One Body with Many Parts - Thankfulness

 

 One Body with Many Parts

 

 

 

This post is about thankfulness.  The pic below is me twisting a piece of wire around a cross section of rebar.   The wire itself isn’t that strong, but once it’s twisted, doing its part in connecting the whole flooring section of rebar and then incased in concrete as part of the floor we just poured in our first of several youth camp dormitories, it became a part of something incredibly strong.  When I’m in the hot sun sweating, seeing the drops fall down on to my glove as I twist another wire I can't help but begin to think about all of the men and women we all need to be thankful for, how many teachers, coaches, Pastors, family members, friends and strangers were and are a part of our lives that have helped us along the way.   More than likely none of the thousands of children that stay a night or a week in one of these dorms while attending our camps will ever think about the sweat and love poured into that building.  They won’t know about my friend, who is pouring concrete for a living back in the states, who is twisting the wire or laying the rebar and at the end of the day is sending financial support so I can do it here.  They won’t know about my friend who is retired military, living on a fixed income, suffering from multiple health issues but still, at the end of the day she sends us financial support so I can get a drink of Gatorade so I don’t cramp up while sweating in the heat.  They won’t know about my great grandparents who prayed constantly for me before I was even born, that I would put God first in my life. 

Yes, this post is about thankfulness, there is so much more going behind the scenes of our everyday life we miss.  I’m thankful for every one of you who prays for us, works hard every day and finds a way to support our mission financially and I’m thankful for every one of you who I’ll never know about. 

God Bless!

Barrett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 12:12

 

 

A Baby Boy & a Father's Love

 

A Baby Boy & a Father's Love

 



Happy 16^th Birthday Braxton!!  It’s really hard to believe that 16yrs ago today our first son was born; we are so proud of him and love him with all of our hearts. What an amazing gift from God! When I was thinking about Braxton’s upcoming birthday I couldn’t help being reminded that his birth and existence was one of the most pivotal points in my life.  You see when he was born, I wouldn’t have considered myself a Christian at that point. I really didn’t believe in God.  Looking back now on my earlier life I could honestly say there were times I thought “maybe” but verbally I had more of a “scientific, I need proof” mindset. It’s funny how God reveals Himself to us, some of us know Him all of our lives, others have our eyes opened by friends/family/church and then there are us who God speaks through in unconventional means…

I don’t know about all men but I’m pretty comfortable saying that most of us are pretty clueless on what’s about to happen when our wives are pregnant.  You see, a woman carries the baby, the whole time having that constant connection, that relationship with their child…she “knows” her baby.  Us guys (at least I was ) are like “yep, we’re having a baby, that’s cool huh?”  Yes, I knew Carrie was pregnant, I felt the kicks in her tummy, I witnessed the morning sickness, the birthing classes with the hippie lady, but I didn’t “really” know what was about to happen. 

On Dec 4, 1997 Braxton Ayers Todd was born at Mac Dill Air Force Base in Tampa Florida and I got to meet him for the very first time.  I was overwhelmed, here is this little baby that I never met and I loved him more than words can explain and I loved him instantly and unconditionally.   I didn’t understand how that was possible, but it over took me.

As a little time went by and we settled into being parents I came home from work one day and Carrie handed me Braxton.  Like most nights he just laid on me and slept as I watched TV or a movie but this time it happened to be the movie “Contact”.   I don’t remember much about the movie except Jodie Foster is a scientist and her father had recently passed and that her father was trying to develop a machine that reached heaven? Matthew McCaughey was a Preacher that played opposite Jodie.  As I was watching the movie with baby Braxton sleeping on me, a scene came on where Jodie and Matthew were on a balcony discussing the existence of God.  Jodie said that she believed God was made up by man so we wouldn’t feel all alone and if there was an all-powerful God why didn’t he leave any proof? Then Matthew said he couldn’t imagine living in a world without God, she replied how can you be so sure & since she was a scientist she needed proof.  After a pause, Matthew asked her “Do you love your Father?”  she was caught off guard and said “what?”,  he then again asked her “do you love your Father?”  Then Jodie very strongly and heartfelt said “yes, very much so” he then replied “prove it.”   That two word statement from Matthew just turned my world upside down.  Here I was, laying here with my son, whom I loved more than words can explain and I couldn’t prove it.  The most powerful, sure, true thing that I had ever known and it was basically unprovable. This was when my relationship with God began, of course He always had a relationship with me, I was just to blind to see. I used to say “show me a miracle…part the sea, etc”,  now I see God’s existence in everything, there are miracles literally happening all the time just so we can continue to breath. 

I am so thankful that 16yrs ago today that God gave my wife and I our baby boy, he is now growing into an incredible young man, we are so very proud of you Braxton!  I can't wait to see all of the things God has planned for you!

