Making new friends; our time in Jamaica - Day 2

The sun is shining so it must be time to get up.  Our hotel room is cute but very bare bones, without even a clock on the nightstand.  I check the time on my cell phone and it says 7:30 am.  That’s what time breakfast is supposed to start being served so Bruce heads down to get me a cup of coffee.  He comes back and tells me that the whole place is deserted.  We both take showers and he goes back again to get my coffee but he comes back with the same story.  As I put on my watch which I reset to an hour earlier as we were getting off the airplane, I realize that our phones never could get a signal for the satellite so they didn’t automatically change the time.  So, an hour after we woke up, it’s just now a little after 7:30 am.  No wonder there was no breakfast.

We put our swimsuits on and head down for breakfast on the beach. The restaurant and bar

are still pretty much deserted.  We sit down and wait for the server to bring us some water, coffee, juice...something.  Finally, after we ask, he does.  We sit with our coffee and water and wait.  After we ask what’s for breakfast, he tells us that continental breakfast is a couple of slices of fruit and a piece of toast.  Perfect, we say.  And then we wait.  After we ask if we can actually have the breakfast, he finally goes back to the kitchen to have it prepared. And we wait some more. We ask several times for more coffee and more water and some orange juice.  And we wait. Breakfast is good but takes almost an hour.  

This is worth noting: Bruce drinks coffee this morning.  He makes me coffee each and every morning and brings it to me in bed.  Yes, I know that I am pretty spoiled by my husband.  But the funny thing is that he does not drink it himself.  Nor has he even ever tried it.  He just knows that he doesn’t like it. But I know that Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is some of the best in the world.  And when I am drinking it this morning, I pass it over to him and he tries it.  And he says he likes it.  Miracles never cease. Ha! 

We were planning on meeting Rachel and her son, Jeffrey, sometime this morning to go see her property at Spring Garden.  But it’s still early, so we thought we would sit on the beach for a little while.  That’s about all I ever last just “sitting” anyhow.  So, I’ve packed a bag with beach towels, sunscreen, and I’ve got the book that I started reading on the plane.  I did put a few dollars in the bag, too, just in case.  We start off down the beach.

We walk about, oh maybe ten feet, and are stopped by a Jamaican man who wants to take us snorkeling. Fifteen feet further down the beach, someone wants us to buy organically grown bananas. A few feet beyond that we are offered a waterfall trip. The next man wants to know if we want to rent a jet ski. The next guy has a bag filled with recycled rum bottles full of different kinds of juices that he has made and wants to sell us some.  And so it goes, on and on. At first we politely decline and walk on. But then I realize that we are here to - as my mom used to always say - ‘make friends and influence people’.  So, we stop and meet each and every person that says hello or stops to talk to us.  Everyone is so friendly.  We meet Junior, Demitri, Dr. J., Peter, Captain Moses, Dominic, Jeanne, and many others. I try hard to remember all their names.  They are all so friendly.  Tourism is their livelihood.  They just want to feed their families.  And we respect them for being bold enough to do their jobs.

As we are walking, we get stopped by lady who introduces herself as Gloria.  She tells me that I am a Jamaican princess and then starts smearing aloe all over me.  She’s kind of pushy, but sweet, so I let her as I keep talking to her. She tells me that the aloe will keep me from burning and since I am fair skinned and having not seen hardly any sunlight yet this summer and am still very pale, I really want to believe her, but I am skeptical. She spends a lot of time rubbing the aloe in all over my exposed skin. I let her and we have a nice conversation about her and her family. I give her a couple dollars, kiss her on the cheek, and tell her that we will be back. Even though I'm pretty sure she tried to swindle me, I still really like this woman. She is charming. (An hour later, I wish I would have gently said no thanks because I am completely scorched!)

As Gloria has me cornered, Bruce is talking to Tony. When I finally break away from Gloria, we walk over to Tony’s art shop filled with carvings and jewelry. Bruce wants to buy the whole place. But since we don’t have any money, I keep the bracelet that he has already so conveniently slipped onto my wrist and I give him $2. As we are looking I ask him lots of questions. I find out that he is married, has 5 children and 3 grandchildren, and lives in Little London. He rides his scooter here early every morning to be the first one to catch the tourists on the beach. I like his enthusiasm and his gentle spirit. He does have some beautiful pieces and we tell him that we will be back some time before we go home. And we intend to.

It’s been at least an hour since we finished breakfast and started our stroll down the beach. By this point I’ve had just about enough wheeling and dealing. And enough walking. We are pretty far down the beach from our hotel. We turn to head back. We are stopped by many of the same on the way back. Most of them remember our names and talk to us again. We stop on our beach and the man that we saw raking clean the beach earlier while we were having breakfast brings us a couple of beach chairs. I read in the sun for a little while and Bruce takes a few pictures. At least three Jamaicans walking by and approached Bruce and try to sell him drugs. Just for the record, even though they tell him that it has come straight from the farm and they have good stuff, he declines. He was offered drugs.  And he drank coffee today. Monumental day of firsts for Bruce.

We are supposed to meet Rachel sometime mid-morning here at Sunset on the Beach and since it’s about 10:30 am, I keep watching for her. The whole beach is pretty much deserted so I am starting to wonder if we are at the right place or if there is another hotel with a similar name. We decide to take a quick swim before we head off to find her where she is staying at the Negril Yoga Center across the street. While we are in the water, a local comes in with a tourist and they are talking. The Jamaican is telling the tourist about the crazy funny old lady named Rachel who often hangs out here. He says that she stays for months at a time and he thinks that she told him that she is from Indiana. (Well, she’s from Missouri, but we are from Indiana and she’s here to meet us.)  So, now we know that we are in the right place. Rachel has really made a name for herself in these parts and it seems like she's pretty famous around here.

We get cleaned up and walk across the street to the Yoga Center.  Before we even ask they know that we are here to meet Rachel but tell us she’s staying across the street.  So off we go.  We wander around some there and a lady sticks her head out the window to tell us that if we are looking for Rachel, she’s not here. She will be back at 1:00 pm. She and Jeffrey went to do some business. Okay then. By this time it’s 11:00 am. So we walk on down the beach to find some lunch.

We stop at a couple places, but for whatever reason, I don’t want to eat there. I am sort of... pulled... toward a restaurant called Lingah by the Sea. It’s sort of reminiscent of breakfast - after we sit down we have to ask if they serve food here, then if we can have lunch, then we have to ask for a menu, then we have to ask for water, and so on. After we have ordered and are waiting for our food, I get up to walk around a little. The tables are covered in burlap with pictures of hummingbirds and flowers painted on them and a piece of glass cut to the size of the table protecting the picture and holding it in place. As I walk around, I see a room off a deck behind the restaurant. The sign over the door says, “Word to Life Ministries International”.

