Tori's Stories

Its funny how things don’t work out our way. No, not funny: frustrating. This week I’m teaching the preschoolers about Easter. As I thought about the story I wanted to teach them the true meaning—that God loved us so much he sent his son to die for us. But even more that He defeated the grave and rose! How do I tell that to three and four year olds who know death as a reality? This morning was all planned out. A fun Easter book to ease into it and an egg craft that used shaving cream and mixing colors (what kid wouldn’t enjoy that). Nothing too deep, but I planned to begin to talk about how much Jesus loves us and the new life (egg) He gave us because of dying for us. And it all went off without a hitch. Everything happened perfectly; no fighting, turns where taken, no biting, clean up went well, no stealing snacks, no hitting, no crying, and we have beautiful marbled eggs to show for it. Or not. That whole last paragraph did not happen. In fact, the opposite of each of...

  What if 26,500 suddenly died in our world? It would be all over the news and we would be heartbroken. What if I told you that happened yesterday. Oh and guess what it will again tomorrow. Over that amount die each day from preventable causes in third world countries and no one is doing anything about it. I picked up the book “The Hole in Our Gospel” today and picked up where I left off at least a year ago. He went on to suggest that we really only care when this loss hits our circle. It’s too easy to dismiss the thought of a child dying in Africa. Yes, we pause for a moment with sadness, but our life continues on as normal. If our neighbor’s child was dying, would we do the same? What if it was your child? What would you do then? 26,500--- Read that again twenty six thousand five hundred (plus) people (mostly children) died each day—EACH DAY! But our lives continue as if nothing happened. I think its perfect timing that I picked this book up today. The day I learned ...

Me: “I didn’t sign up for this. This isn’t why I came to Haiti.” God: “Everything happens in my time, child” This past week has left me speechless and even thoughtless. My thoughts and emotions where picked up, thrown down, and scrambled around. Read this blog to see where we where Monday night (and about two of our babies I will talk about later), http://torirayle.blogspot.com/2013/03/why.html . Short story version is like this. We had two babies that where in the hospital who went just shortly after being admitted here, but not too short to be loved and a tiny little abandoned baby who was set to come here after being released from the hospital had died that day. We were down in spirits and praying for these two little ones who where loved and continuing on with life. Psalms 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” We needed to take refuge in His strength because ours was running low. Wednesday evening one of our babies, Annabel, was ...

I got to spend my Saturday night hanging out with our newest little admit, Cheslie. Each hour I had to feed her. As I slowly put food in her belly through a tube I prayed that it wouldn’t come up, that she’d stay hydrated, that she would be able to eat normally again. For a few hours she’d keep most of it down and then all of a sudden, she’d throw a whole lot up again. Her little whimpers and not so little cries of discomfort and hunger brought me to tears. This beautiful little girl with black curly hair and big eyes was in so much pain. She’s just four months old and smaller than many American newborns. I wanted to “fix” her. I wanted to take the pain away, I wanted to hold her and tell her it was all going to be okay, I wanted her to know she was loved, and to feel loved. Its amazing how fast you can bond with a child, only a few hours with them and you feel connected for a lifetime. You feel a sense of responsibility to ensure the health and well being of this child, even ...