Glimpses of Joy

Family and Friends,

Day 134 of our Haiti Adventure!

A special shout-out to my sister Molly, who turns 29 today.  Happy birthday!

JOY (n.)-  A deep sense of fulfillment and wholeness in Christ that goes way beyond your everyday feelings of happiness.  Can cause laughter and tears simultaneously.

Lately we have begun to get these brief moments of seeing what our future could look like here in Haiti.  I call these "glimpses of joy" for lack of  a better term.  For just a moment we can imagine a little image of what God could do here in our lives and the lives of the people around  us.  These glimpses usually come when our kids are playing happily with the kids in the orphanage, or when I'm out roaming the village and enjoy a conversation with someone where I actually understand a little bit of what he/she is saying.  There is something big and powerful and meaningful and life-changing wiating here for us if we are willing to persevere and trust God to do His work in and though us.

There is a price to pay, however, in order to reestablish yourselves in a completely different cultural context.  You have to gradually give up little dreams and expectations for your life you might not have even realized were lurking there.  For example, I have always wanted to live in a big old house with wood floors, and to enjoy a cold winter night near the fire or a hot summer day out on the shady, wrap-around porch.  That isn't going to happen if we stay here.  The dream has to die, and there is a kind of mourning that takes place in your soul as you let that personal expectation die.

A better and more important example is all of the activities and opportunities our kids might have had back in the states.  I guess there is a part of me that always imagined my kids would one day play on sports teams or participate in the marching band, the choir, some drama team, or whatever else there is out there to do.  If we stay here long enough, they will miss out on all of those things, and we will miss out on seeing them do it as parents.  Maybe some missionaries are able to say goodbye to those things the moment they board the plane for wherever, but I have found it to be more of a gradual process over the course of time as God draws these desires to the surface to be dealt with.

I know what some of you might be thinking.  You might say, "You aren't missing much here.  We go back and forth to activities day and night, and we wish we could find a way out of this vicious cycle."  I appreciate that sentiment, I really do.  But it is still hard to give all of our cultural expectations for our kids completely.  And yet if that is what God is calling us to do, we are trusting that the benefits will outweight the sacrifices, if not in this life, then in the next. 

The great thing lately, like I said, is that already after 4-5 months here we can catch a tiny glimpse of the amazing plan God has for us in Haiti.  I just pray we can stay true to our calling and manage to discern and obey what God wants us to do.  Part of that involves undertaking the painstaking process of letting go of our own dreams and expectations and fully embracing God's plan, whatever that may be.  If we can do that, anything is possible. 

May Your Adventure be filled with JOY!
-Grimm Family Adventurers