A lady sees me reading the sign and comes out.  She introduces herself as Jean and invites us to come back at 7:30 pm for a service.  Well, we’ve been invited so I think we should.

Lunch takes about an hour and is absolutely wonderful.  Lingah by the Sea.  If you are in Negril, stop here for the jerk chicken salad.  It’s delicious.  We walk back to our the hotel to see if Rachel has come back. Nope. So we walk back next door to her place. They tell us that she has been back, but is gone again. They are doing some kind of business and will be back at 3:00 pm.

As we walk away I tell Bruce that since it’s not mid-morning any longer, she must be on Jamaican time. I am getting a little frustrated that we are not following my “schedule”.  I’ve got things all planned out. Lots to do.  We are on a mission and we have to stay on track. As I say all of this, Bruce bends down to pick something up from the grass.  A Jamaican penny.

For years when I find a penny I just know that it’s a sign that God is saying that I’m on the right track and that everything will be alright.  Pennies from heaven.  So, when you’re in Jamaica, I guess it’s a Jamaican penny. Okay, God. Message understood.

No problem, mon. We take off to drive to the west end to find our original reservation, Sunset on the Cliffs.

On the way we stop in town to change some money at the bank. The place is packed, the line is long and it’s very dismal and sad inside.  It makes me feel kind of yucky so we turn around and walk back out. We are swarmed when we get outside. A car pulls over and stops. The passenger insists that we know him from the hotel. He tells us that his name is Michael, the gardener that cuts the flowers. Yeah, we don’t know him. Obviously a con. Someone else pulls out a wad of Jamaican bills and wants us to change money on the street. I quickly decline. A lame man limps up and asks for a handout. I discreetly give him a little change which he is very grateful for and I motion for Bruce to hurry up and unlock the car so that we can jump back in. I’m done with this scene and don’t want to empty out my wallet in the town square. We will find another place to change more money somewhere less crowded. Lesson learned.

We head on down farther south toward Sunset on the Cliffs.  It’s a nice quiet hotel with a room on the ocean.  This is what I booked.  And now I see why I did.  The beach has a lot of activity and noise at night. After tonight we will come back to stay the rest of our trip here. As we head up to our room, we look over the wall to the north and see the remnants of the next hotel. It looks like it hasn't been used in a long time and the buildings are crumbling. Hmmm... I wonder who owns that?

Next, we head on down toward the lighthouse. I want to climb it, but not today. First I want to see Ketto and Spring Garden. It starts to rain as we drive back. I take in all the signs and landmarks reading them aloud. It’s probably annoying to Bruce who is trying to drive, but he never says anything about it. I am trying to memorize the territory and hearing it as well as seeing it will help me remember it later.

We get back to the hotel in the pouring rain. Lightning flashes across the sky and the thunder is clapping loudly. The power in the hotel goes out several times. It’s been a long day already and really the only thing  on our agenda for this day is to meet up with Rachel and Jeffrey, see Spring Garden and Ketto, and wander around Negril. So, we take a nap in the rainstorm while we wait for time to pass and them to return. I desperately want to get back on track, but I must admit that I’m getting pretty sleepy from all the emotion, stress, and heat.

When we wake up, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining. We eat a couple of juicy mangos out on our porch. They are drippy and messy and really sweet. What a great snack. Psalm 34 pops into my mind: Taste and see that the Lord is good!

We head back next door to find Rachel.  She is sitting on the porch.  Jeffrey jumps up and shakes our hands. We hug Rachel like we are family. We really do love this spunky old girl. We walk to the restaurant next door and talk while they eat for the first time today. They were swimming  in the ocean at 6:30 am and then went to see an attorney to get Rachel’s ex-Rastafarian husband to sign off on the property that we are about to go look at. After much back and forth, he did. And in front of a Justice of the Peace so it’s all nice and legal and official. But, as Jeffrey told us, the first two JP’s that he went to were closed.  The third one turned out to be a long time friend of the ex, Sydney, who was now  getting cold feet, had changed his mind, and didn’t want to sign. The JP friend talked to him and explained to him that it would be okay and that he would be taken care of, so Sydney agreed and signed the property over to Rachel. Whew. Rachel and Jeffrey were so relieved. And now we could go and look at it.

We put on our long pants and long sleeved shirts so that we wouldn’t get chewed up by the mosquitoes and jumped in the car to go out to the jungle and walk around the property.  Bruce drove us the seven miles outside of Negril through Ketto, 3/4 mile through the hidden cane field valley to Spring Garden.

A few minutes after we got there, someone rode up with Sydney on the back of his scooter. Sydney was charming and gracious and showed us all around. The house is in a very rough state and the vegetation is grown up everywhere. It’s mostly just wild jungle. But Sydney pointed out all the fruit trees on the property: coconut, mango, avocado, jackfruit, apple, orange, apricot, papaya, ackee, starfruit, noni. Most trees so heavy that the branches are hanging down and full with fruit. There are bamboo groves all over and hummingbirds flying around everywhere. It is wild and beautiful. Thank you, Lord, for providing us with such a great variety.

Sydney walked us all over the property and even got a long pole out to get some coconuts down for us. He used a machete to cut them open and we drank the coconut milk, pouring it down our chins. Then he sliced off a chunk of the shell and used it for a scoop to carve out the soft coconut meat.  We ate mangos straight from the trees and ackee, too.

We sprayed bug spray liberally. Since it had just rained and everything was so grown over, the mosquitos were everywhere. I was glad to have long pants on. Surprisingly, I didn’t get chewed up.

We walked down the road to the spring and saw where it was pouring out of the side of the mountain. Sydney took off his clothes and jumped in. He told us that it was bad luck not to get wet, so out of respect we all we washed our hands and faces in it.  He also told us that there is another spring right on the property but the man who owned the property before had pushed a big rock over the opening because he couldn’t see the bottom of the hole and was afraid of falling in. Sydney said that even in the drought, the vegetation is still green around that area.

We took lots of pictures. There are actually two parcels.  The house is largely unusable and would likely have to demolished. But the flat land is beautiful and untouched.

It was getting late and we wanted to get back for the church service at Word of Life that we had found at lunch. We thanked Sydney and said good bye. Rachel and Jeffrey wanted us to meet one of the neighbors, Tracy. Tracy is a white man from Texas, and has built a lovely little house up on the mountain just down the road and across the street. So, we opened the gate and pulled in for just a minute.

Tracy’s wife is working in the states but he comes and stays for a couple months at a time. Tracy told us that he had been a contractor for about 25 years. He is helping their friend, Lynette, build a house right near theirs. Lynette is from the US, too, and was living in Negril for a number of years until recently coming to Spring Garden. She told us that she worked with the Presbyterian Church in Negril for about the past 5 years or so helping the pastor there start a safe house to help get women off the street who have been involved with sex trafficking. We were glad to have met them, even if only just briefly.

