Hurry up and wait!

Wow.

So much happens in a few months.

My foot was broken, and has healed (mostly).

I was evacuated out of Haiti, had other people move my stuff out of my old apartment, and then moved myself into a new apartment in the same neighbourhood in Haiti that I lived in before.

I made friends here who then left Haiti when the protests started, and while I returned, they did not.

After YEARS of thinking and praying about it, starting, stopping, and restarting - Dandelion Seeds is FINALLY actually a registered Canadian Charity! (Not going to lie, I may have cried after our first official board meeting)

Of course, looking back, it seems like a lot has changed and happened in the last 8 months. But 8 months also feels like a very long and very very short time all at once. I am so much further, and nearly where I thought I would be by now. It’s a strange feeling that I always have while I am in Haiti.

The therapy program that I spent October to February creating was FINALLY implemented in June when I returned to Haiti.

As with any new endeavour, there are still little details that I am working out as I go, but I am really proud of how well it is going! It is life-giving seeing these little ones heal and progress and become joyful and naughty again while they learn new skills and explore the world around them.

It is really exciting to see how interested the staff are in what I am doing with the kids - now that I feel like the therapy program is working well, I will start training two of the staff to help with certain parts of the program. They are really excited to be more involved in this part of Middle Ground!

Personally/selfishly, it has been absolutely LIFE GIVING for me to be actually working with the kiddos, and seeing their progress. I can deal with almost anything else that life throws at me BETTER when I am consistently working on the therapy program - both having sessions with kids, and figuring out ways to improve the program. It’s therapeutic for the children AND for me - but this is true in Canada or in the US as well.

This is how I know I am in the right kind of work.

I have been out of Haiti in the last year more than I had hoped and planned for. My only planned trip to Canada is this coming September - for a wedding and to do some fundraising events. This was supposed to be my ONE annual trip back to Canada to see family and fundraise. God had other plans I guess, and sent me back to Canada for 6 weeks in the spring. (It took a broken foot, ongoing worsening protests AND a kidney infection to finally convince me that I needed to go though…)

As much as I am looking forward to seeing my family, and to sharing about what Dandelion Seeds is actually doing in Haiti, I am hoping that this trip will be the last big trip for a while.

I need to put down my roots, and settle in, and fully immerse myself in Haiti life like I haven’t been able to in the past. I have not felt settled in around 9 years - since my first trip to Haiti wrecked all my plans for my life, and it is time for me to learn how to settle in and STAY. I have gotten too good at leaving.

What a journey it has been in the last year, in the last 8 months, and in the last 3 months. I am so so grateful for all that these seasons have brought to me.

God is just good.

home.

If you would like to support the provision of therapy in Haiti, click the button below! Every amount truly makes a difference to whether we can continue on this journey together! (AND you’ll get a tax receipt because we are LEGIT now!!!!)