No Regrets

A little over 9 months ago our lives changed. Let me go back and explain a little history about how all these changes came about.  About 3 years ago we met and began a friendship with Matt and Jessica Bush. They were in a similar situation as we were working with a specific group of kids in a Haitian run orphanage. Just like Hope Rising developed out of the love for our kids, All Things New developed out of a love for their kids. Although our situation ended differently and we lost our kids, God had a plan for All Things New kids and little did we know it would involve us. Through the years our friendship with Matt and Jess grew and we began to see how similar our vision, personalities, and beliefs were. Hope Rising was beginning to see the need for more missionaries on the ground to help us and kept thinking how perfect Matt and Jessica would be to fill that position.  After approaching them about coming on with us we all began to pray and agreed to pursue a partnership.  Not long after this decision had been made Matt and Jess were faced with a situation at the orphanage they were helping and needed to get the kids out but had no place to take them. (Just so you know, there is so much more to this whole story but I am just telling the major details for sake of time.) I immediately felt like we needing to step up and help since we were going to be partnering together so I contacted our board to see if they would agree to let the kids move in.  They agreed and at the end of April 19 amazing kids moved into our guesthouse. We knew we only had a few months before our busy summer with teams so the clock was ticking for Matt to get the first kids pod finished and move the kids into their new home. We pushed to build a boys pod, girls pod, and cafeteria so the kids could have their own space and the teams could have their own space. In all honesty it was very difficult for me to open my heart to love another set of kids after loosing ours 3 years ago. Even though we had been taking teams to visit these kids at their old facility and they had been attending Hope Rising Fellowship on Sunday mornings I had just remained distant not even learning their names.  But now that they had moved in God had forced me into a position that I didn’t want to be. It wasn’t until Matt and Jess went to the states for a visit that I learned to love again.  I would try my best to care for the kids the way Matt and Jess did so they didn’t feel abandoned again.  I would go to the nightly service and then tuck the little ones in and sing or read to them. A love grew for them like my own children. I let myself love knowing these kids would be here until they aged out of the orphanage at 18.  This was never a temporary situation in our minds and we always wanted these kids to stay here with us but again God had different plans. As the months went by All Things New began to have less peace about the partnership. From the beginning we had always said we all have to have complete peace about this.  We all prayed God’s will be done in the situation.  Even though it seemed ideal and we all wanted it to work God did not give them peace. We may never know the reason but we don’t have to.  We just have to trust God that He knew what He was doing through all of this.  We were so blessed to be able to be there when these kids needed a place to go.  I was so blessed that God opened my heart again even though it is now breaking. Our own kids were so blessed to have finally made true Haitian friends.  That love, that bond, will never go away.  Even though it won’t be the same we know that we will continue to see the kids and pray for them as they transition to another home soon.  I ask that you also pray for All Things New as an organization. For Matt and Jessica and their new baby girl Sophie as they move to Haiti full-time to take care of all their kids.  As much as I love their kids, they were never our kids.  I feel like this is probably a little taste of what foster care is like.  It’s hard and heartbreaking but always worth it.  If we could change the outcome we would, but we have no regrets.  I would do it all over again if I had to because God was in the midst of it all. He brought so many good things out of this and I know He is going to do great things through us and All Things New.