Perspective.

It's more than just what you can see, it's what you choose to believe.

What do you see??


An old woman or a young girl? You have probably seen this picture before, so you know to look for both. But when you looked at it for the first time, you only saw one or the other. You could see the old woman, while someone standing right next to you sees the young girl. If you got angry and starting yelling at that person "You fool!! It is clearly an old woman! What are you thinking? Either your vision is horrible or you simply have no brain in your head!", you would soon come to realize that you are the fool. You assumed that what you saw from your perspective was the only thing there was to see. We all know that there is more than one way to view this picture, but we usually fail to realize that this is also the case in most everything in life. And who could blame us? How can you not assume that what you see is that only truth? While it is natural to do this, we must work to overcome it, because it will also make a fool of us. This old woman/young girl is a small, small example, but it proves the point. There is always another perspective. Another side to the story. More than meets the eye.

"The underside of a weaving usually makes no sense. Even the upper side makes little sense if we view just a tiny piece. Only God sees the upper side and only He sees the entire fabric in it's complete pattern. Therefore, we must trust Him to work out all the details of history to His glory, knowing that His glory and our good are bound up together." -Jerry Bridges

While the point of this quote is urging us to trust God in all things, because only He sees "the big picture", it also reinforces the fact of how little we know. Most situations in our life provide us with a very limited view. God is the only one who sees all of it; but we need to consider that even another person might be able to offer another perspective.

With all of that said, I'm going to get down and dirty and apply this to Three Angels. This issue has just come up a lot for me lately. It seems to be the root of many recent problems. We see or hear something, and just tend to run with it without considering it might not be as it appears. I am so very guilty of this. So I am not preaching or lecturing to anyone, because it's a lesson I am still learning myself. And maybe that is why I have just so clearly seen it in every problem. We all have our different roles and reason for being a part of Three Angels. Being a waiting adoptive parent certainly puts you in a completely different situation than that of a board member or volunteer. But I pray that we could all trust each other and not let our different perspectives divide us. Sometimes we just have to take a truth that we know and keep reminding ourselves of it when everything seems to contradict it. The board and volunteers work very very hard to give the best that we can to these kids. We strive to run TAs with integrity. If you hear or see something that seems to contradict that, please consider that there might be more to the story or another perspective. I often have to remind myself of this truth- I cannot understand the pain and whatever 5,000 other emotions there are waiting for a child to come home. Without reminding myself of that, it would be easy to jump to false conclusions in some situations.

I am not simply applying this to adoptive parent and board members/volunteers. But, in those two positions, our experiences are so very different, it is easy to fall into the trap of forgetting the other side very likely has a different perspective. However, I think EVERYONE in ALL THINGS need to work on being more sensitive to this. Just because you see the old woman and I see the young girl does not mean we should draw our swords and fight each other thinking what we see is the only truth. I am not saying that there is not an absolute truth (totally different subject), I am simply saying we should consider there might be more than meets the eye before we let ourselves become the fool. Again, I am not preaching to anyone, this is a lesson for myself as much as anyone. I am just a stumbling fool after all....

back in blog land...

sorry i've been a blog slacker...it's hard enough to keep up w/ posting pictures on the TA blog, threeangelsorphanage.blogspot.com...but i'm gonna try to get back into the swing of this!

There are two guests staying at the Orphanage right now, one who has never been to Haiti. so we went out yesterday to see the sights! even if it's stuff i've already seen, it's always good to get out and about every now and then. we actually did some new stuff that i hadn't done before, so i had a really good time. we went by the Palace, which i have seen before, but also stopped at near-by museum. there, we learned about the Indians, why haitians are scared of dogs, the slaves brought over, Christopher Columbus, and the guy Petion-ville was named after. did you know the Santa Maria sunk around Haiti? they have the anchor at the museum. anyway, you can do your own research if you want to learn more!! :) then, we decided we wanted to just see a neighborhood. we could always go up the mountain and see the where the rich ppl live, visit other orphanages, see the forts.....but we wanted to just see Haiti. So Junior, our wonderful guide and driver, took us somewhere he used to go as a kid. we parked the car and walked around a little bit. Although some Haitians might not like their pictures taken, you can be sure a child always will!! we stopped and played (took tons of picture) of some neighborhood kids. they liked to pose for us, and then look at their picture. they were especially fond of the "kung fu" pose. we had a good time! here are some pics of our outing...

random stuff!

these first two pictures are from where we buy our beans. i had a couple other pics, but they won't upload right now. i'll try some other time. there was a muddy creek full of trash, and pigs, chickens, and goats roaming around.





and these two pics are the view from my roof.




and now for the random things:

- we don't have electricity in the mornings, (the only time we have city electricity is at night), but i'm usually willing to do what it takes to have some coffee. so i boil my water. not that difficult, i can handle it. but a few days ago, after i put the water on the stove, i got called away to other things. by the time i got back to my room and remembered about the stove...well, there was just a pot and no water!

