Sally’s Cafeteria…

Just the other night the kids were asking for a Christmas story. Asher piped up and said he wanted to hear the one about the ghosts. At that point I started up with a Haitian-Muppet-Disney version of Ebenezer Scrooge. (Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the real version.)

As I began to reflect on the Ghost of Christmas Past –  and relating it to life in Haiti for the kids –  I couldn’t help but travel with the kids down memory lane to 4 years ago when Mole St. Nicolas became our home. I remember sitting down with Global Orphan Project and excitedly looking at drawings of buildings, dreaming of what the campus might look like, and imagining what ministries might take place in our new home.

It’s hard to believe all that we accomplished. We constructed an orphanage, a large multi-purpose cafeteria, a tent church, toilets & showers, employee homes, a school building, a clinic, and missionary housing. This beautiful campus was and is ready to reach out to the abused children and the malnourished elderly – to passionately share Christ with a community surrounded by darkness – and house our teams, missionaries, and orphans.

As our orphanage grew – so did our children. We quickly went from 12 littles ones to 35. We began feeding them on the porch outside of their playroom.  The porch was crowded and the weather often made meals difficult. Once Haitian Social Services (IBESR) legalized our program, we learned that the children actually needed their own separate cafeteria within their gates that would only serve them.

I remember feeling helpless at that time. Yet, our staff bound together in prayer for God to send us a cafeteria for our orphans. If the Lord can rain down manna, surely he’s capable of brick and mortar!

The Lord did reign  – as well as rain down blessings upon us in the form of some beautiful friends. One particular donation was made in honor of a beautiful mother named Sally. Sally spent many years overseas and would weep for the mothers who suffered with starving children. Sally decided that crying wasn’t enough so she volunteered at an orphanage. The incredible donation made on behalf of Sally is a beautiful testimony of her love for the well being of orphans.

And how fitting….just as every good story of old Ebenezer ends with “God bless us every one.” Sally truly has breathed that prayer into action with her sacrifices and the sacrifices of those who loved her. The orphans at the Mole now enjoy a special blessing with every meal that is served in their very own cafeteria.

God bless us every one.