Sometimes God Changes our Direction.....

One of my favorite prayers comes to mind as we begin an exciting new journey.....

God grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change; 

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 

Enjoying one moment at a time; 

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it; 

Trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life 

and supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

I've mentioned some changes here in Haiti and want to share what we can about this process. Sometimes God calls us one direction and then our paths either change entirely or they simply change sooner then we expected.  Sometimes (at least for me), the path is not always as clear as I would like it to be. There are various roads in front of us, but we are not always sure which road to go down. Over this past year, we have really prayed for the Lord to make the path clear to us. I want to be honest and say that although we have seen AMAZING growth and the work of the Lord in Haiti this past year, last year was a really tough year for our family. We were forced to evaluate what the best interest of our entire family unit would be. We are a large group and really need to serve in a capacity that incorporates our entire family and does not take me out of the role of primary parent to our kids. In private practice back in the states, I could pretty much set my own schedule around raising such a large family. On the mission field, not so much so.....

Our family was called to Haiti, so we packed up, hopped a plane, and moved with no plans of return. It happened in a whirlwind. We had been involved heavily in short term missions internationally and local ministries in the USA for over 20 years. We had been praying about long-term missions for many, many years. And then one day the Lord pretty much immediately said, "Go now". The Lord changed plans of a three month trip, to a one year trip, to currently an indefinite move and new life in Haiti.

We served under Mountain Top Ministries this past year and have been blessed by that experience. I have been in pretty much a full time volunteer position as the medical clinic administrator; Ron has been helping out with maintenance/repairs as well as assisting with building projects; and David has been teaching English and computers at MTM's school in Gramothe. We are thankful for what the Lord has done (and will continue to do) through Mountain Top Ministries. We pray blessings upon the organization and the individuals working tirelessly to advance the Kingdom of God.

Sometimes though, God changes our path in unexpected ways. We (as a family) had planned to stay with Mountain Top through this next year, but God had a different plan. A few days after we returned to Haiti this August, God made it abundantly clear that our path had changed. It was mutually agreed upon that I would step down from the roll of clinic administrator and my position within Mountain Top Ministries. I cannot even tell you how freeing that feeling was! It literally felt like a 200 pound weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Don't get me wrong, I would have carried the 200 pound weight if God had said to keep carrying it. We were really conflicted not knowing if we should set it down or keep carrying it. We are so thankful that God has closed one door and is opening new doors. The living in "not knowing" has been difficult to say the least.

I don't want to go into too many details other then to say that God fast-tracked His plans for our type of service here in Haiti. I have been (attempting) to finish my doctoral dissertation, but that whole process was pretty much put on the back burner this past year. For those that know the PhD process: I lost my chair and had to get another one (the head of my committee to approve my research study in Haiti); I was on the verge of being kicked out of school and had to appeal that process (and I'm a 4.0 student, so this is not common for me); I had to replace my second committee member (her role in the University changed); and I am now having to look at changing the direction of my research (which has been a 5+ year process).

I have a background predominantly in mental health, orphan advocacy, and adoption. My experience and passion is in working with kids with trauma histories. That's probably not a big surprise looking at our family unit. Seven of our children joined our family after their previous international adoption placements did not work out. Many of these situations were related to the fact that loving Christian families simply did not have the tools or training to incorporate a child with a significant trauma history into their family unit. The families loved the children, but they had no idea of the significant challenges that followed. We see the same thing with ministries and orphanages that have been called by the Lord to serve the orphan population, but do not have the tools or resources needed to help the children heal.

As the medical clinic administrator, I would certainly see kids with trauma, but I was really not in the position to do much about that trauma. My role was heavily administrative. Plus, a medical clinic in general is just not set up to handle the kind of trauma that I am trained to work in.

My passion is in the spiritual and mental health needs of the population. Yes, medical care is a big piece of that process, but God has made it clear that it is not my portion to carry. This is a hard element for me to understand. It is difficult for me to set down something (release it) when the need is still there (in my mind), but God assures us that He is in control and will meet every need according to His will and His timing. We as humans may see a need, but God may be asking us to simply let go and trust in Him.

David is still called to teach and serve in Gramothe at the school. He will continue to serve with Mountain Top Ministries at the school and with the youth group through this school year. For the fall of 2015, David feels the Lord calling him to serve full time in China or possibly Taiwan.  It's exciting to see the road ahead for David as well. Ron is happy to still assist with building needs, but really feels called to job training skills and chickens (more on that in the future)....and the Lord is opening new doors for me through education, orphan advocacy, and trauma/mental health services. It is an exciting time!

We are still here and we are still serving the needs of the people in Haiti. I just had a medical team serving at MTM that left yesterday. It was an incredible week! We still feel the Lord calling us to bring in short-term mission teams (both to here and Guatemala, as well as Ecuador in the future), so we will continue to serve in that way. Spiritual and mental health needs do align with medical care, but my time commitment in the medical needs of the population needs to be balanced with our family needs and the calling that the Lord has placed on us. 

The earthquake in Haiti left hundreds of thousands of people further traumatized in already traumatic circumstances. We have never doubted that the Lord has called us to serve on the mission field in Haiti. It has simply been uncovered that the way we serve may be slightly different then we originally anticipated. There is a need for mobile medical teams to serve in surrounding village areas throughout the country. There is a need for helping ministries work more effectively with the population they serve by implementing trauma training throughout the country. There is a need for training of social workers and psychologists within universities in order to minister to the spiritual and mental health needs of the population more effectively. This will assist in the implementation of sustainable change throughout the country of Haiti. The need is great and the workers are few! 

Please pray for us as we journey into new territory....

I will be traveling this Saturday to Texas Christian University to attend a week long trauma training for mental health professionals. I was blessed to receive a full scholarship for this three month on-line training which wraps up in a one-week intensive in Dallas. I was "in school" over the summer even though I had taken a leave of absence from my PhD process. I will also be stopping through South Carolina to visit with a ministry that does amazing work internationally, training ministries in how to work with children of trauma. It was simply a God thing that we connected over the summer. I love to see how the Lord links people together for His purpose and His calling.  

I will also be attending (and helping out) at the Caribbean Psychological Association conference in Suriname in November. This conference promotes mental health services throughout the Caribbean (and in Haiti specifically). As you can imagine, mental health services are essentially non-existent on the island.

Due to the change in my role at the medical clinic, our funds are no longer being filtered through Mountain Top Ministries and can be donated through The Chance to Dream. For tax deductible contributions to our family as well as and projects here in Haiti (http://www.thechancetodream.com/#!donate). You can also click on the donate now link on our blog, which filters through Adoption and Family Counseling Services (keep in mind, those donations are not tax deductible, but do go directly to us without administration costs). I assist in counseling and mental health services here in Haiti, so any assistance is greatly appreciated! 

We are praying about possibly using a missionary service agency predominantely to handle our funds and non-profit status. We have submitted information to a couple of different ministries and both are saying they would love to work with us. We are praying for clarity though regarding the direction. We pray continually to be good stewards of resources. Most organizations implement a 10-20% administrative fee to cover overhead. Maybe the Lord will call us in that direction, but we do not have clarity to move in that direction at this time. We're praying about that! Currently, The Chance to Dream is filtering our funds without any administration fees, but they are really not staffed to take on this task long-term. Prayers are greatly appreciated! 

I know the the LORD will maintain 

the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor. 

Psalms 140:12