Why Haiti?

                Many have often asked our connection to Haiti and how it has captured our hearts.  Some have heard bits and pieces of our story.  This is our story.  It is long and has many twists and turns but that is life when God is in control.  I expect this will have a few parts as we share about some special people. 

                Our story really began with my parents being obedient to God’s calling sometime in my middle school or early high school years.  My home church of Canton First Church of the Nazarene in Canton, Ohio did mission trips (then called Work & Witness Trips) to churches in need of repair.  My parents loved supporting missions and went on a trip to an inner part of New York City to work at a Haitian church.  They did major repair work and slept on pews all while in the gates of this church in NY City.  I remember them talking about the amazing people that they met and how hard they worked alongside them.  Pastor Luke and his family were always among those mentioned as well as a special friend named Rachel.  My parents were always hard workers and greatly respected others who worked hard as well.  Rachel was one of those people.  She grew up in Haiti and her father was a pastor in Haiti still.  She had come to the US and put herself through school.  At this time she had gotten her EMT certification and was working as an EMT while going to nursing school.  All of this while serving at the church and sending as much back to her family in Haiti as she could.  My parents were astonished.  The team and my parents returned again and they stayed in contact with Rachel especially.  On a break from school, Rachel came to Ohio to visit us. I remember her being very amazed at the countryside.  Everywhere we went she kept saying it was so beautiful. 

                I will be honest and say that I did not appreciate Rachel at this point in my life like I should have.  I was a teenager and although a Christian I did not realize what she had experienced, seen and was doing to provide for others.  I didn’t get it.  I didn’t understand why she thought all of these stinky smelly cow-filled and corn-filled fields were so pretty.  I had seen them every day of my life and didn’t think they were all that!  Of course I had not seen starving people either and now the sight of row after row of corn means something different to me too but we’ll get to that later.  We took her to Amish country which she loved.  Again, I remember her reactions but didn’t understand them (aren’t teenagers awesome sometimes in their first-world all-knowing attitudes….I sure was!) 

                My parents and Rachel kept in contact and when Rachel and Antoinne got married they asked me to be in their wedding in New York!  What an honor!  She had graduated nursing school with honors and they were leading the youth at the same church.  I think the entire youth group was in the wedding!  : )  It was a grand wedding and I am sure they said some amazing things but since it was in Haitian Creole I will leave you to guess like I did as to what was being said.  It was beautiful and a true celebration.  I remember meeting so many people (family and friends).

                Time passed and life got busy just like it always does.  Our home church selected another church that needed more help and the trips to NY stopped.  The calls and letters got fewer and farther between.  Todd and I got engaged and were planning our wedding in our home church in Ohio.  As I entered the church from the back on the arms of my dad and step-dad the very first person I could see in the very back row just crying and jumping up for joy…..was Rachel!  She and Antoinne had come from New York to surprise us and a surprise it was!     

                After we were married we moved to Georgia and my parents did as well.  Rachel and her family had moved to Georgia too but with her family and our family we never saw either other or spoke.   Those first years are so busy with moving, starting jobs, becoming homeowners and staring a family.  Then, when my father became ill it changed everything.  God carried us through those days as we grieved and mourned our loss, but heaven’s gain.  It was sweet baby Ashley that helped us all smile again. 

                It wasn’t long after dad’s passing that our church announced a sponsorship program that they were starting with an orphanage in Haiti.  That very first day they had cards available for sponsorship and we immediately went and sponsored a child.  I think her face leapt from the table to me and her eyes went straight to my heart.  (More on her story later.)  That began our sponsorship and personal relationship with a child in Haiti.

                It was a few months later that the church announced again that they would be having a speaker come and talk about the orphanage in Haiti.  I was excited and anxious to hear/learn anything we could.  We were praying for our little girl who was just slightly older than our Ashley.