-rats and mosquitos love me. don't worry though, unlike the mosquitos, the rats aren't biting me...they just like to hang out.

-i learned something new! as you know, in the american culture, if you slide your hand or a finger across your throat, this symbolizes saying "you're dead meat!". however, while driving, the person i was with made this gesture to someone on the street...and then explained to me that in Haiti it simply means "i don't have anything".

-the kids at the orphanage love the movie "Annie". i think they would totally be okay if we watched it every single day. they sing along with the songs, and even when we haven't watched the movie for several days, it's not uncommon to hear one of the kids singing an "Annie" song through-out the day. but i have come to realize that while the seem to have the songs pretty well memorized, they get a lot of the words wrong. i don't bother correcting them though, it's fun hearing the songs in their broken English with the wrong words! (ah man! now i've got in my head "let's go to the movies Annie...")

-and we finally start school tomorrow! we were originally suppose to start Sept. 8, but the government pushed it back due to all the hurricanes. so we'll see how that goes!
okay, i promise to share more later!

i'm here!

okay, as you probably know, i am in Haiti now! i arrived Friday evening (the 5th). although the days feel long, i can't believe it's almost been a week!

i know most of my blog followers are involved in Three Angels, but for those who have started reading to keep up with my stay in Haiti...let me give you some background.

i am here as a part of Three Angels Children's Relief. i think i've told everyone how i got involved...so i'll skip that and tell you a little bit about Haiti and what i'm doing here.

first, please continue to pray for Haiti. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere...and all the hurricane's that have recently hit have made things even more difficult. here's an article i found from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/10/2360479.htm:
------------------------------------------------------------

Haiti hurricane death toll tops 100

Posted Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:00am AEST

More than 100 bodies have been found since Monday in Gonaives, the Haitian city hardest hit by Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike, Vicky Delore-Ndjeuga, a spokesman for the UN Mission in Haiti said.

"As the floodwaters recede, we found three more bodies in the city," he said. "The total is now 101 dead," she said.

"If we don't find a way to deliver massive humanitarian aid, we will see fights and riots that will kill more people than the cyclone did," she warned.

Gonaives was flooded when Tropical Storm Hanna lashed the low-lying northern city surrounded by deforested hillsides at the start of September.

Four major storms, two of them hurricanes, have struck Haiti in less than four weeks.

All told more than 600 Haitians have died, and the disaster is still unfolding due to the challenge of delivering aid in the impoverished and waterlogged Caribbean country.

"We estimate that 800,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian aide in Haiti," a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva, adding that almost half of them were children.
-------------------------------------------------------------------



please pray that God would show this country mercy!!

i recently sent out an update email explaining what my days have looked like so far. if you didn't get it and would like to, please email me. (my email address is on my blog profile)


this is how i shower. don't be mislead by the facet handles. only a drip comes out of the facet. i leave it on and the drip keeps the blue tub full...so i'm always good to go for a nice bucket shower!


and this is our lunch. beans and rice!! it's actually pretty good!


okay... that's all for now. i promise i'll keep you more updated!!

Why I'm here.

Do I love it? Yes. Is it easy? No. But, I think that is okay. We've gotten so use to things in life being easy, that when things get hard, we think something is wrong.   

God cannot mold us to who we need to be unless He first breaks us. He disciplines because He loves. God never said He would command only what was easy for us to fulfill, but that He would be with us. He never said we wouldn’t walk through fire, but that it wouldn’t consume us. (Isaiah 43:2)

Haiti has taught me more about God than I could have ever learned in a Bible class or by reading a theology book. Would I say I understand Him better? Not really. Maybe He is even more of a mystery to me now than ever before. Sitting around a table discussing God, life, theology and doctrine is easy. You can believe God is Sovereingly in control. And I do. To sit in your comfortable chairs, sipping coffee, and declare that God is in control of a hurting child in Haiti is one thing. To stare that child in the face is another thing. It changes things. It does not change what I believe to be Truth. However, it does make God all the more mysterious to me. But seeing things from this point of view, realizing how little I know of God, does not complicate things. It simplifies them, really. We can argue and debate these great mysteries of God. Or we can simply work on living out what Jesus referred to as the Great Commandment. To love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. We are called to live as Christ lived. We are called to deny oursevles. Jesus spent His time on earth showing compassion to the sick and hurting and teaching the gospel. Jesus lived His life serving people. And we are called to do the same. All the mysteries of God do not change that simple fact and command. 

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” John 13: 14-16