Dominican Update Again

We've spent some time with Haitian families who have found refuge here in the Dominican Republic. The poverty they faced in Haiti was unbearable, their children were dying of hunger (I really mean that). It has been difficult for me to relate. I remember days of not having much to eat in my house, but we always had something. No matter how extreme our poverty is in America, the thought of putting our children to bed at night without dinner is something many of us have never had to do. Yet, this is a daily reality for many of them. So many of their children can't attend school because the Dominican government won't allow them to enter public school without a birth certificate...Haiti's government makes it very difficult to obtain a birth certificate. As I watch the Haitian children playing outside or doing chores while the Dominican children are in school, my heart breaks. It reminds me of my early days of homeschooling, when I didn't know what I was doing, when I had no money for books and I had to borrow books from others or pray until books would come....I thought that I was disadvantaged then-now I see that I had so much...my children have so much.We also returned to a village in Moca. We spent time visiting with different families there and left full of the love they have for one another and the Lord. We visited with Alberto, a new Christian who has taken his new walk seriously. He gathers many at his home every week for a service that Ruben's family leads and he is highly respected by all of his neighbors. Alberto has 5 children of his own and he is raising 2 more. The other two are with him because their father died and the mother didn't want them anymore. He didn't let his own poverty keep him from reaching out to these orphans. The interesting thing about this is that he's not the only one, many from the village take in abandoned children. Alberto's house actually caved in recently so he, his wife and all of their children live in a one room shack that he built with the wood from his house that caved in. As he gave us a tour of the shack, he wanted us to pay attention to a poem that he had hanging up on his wall. The poem spoke of a father who spent time with his children...he says that the most important thing to him is his family. He also wanted us to notice the little window that he made in the shack, he showed us the wonderful view...he doesn't focus on what he doesn't have, his eyes are on the horizon. His wife and children are so wonderful...you can clearly see the love of Christ on all of their faces. There is so much more to their story, I'll give more details later. There are so many families...so many stories to tell. I'm so blessed that we had the opportunity to share the love of Christ with them. Each person who gave to make this happen blessed so many. The money, the food, the toothpaste,the toys, soap, shampoo, socks, undergarments, school supplies...it all blessed many and gave us a great opening to share the love of our Lord. You should have seen how the Haitain woman's face lit up as I handed her undergarments for her son! You would have rejoiced to see the village children receive their pencils and undergarments. It made me rejoice because I know that each time they write with those pencils, they will remember that Christ loves them.And boy oh boy, you should have seen Ruben preach to his people! What a sight!By the way, he has been starting small fires as he speaks out against the ungodliness in the church here! Pray for him.Love you all and I'm sorry if this was too long...I left out so much because I didn't want to bore you.