Haiti Update

A few months ago, God called Tim and I away from the church where we had been serving. We were not sure exactly why, just that He was being very clear that He had somewhere else for us to minister to others and be ministered to. We stepped out in faith, taking the hits that came with our decision, and have been learning a lot about trusting God. We have visited quite a few churches in the area and have been amazed that each Sunday we have gone to a new church, the message has been exactly on point for what God had been bringing us through that week. To have that type of confirmation as we have been on this journey has been invaluable.

Though we have experienced God in new and exciting ways these last few months, we have also had to deal with the struggle of feeling unattached to a local body of believers. We have missed the bond of believers that comes from seeing each other at small group during the week and then worshiping together on Sunday morning. Although we have made some incredible new friends and have received an enormous amount of encouragement from those new relationships, we have longed for the close camaraderie we once knew.

As we began the first conversations of our upcoming Haiti trip, we would often mention what a bummer it was that we didn't have a home church to support us.  We weren't talking about financial support. We wished for the spiritual and emotional support we had experienced from past trips and had participated in when others went out on the mission field. To have a church family physically surround you and pray over you before you leave, is a unique and beautiful spiritual experience that we would not have for this trip.

Thankfully God is much bigger than us!!

We began telling people about our trip mid-march. Support letters went out via email, facebook, and snail mail. At first we didn't get much of a response but we kept talking to people and praying for provision. The funding for our trip began to trickle in and along with the money came notes of encouragement and the promise of prayers. We received donations from people we haven't seen or spoken to in over 10 years.  Old work colleagues, one of Tim's Fresno State professors, ladies from my Bible Study group, even non-Christian friends were sending us funding for our trip. We even received $40 from a woman in San Diego who we've never met!

As of today, I am thrilled to report that we have received $3815 towards our $3500 goal and we know of a least $400 of donations that are in the mail. With the extra money we've been given, Tim will be able to purchase tools and prosthetic supplies needed to help stock the new prosthetic clinic where the first patient was seen and given a new leg this week.

To experience this level of emotional and spiritual support from people all over the country, some who know us well, some who we barely know, has been incredible. Though we don't have a local church supporting us, we have felt the prayers of our brothers and sisters around California and throughout the states in a powerful way and we will leave for Haiti knowing they are praying on our behalf.

God is good!!!

Friends Forever

As we continue to prepare for our trip to the Mission of Hope Project we have been blessed through the testimonies of others who have recently traveled to Haiti. Their stories and photos show the life changing effect their time in the country has had on them as well as the impact they have been able to make in the lives of the Haitians.

One of Tim's main contacts for the MOH prosthetic clinic, Chase, recently adopted a young boy whose leg was amputated at age 2. MSNBC has been posting stories of recent Haitian amputees and encouraging correspondence between these new prosthetic patients and US amputees.  Chase's son, Elias, wanted to write a young Haitian boy about to endure an amputation due to injury sustained in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Here is Elias letter:

"Dear Schneily," Elias wrote, "My leg got amputated when I was 2 years old. And then I got my first prosthetic leg a little bit after that. It's hard to have your leg amputated. Don't be scared because God is with you.

When you first get your prosthetic leg you'll be kind of scared because you don't really know how to use it. But if you practice walking a little bit everyday you'll get better and better. And then one day you'll be able to run again!

Sometimes you might be sad that you have a prosthetic leg. But you are just like me! And there are lots of other kids that have prosthetics too. I'll be your friend forever.

When you get your prosthetic leg we can play together and run. I really hope that I can come to Haiti sometime and we can run and play together. Love, Elias."

You can find Schneily's and other Haiti amputee stories at http://haitiamputees.msnbc.msn.com/.

For the display of His splendor...

I love the book of Isaiah. It's pretty heavy in spots, but so beautifully descriptive and poetic. During my quiet time this morning I was super distracted with thoughts of parenting, finances, future plans, what to make for dinner, and shoes for Easter. After settling my mind I began to pray for our upcoming trip to Haiti and read Isaiah 61. This passage has officially been adopted as my prayer for our upcoming trip and for the nation of Haiti.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, and oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of HIS splendor." Isaiah 61:1-3

Wow. What a beautiful word picture for our trip. If I had any artistic ability I would paint a picture of the country of Haiti with tall, strong oak trees covering the land with a sign under them saying, "Planted by the Lord for the display of His splendor."

She's makin' a list...

Three weeks from today Tim and I will be boarding flight 833 from Miami to Port au Prince, Haiti. Now that tickets have been purchased, we begin the "checklist" process. Those of you who know me well know that I am a "list" person so this part of the planning is always right up my alley...though I've never had a list look quite like this one:


- mosquito net
- face masks
- permethrin spray
- inflatable pillow
- ear plugs
- individually wrapped packaged powdered drink mixes
- instant coffee packets
- individual peanut butter packets
- English/French Creole dictionary


A definite adventure!!