We drove back to Negril just in time to quickly change clothes and head off down the beach to church. No time for a shower, just go as you are. We walked in to find only a few people there, but Pastor Richard welcomed us warmly. The last Tuesday of the month is reserved for a prayer service, he told us. This was the last Tuesday of the month. Pastor Richard said that they would be praying for their street evangelism ministry. Bruce squeezed my hand.

While Pastor Richard was talking, he stopped mid-sentence, looked right at Bruce and me and said that he knew that we were not just here on vacation but that God has a different calling for us. He said that he felt like we were here to do something big for the kingdom of God.  Then he went right back to praying!  

Bruce and I looked at each other and smiled, silently knowing what each other was thinking: coming to this church and being in this place tonight is not an accident. We knew that we didn’t eat at Lingah on the Sea and stumble across Word to Life Church by chance. We talked to Pastor Richard for just a couple minutes after the service was over. He told us that he studied and was ordained in the States and feels like God has called he and his wife, Nicola, to leave their home in Montego Bay and move to Negril just a few weeks ago.  They have a heart for orphans and kids on the streets. Wow. We know that we will talk with Pastor Richard and his wife, Nicola, again.

Rachel and Jeffrey had joined us for church.  Jeffrey prayed a very moving prayer during the service and we were awed and thankful for his spirit filled heart. Rachel had had a very long and emotional day dealing with legal issues, back and forth with her ex-husband, and trekking around Spring Garden. She went back to her cabin sometime during the service. We walked back with Jeffrey and talked about all the possibilities. He understands that the property may or may not work out for what we are looking for, and he is content to let God lead us. We are thankful to have met him and have made a friend. We like Jeffrey as much as we like his mother and feel a strong connection to this family.

We said our good-byes to Dr. Jeffrey Citrin on the beach at about 9:30 pm and finally went to find some dinner and then back to our room for bed. It’s been a long and full day. And we are tired. Wow.  I wonder what tomorrow will hold?

My lessons for today?  Well, really there were two:

Time in Jamaica is just a suggestion.  The locals call it "Island Time" and now I understand why. 

Being direct with people is helpful so that they understand your expectations.  Really this is good in most situations but today I learned that it is definitely true in Jamaica.  

Taking a trip back to Jamaica - Day 1

We finally finish packing after midnight and try to go to bed.  But neither of us can sleep.  The alarm goes off at 2:00 am and we are out the door and on the way to the airport by 2:30 am.

Our flights are uneventful and we get into Sangster International Airport ahead of schedule.  We pick up our Island Rental Car and take off toward Montego Bay to wander around a little and find some lunch.  The same gentleman in a blue striped polo shirt on a green bike keeps passing us and waving to us as we drive around in circles, getting our bearings. We talk to him at one stop light after the next through the window and at one point, he just jumps in to the back seat and introduces himself as Steven. Steven shows us around a little, gives us some local history and takes us to nice out of the way place for lunch.  We have jerk chicken with rice and peas. (which, incidentally are really red beans. why do they call them peas?)  Steven had a Red Stripe, no doubt on the house for bringing a couple to this restaurant.  He says that he often brings tourists here when they want a bite to eat.

After driving around a little while longer we take Steven back to his bicycle, give him a few dollars for his time and information, and try to figure out how to get up to our first stop of this trip: the Robin’s Nest Children’s Home.  Not an easy task since our GPS, which is supposed to work in Jamaica doesn’t, and we only have really lousy mapquest directions.  Street signs are mostly non-existent here. Landmarks on the directions have changed so “turn at the gas station” or “drive past the tire repair store” means nothing.

We stop at the tourist information center on the main strip to ask for directions or a map, neither of which they can give us.  As long as we are here, we walk down to the beach and stick our feet in the bay.  There are a whole lot of colorful characters on the beach so we don’t stick around too long.  We hop back into our car and head off in the direction that we think might take us to Robin’s Nest.

After what seems like hours of driving, turning around, asking for directions, turning around, going back over our tracks, turning around, and just plain getting lost, we finally somehow find our way to a sign for Robin’s Nest. We drive and drive and drive up the mountain on a curvy, potholed, pitted dirt path that is really not much more than a goat trail that claims to be a road. It’s at least 15 minutes up.

Driving in Jamaica is treacherous, at best.  Your side of the road, my side of the road, and the middle of the road are all one and the same. Winding up and down the mountain and around all these blind curves, now that’s even more scary.  But Bruce is a good driver.  And, thank goodness, our horn works.

Eventually, when we think we can’t go any further, we come upon the Robin’s Nest Children’s Home at the top of the mountain. Bruce says that it’s truly a miracle of God that we found our way up here. We wander around a little until we find someone to let us in.  The two directors, Katy and Vicki, graciously give us a tour.  It’s surprisingly organized and has lots of spaces.  It’s amazing to me how many workers they have in addition to the US missionaries that serve as directors, the teacher and the intern who are both on summer break from the states.  They tell us that some of the Jamaican ladies live more than an hour away in Negril and have to take a taxi to Montego Bay and then find a ride up to the home for their 12 hour shift 5 or 6 days each week.  But, happy to have a job, they never complain.

Robin’s Nest has about 25 kids.  There is a main house and a separate boys house, an apartment for the directors, and they are building another small building for a couple who is coming to stay to be co-directors.  Katy and Vicki are there around the clock and never get a break, so a new couple is coming to help them as co-directors, as well.  Robin’s Nest has two playgrounds, a small swimming pool, a basketball hoop, a large chicken coop, and a big garden. This is some operation they have way up here on the mountain.

Katy and Vicki are so gracious to show us all around and kindly answer all our questions.  I carry around a sweet little 6 month old girl who falls asleep in my arms. Bruce was befriended by an adorable 2 year old who leads him around by the hand and wants to read him every book that he sees.  When we have seen the whole place and asked all the questions that we can think of, we finally leave and wind our way back down the mountain.  We find the road toward Negril and start the hour long drive.  It pours down rain on our way, but at least this is an actual two-lane road, so driving is a little easier.  We are starving so we stop on the side of the road for jerk chicken and mangos.

When we get to Negril we drive through town but do not see our hotel, Sunset on the Cliffs.  We think that we must have missed it, so we turn around and head back towards the strip of hotels. We stop at the sister hotel, Sunset on the Beach.  They tell us that our hotel is still farther down, but that since the restaurant is closed at the other hotel, that we can stay here tonight.  This is actually where we are supposed to meet our friend, Rachel, tomorrow morning, so it seems like a very convenient idea.

We are hungry and tired, so we check in, drop our stuff off in the quaint little beachy room, and head down for dinner.  Lloyd is the bartender and server and he takes good care of us.  We play a quick hand of our favorite traveling card game, Quiddler, and then head back to the room for a shower and go to bed.  It’s only about 8:00 pm, but it’s dark outside, and with no sleep, it feels much later.

