A Perfect Evening

Have you ever had one of those moments in life where you look around you and cannot even believe life is so perfect? I found myself in one of those moments the other night here in Haiti. I am sure most people reading this know our story and know the situation our kids came from and what we have been up against the last few years of our life. If not, I would encourage everyone to go back and read this blog series. When we made the decision to answer God’s call to move to Haiti, to be perfectly honest we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I now know that was part of God’s plan for our lives. I am not sure had we known that we would have said yes. If we had known what we would be up against, I am pretty sure we would still be living in America. I say all that to describe the perfect evening we had with the kids the other night, but to do this, I have to make sure you understand why the evening was perfect. This time even 6 months ago, the kids were living in extreme poverty and being exploited on a daily basis. Audancin (the man “in charge” at the orphanage) was using the kids to make money, stealing from them, and neglecting them. And those are the things we know about. We left there each day feeling scared for the kid’s safety and well-being. We prayed on a daily basis that God would remove Audancin from the situation in whatever way necessary. We prayed on a daily basis that God would deliver the kids out of the situation they were in. So back to the perfect evening….

Matt and I played outside with the kids. I played catch with some of the little ones while Matt played basketball with the older boys. At the same time, there were 3 House Moms and Jeff, who is basically our boys’ “House Dad,” watching the kids and playing with them. We all went and sat on the kid’s porch, ate Pate together (basically a Haitian version of an eggroll – delicious!), sang Matt Redman’s 10,000 Reasons, and a soft breeze blew. I looked around at how happy and cared for the kids are now and found myself having a hard time not crying in front of them. I sat there thinking that I still cannot believe the kids are here with us, happy, and safe. But, isn’t this exactly what I have asked God for the last 2 years? He used this “perfect evening” to remind me He is for me, He is for our kids, and He answers prayers.