beautiful stranger

I was at the US Embassy a couple of weeks ago. If you've ever been there, then you know you are never there for a short amount of time. There is always plenty of waiting. Sometimes it's annoying and frustrating. You've got other places to go, things to do. But, sometimes I like waiting (yeah, feel free to remind me that next time I have to go there). I love observing people. "People watching", if you will. The airport is of course one of the most interesting, entertaining places to do this. But, I'm telling you, the US Embassy in Haiti is up there on the list, too. On this most recent trip there, I often found myself staring at this one particular Haitian lady and her daughter (a casual stare, mind you. not one of the 'keep-staring-even-after-they-notice-you-are-staring' stares). This woman was absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous. You could put her on the cover of a magazine. Her daughter, probably around 8, was just as beautiful. I find myself often enthralled by the beauty of a Haitian woman. At the Embassy, everyone is dressed in their best. It might not always match. Sometimes it's see-through. It doesn't fit right. But, it's likely their only "nice" outfit. The same one they wear to church every Sunday. (I don't think it matters what you look like/dress like going to church. However, we've seemed to push our Westernized thinking on to the Haitians- you have to dress nice to go to church. Often times, a Haitian will say they can't go to church because they don't have anything good enough to wear.) They aren't necessarily dressed super fancy. But, they put on the best that they have. Do their hair up nice. Pour on the perfume/cologne. And they seem to walk a little straighter, their head held a little higher. Just the same, you wonder what their life is really like. When they take off the nice clothes, go back home... what is life like for them? Another place where I often ask this questions is at the Women's Program. On Tuesdays, women come in with their child under a year old for a Child Development class. On Thursdays, it's Pre-natals. Some of the women look tired. Is this the only place they get to sit down, rest, and not be working? Some women crack jokes. Some listen carefully, to this basic information they've never heard before. Some fall asleep. I love to see them smile. They have beautiful smiles.

It's so easy to just walk right by people. But these are people. God's beautiful creations (have over-used the word "beautiful" in this post yet?). We all have our own story. And each story matters. I thought of a song by Rebecca St. James, here a some of the lyrics: "Do you see me?
The question’s in her eyes, Do you relate to the pain I can’t disguise? Oh, look beyond what you see, The outside is not all there is....God, I hear You calling out to me, In the voices of the least of these, Calling me to reach beyond my world, To the beautiful stranger, Beautiful Stranger...". These people that we see, do we take the time to actually see them? To get to know them? Which brings me to another song, and then I'm done. It's "Take a Little Time" by Jeremy Camp. You should be able to listen to it, and the lyrics are below. (sorry, i tried w/ no success to upload just the music. had to do a youtube video instead.)

"Take A Little Time"

I picture all the things that I have seen,
All the broken hearts and tainted memories,
All I see are, all these needs.
I'm tired of my selfish tragedies.
It's time that we show,
The hope that we all know.

And, take just a little time,
To give your hand,
See the world,
And take just a little time and try to understand,
That there's more going on,
Than what these eyes can see.

I came across this torn down empty street.
How helpless that I felt,
A burning urgency,
And all I see in front of me,
Are all the faces fading from this vacant scene.
It's time that we show,
The hope that we all know.

And take just a little time,
To give your hand,
See the world,
And take just a little time and try to understand,
That there's more going on,
Than what these eyes can see.

I know it all seems complicated,
There's nothing more that could be stated,
Now, is the time to kneel,
Reaching out to what is real,
So many times I've hesitated,
How much I feel my heart is aching, now.
Ohh, now.

And take just a little time,
To give your hand.
Take just a little time,
To give your hand,
See the world,
And take just a little time and try to understand,
That there's more going on,
Than what these eyes can see.

let's talk about eyebrows.

This is a random post. about eyebrows. 

i just think it's kinda funny. how much time, energy and even money we put into them. our eyebrows. you can pluck them. wax them. hair removal. laser. shave them. or even do "eyebrow threading" to shape them. the options are endless (okay, probably not endless- those 6 are the only options i can think of). 

and isn't it just silly? i don't much care about my eyebrows, but i waste time and money on other things just as petty.  no worries, i'm not going to get all preachy here.  my purpose isn't to make everyone feel bad. but just think about it. everyday ppl get told they have HIV. cancer. their life changes as the result of an accident. ppl stave to death. child slaves. orphans. rape.  even more devastating-- people die everyday without knowing who Christ is.

and we worry about the shape of a little bit of hair above our eyes. i'm not telling you to stop plucking. i'm going to keep tweezing. especially if you have a unibrow, i would recommend that you keep plucking or waxing or whatever you gotta do.  i'm just saying we need to remember there are bigger fish to fry. there are bigger issues.  we so easily get caught up in things like eyebrows, hair color, tanning, weight, manicures--- and there is nothing wrong with those things in themselves-- but in the end, they are meaningless. so is it not foolish to obsess and spend chunks of money on things that ultimately do not matter? should we not strive to be more heaven-minded? 

today.

Vivien took lots of pictures today and made this cool slideshow. 

Welcome to a day in the life of Vivien, Megan, 3 Livesay children, Annie & Renald.

day 3

The Livesays headed to the states on Tuesday for Tara's marathon on Sunday, World Wide Village banquet, and visiting w/ family and friends. Vivien and I are in charge of the 5 kids here- Hope, Renald, Phoebe, Lydie, and Annie. But we have help. Geronne, the Livesays housekeeper/does-lots-of-other-stuff-too, is a ginormous help. I love that lady.  There is also a nanny that is here for a few hours in the morning to watch the little ones. 

So far, things have gone pretty smoothly. I'm not a fool. I realize it's only the 3rd day, lots could still happen. And I expect there will at least be a few crazy, chaotic days. But so far, so good. 

Vivien and Hope still have school in the mornings. Hope seems to be doing really well w/ the one-on-one.  Some days, I spend a few hours over at the Women's Building working. Yesterday, the Buxman family arrived in Haiti, so we spent some time over at their house. 

The only interesting thing I have to share so far- I let Renald take a shower with me this morning. He hadn't pooped yet. He did in the shower. Luckily, I had already gotten out and let him stay in to play in the water. I heard a grunt. But it was too late to do anything. Poop started plopping on the shower floor. (nice image, huh?) Paige told me today to always wait until after his morning poop to take off the diaper. Thanks for the tip. 

hum. tried to post some pictures, but they were not uploading.  maybe later.