Haiti (Yes, again.)

I really don't even know where to start on this post. I don't feel like my writing can do my heart justice. If you know me and Ben or if you've ever read this scrawny blog of ours you know we love Haiti. We love to travel, yes. We love other cultures, yes. We love the beach, yes. But Haiti has our hearts wrapped up in a dirty, broken bow.

I think I'm ready to confess that I'm obsessed. I read blogs of people the live there, ministries that are on going there, news articles about Haiti (though, I'm afraid they've slowed a bit since January). We've known we wanted to go to Haiti for at least 2 years now, but just financially didn't know how to do it. We still want to go, but financially can't really afford to take that out of our budget even still. Nursing school (assuming I get in) will take up much too much of my time starting in June. Now is the time to go. We've saved/raised/been blessed with enough for plane tickets, ( :-))))) and we are in the process of contacting and talking to people to see when the best time to go will be.

I'm asking for your prayers. We aren't sure of a lot of things yet. A LOT of things. But we know we want to be there for about a week. We want to see a lot in that week and we want to meet a lot of people. Please let us know if you are praying for us by commenting or emailing us. For some reason we've generally kept this dream to ourselves and a very few people, but we've been really convicted about that lately. This is God's story through us. We are convinced of that, and it's selfish to not share what He's doing in our lives.

Thanks for walking this with us!
With much love,
Lindsay and Ben

Just a little overdue for an update on our little pod over here. :)

The Judester is 3 now. We still have the occasional kicking, screaming, rolling on the floor temper tantrum, but those are slowly and thankfully diminishing. The 2 of us still spend most of our days together and I'm really appreciating and cherishing this time I have with him. He's learning some letters and he's drawing pictures other than tornadoes now. I'm keeping a baby now 2 days a week and I think Jude really likes having someone younger than him around. The baby's only eight months old, but they really like each other. It's pretty sweet. I am so super proud of him.
'Self Portrait'


Isaac is growing up entirely too fast for me. (Uh-hu-huuuuuuh. Tear.) I just don't know what to do. He's 6 years old. He can read. He's the most brilliant 6 year old artist/ inventor/ super hero. Two days ago he drew, cut out, glued together and colored a 2 foot tall robot completely on his own. I don't have a picture yet, but I will. It's hanging on the wall. It's so perfect. And he loves his Mama. I am so proud of how he loves school and works so hard. We have parent-teacher conference next week and I'm actually really excited about it. This year I haven't gotten to spend much time around his classroom as I feel like I did last year for whatever reason. So far he's pretty good about telling me things they do during the day.

'Machine that turns dirt into fire'

Ben is fast on his way to becoming a real architect. We'll announce it to the world when he gets his official paper framed and our wall. :) I am, of course, incredibly proud of him. He's worked really, really hard and deserves some recognition like that in my opinion. He is trying to lend his expertise to the situation in Haiti. We'll hopefully have more information on that later. The boys anticipate Daddy coming home all day. They scream "Daaadddyyy!" when he walks in the door and a wrestling session ensues. It's pretty awesome. Lots of love happening at the Rossetti house. :)

I come close to winning the 'most new things happening in a 2 month span' award. I found Mercy Health Center a few months ago and I've been waiting on an open volunteer position ever since. It's a free clinic here in Athens. Take a look at the website and you'll see how awesome it is. Last month a position opened up and now I'm a check-out volunteer. I retrieve the patients medications from the pharmacy, check out with the patient, make sure they understand what they are getting and that they don't have any questions. I love it there! It's on Wednesday mornings so Jude goes to hang out with a friend of mine and her kids or to his MMO school (which he loves!). Also, I've turned in my application for nursing school again. This time I'm a little more hopeful of getting in. My GPA is better. I have more classes under my belt and I included a lot more of my life stories in my application package. And lastly, as I've mentioned, I'm keeping baby Clayborne 2 days a week. He's such a sweet baby and a joy for Jude and I to play with.

Whew. I'm sure there are things I've missed, but that seems like a pretty good update for now. Everyone is really excited about Halloween around here, and Jude had us listening to Christmas music yesterday for a bit. Bring on the holidays!!!!

Linds.

Little Lucy

Our sweet, sweet friends have been waiting for 8 months to receive a picture of their Ethiopian daughter. Three weeks ago they saw her photo for the first time. We could not be more excited for our friends and to meet this sweet little Lucy. They still have a road ahead of them, but it won't be long now till they see her face to face. Go HERE to read about their journey, why they're adopting from Ethiopia, and about their little girl.

Love you Polsgroves!

Cereal

We woke up later today than a usual weekday morning. Isaac's been sick all week so we've gotten out of our regular morning run around routine before school. About 8:00 I start fixing the boys' breakfast. Isaac wants the square cereal. Since that boy can eat his weight in almost ANY kind of cereal, I fix him the slightly sweetened shredded wheat.

