Ripe Mango Chronicles

Last Saturday was one of my favourite days ever. My alarm went off at 4:20am. It took me a minute to realize what was going on and then I remembered that I had to get ready for our surprise outing! Dr. Cheryl has been teaching a kickboxing class on her front porch for the past few months, the secret outing was a reward for everyone who had participated. I’m not going to lie, I kind of snuck in, I had only ever been to 4 classes! The nine of us squished into Cheryl’s car and headed out. We drove and drove not having a clue where we were going. Past Giant supermarket, past the church that sells beer, past the vendor’s where I almost bought that fat lady painting (that I still think about all the time!) and then up this windy road that led us to a gate marked “Barbie”. Walk through the doors and you quickly forget you are in Haiti. Barbie’s is this amazing salon and spa in Petion ville where you can get an amazing manicure/pedicure all for $15! A few hours later and with much smoother fee...

One fine day when I felt like everything that could go wrong was going wrong and I was feeling discouraged a wise man, named John Fraser, told me, “You know you are in God’s will and about to do something great for the kingdom when everything is coming up against you. It means Satan sees the great things coming and is working his tale off to stop it from happening.” Well, it would seem we must be doing something great, with all the changes going on at the orphanage, because I have had one of the worst weeks ever. It has been a constant struggle this week and to be honest it seems each day has progressively gotten worse. I am trying to keep my head up, and have a good attitude through it all. I try to focus on what John Boy told me and be confident that great things are on the horizon. Kenol shared a verse with me yesterday, which I have been trying to keep at the forefront of my mind through everything that has been going on. Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to b...

Today was a great day. Most of you know that I have been a little overwhelmed by our teenagers, we have over 30 of them. Trust me it’s a lot of pimples, deodorant, hormones, bras and mood swings. When I came to the orphanage the kids were little and we were an amazing orphanage for little kids: one of the best in Haiti by far. Unfortunately, kids can’t stay little forever. The majority of our kids are now over the age of 12. They are growing up and the orphanage needs to grow with them. What worked for a 9 year old doesn’t work for a 14 year old. We have definitely experienced some growing pains this past year as we have been trying to figure how to grow with them. How to make it work and how to make it great. Over the past few months I have gone away twice by myself for a long weekend. I spent this time without electricity, alone, praying through the changes and seeking direction for the orphanage. Thankfully the Lord showed up on both of these trips and gave me clear vision of where ...

I saw a picture of Steevenson yesterday that took my breath away, it took a moment for it to register that it was even him. He didn’t look like the cubby cheeked toddler, or even a little guy who used to follow me around everywhere. He looked like a boy, a real BOY; the grown up kind! How did that happen??? It is amazing what can happen in five years. When I moved to Haiti Steevenson was just 2 years old. We bonded my very first day and he has been my little man ever since. I call him my shadow; he follows me everywhere, and has since he was two. He walks along side me and chatters away barely pausing to take a breath, asking a million questions about everything imaginable. It has been said that Steevenson has adopted some of my charter traits. I can see it sometimes when he’s talking, especially when he gets excited. Arms flailing, voice bouncing up and down, with sounds effects and lots of over exaggerated facial expression. I can’t help but laugh, he really is a mini Rachel in so m...

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...