Our lesson for the day?  When you think that you are lost or have totally missed your mark, just keep going - you probably just haven’t gotten there yet!

Meeting Whitney

On the way home from Nashville and the Christian Alliance for Orphans conference, we thought about what we should call this ministry.  We decided that we would call it Journey Home Jamaica and thought that we would form a non-profit corporation after we returned from Jamaica at the end of June.

So many people starting coming forward, so many doors were opening, our first big fundraiser was already in the beginning planning stages, and so many people wanted to help, that we thought that maybe we should speed up the process a little bit and incorporate right away.  And so we did.

Then we realized that we needed to do some advertising to share what we are doing and get even more folks to partner with us.  We thought that maybe we needed a logo and a video.  So, I contacted my brother and sister-in-law since that’s exactly what they do: media for ministries.  They don’t come cheap, though, and we were wondering how we would pay to have a professional produce a video for us.  We answered a bunch of questions for them and went back and forth for a couple weeks via email about it.  After several weeks, I got a message from them telling me that they are just way to busy to help us out right now but that they might have some time in the summer of 2015.  Um, we are on the fast track here so that won’t work.....  We were disappointed, but we understood.

The next day was my lunch meeting with Whitney who we had originally met at CAFO, then were re-introduced to in Noblesville at the Bethany Christian Services luncheon.  Whitney and I met at a Wendy’s near her and had lunch.  All the while on the 45 minute drive to meet her, I was wondering what exactly I was doing.  And wondering why God has connected us.

We chatted about the weather and the traffic while we ordered, then sat down to eat.  As we started to get to know each other, she began to tell me her story.  She has had a heart for orphans since she was 18 years old.  Whitney has recently started a ministry for foster kids called 10,000 bags.  She orchestrates the collection of individual bags filled with age appropriate goodies, school supplies, toys, what have you. The concept stems from the idea that foster children carry all of their belongings around in a garbage bag.  This gives them not only something of their very own, but a nice bag or small suitcase to put it in.  A pretty awesome idea, for sure!

Whitney’s Facebook page for 10,000 bags with instructions and suggestions for how to assemble a bag for kids can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/10000Bags   I’m sure she would love to come and pick one up from you!  This is a gal with a very big heart and lots of great dreams to make the world a better place one person at a time.  I encourage you to get to know her if you get the chance!

So, then Whitney began to tell me about her husband, Kassim.  Kassim is a filmmaker and has an eye for design.  She said that he has caught her vision to help the fatherless and has come along side her more and more recently to help her in ministry.

After attending a recent conference with her (not CAFO, but a smaller local gathering) and noticing that so many of the brochures looked like they were handmade, Kassim commented on how great it would be to help ministries turn out some really nice, eye-catching print materials and videos. Whitney told me that he had talked about it more and more recently but that they weren’t sure how to get started or who to approach first.  They talked to a few people but it didn’t seem like a very good fit.  And then after meeting us at lunch the week before, Whitney said that Kassim told her on the way home that he wanted to do a video for us!  Wow!  Just a day after my brother said that he was too busy, now we have someone offering to do a video to help us get started!  Just out of the blue. And at no charge.

She also told me that they had just taken possession of a rented a space for their studio a day or two before.  It’s in a prime location and will help them begin to grow their businesses.  I think that God has some pretty big plans for this really neat couple.  And we can’t wait to connect with them again when we get back from Jamaica!

Jesus for Jamaica

We’ve had so many crazy coincidences - that we know really aren’t a coincidence at all - and have made so many amazing connections, that we were beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, we aren’t crazy.  So we finally decided that it was time to let our church family know what we were thinking.  Shortly after we got back from the Christian Alliance for Orphans conference in May we talked to our pastor.  We briefly told him our vision and what we feel like God is calling us to do.  He asked if we wanted to tell the congregation during the Sunday services the following week: Mother’s Day.

Of course we did!  We briefly shared what we knew up to that point, and told folks that if they had any questions or wanted to know more, to find us after the service.  Many did.  Several had tears in their eyes.  Each had their own story to share with us of adoption or Jamaica or just feeling like God is tugging at their hearts to do something...more.

We took names and contact information and went home.  The next day, Bruce had a meeting at the church.  One of the office staff interrupted him to give him a phone message for us from someone who is interested in getting involved.  Then she asked where to put the money that was going to start coming in.  We had completely forgotten that the service is broadcast on the radio each Sunday, too!

Later on that week, I got an email from my friend, Shauna.  She told me that her friend, Linda, has been working in Jamaica for many years and gave me Linda’s email address and phone number.  I connected with Linda and asked her if we could get together and talk.  As it turns out, Linda lives in Selma, Indiana, which is only a short drive from us!

We drove over to their house and Linda welcomed us into her living room.  Then she started sharing her story.  Linda started the Jesus for Jamaica ministry more than 25 years ago.  She has done so many amazing things with and for the people of Jamaica.  And guess what Linda has a vision to do next....are you ready for this?...start an orphanage!

Linda and her husband, Mel, are very busy people who told us that at one time they had as many as a dozen full and part time jobs yet they  have found the time to build and start a school, have built numerous houses, started a medical clinic, a couple of soup kitchens, and I'm sure there's so much more that I haven't even heard about yet.  And, of course, they have done lots and lots of outreach.

I'm sure it would take a book to list for you all of the things that this woman has been able to do for the people of Jamaica.  In fact, Linda has written a book.  It’s called From Corn Fields to Ganja Fields.  Linda was nice enough to give me a copy of her book while we were at their house.  I read every word of it and gulped it down quickly, even reading most of it aloud to Bruce so that he could hear the story along with me.  But Linda will be the first to tell you that she hasn’t done any of this alone, that it’s all been orchestrated by God and His guidance and has been in His timing.

As we sat there talking with Linda and Mel, it occurred to me how much alike the four of us are - Linda and Mel, and Bruce and me.  Linda and I sat on the edge of our seats listening intently, telling each other our stories, and at times couldn’t talk fast enough!  Mel and Bruce sat quietly next to us, just taking it all in, chiming in with a supportive “oh sure” and “yes, that’s great” every so often.

As I read through Linda’s book, I found that although she is older than I am, we have had many similar experiences.  (But you wouldn’t know it to look at her or talk with her.  She has an amazing amount of energy and I think she is just repeating her 30's over again!)  I am sure that God has brought this lady into our lives to serve as our mentor in some ways.  Linda has generously opened up her home in Jamaica to us and we will spend a part of our time there next week.  She has connected us with her friends who have graciously agreed to show us around, help us look for property, and introduce us to people in the area. 

But Linda wasn’t sure that we would ever meet.  You see, someone from our church who heard us talk on Mother’s Day morning called Linda and told her about us.  She looked me up and tried to contact me by email.  She sent a message to Jennifer Everett (with no “s”), math teacher at Yorktown High School. If you know me, you know that I’m not a math teacher.  And will never be.  Ever.  Linda wondered why I didn’t respond!

