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| LourdesMilla & Mirlene |
That song title needs a little time to settle into my soul.
I love listening to this song when I run.
Occasionally if I am in a weird spot of processing too much heavy stuff I find that I need to stop running, put my hands on my knees, and try not to dry heave or hyperventilate due to the difficult combination of crying hard - while trying to run - and simultaneously attempting to deliver enough oxygen to my lungs.
There is most certainly some sort of cycle of truly feeling the things of Haiti and then closing out the things of Haiti. It ebbs and flows and comes and goes.
It is freeing to be able to laugh, feel peace, and purposefully shut it out at times.
It is a gift to be completely wrecked and burdened by it at other times.
We desperately need the ability to do both. Hopefully finding the balance between the two means being sensitive to people's pain the majority of the time but staying just a teensy tiny bit insulated from it as a measure of self-preservation.
This week we'd love it if you be praying with us about the current and future residents of the Harbor House.
The house has seven girls right now. There are five that have babies and two that are still pregnant. We have one space we can fill immediately. We can possibly make room for two more within a couple of months. Our program won't likely ever be larger than ten young women and their kids. Eight is the ideal number with the space and challenges/logistics of a house full of young women.
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| Leoni & Joanne w/Judeler & Ricardo |
Currently we have three heavy and difficult situations awaiting discernment and decision. Three young pregnant women living in unimaginable situations. Three real people with real needs and real hurts. Three unborn babies attempting to grow and flourish in their mothers wombs. Six lives at risk. 'Danie', 'Jovin', and 'Emmanuela' all in unstable and even perilous situations.
I was chatting with Beth yesterday and we lamented the fact that once the other bed is full it will mean that we don't have any immediate answers for young women that say things along the lines of the things we heard in the last few weeks:
"I live alone. I am 16.:
"I have a tent. I sleep there."
"I was raped. I just turned 15. I'm pregnant."
"The baby's Dad doesn't want me."
"My aunt beats me. She is angry that I am pregnant."
"I don't eat every day."
"They said I cannot live with them after my baby comes."
"When it rains we don't sleep."
"He threw me out."
While these situations continually present themselves, we must in turn continually remind ourselves that we are not alone.
And neither are they.
Lyrics "We Are Not Alone" :
Got brothers by my side | Sisters at my right | And hands that hold my own and won’t let go | Got a love that won’t subside | Leaving all my fears behind | And grace at every turn, and so I know || I am not alone | I am not alone | I will ever find that You’re my home | I am not alone || There’s a narrow road to walk | That’s wide enough for all | So lay aside the heavy doubts you bring | The strongest and the weak | Oldest and the meek | All meet at the cross, and we will sing || We are not alone | We are not alone | We will ever find that You’re our home | Oh, we are not alone | We are not alone | We will ever find that You’re our home | We are not alone || ‘Cause You said You’d never leave us | When You came and when You freed us | You never left us for a moment, God | And You never will disown us | When we know that You are for us | You never leave us for a moment, God || The greatest and the least | Broken and redeemed | All meet at the cross, and we will sing | We will sing | We will sing | We will sing | We will sing || You came, and You freed us | And You will never leave us | Now we are singing, oh
All Harbor House photos compliments of Jonna Howard.