Jude, on the other hand, RARELY eats the first thing given him, but I was fairly certain he would not eat the square cereal he requested. At all. He just wanted what his brother had. Naturally. I thought I had talked him into eating cheerios, which I thought would have a greater likelihood of being eaten the first time.

I KNOW he said yes to this suggestion, but when the bowl of the rounded cereal was placed in front of him...the world. fell. to. peices. At least in this 3 year old's mind. "Stop screaming at me!" I said to him. Not the right choice of oh-so-wise parenting words, but it's all that came to mind at the moment. Hmph.

So I ate the cheerios. I made him the bowl of square cereal he requested with the warning that if he didn't eat that, he would not have anything to eat until mid-morning snack time. I know. I'm a terrible mother.

He ate ONE bite and said, "I'm done." And pushed the bowl to the middle of the table. I said, "fine".

Fast forward 30 minutes. He decides he's hungry. He wants his cheerios. I remind him that he, in fact, did not want his cheerios and now they have been eaten. He spends the next 10 minutes on the floor SCREAMING while I start laundry, stir my first attempt at boiled peanuts, and brush my hair for the first time all day. Then I gently remove him from the living room floor and place him on his bed, close the door and leave.

He screams. He stops. He cries. He screams angry words I can't understand. He stops. Several minutes later I peek in and ask if he's ready to talk to me like a big boy. Nope. I let more time pass. Isaac and I write an email to his friend in Japan. I check on Jude again. Nope. Not ready.

The third time I peek open the door. My sweet, contrary 3 year old is sitting on his bed 'reading' his bible.

I say, "You ready to talk?"

He nods his head yes.

Black jelly beans

I learned Easter morning that Isaac doesn't like black jelly beans (licorice). Apparently I'm the only person in this region that does. So I thought it was a rhetorical gamble, if there is such a thing, to bet Isaac today that I'd give him $10 if he ate 5 jelly beans. First of all, I didn't think money even mattered that much to him, and second of all, I figured if he started on one jelly bean he wouldn't be able to make it all the way through 5 before giving up. Low and behold, the kid grabbed 5 jelly beans, shoved all of them in his mouth, and commenced to chew them all completely, smiling the whole time. He didn't even wince.

Lesson learnt: the boy is tougher and more cunning than I imagined. Place future bets with caution.

-Ben

So it's been a while...

So I thought I would check and see what our blog was looking like these days. Turns out if you don't write new posts, they don't get posted! Who would have thought?!

I find it very fitting that my last post was about Bethlehem Ministries. Since January 12 I've been so incredibly unsettled. Ben and I have a special, unexplainable love for Haiti. Since the earthquake, that love has increased substantially. We don't know any Haitians. We have NEVER been to Haiti. But for a reason only He knows, God has given us a heart for these people.

Below is a list of links to blogs or organizations that I've been following since January. The rainy season is here for Haiti. There are thousands and thousands of people sleeping under sheets. SHEETS people! Pray for them. Pray for light rain in that city. Keep praying for the hurt. Be thankful for your house, your bed, your family, your safety. Pray for the Haitians without those things. Pray for the Americans without those things.

Links:

Livesay Family

Bethlehem Ministries

Heartline

Real Hope for Haiti

Also, Bethlehem did receive the money necessary to purchase solar panels for the clinic (see last post). They were purchased and installed just in time to receive and care for refugees from Port au Prince. Praise God!

And since it has been so long since my last update on the boys, here is a photo of my little men for your viewing pleasure.Isaac is absolutely the most brilliant 5 year old known to man. :) And Jude is fabulously following in his brothers footsteps. Every. Footstep. And maybe he's adding a few to the walk. :) They are seriously so wonderful.

Have a wonderful Easter!
Lindsay

Bethlehem Ministries

Last year Ben was invited to help with the design of a clinic in Terrier Rouge, Haiti. Here is a link to the Clinique Esperance et Vie. It's amazing how God has developed in us a heart for these people we have never seen in person. Bethlehem Ministries began about 24 years ago and now they have a working school and a working clinic in a small village in Haiti. We recently received an email from Berry, the founder of Bethlehem Ministries, asking for help again. The clinic is now open and running in full swing. The problem is that they have no electricity. They are in need of solar panels to run the various components that you would expect a clinic to need: autoclave to sterilize the surgical tools, fans and air conditioning (y'all it's MS hot down there), ummm lights, you know that kind of stuff. Here is a link to a video that they have put together. $15,000 sounds like a lot to our family and to all of you probably, but to all of us together? Maybe we could make a dent in that so that Berry doesn't have to hold the flashlight anymore. And did you notice that awesome building my hubby helped design?

I'll have an update on the boys soon. They are growing so much!