Every day God opens up a new door and we make a new connection.  I told Linda the other day that I'm pretty sure that we need a plane.  We need a way to get people and supplies back and forth.  Do you want to hear the story about how that's going to materialize?  Me, too!  I can't wait to share with you what happens tomorrow!

More crazy connections

A couple days after my meeting with Gloria, she sent me a message and told me that I should connect with Shane.  She has known Shane for years and he is like a member of their family.  So, when I got a friend request from Shane on Facebook, I accepted it.  Shane works with Bethany Christian Services in Indianapolis.  He sent me a message about a luncheon in Noblesville the next week...something about Ethiopia.  I ignored the lunch.  I’m a busy person.  Besides, I don’t know anything about Ethiopia.  I’m thinking about beaches in Jamaica.

Shane kept posting about this lunch thing.  And I kept seeing it.  And it bugged me.  So, finally I told Bruce that I thought that I should go...for some reason...and maybe he should go to keep me company.  I emailed them that we were coming before I changed my mind.  No backing out now.  They have reserved our spot and are planning for us.

The Wednesday of the lunch in Noblesville came.  Bruce came home from work and picked me up. We really had no idea why we were supposed to go to this thing, but we hopped in the car anyhow and figured that it would be lunch together and we would meet new people.  

Okay, so in planning the fundraising, we thought that we should probably have a silent auction sometime, too. We had been brainstorming about who we knew that might have sports memorabilia. You know, signed footballs, basketballs, posters, stuff like that.  Those kinds of things bring in lots of money at fundraisers.  On the drive to Noblesville we passed the time by talking about which one of our friends might have something sitting on a shelf in a closet or in the attic, or who might know someone...

We got to the huge church in Noblesville, found the room that we were supposed to be in, met Shane in person briefly, and were escorted to the lunch line.  Ethiopian food.  Okay, we’ll give it a go.  It’s another adventure, right?  We took our chicken pastry thing and rubbery injera pancake and made our way to an empty table to sit down.

A girl walked over and started to introduce herself, then stopped and said, “Hey, I know you two!” Then she turned to her husband and said, “Hey honey, these are the two that I was telling you about that I met at CAFO who are going to be working in Jamaica!”  It was Whitney from the conference in Nashville! But this time she had brought her husband with her.  When they sat down next to us, I got shivers up and down my spine and goosebumps on my arms. She said that she had been thinking about us since the conference.

A few minutes later, on the other side of me, a very large black man sat down.  And I mean this man was an absolute giant. He was very soft spoken as he introduced himself.  We chatted some during the meal.  As soon as lunch was over, Shane got up and began to share what Bethany Christian Services has been doing in Ethiopia.  Then he introduced a couple of gentlemen who had been to Ethiopia and had seen first hand the work that Bethany does there.  He asked them to come up and share their story and answer questions.  The gentleman next to me stood up and walked to the front.  Tarik Glenn, former Colts offensive tackle.  Oh boy. And I had been sitting right next to him.

All through the lunch we heard about how Bethany Christian Services helps and serves in different countries.  They do so many of the things that Bruce and I have talked about wanting to do - giving micro loans to women so that they can become more independent, helping keep families together, helping children become adopted in their own country.  We knew that we were there to make a relationship with them.  And we did.  In fact, we met the director of global initiatives that day.  

But I felt like there was something more.  Before we left, Whitney and I exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet the following week.

Fabulous FAB

The next day after I met Rachel and Emily in Greensburg, Indiana in the morning, and talked to Brittany in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Christina in Atlanta, Georgia in the afternoon, I somehow ran across the date for the FAB meeting in Anderson, Indiana for the next month.  FAB stands for Females Active in Business.  I’ve been invited to attend FAB many times and I know lots of the ladies that participate, but it has never worked out with my busy schedule to attend.  But for April, it would. So I signed up for the luncheon and reserved my vendor table so that I could share my business, too.

On the day of April meeting, I got there early and grabbed the first table by the door.  The lunch meeting was well attended and I was very busy sharing with everyone that came through the door.  One of the featured businesses that day was a lady named Gloria who is starting her event planning business. She’s planned events for years as a volunteer, but decided that this was the time in her life to retire herself from her full-time job and put her organizations skills to use managing her own time.  She got up and talked about how event planners can be helpful and she gave some nice tips.  I jotted down her name and grabbed one of her cards off the table.  

At the end of the meeting, I continued to go around and network, talking to people as they left.  When I was finally packing and cleaning up my table, I noticed for the first time in two hours that Gloria had a table right next to mine.  By this point, we were the only two people left in the big banquet room.  They were folding up the chairs and moving the tables around us.  Gloria is very personable and right away we hit it off.  We talked and talked.

A few weeks later after we came back from the conference in Nashville, I called Gloria and asked her if we could talk about having her help me with a fundraiser.  She came over to our house and was very excited to hear about our plans. She shared with me that her brother has four adopted children and that they have a sponsored girl in Haiti that they feel very close to - like a daughter or granddaughter.  She asked me if I would like to share sometime at her church and said that she would talk to her other brother about speaking at the church that he pastors, as well.

Several days after meeting with Gloria, we had finalized the date and place of our first big fundraiser - a 5k set for August 24.  I had the application and check in my hand to take to the park department in Anderson to reserve our date when a message came through on my phone.  It was from my friend, Emily.

Emily said that she has recently taken up running and was going to run her first race in July.  She had been thinking about how to get the youth of her church involved in helping missions and wanted to plan a fundraiser for us to help with our project in Jamaica.  She thought maybe a 5k in her area would be a fun idea!

Wow.  My jaw hit the floor!  Emily had absolutely no idea that I had talked to Gloria about doing a 5k fundraiser, and she certainly had no idea that I was on my way out the door to drop off the park application and secure the date for the very same thing that she was thinking about.  Amazing.

Oh, and when I shared with Emily what we were planning, I asked her to come sing and play in the afternoon at our fundraiser in August. 

Making connections

At the end of March we had a new team member to our side business.  I set up an appointment to meet with Rachel to share information and answer any of her questions.  A couple days later, we met in the middle of the morning at a Subway in Greensburg, Indiana.  Her teenage daughter, Emily, was with her.

As I got to know Rachel and Emily, Rachel shared with me that her husband is the pastor of a small country church and that they have five children, three of which are adopted - two cute little boys and a girl. Sophia came into their lives exactly one year to the day after the two boys, Samuel and Isaac. Sophia was adopted because Emily had gone to China to spend a week working in an orphanage there. Emily fell in love with Sophia and didn’t want to come home without her.  I sat amazed with tears in my eyes as they told me their story.

