“Now that I have seen … I am responsible …
faith without deeds is dead.
Now that I have held you
in my own arms
I cannot let go …”
I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that there are more toys in my kids’ bathtub than there are in the entire Haitian village I visited last week.
There is more food in my fridge and cupboards than I need. And there is one bed per child in this house while families of 11 people spend countless nights, cuddled up on a cold, damp cement floor of their Haitian homes.
This weekend has been a whirlwind weekend – from ballet recitals for my five year old (which is a big deal in this house), grand openings of church projects, shooting a wedding all day Saturday, unpacking from La Tienda, and trying to sort through hundreds of e-mails and facebook messages.
My brain and mind are on overdrive. And my heart is heavy. I’m trying to sift through all I saw and experienced this past week during the trip to the D.R. to documents the lives of the women of La Tienda. I keep crying when I see the photos. I keep praying that God will use these images for His glory.
I can’t seem to think of anything else right now. Their beautiful faces stay frozen in my memory. My heart is being tugged and I am crying at night when I lay in my comfy bed, with my three little girls tucked safely in their beds across the hallway. The lives here in Canada and North America are such a stark contrast to those in the Haitian village.
The one tiny glimmer of hope that keeps me feeling connected to this project is that my work is not done with La Tienda. I still have to go through 1,000s of the photos and edit them, organize them, figure out which ones are best for the website, for marketing, for handouts at the Canadian La Tienda parties, figure out when the next big La Tienda party and photography showcase will be … so much still to do … but I am so happy about that. I don’t WANT to be done with this project yet. I have been so happy to be involved with la Tienda and the Haitian women … and I want to do more … but I am not sure where God is leading me.
Still, my heart cannot stop hurting for the people I have meet over the past week …
Tamara took this photo while I was photographing one of the La Tienda ladies …
I will leave you with this beautiful music video one of my friend sent me … the song is written about Albertine, a little girl the songwriter met while in Africa:
by Gigi
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