A sense of homelessness

For 8 months now I have been without a home, and yet always had a place to put my stuff. I am learning what home means, how to create it in my heart and with my husband, and to truly value the fleeting instances I see and feel home. I have felt grieved, adrift and in despair at times over this lack of home. The emotional aspects of home have surprised me. And yet I continue to learn. We are not meant to feel at home here, we are always to yearn for heaven, our eternal home. I have new insight into what that means and rejoice that my eternal home is there for me. I shall never be unmoored and homeless for very long. This life is but a breath.

"To be rendered homeless—whether by hurricane, poverty, or choice—is to be deprived of not simply physical shelter but emotional refuge. Home is where we return to, where we stop and rest and think, where we piece together the new pictures in our minds and try to make sense of our planet. Without home, we are unmoored.

And it's a literary lie that you can never go home again. Somehow, like a boomerang, most of us do. It may take a lot of trying and time before we get there. It may be a different home, it may be a home we build or rebuild, but it is home nonetheless: a physical place, a family or friends or both, a community."

- Mark Jenkins, Outside Magazine, January 2006

"All who wander are not lost" J.R.R. Tolkien


Be thankful today for your home, the people who make it home, and the strength it gives you. And please pray for many around the world who leave theirs, who recreate it elsewhere. And never lose sight of your eternal home and yearn for it.

Chantelle

Our little boy turns 3 !!

March 5th was Bennett's third birthday! It's hard to believe how fast time has gone by and to see the bright, curious and funny little boy he has become. Here is a photojournal of moments and memories where we celebrate the special little boy God brought us 3 years ago!



You were born at 1:51 in the afternoon and Dad and Grandpa and Grandma Hebert were there at the hospital to greet you immediately. We instantly fell even more in love with you.



You were so tiny! Here is your feet and dad's feet when you were only a few weeks old.



This is still one of my all time favorite pictures of you. I love how it captured your wink, the shining eyes and love of adventure. We have quite a collection of pictures of you in cowboy hats over the last 3 years!



Here is a few of your supermodel shots to show to your girlfriends when you are 21 and we let you date (haha). We had a wonderful studio day and had so much fun taking pictures. You stole the show!





You took full advantage of moms job and spent several afternoons throughout the year at the firehall - taking pictures, climbing on the trucks, the driver even drove around the block a few times with you "driving" on his lap. You loved to go and play with the equipment and dress-up.



And who could forget your very best furry friend Sanka. He used to guard over you at night, lay next to you during the days, let you pull his ears, throw his ball, dress him up and pounce on him. I have never known another dog who is as good with children as Sanka. I know you love him very much.



When we moved to Quebec last fall you still really liked your soothers. We called them "sus" which comes from the french word for soother. DO you even know the english name for them now? You just call it your "sus". One day you decided it would be neat to take the scissors to the tip of your soother and cut it off. We had been trying to wean you off the soother, so we fully embraced this idea of yours and we went around and gathered up all the soothers we could find. You sat on the washing machine and we handed them to you, you cut off the tips and said bye sus! to each one as we threw them in the garbage. Of course an hour or two later you wanted us to go buy new ones, but we held firm and reminded you that you cut them all up and they were gone now. You haven't used another soother since!



You have grown to be fun loving, crazy and you laugh lots. You are silly and make us laugh, smile and you give us joy everyday.



You have embraced your new role as brother to Arielle with such joy and love for her that it makes me so thankful. You only had a few weeks of acting out when we adopted her, and then decided you would much rather have her as a friend than a foe. She is your best friend and you are so good to her. You make sure she is always taken care of, has snacks, toys and love from you. You are an awesome big brother!



So here we are today. These are from your birthday. You had such a fun day making crafts, going to the big playpark with Papa, eating hamburgers, having cake (your favorite part i think!) and opening presents. You are such a wonderful little boy. I know you are excited to move to Africa to see giraffes and make new friends with us. Your little joyful personality will be a wonderful way to get to know new people and build relationships with them. You are a big part of our team and I can't wait to see you grow, play and live your life to the fullest. I love you. Happy Birthday Buddy Boy.

Where are we going and What are we doing?

A visual way of presenting our work in Niger. Please enjoy. It is 5 minutes long and has music

Many thanks to D. Cheung, the brother of a team member and wonderful photographer who was recently in Niger and put this together to highlight our team members and the work we are doing in Niger.