Emily is also a musician who writes her own music.  She has written songs about adoption and has become quite the speaker in Indiana.  Her circle of influence has spread beyond state lines and all over into the Midwest.  She has been asked to speak at numerous events, conferences, summer camps, and ladies luncheons.

The night before I was to meet with Rachel, Bruce came home and excitedly told me about a website that he had somehow accidentally stumbled across while looking for something else.  This website told about an orphanage that was a dream becoming a reality in Jamaica.  I immediately contacted the names on the website and set up a phone call with them the next day.

So, while I was learning from Rachel and Emily about their heart for the fatherless, I told them about our vision for Jamaica and the phone call that I was to have later that afternoon.  They were excited to hear my story and are definitely first on the list for our first mission trip. They are both beautiful women and have become special, supportive and encouraging friends.      
                 
Later that afternoon I talked to Brittany and Christina, two of the founders of Project Orphan. It turns out that Christina is originally from Kingston, Jamaica.  The girls, who were friends from college at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, along with a few others, are raising funds to start orphanages in several different countries.  As I type this today, they are breaking ground in Uganda. How awesome!  Brittany and I have spoken several times since then and have become Facebook friends.  She has been an enormous help, a wealth of information, as well as some wonderful moral support.

Ironically, in my discussions with Brittany, we have discovered that both of our “visions” for helping children in Jamaica fall on the same timelines - almost to the day, in fact.  Wow.

Break-out sessions

The Christian Alliance for Orphans Conference was held at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville.  It is a huge and beautiful facility that has rooms and rooms and seems to go on forever.  Over the course of the conference there were multiple different “break-out” sessions that participants could attend. Topics ranged from how to start an orphan care ministry in your church, to how to put on a successful missions trip, children aging out of foster care, to global orphan care, and on and on. There were more than 90 different topics and sessions offered.  We attended six different sessions during our time there.

One session was held in a beautiful chapel with Gothic arches and stained glass windows.  It was about starting an orphan care ministry in your church.  At one point, the speaker asked us to partner up with some of the folks sitting in pews near us to discuss several questions that were posted on the large screen at the front of the room.  It was a little awkward at first, but when we turned around in our seats we met a really wonderful gal name Whitney sitting right behind us.  As we talked, we discovered that she lives in Noblesville, Indiana, just a 45 short minutes from where we live in Yorktown!

We had a short visit with Whitney who is trying to get an orphan care ministry started in her church. We tried to find each other on Facebook from our cell phones so that we could stay connected since we live so close.  We wanted to be able to applaud her progress and she was interested in following our journey to Jamaica.  But, there was no cell service in the stone chapel so we vowed to do it later.

As often happens in settings like this, the information that we took home from the conference was voluminous.  We talked to scores of people and picked up stacks of brochures.  The page with Whitney's name and information on it became buried under notes, business cards, books, t-shirts, and stacks of papers.  Sadly, I haven’t seen that page from my notebook again.

We talked about Whitney on our way home from Tennessee to Indiana .  Whitney?  Are you out there somewhere?

"With" is a powerful thing...

Right at the beginning on the first day of the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit Conference, the emcee, Peder Eide, shared with us the memory of an old airline commercial that came to his mind. He explained that in the last scene we see three kids sitting together on a beach with their arms wrapped around each other, looking out over the sunset on the ocean.  The caption at the top of the screen reads, "’With’ is a powerful thing."  Wow.

That really struck me.  I have thought of that visual image many times since then.

The global orphan crisis is HUGE.  Some estimates say that there are as many as 147 million orphans worldwide.  147 million children without one or both parents.  147 million children without adequate food or a place to sleep.  147 million children who go to bed each night without being hugged or tucked in.  147 million children who need someone to love them and take care of them.  147 million of God's children that need to be prayed for.

None of us can do it alone.  We have to have partners.  We have to have help.  We have to all do our part.  With.  With each other.  Yeah, it’s a pretty powerful image, isn’t it?

I have looked all over and have not been able to find that commercial to actually watch myself or to share with you.  But thanks to Peder, I have that powerful reference in my mind that has carried me from that conference and beyond.

“With” is a powerful thing.  Will you help us by partnering with Journey Home Jamaica?  Would you sit next to me on the beach with your arms wrapped around me, looking out over the ocean after a day of helping to feed and care for children who need love?  Would you like to help a child learn how to read, throw a ball, tie his shoes or wash her hands?  Or maybe your role is sitting at your kitchen table and involving your family in a discussion about how you could help Journey Home Jamaica financially? Can you see yourself sitting in your living room in your quiet time with a picture of Jamaica, praying for this ministry?


What is your part in this journey?  How will you go with us?

Christian Alliance for Orphans

One Thursday in early February 2013, I found myself on the YMCA website searching out what programs they have to offer.  I desperately wanted to take advantage of our Y membership since we just don’t use it very often.  An upcoming bible study caught my attention that started the very next day.

I called my mom and asked her if she would like to go with me to do a Beth Moore study on Friday mornings.  I picked her up the next morning and we attended our first class where we met several very sweet ladies.  Each week we would watch the video of Beth Moore, talk for an hour or so after, then go shopping or have lunch.  It was a small and intimate class, so there were a lot of personal sharing going on.

One of the gals in the class told us that she and her husband were in the process of adopting a daughter from China.  Each week she would share with us their progress with the lengthy paperwork and how they were cutting through some of the red tape.  One morning I really felt compelled to share our vision of Jamaica with her.  She was excited and told me about the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit - an international conference for orphan care ministry that would be coming to Nashville, Tennessee at the beginning of May.

I looked up the website for CAFO and talked to Bruce about it.  But really? This is probably way over our heads.  We don’t intend to really and actually do this....do we?  The Holy Spirit bugged me about it so much and so often and through so many ways and means (a few of which I've shared on this blog), that I finally booked our tickets and reserved our hotel room just a few days before the event.

The conference was AMAZING!  As soon as we walked in, we knew that we were in the right place.  More than 2500 people were in attendance from 49 states and 25 countries.  Wow.  We learned about starting an orphan care ministry, how to advertise and use media effectively, how to efficiently lead mission teams, who to partner with for clothing, education, fundraising, adoption and so much more!  We made connections that we could not have found anyplace else.  And we came home from that weekend full of information, ideas, and excitement that would carry us through the next weeks and months.

So many people from all over the world shared their stories of being orphaned, of being adopted, of having adopted children and blended families.  The emcee for the conference was Peder Eide, a praise and worship leader from Minnesota. He and his wife, Sherri have two adopted children along with their own biological three. He added so much to our experience at CAFO.  We really fell in love with his heart for orphan care ministry and his fun filled, humorous spirit.

Just one of the many highlights for us, though, was when Family Life Radio interviewed Bishop WC Martin from Possum Trot, Texas, the pastor who we had read about in Guideposts a couple of months earlier.  Bishop Martin and his church have adopted 76 children out of foster care in their little town of only 600 people. (Where is Possum Trot, you ask?  Oh, it's just south of Coonville....of course!)  When he walked out on stage, we took that as a definite sign that God wanted us to see.  If they can do it, then what’s stopping us?

