gratitude. . .

i have been thinking about that word alot. gratitude. being grateful. appreciating what you have. i know that being in haiti always brings to life in me the reality of how blessed and privileged i am in so many ways.

i am grateful for water. currently we are having a problem here at the mission with our water supply. we don't know if it is the pump or the well. it hasn't rained in a couple months and we just got a new pump, so not sure. not having water makes one realize so quickly how important it is. i usually just turn on the faucet and don't even think about it, but there are so many people in the world who live extremely different from that. carrying water for their daily needs.

i am grateful for smiles. when life seems hard and complicated smiles and laughter is such a blessing. little isaiah (the preemie from when i was here before) is smiling and laughing and making those baby noises that are just beautiful and bring such a joy to my life.

i am grateful for health. one of our main staff persons here is out to the states with some major health problems and we are praying for healing for her. we had a 17 year old boy brought into the birthing center the other night after he had fallen four stories. he couldn't walk, talk or really respond at all. life is so fragile.

i am grateful for people who care. yesterday i realized we only had three tubes of triple antibiotic ointment left. as you can imagine we go through that stuff like crazy. but today as this group unpacked and we sorted some of the things they brought it was lots of triple antibiotic ointment.

i am grateful for grace. completely undeserved, yet so freely given.