Caution Re-Entry!

Before moving to serve full time in Haiti, Pastor Dave Mann used to meet with mission teams as they were preparing to depart and shared with them a message he titled, "Caution Re-Entry!".  He warned these good hearted servants that while out in the field they would have life altering experiences and when they returned, at the first opportunity, they would want to explode on and share every minute detail with anyone who would inquire about their trip.

"Be prepared, " he would caution, "to give 30 second, 1 minute, 5 minute, or longer responses depending on the engagement of the listener to what you are sharing."

Well...I've just returned from another incredible trip to China and I wonder how I can do anything less than share about each of the precious children that I met at Shepherd's Field Village.  How can I not want everyone to know about:

The always smiling Elizabeth who I don't think realizes that some people would try to put limits on what she can do.  She has no use of her legs, but that doesn't stop her from jumping up and climbing the jungle gym only to summons me for a photo; or from racing across the sandbox on her hands so that she can get dizzy with the other kids on the spinner.

Or what about Josiah who is ALL BOY and reminds me of my nephews.  He loves to run and wrestle and play in the dirt, but he also loves to cuddle, hold hands, and has a smile that could melt even the most frozen of hearts.  Whenever I would enter the dining room at lunch time he would come, take my hand, and escort me to a seat at his table.  He is a tender-hearted warrior who is on the look-out for the good of others.

And sweet Cody who is smiley and sweet and loves to put on a show.  I have a great video of Cody singing "the wheels on the bus" to me.  He is holding a wheelbarrow in his hands while singing it.  When he comes to his favorite verse, he drops the wheelbarrow so that he can use his hands to mimic the "beep beep beep" that the horn on the bus makes.  Open your arms and he will run full speed to jump into them.

Don't let the sunglasses and silk dress fool you, Joy is more than a pretty face - she has a plan and she will make it happen.  Her friends eating too slow, no problem, she'll pick up their bowl and feed them.  Someone on the playground not being nice, she'll karate-chop them.  A little one with a tear in their eye, she'll give them a big hug.

And to be able to play "secret agent" for the families of Perry and Haley who are anxiously waiting for them to come to their forever families...not so stealthily taking pictures and videos and sharing them with those who long to have them home.  While I have been told that I was a gift to them, it is really I who received the blessing.  To be able to hug, play with, pray for, and "talk" (I put in quotes because neither of us truly spoke the other's language) with these special kids and to know how much they are already loved and missed, was precious to me. 

I can't wait to hear about more of these little ones who are going home with their families.  Until they do, I rest in the knowledge that those who serve and lead Shepherd's Field Village are doing so with a love for them that is exceeded only by that of their Heavenly Father.  It was with tears in my eyes that I left, and eagerness in my heart that I will return.