God speaking through a thrift store t-shirt

A few days after Bruce saw my local Jamaican friend, Robert, in his parking space in the morning, Sue rang my doorbell at noon.  She had a small gift bag in her hand.  She hesitantly pulled out a t-shirt, said that she had been shopping at Goodwill, saw this and just felt like she should get it for me.  She said her husband thought it seemed kind of crazy and she didn’t really know what I would think, but she got it anyway.

When she showed it to me, I gasped, then started to cry.  She apologized for buying me something from a thrift store, but I quickly explained to her that was not at all the reason for my tears!  The tank top is a dark olive green with the word “Jamaica” across the front in sparkly rhinestones.  Sue knew that we had been to Jamaica, but she knew nothing more about our thoughts of going back or what we envision could lie ahead for us there.

Wow.  Is God really speaking to us?  It seems like He is no longer just tapping us gently on the shoulder, but ringing our doorbell!

Spring Garden Healing Center

While I would sit at the mall at our kiosk and during the slow times in the middle of the week days, I would search the internet for property in Jamaica.  Sometimes I would come home in the evenings and sit with Bruce looking at picture for hours on end.  We scoured over property after property, villas, hotels and resorts. $1 million. $2 million. $3 million or more.  It's a good thing window shopping is free.

One night I ran across a privately owned piece of property near Negril.  It wasn’t $4 million dollars but it definitely will need some work. The story on the webpage told of a son who was trying to help his mother sell her property.  Mom is in her 90's and lived in Jamaica for a time.  The property appeared to have at least one building on it and was previously used as a bed and breakfast.

I found the contact information at the bottom of the page and sent him an email, not really even expecting to hear anything back.  Many times webpages like this are years old and the email addresses are long dead.  But the very next day, I received a response.  It said that the property was still available and to call with further questions.  Before I had a chance to respond, I got another email from a woman who said that she was the owner.

So, the next day, I mustered up all my courage, and called her.  She peppered me questions.  She wouldn’t tell me anything about the property until she interviewed me.  So when I had somewhat cautiously told her my story, I asked about her.  She told me about herself and the property formerly known as Spring Garden Healing Center.

Ms. Citrin told me that after her husband had passed away, some time later her kids had taken her on a vacation to Jamaica.  When it was time to pack up and leave for the airport, she told them that she wasn’t going home.  And so she stayed.  She met a Jamaican man, married him, and they built this bed and breakfast in a little place called Spring Garden, named so for all the natural freshwater springs there.  She lived in Jamaica for something like 10 years and hosted folks from all over the world at their little place.  The marriage to “her Jamaican”, as she affectionately called him, came to an end so she returned to the states and eventually ended up living in Mexico.  But she was visiting in St. Louis at the time that I called her.

I excitedly told Bruce about our conversation.  We decided that St. Louis wasn’t too far, and since we are always up for a little adventure, we jumped in the car and drove the five hours there to see her. She loving told us all about Jamaica, her bed and breakfast, the community center that she built in nearby Ketto, the little shop down the road where she bought her groceries, trips through the "hidden cane fields" on her motor bike, the school and the church nearby.  We could almost see the mountains in her explanation, the lush Jamaican jungle, and the fruit trees all over the property.  She shared pictures of the buildings and the grounds and people bathing in the spring.  It was obvious to us that when she left Jamaica, she left a big part of her heart on that island.

We spent a couple hours visiting with her in St. Louis at the home of her friends who hosted us. What a spunky lady Mrs. Citrin is!  91 years young.  I can only pray that we all look that great and act that young when we are her age!   Bruce and I had a wonderful visit with Lenora Rachel Citrin and told her that we would talk about when we could visit the property in Jamaica in person. I connected with her on Facebook - yes, at 91 she navigates around on Facebook from her ipad.  Since that day, she has become my very special friend.

As we were leaving and she was walking us out, she told us that she had documented her life in Jamaica.  She said, “Now I can finish the book. You are the last chapter in my beloved Jamaica story.”

Meeting Robert

From October 2012 to January 2013, we decided to take a plunge and rent a kiosk at the Muncie Mall for a side business that we had. For those several months we spent many hours at the Muncie Mall sharing about our business. Day in and day out I sat at the kiosk and talked with people as they came by.  And during that time, I saw the Jamaican flag EVERYWHERE!  On T-shirts, on purses and bags, on hats.  Honestly, at least once a day someone would walk up to me or walk by me clad in black, yellow and green.  It became kind of a game to me to see where Jamaica would pop up next!

Enter Robert: Next to our kiosk was a large bench for tired husbands to wait while their wives scoured the stores for just the right Christmas gifts.  One day I turned to look toward that bench and my eyes just about bugged out of my head.  Here on the bench was a short, slender black man, with dread locks down his back, dressed in Jamaican gear from his hat to his tennis shoes!

I marched right up to him to introduce myself and he told me that his name was Robert.  Robert is from Jamaica and lives in Muncie.  According to others that I talked to later (just to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming) Robert is likely homeless and is seen all around Muncie, although I had never laid eyes on him before.  Robert and I swapped stories for at least a half hour about different places on the island, where the best jerk huts are, and where to wreck dive near the airports.  Robert promised to come back to talk to me and share pictures of his homeland, but to this day I have not seen him again.

Months later when Bruce and I were deciding that we definitely needed to wait for at least 10 years or more to go back to Jamaica, he would pull into his rented and designated parking space at his office downtown, and Robert would be standing in it.  Bruce called me, obviously somewhat shaken, to announce to me that we were most certainly going to move forward in whatever capacity God chooses to show us!

Possum Trot, Texas

One lazy Saturday morning in February, I picked up the latest issue of Guideposts magazine. I opened it up to an article called "The Healing Power of Unconditional Love".  Aw, doesn’t that sound sweet? I thought to myself.  I started to read the pages and my jaw dropped open.

This was the story of a pastor, Bishop WC Martin, and his wife, Donna, from Possum Trot, Texas. Donna felt God calling her to adopt kids out of foster care. When other members of their church saw what Donna and her husband were doing, they all wanted to adopt children, too.  The little town of Possum Trot, with a population of only 600 people, adopted 76 children out of the foster care system! When I read the article to Bruce, I couldn’t keep my voice from breaking up.  When I looked at him, his eyes were moist, too.

Wow.  If Possum Trot, Texas can adopt 76 children, what can we do?

You can read the Guideposts story here:
http://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/inspirational-stories/the-healing-power-of-unconditional-love

Foster care in Jamaica?

When we got home from Jamaica in July 2011, we joked about how fun it would be to live Jamaica - maybe even own a hotel or bed and breakfast on the ocean.  It was a dream that we talked about just about every day.  We talked about it so often that our family started to accept it as reality.