God Bless!

Barrett

Abbi's Week Blog -Nov. 11

Abbi's picture of the beautiful plant she's been caring for

This is a blog post from Abbi (13)
She continues to amaze us with her insight to living here, her compassion for others, her maturity, her ability to "mother" her three brothers and her zest for life. She helps in the burn clinic almost every day.
We love her anpil!

“We” were forced to write a blog - Abbi

We were busy this week, but then again what week aren’t we busy. Me, personally, I love being busy. Every now and then, that couple minutes of down time we get I am up on my feet asking what we are going to do next.  

    This week we were guest housing several groups of people and we had a team of our own. We had a several new burns at the clinic this week and a hand full of school kids with fevers and coughs. We also have quite a few people with infected fingers and one person has it on his leg. I really enjoy being able to work in the clinic (infected fingers and all). I enjoy the medical experience, but what I love even more is to be able to make friendships with all the people who come in. To be able to know them and be able to remember them when we see them in town. We also went to our schools and measured, weighed, gave them a worm pill, and a pack of vitamins to the kids. They were so sweet.

    We have been doing school this week. We now kind of have it down. I think we will have it down to a T pretty soon .

    My favorite thing that I did this week was go to the crusade. I loved seeing all the kids and the people. My chair was covered in kids. I love that we are getting to know the people better and that they are recognizing us and us them. When we got there a little girl came up to me and said she saw me at the Saturday school. I really love it here in Haiti and don’t want to go anywhere else. And thank fully I don’t have to.

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the worlds deep hunger meet.”-Frederick Buechner

                                                     This is where my deep gladness is, here in Haiti

I was forced to write a blog before I could go out to play - Brodie

This week I went to our gran moun program, gran moun is where we hand out food to the elderly. I had lots of fun, there were a lot of people too. I started to grow a little tree that I fixed it up and decorated.  I might paint its pot.                                                                                                                                            

I did some school the science projects are really fun, like when we made a jello cell (with candy in it). I played a lot with Xander and Ellie. I defrosted the walk in freezer that was fun (cool too). When my dad was digging he found a thread snake. It died an hour after we caught it.                                                                                             We caught a couple of tarantulas but they all died. I also learned how to drive the gator.

A another good week in Haiti!

Edible Jello Cell

 

My tree

Post some pictures already!!

We've been trying and today I was able to post a bunch! :)

Dropping Tonka at Agape before we fly out of the US. So thankful for them!

A Great Welcome Home!



Hatching on our floor. Uck!



Catching wild chicks

Do we really need to keep these?!

After the rain

Fixing the road after the rain

Generator Building 2-60's & 2-100's

Painting at one of the schools

 

Fun at recess time.

 

So cute!

Fixing a well

 

Next to the well

Praying over the well

Well Parts

 

Largest moth I've seen!

Footings for youth camp chalet. So exciting!

Rain coming again

 

Making friends

 

She's still not sharing babies

This little cutie stole Anders sucker right out of his mouth

Saturday school

Cowboy Brodie in front of the baptismal tub in the mountains

Lots of help

 

Love this picture.

No adults dropping them off or picking them up. Babies caring for babies.

We are so blessed to be able to love them.

 

Quick Update from Haiti

Hi everyone!  We haven’t posted in a while, between getting settled, a crazy busy time & no internet it’s been a challenge to say the leastJ  Everyone is doing great!  Carrie & Abbi have been working in the burn clinic, Braxton has been working the garden and helping with projects, the boys have been playing and I’ve been doing a little of just about everything.  Carrie will be posting soon with lots of pictures and I’m sure a few stories but I just felt the need to share a something that ran through my mind the other day.  We were at the Saturday school for children, playing with them, showing them love and feeding them when the below story came to mind.  I was thinking about a question I've been asked numerous times lately “why would you go there? People have tried before…It will always be the same there…What difference can you possibly make?”

The Starfish Thrower

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.  As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.  He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”  The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”  The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”  To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”  Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”  The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”

I can tell you something that I know in my heart... it makes a difference to each one we help, just ask this little one. J

 

South Bound & Down

Load'em up and Truck'em

 

 

 



We are on our way!!  Just a quick update for everyone, we’ll post more once we’re all settled in.  We left MN Friday night & we’ve made it as far as Nashville.  Today we are headed to Jensen Beach, FL to spend the day with family then on to Venice, FL to put our pup Tonka on Agape Mission Flights (he can’t fly commercial due to heat restrictions and will be flying on our supply flight).  After we drop him off we’ll be headed to Miami and flying out to Haiti on Wednesday morning.  Thank you so much to all of you who are supporting us with your gifts and prayers, it’s happening!!  Got to go…Anders is calling the hotel front desk…