Got home March 1^st, but am really just beginning to process this trip. What it meant. What it means… the processing continues, but here’s what I was able to write down first: written Sunday, March 8,  2010 “Friday night I watched the Hope for Haiti … See Moretelethon… yes, the one that aired January 22nd, but we had it recorded and hadn’t watched it yet. I cried the whole time I was watching. Of course my emotions were running high having just spent 10 days in the country, but it was good for my heart to watch it. The images that were shown and stories told were so very sad, but I cried also because it was beautiful. The Haitian people are beautiful, their spirit’s unbreakable. And if you know me well at all, you know that music speaks to core of my emotions, so watching these artists share their gifts to help a word in need… well, that was beautiful too. This paradox of emotion is a consistent reality in Haiti. The entire time I was there, the phrase that God kept bringing to my mind was “beauty for ashes” -often beauty and ashes. It’s a wonderful description of the country… far preceding the earthquake and even truer now. Haiti is a nation full of poverty, destruction, and tragedy and yet so much beauty, laughter, singing, and love. I have so many pictures that capture this image for me… they were some of my favorite to take. One of the many things that I love about the Haitian people is their smiles. Seriously, they have the BEST smiles and the kids laugh in a way that is infectious. I love it. They hold back that beautiful smile at first, though. In most cases, all it takes is a simple “bon jou”… suddenly an incredible tooth filled smile spreads the width of their face and they sing a lovely “bon jou” back in your direction. Beauty – it’s a fantastic thing to experience… well at least it is for me. The first night in Haiti, a church service was held at the home that we were staying in. They sang “God of this City” and that song has never had so much meaning. Devastation has rocked the city of Port au Prince and the nation of Haiti, but God is God and greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done there. There is hope and it is strong because Jesus reigns and He is in control! So that song and the phrase “beauty for ashes” became my anthems for the week. My reminders from God, my praises to God – that he is here, he is in Haiti… intertwined in the simplest of things. His hand is working and his plan is being carried out, even though I cannot make sense of it. But I got to witness little bits and for that am so grateful.” more to come I’m sure… thanks!”

Lexi