About a year later, I woke up early one July morning  to a vision and said to Bruce, “I think we are going to start a children’s home or a foster care center or something....in Jamaica.”  He looked at me for a minute like I had two heads, and then said., “Um, okay.”

Now, let me clarify that I know nothing whatsoever about adoption, foster care, or even much about Jamaica.  We did get off the beaten path on our trip - our vacation and second honeymoon - but not really very far.  We never went to an orphanage.  Nor have I ever been to an orphanage.  However, this vision was pretty clear to me.  But, I wondered, is there even a need for adoptive parents or foster families in Jamaica?  So I went where everyone goes when there is a question: Google.  And there, on the front page of the Jamaica Observer for July 7, 2012 the headline read, “We need more foster families”.  The government was desperately trying to place some 6,000 children!  Hmmm....well, I guess maybe there is a need.  In doing a little more research over the next few days we discovered that there are some 75,000 children that are in need of care. Wow.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/We-need-more-foster-families---gov-t_11888814

But really?  Is this supposed to be our job?  We talked about it more and more over the next couple of weeks and months.  We were thinking that maybe when 11 year old Katie, our youngest, is graduated....from college.  Maybe then.  We’ll just dream about it and carefully plan it out. We’ll get out of debt first.  We’ll save up some money. We’ll prepare our beach bodies for Jamaica. We’ll do more travel first.  Then perhaps we could start a small bed and breakfast someplace on the Caribbean Ocean. And then, when we are well established, we will think about helping out with some orphanage.  We can send support in each month - don’t they call that ‘adopting’ a child?  Yes, that's just what we'll do.

Come Back to Jamaica

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, my parents took us on a family vacation to Montego Bay, Jamaica. My parents loved to travel and we took several trips every year, but this particular vacation I remember like it was yesterday.  We stayed at the very stately Chatham Beach Hotel with its large white pillars in the front.  I remember the hot pink bikini that I wore when I swam in the pool.  My brother, Jim, took a black and white photo of me with my arms hanging onto the cement of the pool deck and my wet hair slicked back.  That picture has long since been lost over the years, but I can still see the pink swimsuit with its blue and yellow stripe.

I remember the walk across the street to the beach and the glass bottom boat ride.  Our captain and guide was Eggbert.  He showed us lots of fish pointing through the floor of the small rickety boat, then jumped over  into the water and swam down underneath with a sea urchin in his hand, shredded it open, and fish all ate right off his palm.  Watching those tropical fish was amazing to me, and very memorable.  My mom and I walked to the straw market where she traded my little sundresses and sandals for straw bags and had my hair braided in corn rows.  My scalp got sunburned.  And all of my classmates knew I had been someplace exotic when I got back to school!

I had my first jerk pork served steaming straight from an oil drum and washed it down with fruit punch. We stood around under the thatched roof of the jerk hut eating until we were all stuffed.  My brother, Dan, picked a red hibiscus and stuck it behind my ear.  I wore it as we walked back to the hotel in the humid tropical air.

About 10 years later, my Dad decided that we should take a family cruise before we all went our separate ways and we could still make the time to be together.  One of our stops was Ocho Rios.  We floated down the Martha Brae on a bamboo raft and ate jerk pork at Scotchies - this time with a Red Stripe.  It was a wonderful vacation.

Several years ago while I was standing in line at airport security, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman in front of me.  I was on a business trip to a convention in Las Vegas and he was flying back home to Jamaica.  He handed me an extra large postcard advertisement for a restaurant and told me that he owned the Houseboat Grill in Montego Bay.  He invited me to stop by if I was ever in the area.  When I got home from Vegas and unpacked, I put that card on my vision board, knowing that someday I wanted to travel back to Jamaica.

Fast forward about another 5 years.  I meet Bruce, we fall in love and get married, blending together our large and busy family.  Our house is full of love and laughter, lots of groceries and laundry, and lots of fun.  One year later, I woke up and realized that in just a few short days, all the kids will be...somewhere else!  Summer camp, at Grandma’s house...off. Gone. Away.  “What are we going to do, Bruce?” “Let’s take a trip!” he says and then looks at the Houseboat Grill postcard on my vision board.  So, a few days later, we boarded a plant and off to Jamaica we went!

We had a fabulous time.  We rented a car and went from one side of the island to the other.  We climbed Dunn’s River Falls, saw the Doctor Birds at Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, went snorkeling in Mo Bay, ate jerk pork at Scotchies, floated down the Martha Brae, swam in Luminous Lagoon, climbed YS Falls, and took a boat out to the Pelican Bar. Yes, we even found the Houseboat Grill and had dinner there. And every morning at breakfast and every night after dinner I got to drink Blue Mountain Coffee - the best in the world. If we didn’t have kids waiting for us at home, we might never have come back.

Journey Home Jamaica

James 1:27 says, “ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress....”  Did you know that the Bible commands us to care for orphans no less than 40 times?!

My adventures with my husband Bruce began in 2010 when we had a wonderful wedding and honeymoon on an Alaskan cruise... with all six of our children and more than a dozen family and friends!  A year later we found ourselves alone in the house for the very first time.  So what did we do?   Naturally, we decided to do what we love: TRAVEL!  We hopped on a plane to spend an amazing week in Jamaica where we fell in love with the people, the culture and the food!  But we were saddened by the poverty and the great need that we saw there.  Since that time, God has placed it on our hearts to help the children of the beautiful tropical island of Jamaica.

Did you know that there are almost 75,000 displaced, orphaned or uncared for children in the tiny island nation of Jamaica?  It’s true. At only 51 miles wide and 146 miles long, the whole island is smaller than the state of Connecticut. 75,000 children?!  That’s more than the entire population of a lot of cities!

And so comes the birth of Journey Home Jamaica: a place where women and children in distress can come for love, healing and restoration. We believe that God is preparing a place for His plans to be completed in Jamaica.  We are very excited about the possibilities!

So many doors are opening and we are excited to walk through them in faith.  We have decided to journal the story of this adventure in a blog.  Please feel free to follow along, if you’d like!

We also ask that, if you feel led, that you to join us in helping with this ministry. We are planning fundraising efforts and putting together work crews.  We will need donors, workers and supplies to turn this dream into a reality.  And we will need plenty of prayer warriors!

Will you join us in helping the children of Jamaica?  Has God placed adoption or foster care on your hearts?  Are you interested in being a part of an orphan care ministry in your home church?

Will you commit to partnering with us financially with a one-time gift, as an on-going sponsor, by participating in fundraising efforts, or as a prayer partner?  Do you have a special gift or talent that could benefit by advertising and spreading awareness of this project?  Would you be willing to go with us on a future work crew or missions trip?

Please send us an email or friend us on Facebook!  We would love to connect with you!