When I grow up

The sun was undeterred in Haiti today. So this morning we found respite in the shade of Pastor Calix’s mango tree. There with his kids, we did a host of activities that didn’t require too much running around.

I drew pictures with Carlin (house mama) and Ismylove (one of my favorite children with my favorite Haitian name Is-my-love) as we took turns teaching each other songs in our own languages.

What a delight to see Ismylove again! We met after the quake last year and got to know each other via multiple trips to Love-a-Child to see if she could get a growing cyst removed from her right eye.

Ismylove is 16 now. Her english has gotten so much better! During our time together she asked me in heavily-accented english, “Trace, what do you want to do when you grow up?”

I smiled. “This!” I answered. “I want to help Pastor Calix and other local leaders like him help care for children around the world. I want to come visit you in Haiti and bring others with me to see God’s love for His children in a new way.”

And then I thought about Mike Fox. When he grows up, he’d probably want to spend his Saturday morning running in a 5K for kids…and Joe Knittig, when he grows up, he may speak at conferences in NY and Nashville to college students wanting to learn more about how to care for the least of these.

Ismylove laughed at my answer…I laughed, and we sang, as we finished drawing our pictures under the mango tree.