Haiti Relief Effort

Last Sunday as Maddie and I made our way home from Costco my radiator started pouring white smoke.
All I could think was Lord, please don't let me brake down on Barrett Parkway, please!
Next, I prayed, God, please let us make all the lights so we can get home.
I had taken out my phone to call Dan and tell him he may need to come and get us when I noticed I had a missed call.
It was my friend Laura and her husband Burt calling to tell me about someone who wanted to help us with our work in Haiti.
They had been at church, talking to someone who had come to a benefit I spoke at last October at their house.
She had been giving them an update, when another friend said he had been praying during church, asking the Lord what he should do to help the people of Haiti.
After overhearing Laura's conversation, He had his answer, they wanted to donate their plane to us.
These are wonderful words, words you dream of hearing, but not the kind you should hear while driving.
I was stunned, I am still stunned to tell you the truth.
I started to cry, Maddie said, Mom, stop, I need to get home in one piece.






Going to Haiti and back all in one day just doesn't seem possible to me.
Haiti isn't called the land of endless impossibles for nothing.
The goodness and kindness of people has been overwhelming!
We left out of Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia on Friday morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Vinson, the owners of Kids are Kids, so very graciously donated the plane, the pilots (Rash and Don), and the fuel.
It all still blows me away that the plane was filled with medical supplies and doctors in only a few days.
Here is our first team:
Cliff, the Ortho Doc
Ty, the ER Doc
Elizabeth, the ER nurse
Nick, the jack of all trades, pilot and water guy
Steve, the Anaesthesiologist
They all made their way to Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale to go and help the people of Haiti without even really knowing all the details. Most of them didn't sleep for two days to get to us.
I gave them as many details as I could think of after we left Fort Lauderdale.



This whole experience has been surreal.
I kept thinking, I need to be praying more and doing something more to make sure this all works.
I was reminded that this trip is really about years of praying for Haiti coming together suddenly.
It wasn't like I hadn't been bugging the Lord about stuff like this for the past ten years and now here it all was in my lap.
I would like to say I walked it all out in great peace and slept like a baby!
Ha!
I was sick to my stomach for days, not sleeping at night and sending emails at all hours of the night when my mind would start to race.
But, as is the case in everything that happens with God, when we step out of the way and let the Lord work, it all falls into place.
Many countless people made this happen.
Many that we don't know, many that we are proud to know, all who we are thankful for.
In so many ways it feels like they just happened to pick me to go on the plane with them.
But we know the Lord has plans that we don't know about as of yet. This I love!
There are thousands of people working to make the lives of the Haitian people better all around the world and it is heart warming to see.
I am at a loss for words right now, I am not sure they can be expressed, I don't think there are words for this level of thankfulness.
Yet, it would be wrong not to say, THANK YOU a million times over.
My heart is broken and full all at the same time.
It is with His grace and peace that we can do this work!

.....and people like you!

Thank you!!