Tim and I continue to pray that the funding for our trip would come in quickly. We have already been given a little over $1000 (thank you Jesus!) and have about $2500 left to raise. We are excited to see what God is going to do next. Never a dull moment these days!!!

From Ojai to Haiti

I have been dying to blog about everything that happened this last weekend but at this moment my arms are so sore from my vaccination shots that I can barely hold them up to type. However, the baby is sleeping, my husband is at Bible Study and I have a lovely mug with a picture of Sawyer full of hot peach tea. I will work through the pain.

I'm going to give you the daily play by play in order to keep my thoughts straight. Here it goes...

Saturday early morning: Tim and I got up early and went to a few garage sales (we're like pirates on a treasure hunt). I found 12 postcards from the very early 1900's with photos of beautiful places all over Europe. At 25 cents a piece I couldn't pass up the opportunity for another fun DIY project.

Saturday late morning and afternoon: For my birthday I was gifted a lovely spa day with my mom. Because life is crazy and things happen, we weren't able to get to a spa until last Saturday but boy was it worth the wait! My mom took me to the Ojai Valley Spa for a day of relaxation and renewal. Let me paint a picture: 76 degrees,  tucked back in the lovely hills of Ojai, one of the top 10 highest ranked day spas in the country, plush and soft robes, local tea, dried fruits and nuts, fireplace with overstuffed lounge chairs, sauna, steam room, indoor and outdoor jacuzzi, and last but not least, a 50 minute massage. Delicious day. Thanks Momma!

Saturday night: One of my bestest friends, Colleen and her little girl, Claire, came to hang out and crash at our house. We had such fun catching up and gabbing until too late. A great ending to a great day.

Sunday: After an amazing church service we were off to Ojai, once again, to shop the Farmer's Market and eat at our new favorite Pizza spot. With recyclable bags full of avocados, onions, and pixies, we drove through the citrus fields and parked next to a gorgeous canary yellow 1974 corvette which was parked next to 4 or 5 BMW motorcycles. As we were ordering our pizza and I was people watching (those of you who know me well know this is my favorite past-time) and a shiny metal glimmer caught my eye. Could it be? Is it that awful earring on Harrison Ford's left ear?! There he sat. Indiana Jones himself. Eating Pizza with a bunch of buddies. After alerting my family I began building up the courage to go say hello and ask for a picture. I figured the worst that could happen is he'd say "no" so I had to at least try.

After he was done eating (not that I was watching or anything), I walked over and asked if I could take a picture with him. I'll be honest, he didn't seem thrilled. I told him we could hide so we wouldnt attract attention and he liked that idea. I signaled to my paparazzi guy (Tim) who came over and shook Harry's hand. We took two pictures and said our goodbyes. I screamed inside my head.

Sunday night: For those of you who don't know, Tim has been trying to get to Haiti to do prosthetic work for a couple of months now. We finally found a group he could go with and began to set up the details. As of 4 days ago, Tim was placed on a team of 8 other medical personnel and heading to Haiti April 17th-24th to work with Mission of Hope ministries. On Friday a few of the details on the work side of the trip changed and rather than it being a work related trip, it became a personal trip. On Saturday we talked briefly about the possibility of me going with him and sent an email to the trip coordinator without getting our hopes up. Sunday night we got a response that I was welcome to go with the team and help out wherever needed. And just like that, I was going to Haiti with Tim.

Soooo, we are going to Haiti in less than 4 weeks! I can't begin to tell you how excited we are. It would take about 5 blog posts to fully give all the ways God has been orchestrating this without our knowledge so I'll just say that so many things we've been dealing with and going through these last few months make so much more sense now. I am so glad God is bigger than I am. Life is so much less stressful knowing He is in control and can see the big picture.

Now we are starting to send out support letters and collect funds for our trip. It's going to cost about $3500 for us to go (airfare, food, supplies, lodging, etc.) but I know God is going to provide the money. Please be praying for us as we prepare to leave Sawyer for 9 days and head to a fragile third-world country that is broken beyond anything I can try to imagine.

I will be updating the blog as we get ready to go in an attempt to keep friends and family up to date as well as document the experience for a semi-journal. Be sure to stay posted!

Hurry up and wait.

After an incredibly encouraging morning studying Esther with my beautiful small group, I just had to share some of the things God revealed to me this week through studying God's Word...

Our culture is training us to be impatient.  Instant information via the world wide web, text messages, faxes, fast food, etc., have conditioned us to expect immediate results. Waiting for something is a huge inconvenience and so when God doesn't answer us immediately or when His answer is to (heaven forbid) "wait", we don't know what to do with ourselves.

