15 Pounds of Crayons

What do 15 pounds of crayons, 60 toothbrushes, 462 scrub uniforms, and a big bag of silly bandz have in common? They are all among the many things people have donated for the mission trip to Haiti. I have been amazed at the generosity and thoughtfulness of people as they've heard I'm heading to Haiti. It's an exciting privilege to be able to deliver these gifts. I've packed over 300 pounds of donated items! It was an interesting challenge dividing things up so that each bag weighs less than 50 pounds.

I look forward to taking these supplies, and I am eager to help out in any way possible. There are 8 of us going together, and the whole reason behind this trip is to share God's love. God is love, and He loves each of us so much that He wants us to be in a real relationship with Him. This is actually possible through His Son, Jesus. Don't miss out on this. Life is too short to miss the whole point.

As it says in 2 Corinthians 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."                                                                                      

For more details, check out: http://sarahshares.com/YouAreVerySpecial.html
Live for what lasts!
                                                                                            ~ Sarah

Don't Miss the Now

As I was driving to work early in the morning, it was still dark out. I noticed something reflecting on the side of the road up ahead, and it looked like it was flickering. I kept looking at it, trying to figure out if it was an animal or what. Suddenly I realized there was a huge branch on the road right in front of me and I had to swerve to miss it. Thankfully, it was an empty road and there were no cars coming the other way.

How many times do I miss what's right in front of me because I'm looking ahead? I like the way Jim Elliot put it: "Wherever you are - be all there." Most of the time I have many different projects going on, big and small, and I also work full-time. It's easy to be thinking about the next thing I need to take care of instead of enjoying the moment I'm in. It is important to be ready and prepared. Actually, I just did a little write-up on being prepared for the end of life.

You can check it out at:

http://sarahshares.com/EndofLifeCareandDecisions.html

That being said, don't miss what is going on right now!

Two big things ahead for me right now are getting ready to go to Haiti next week for a short-term mission trip and getting ready to go over the first edits on a children's book I'm really excited about (more on that later:). Right now, though, right at this moment, I'm off from work and my amazing husband, Mike, will be home shortly. I'm going to leave tomorrow for tomorrow and get some popcorn and a movie ready so we can enjoy a night in! 

Oh, by the way, the thing I saw reflecting was simply a reflector on a telephone pole with some branches waving back and forth in front of it. 

~ Sarah 

Chocolate Chips and Malaria Pills



The marketplace on La Gonave, Haiti.



Today was a day of running some unusual errands for my upcoming mission trip to Haiti. I picked up packages of live typhoid vaccine and malaria prevention medicine. Not your everyday trip to the pharmacy! As the team and I prepare, we've asked the missionaries who live there if there is anything they'd like us to bring. One small request is for chocolate chips. Personally, I often take for granted the fact that I can so easily stop by the grocery store or pharmacy or a multitude of other places to pick things up. Almost any time I feel like it I can pick up some chocolate chips and bake some cookies.

I'm going to Haiti for a mere 8 days. There are people who have dedicated months and years to serving in Haiti. They've sacrificed and given so much. It really puts things into perspective for me. Right now there are many power outages in my area. When our electricity goes out, it seems like such a major inconvenience, but there are many in the world who don't have electricity or clean water or even a roof over their heads.



This woman welcomed a baby who was abandoned into her small home.

 
Yet in the midst of the poverty in Haiti, there is evidence of hope. In this photo you see a woman who has hardly anything, but she has a love for God and is sharing that with others. She lives in one of the poorest sections on La Gonave, yet she has opened her small one room home to others with less than her. She reminds me of the woman that Jesus noted in Luke 21 who "out of her poverty put in all she had to live on". She has true riches. May you and I go after true riches, the kind that last.