                As we stood in church worshipping in song on that Sunday morning I noticed some Haitian women enter the church from the left.  As they began to walk closer to our section my heart began to beat faster and I began to dodge the people around me just so I could see their faces.  I grabbed Todd’s arm but I couldn’t speak.  It was Rachel.  Sitting 4 rows in front of me!  Rachel!  I didn’t care that we were in worship or that she might not even recognize me after all these years but I got out of my seat and walked up to her row.  She took one look at me and started crying too!  We hugged until the preacher started preaching! 

                After service we were able to talk and see how God’s had had brought us back together. It is her sister that runs the orphanage that our church supports.  She knew personally the little girl we supported and could tell us all about her. 

                I can’t tell you exactly how I felt as I left church that day except that I was amazed.  We have all heard that God uses everyone as a thread in His great tapestry of life.  He weaves us together and we just need to do our part.  There are few times in life I feel like I have been allowed to see a glimpse into God’s plan or His tapestry of life and this is one of those times.  He allowed us to see how He had woven all of our lives together starting many years before. 

                When Todd had his first trip to Haiti in 2009 guess who took him….Rachel!  And when I went back in 2011 guess who went with me….Rachel!  Her sister Celianie did not get to come to her wedding many years ago but I finally got to meet her in Haiti in 2010.  It was amazing.  Today I consider her a friend also. 

                Rachel’s father Mr. Polestin was a Nazarene Pastor in Haiti for many years.  He and his wife started taking in abandoned children.  Abandoned children are common in Haiti. These are children that have parents living and that do not want to put them up for adoption yet do not have the financial means to care for them.  So, Mr. & Mrs. Polestin would feed them in their home.  This continued until their home became an orphanage basically.  They could not turn away a child.  Their daughter Celianie now runs this orphanage and they have over 110 children.  For medical reasons Mr. & Mrs. Polestin now live in the US with Rachel.  Celianie and her husband, Valmond, live in Haiti to run the orphanage.  Our church helps to sponsor the children and provide assistance but it is Celianie that provides the daily care and makes sure that the children all receive an education (which is a feat in itself in Haiti).

At Rachel's Wedding

At my College (Rachel is in the middle)

In Haiti in 2011.  L to R: Natacha, Jennifer, me, Laurie, Rachel
In front:  Jenny (our sponsor child), Marie Jo (Jennifer's sponsor child)

In our home:  May of 2013.  Bridal Shower for Joconde.
L to R:  Itanie (cousin), Mrs. Polestin (mother), Rachel), Joconde (neice), Jonathan (nephew),
Celianie (Rache's sister, Director of the orphanage, mother of Joconde and Jonathan),  Valerie (Rachel's daughter).

       When we felt called to adopt we did not care if it was Domestic or International Adoption.  There were pros and cons with each.  We researched the countries and had decided upon Haiti, China or Ethopia if we ere going International but we wer also open to Domestic.  We continued to go to seminars, read books, speak with other families and meet with agencies while we prayed.  I am a list maker and I felt like one direction was doable, possible or within our means so to speak.  Yet, the more we prayed it really just seemed like God was shutting that door.  He kept pushing us towards International. At first I was more hesitant as I was more concerned with the cost.  One particular day in my quiet time I felt like God was telling me that if we went the 'possible' route then it would be easy and we could get the glory because we could do it ourselves.  But if we went with the seemingly impossible route then it would be all for His glory because we would know that we did not do it in and of ourselves!  So, we began the intense research into Haiti, China and Ethiopia.  We loved each of the countries and each one has it's own uniqueness about it but ulitmately we both felt God calling us back to Haiti.  It was bittersweet. Haiti is the slowest of the three countries to adopt from so my heart broke with the decision knowing it would be the hardest.  Yet, a part of our hearts already belonged to Haiti and we would be able to share that with our child someday.
        God knew our journey long before we could ever imagine.  He weaved our story together, prepared us for this and is giving us the very desire of our hearts.  What an awesome God we serve.

Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine....

Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart!