeing the Haitians serve with such abandon, how could I not? Praise: A wonderful team, all 15 of us connected quickly and beautifully. Safety, health, and effective serving. God spoke to everyone on the team! Prayer Requests: Revival in the communities of Cite Solei, Titanyen, and Port au Prince. Continued flourishing in Fleri, Grace Village, and Hope Academy For the government of Haiti to have more integrity and less corruption.

An Antidote to Entitlement in Kids...

I haven't written a blog in a while because I was busy getting my new book out. "Why is the Driveway on Fire? Parenting Your Teens and Tweens" is a compilation of 15 blogs on the subject of parenting that I've written over that years. It's available in e-book and in paperback from Amazon. Today I want to highlight an article from NPR on parenting that I thought was very interesting. It looks at other cultures and how they teach their kids to help/do chores. Very good! I'll put the link here, and you can go to it. It caught my eye because of the catchy title: "Are We Raising Unhelpful, Bossy Kids? Here's the Fix." That's one of the antidotes to entitlement-itis: doing chores. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/05/974069925/are-we-raising-unhelpful-bossy-kids-heres-the-fix We Americans can learn a lot from other cultures, so let's humble ourselves and do it!