The influence a family can make

One of the Haitian employees at Grace had a dream the other night. She said she dreamed that Shane was walking around Grace Village with many of the other workers following him. As he was walking around the grounds, Shane would stop and point to a place in the ground and say, "Here" and he would bend down and begin to dig. He would then remove a voodoo bottle. In her dream, Shane would then continue to another place and would point again and remove another voodoo bottle. 

What an amazing dream! A dream of God using Shane to lead those at Grace Village, of those at Grace trusting Shane and following him, and of this group routing out the evil so that Grace can shine God's light. 

I read this verse this morning and it fits the dream of our employee/friend. 

"Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light." Luke 11:34-36

One of our missions here at Grace is to just be an example of a family. We are broken, as I have said very often in this blog, but we love Jesus, we love each other and we know how to say we are sorry and mean it. Some ways we are an example is just by living here. The Grace kids are able to see that families eat together, they look after each other, they fight and get into trouble sometimes. 

One time, my children were being very naughty so I sent them to bed at 6:30pm. I then went out to hang out with the Grace kids for a couple of minutes. They started to ask for my kids and I told them that my children were not listening so they had to take a punishment and go to bed. The Grace kids where incredulous! My kids didn't listen?? They got in trouble?? The questions went on for quite some time. I know that the Haitian culture often thinks that white skin means better, but we are human and we get to show them that humanness. Who knew our humanness could be part of our ministry. 

Another way our family is being used is an example of a father's protection. One of the boys at Grace intentionally hurt Sierra. Normally this is something that we would encourage Sierra to handle with her words or would help her work through with a monitor and the child to understand what happend. This time was different; the boy was older, we know this boy struggles being kind to others, and Sierra was really hurt. So Shane went to have a talk with this boy about how he treats his daughter. It was done respectfully but with force. Every child that was near stopped to watch Shane. The point was made, a dad protects his child. 

The best thing was the follow up. Later that night Shane made sure to find this boy and give him a hug so that he knew there was forgiveness. I am not sure they see that very often. For a while after, the other children were careful around him, but they soon realized that he really did forgive the boy. 

This ended up resulting in another lesson as a few of the boys talked about how if Shane hit me, he could kill me. We were able to have a very good talk about how Shane NEVER hits me and never has. That hitting a woman can never be an option because a man has so much strength but instead a man is to protect his wife. In a country where it really is about survival of the fittest, this is something they don't understand very well. In fact, it came up again with two of our young men that live at Grace. We found out that they hit one of the girls and we were able to discuss "What is a real man?". I pray constantly that this message seeps into their hearts and minds and that they are able to apply this in their life inside and outside of Grace. 

The children play a lot of games with each other's emotions and use manipulation to get their way. This is no different than any child, except they don't have parents that are helping them process through these emotions and make better choices. One of the things the children like to do is to be mad at one another. I have been on the recieving end of this mad (which looks like ignoring, talking about, and dirty looking) and it can last for as long as a month. The person on the receiving end can have no idea why the other person is mad. Our family is combating this by addressing the person that is mad. When we notice a child is acting mad at us, we ask them if they are mad, we then let them know that we are sad but that we are here to listen if we have offended them somehow. Sometimes they stay mad a long time, but more often than not, they decide that since we are not trying to take their power, it is more fun to just address the issue and be friends again. 

Our house is also a place of safety. Some of the chidlren received Legos for Christmas and we gave them the option of putting their toys at our house. Quite a few took us up on that offer. They know that at our house, we will respect their things by not touching or allowing anyone else to touch their toy. Our hope is this will teach them that there are safe places. 

One little boy that has been having a very hard time, has found our house to be a place of refuge. He often spends time in our time-out room, but he also spends a lot of time on our couch. Sometimes he is playing video games with one of our phones and sometimes he is building Legos. Recently he came into our house, lay on the couch, put a pillow over his head, and cried. It is a safe place to be sad. 

One of my favorite things to do is to go to the dorms and kiss the kids goodnight. We don't do this every night, but it is a fun way to see the kids and let them know we value them. The little boys will get a kiss from me and then run to lay in their beds so that they can get another one. Or sometimes they will offer a kiss back. So sweet. At first I thought the older boys would not be interested, too cool, but they always offer their cheek and a shy smile. The little girls always welcome the kiss and will often squeeze in a hug. The big girls are tricky, but one of my favorite things to do is tell them how gorgeous they are as I give them a kiss. 

God is using our family. It isn't the huge things that we do that is making the biggest difference, but the little things. God is using our relationships to make change happen and to make a positive impact. Life in Haiti is never boring.  

 

Austin has found his favorite spot to sit and read. 

Sierra doing homework. 

The boys practicing their soccer skills. 

Shane was able to be a firefighter in Haiti. There was a grass fire and he ran this water down the school's roof to put out the fire. 

Our Grace kids are SO creative. They used construction equipement to make a drum set. (photo compliments of Rachel)