God is so Good! ALL the time!

Hi. This is Raquel Babb posting on Stuart’s account.

God is so good! ALL the time! I know that if you have been around me anytime in the past 2 weeks then you have probably heard me say this phrase a time or two. It has become my new little phrase lately, but I truly have seen it in so many different things the past few weeks that I just can’t stop giving God the credit and glory that He is good all the time. If we truly believe it in our heart, you will see that it is true too.

Many of you know that a few weeks ago I grew weary as to why I was going on this journey to Haiti . I started to think of every excuse as to why I couldn’t or shouldn’t go. 1st it was the timing thing. It just didn’t make sense with all the different activities that my girls had going on and all the different responsibilities that I had at both of the girl’s schools and dance that I could possibly go out of town, let alone another country, during this week. But my wonderful husband, family and friends stepped right up to offer to take care of them and I know they are. Secondly, it just didn’t make sense to me that at this time it financially really didn’t fit into our budget to spend so much on my travel expenses, expedited expired passport, vaccines and medicines. But here again my family and friends took care of this by either a generous donation to my trip account or to the benefit garage sale I had the week before my departure. All my financial burdens were met. (Thank you to everyone that helped with this burden, I can’t thank you enough. It has meant the world to me as to how generous y’all have been) Thirdly, I have developed a fear of flying over the past several years. I know I shouldn’t, as God tells us to not have any fear (Isa 41:10), but I have and I thought I really do not know any of these team members. Whose hand am I going to hold if we end up on a rough flight? But here again that was answered as the Lord laid it on my sweet mom’s heart that she too was suppose to go on this mission journey with me. (By the way family and friends: we are getting along rather well…no major fights…ha…yet anyways…Ha!) And thank you God for 2 pretty uneventful flights here. Now everyone start praying for the same for the return.

Lastly, one of my biggest excuses that I was trying to pull was that this trip was way out of my comfort zone. Anyone that knows me well knows that I am a very emotional gal….I cry at everything happy or sad. So how was I going to go to Haiti and work with orphans who have just gone through such a tragic event? I have been on mission trips before but mostly medical ones where I am not with the same kids or people but for a day or a few hours. But this trip I would be with these kids every day and be building a relationship with them. How was I going to be able to do this trip without being an emotional wreck? How was I going to handle leaving all these precious kids? So yes, I am weeping a lot of tears so far on this trip. And yes, I have been developing some wonderful relationships with these kids.

But I am so thankful that God has allowed for me to go on this trip and has taken care of every “excuse” I had. It truly has been an incredible experience so far. This trip has met every expectation I had and beyond. There are way too many wonderful things and some great stories to write and blog about on here that I have experienced so far. The kids are so precious and loving. I just want to hug and kiss every one of them (which I usually do!) They are so excited to see us. It just melts my heart to see them come running up to me and grabbing my hand or hugging my waist. There are usually 3 or 4 kids on us at all times. They are beautiful! Like I just said, I have so many wonderful stories that I could write about that I have experienced the past 2 days, but if you know me well then you know I could and would ramble on and on and on, so I will wait to do that when you have time to sit down with me to hear about them, I am so excited to see what God has planned for our team for the next 3 days while we are here in Hait ; I know it will be more wonderful things and stories. I am so thankful for the Sweet Sleep organization for making this trip possible and for taking me out of my comfort zone. I love everything that Sweet Sleep is doing for these kids and was very excited to get to see the beds today that they are having built here in Haiti for these kids. I hope and pray it won’t be long till these kids will have these bed to call their own and be able to have “sweet sleep” that they so deserve.

Yes, there are a few kids I adore and would love to bring back with me (don’t worry John, I know I can’t as I already have checked on it…ha!) but I do know that God is good ALL the time and he has bigger and better plans for each one these kids here. They are in good hands. They are in God’s hands. I am just so thankful that our team gets to love on them this week.

Blessings from Haiti!

Raquel