A gift from God

I am running a flash back special today and going to tell you about an inspiration for EHM. Empowering Haitian Moms is brought to you in part by God's gift in the form of a Mom... my Mom. Growing up I watched her care for so many children that were not really hers. She had difficulty conceiving my brother and I but still dreamt of having many kids of her own even though it looked impossible. She solved that problem 21 years ago by marrying a man with 5. When I was 8, we added to our family and I watched her love and care for them like she had given birth to them herself. She also cared for many children who had difficult home lives and never missed the opportunity to love!

 

She found a way to make her dream come true and be an amazing example to me.

 

Trying to warm up Carmallie who was cold
from swimming at the beach! 

Fast forward to being here in Haiti and watching moms give their children away and my heart breaking for the lack of hope. These women here have a dream and hope for their lives, children and future... it just doesn't LOOK possible. I feel called to share with them the hope of Christ and anything is possible... it just might look differently than you imagined.

 

 Moms in Haiti are like GOLD, as they should be.

"She is far more precious than rubies" Proverbs 31:10

My mom has come to Haiti every spring for the past 3 years to support me and falls more and more in love with the women she is inspiring and the country she has grown to know. Every time I reconnect with people here they always ask how my mom is doing~ they have a real tangible relationship with her because she brings hope to the hopeless through showing Christ's love and her testimony.

 

My mom doesn't just hold babies though.. she is too gifted to do ONLY that. This last April when she arrived she packed her work boots! Her love for animals has driven me a little crazy in 29 years but it came in handy here! My in-laws bought me a  ROOSTER as a wedding gift and I was ready to just tie the thing to the roof and call it a day but my mom wouldn't have it. She, still in her pajamas, went right to what she does best; found 2x4's in my yard, rallied up the men, put them to work and built a chicken coupe!!

 

I am so much like her I had to
get my hands dirty too!

"Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teachings from your mother." Proverbs 1:8

 

My mom has inspired me to care for the children who don't have to be mine by birth. God has shown me in my patience with getting married and wanting children that he can still answer the cry of my heart with wanting to be a mom. That he has. I have the privilege of teaching children but most of all encouraging and empowering their moms to look for hope and cling to God's promises.

 

 Isaiah 54:1 says "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the barren woman than of her who has a husband."

 

God is so good to give us the gift of the women we call "Mom". Go ahead and call your mom and let her know that you love her. .... I love you mom!