Growth demands a temporary surrender of security....
- Gail Sheehy


Matthew 25....
For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison , and you said I was getting what I deserved.
(RESV - Richard E. Sterns Version)

What Does God Expect of Us?
The Hole In Our Gospel
Richard Stearns

Igemene's Wedding Day!

I got back to Haiti on the four o'clock flight Wednesday just in time to celebrate Dan's birthday!

Happy Birthday # 47.....!!

Thursday morning we got up and out the door so I could go get my passport renewed but that didn't work because I needed an appointment. I will be back to renew my passport on May 11th...

Next we went to a Passover Seder meal with Maddie's class. Mr. Day (Papa) walked us through our passover meal. She had been planning a birthday surprise for Dan. He wasn't sure why he had to stop and buy the whole class "treats" when it was his birthday? The whole class sang Happy Birthday.....Maddie was very happy!

We made a quick stop back here at the house, I got my camera, had some ice coffee and off we went to Igemene's wedding.
Igemene's day was really special....
She was so pretty!
Out of all the things that she could have spent her money on here in Haiti she made the choice to get married and have a church wedding.
It is hard to describe a Haitian wedding. Haitian weddings are known to be very loud, long and drawn out events. No one is on time and they can take hours while every one dances coming down the isle. This one was no different. The three white people had books with us to read while we waited for hours. Dan and John went looking for the guy who sells ice cream.
It was fun to see all the sewing ladies come to the wedding and celebrate with Igemene.

I don't often think about what it looks like to the Haitians for a white person to be living in their country. I know we are different, we are white, they are black, we don't think the same in many ways, but I am not really ever thinking about color.
I am thinking about finding solutions to life problems.
So when I saw Dan sitting at the reception it was so funny to see him sitting alone seeming so out of place.
Here is a big white guy sitting in the middle of the room in a little chair surrounded by black people. To make it even more odd...they asked us to get up and take all the food we wanted in front of everyone. After we finished they handed out styrofoam containers of food to everyone with chicken, rice and beans.

The Girls From Faith Academy

1982's Best Picture Oscar Winner: Ghandi
1982's Grammy For Best New Artist: Men At Work
1982's Grammy Record of the Year: Rosanna - Toto
Yearly Inflation Rate: USA 6.16 %
Average Cost of new house: $82,200.00
Average Income per year: $21,050.00
Average Monthly Rent: $320.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas: 91 cents
New Car Average price: $7,983.00
US Postage Stamp: 20 cents
If you go back to May of 1982 I was just graduating from high school at Faith Academy. I was seventeen. I saw Ghandi and remember the songs but very little of the other things mattered to me. I just wanted OUT of high school. I met Dan when I was fifteen at Faith Academy - that is a whole different blog.
When I think back to the friends I had I believed we would be friends forever. I did stay connected with a hand full of them. But for the most part we all went our seperate ways.
Last night I had dinner with that hand full of friends and a few others. It is simply amazing to me that the same girls I hung out with in high school are now mom's, wives and people I still think are pretty cool.
We talked about where our lives have taken us and all that we have done. We talked about funny things and a few sad things. We got caught up on kids, jobs, husbands and loved every minute of it.

4th Annual Women's Night Out

Thursday was the 4th Annual Women's Night Out at Lisa's Country Gallery in Kimball, Minnesota. Lisa Crayford and her gang put on a great benefit for our women's program in Haiti.
The first fifty ladies in line got goodie bags full of things from all the vendors. Plus every vendor donated something for a silent auction with all the proceeds going to benefit the work we are doing in Haiti. By three o'clock there was a line outside the studio with ladies getting ready to shop.
Ginger and her daughter Lauren came to help me in the booth. Ginger and her husband Dale have a real heart for Haiti. They are in the process of adopting from Haiti. With adoptions taking two years, they have been coming to visit.
I am thrilled that found our program and when they visit they have been helping with fabric and supplies for sewing school.
For me a benefit like this one is a great picture of how women help change the lives of other women.
If you are in Minnesota I would encourage you to check out Lisa's work and her studio. She has really beautiful work and she too has a heart for the women of Haiti.

Country Gallery
31770 MN Hwy 15
Kimball, MN 55353
320-398-6250

www.countrygallery.com

Lessons In Ugly!

Today we had lessons in ugly!
No, not ugly people....ugly fabric!
Today we had a "no sewing day"!
It started a few weeks ago when I came across a bag made out of purple Barbie fabric.
It wasn't the purple Barbie fabric per say, it was the combination of the yellow, orange, green, red, blue fabric that was with the purple Barbie fabric.
Here are the new fabric rules...
1. No more blue cows
2. No more purple Barbie fabric
3. No more blue hearts with red cows
4. No cows period!
5. Roosters are pretty "iffy"
6. no more red, white and black plaid with monster size black roses
7. If it looks like a brides maid dress it most likely was and it can't be a purse
8. curtains make fine fabric and we will be showing the Sound of Music to drive our point home

What is a spirit of poverty?
It is the fear of not having enough.
Therefore holding on to things so tightly that we shut down the process of giving or receiving.

Igemene's Wedding

The goal for our ladies is to sew well enough so that when they graduate we can offer them a sewing contract for six months.
Each lady that sews with us has a business account that she puts half of her money in as she learns to manage what she has.
A year ago when they started saving money I would think about what the ladies would want to spend their money on.
I thought of things like food, medicine, school, stoves or something really crazy like a television.
Never did I think of a real church wedding.
So a few months ago when Igemene came to me and said she needed all her money I was thinking... this is gonna be good.
What on earth is she going to tell me she needs $950 U.S. for?
(Yes, she really had saved two to three times what an average family lives on here in less than a year.)
I will admit I already had the answer in my head before she started!
No!
No, you can not take all your money out of your business account for something crazy!
But, it wasn't crazy.
It was every girls dream.
A real church wedding and a pretty dress.
Last week I got a real printed invitation!
Thursday, April 9th at 12:00 Igemene is getting married in a real church wedding with money from her very own business account!
She is paying for it all by herself!
I am so proud of her!