Ripe Mango Chronicles

On Saturday we took a whole bunch of the kids to the beach in SImonette. As usual I ended up spending most of the afternoon surrounded by the little kids. We were playing and splashing around in the water when I grabbed Steevenson and threw him into the water. This of course started a line up of kids who wanted to be “baptized” as they were calling it. So one after the other I picked them up and “baptized” them. When my arms got tired we went back to splashing around in the water and one of the little boys asked me what it means to be baptized. This sparked a whole conversation about baptism and what it means to accept Jesus. At the end of our chat I asked the boys if they had asked Jesus into their hearts yet. Some of them had already, but there were a number of them who had not. When I asked them if they wanted to they had lots of questions; what do you need to say, what does it mean, what happens to you afterwards. It was really interesting to hear their questions, and how their 7 y...

Death has a way of making us think about life. Our days are numbered, some of us are allotted many, while other are given just a few. We don’t get to decide how many we are given, but we do get to decide how we will spend them. John Fraser lived his days well. He truly made an impact on everyone he came in contact with. John was not allotted as many days as we would have liked. The quantity was less than we all hoped for but the quality was more than we could ever have imagined. We can all learn a little something from the way he lived. John lived with passion, loved immensely and overflowed with grace and wisdom. He made you laugh, he made you cry, he made you want to download random country songs and try on cowboy boots. John has been a huge part of my life, now that he is gone, I am beginning to see the influence and impact he had on my life on a regular basis. I miss him dearly, everyday. John was more than my pastor, more than my mentor, more than my friend. His opinion mattered...

I am writing this on my phone from a hospital bed in our Clinic's little ER room. Praise the Lord for our clinic. This morning as I drank my morning coffee and thought about the seemingly uneventful day laying ahead the phone rang. It was Mommy Edith, she sounded calm, but extremely worried. She explained that Pierre was breathing funny and was clenching his jaw again. Knowing Pierre's medical history I knew we needed to get him to the clinic asap. I jumped in my truck and headed down to the nursery. Mommy Edith came out with Pierre in her arms and we made our way to the clinic. We went right into the ER room and Rick, one of our newest North American staff members, started working away on Pierre. He was hooked up to a number of machines, but his breathing became more and more labored. I climbed up on the bed told hold Pierre upright as they worked on him. As his breathing became increasing difficult I watched as the room became a flurry of action, once again I felt my life was...

Good evening, I hope you are all doing well. It has been a while since I have written, I am sorry about that. I promise to get back into the groove of writing soon. It is too easy to get too busy to write, but I do need to take the time. So much happens everyday, things I want to remember and some I don't! Raising kids is hard, I am learning more and more about that everyday. Raising teenagers on the other hand is a whole other level of crazy and right now over half of our kids are 12+. That being said, I would greatly appreciate your prayers if you think of it over the next few days. I am taking the next three days off to stop and re-assess. I am taking this time to seek the Lord’s wisdom and guidance, soak in the Word and hopefully find some direction on where we go from here. Life in Hope Village has been very challenging so far (change always is) and I am praying the Lord will overwhelm me with Godly wisdom and clear guidance on the changes that are happening and need to happen...

It’s hard to believe it was a year ago today my world fell apart. Most of the time it feels like the earthquake happened a hundred years ago, but when I find myself jumping out of my skin when someone bumps my chair, I am reminded that it really wasn’t all that long ago. For the past 12 months I have been waiting for the tears to come. I have cried, short little burst of tears, but there has been this lingering sorrow waiting to burst through my tear ducts. Last night the tears finally came. It was at our Tuesday night worship service, we sang this song we’ve sung a hundred times before but for some reason last night it hit me like a ton of bricks and the tears started falling, those tears turned into sobs and soon there was a small puddle of salt water forming at my feet. The song is a creole song that translated says something along these lines; When your life becomes dark and everything is difficult don’t be afraid. Our Lord says that He is responsible and He will be with you throug...

We watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas every Christmas Eve at the Hope House. It has become a tradition; I was thinking about traditions this year and had one of those “Ah Ha” moments. How incredible that I get to be the one to start some of these fun Christmas time traditions with the kids. I picture Michelove or Stevenson all grown up watching the Grinch with their kids telling them, “When I lived in the orphanage we watched this movie every Christmas Eve.” Of course I like to imagine they would continue with something along the lines of, “Growing up at the orphanage was a great blessing. We would not be where we are today if God has not intervened and brought me to that orphanage so many years ago.” Christmas is kind of a big deal at the Hope House. The kids talk about the party year round. They start right away on December 26th with their questions; What are we going to do for Christmas next year? Are we going to get presents? Will we eat at the guest house? Will we sleep in the ...

Pierre the miracle baby has been released from the hospital and is finally home. The doctors told us he wouldn’t make it. The mommies didn’t think he would make it. I didn’t think he would make it. A few emails and a few hundred prayers later and here he is smiling away! Through all of this we have discovered that Pierre has a cyst in his brain and needs brain surgery. We are working hard to get a medical visa for him to go to Austin, Texas for surgery at Dell Children’s Hospital. This cannot happen without a few mountains being moved, thankfully our God is known for mountain moving! Please pray that everything comes together for him to get this surgery. Peace, love and home sweet home! Rachel