It is interesting to wonder what was going on in Queen Esther's mind when she finally had her husband, King Xerxes and his stooge, Haman, sitting with her at the banquet she had prepared for them. This was it. She was going to reveal her Jewish heritage and plead for the king to reverse his decree of genocide against her people. The king has asked her, "what do you require?" and Esther answers, "come back tomorrow for another feast." What? Come back tomorrow? End it now Esther! Why in the world would you wait until tomorrow?

Scripture doesn't tell us why Esther did not make her request at the first banquet. Ecclesiastes 3:1-7 does however tell us that, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to be silent and a time to speak." It was not yet time for Esther to speak, it was time for Esther to wait.

Behind the curtain, God was orchestrating a scene that only He could have written. Had Esther unveiled her true identity to the king at the first banquet, though she may have succeeded at having Haman removed from the picture, perhaps the king would have been so bitter towards her (having no reason, at that time, to doubt Haman) that he would not have made any effort to help the Jewish people. Somehow Esther knew to wait.

I don't like waiting. When I ask God for direction, I expect Him to respond like the GPS system in my car (minus the female voice with the British accent). But some times (most of the time in my case) God has us wait, maybe because He is currently working on the other people involved or because He wants to teach us patience, either way, we are forced to wait.

Tim and I have recenlty found ourselves in a few situations where we have had to wait on God for answers and direction. This morning during Bible Study, the following verse from Isaiah  was highlighted and so encouraging for me. If you are in a situation where you are having to wait on God, take encouragement in this verse from Isaiah 40:31, "...but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength." Waiting on your answer, or your circumstance to change, or that one person to do what you want, will cause you to stress and worry and become exhausted. Waiting on the Lord will give you strength while you wait.

Is "good enough" good enough?

Do you ever have one of those weeks where everything you read or every conversation you have seems to be about the same issue? This week was one of those for me and I can't help but think God is trying to get something through my blond head. I am doing a study through the book of Esther with some wonderfully wise women and this week, much of our study was on the issue of "perfectionism" and unrealistic personal expectations. I am currently reading, "The Blessings of a Skinned Knee," by Dr.Wendy Mogel, which deals with applying Jewish teachings in child-rearing. The last chapter I read dealt with "perfectionism" and unrealistic personal expectations.

As these concepts have been floating around my brain, I've found myself to be more and more confused about when it is appropriate to expect or strive for perfection and when it is appropriate to just be "good enough." Here is an example...

The quote from my Bible Study is this,

Perfectionism is a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as being unacceptable. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't do our best. I'm simply saying that some times just surviving certain tasks without falling apart is our best and in those times God is not ashamed of our performance. God isn't interested in our stellar performance but in our hearts.

(From Beth Moore's Esther Study, pg 112)

Now, here is a quote from The Blessing of a Skinned Knee on how children do not need the best of everything (teacher, homework assignments, friends, etc.)but that "good enough" can be all they need:

Consider that "good enough" can often be best for your child, because when life is mostly ordinary and just occasionally extraordinary, your child won't end up with expectations of herself and those around her that cant be met on the worldly plane.

(Dr. Mogel, pg 55)

My dilemma is this: When should my goal be perfection and when should my goal be "good enough?" As a young child, I was a perfectionist. My dad had to create the "one mistake a day" rule so that I would allow myself room for error. My parents were (are) very accepting and gracious when I made mistakes and in no way pressured me to feel I had to be perfect. It was an expectation I placed on myself, without anyone's help. Though my quest for perfection is nothing like it was when I was eight, I still have very high expectations of myself. Mostly because I know I am quite a capable person and so, with a little hard work and caffeine , I can usually meet my personal goals and expectations.

But what about when I can't meet my goals. What about on Monday when I have a list of 15 things to do and because Sawyer is snotty nosed and grumpy, I get (maybe) two things done. I set a personal goal by making my daily "to do" list and failed to meet my goal. In that case, I think a "good enough" sticker works. But does that mean I don't continue to have the expectation that tomorrow I can conquer my 15 point list? No. I guarantee that Tuesday morning my list will have the 13 items that didn't get done the day before plus whatever else needs to be done on Tuesday and I will expect to get it all done.

I feel like I'm not making much sense...

My question is, when is it appropriate to shift my expectation from perfection to "good enough?"

OR

Should I always strive for perfection and be ok when I'm just "good enough?"

1 Peter 1:15 says, "But just as He who called you is Holy, so be holy in all you do." I don't know about other translations but my NIV does not read "try to be holy" or "good enough is just fine." God's expectation is that I will be holy in all I do. He would expect that of me if it were not possible, right? So often we say "nobody is perfect" and some how we understand it to mean that nobody can be perfect.

I'm not talking past mistakes and yada yada. I'm talking about getting up tomorrow morning and making it through an entire day being holy in all I do. Is that a high personal expectation? You betcha. Is it striving for perfection? I guess so.

Now I'm really confused...Any comments would be gladly welcomed.