Meet my friend Naomi

The photo above is of course of quake damage. I took it from the website of our friends at Mercy League International, who run an orphanage in Haiti among their other faith-based humanitarian efforts around the world.

This is our friend Naomi. Her dad is the director of Mercy League International and her whole family is one of the biggest blessings in our family's lives. They were our across-the-road neighbors for the first two years that we lived here. In fact we met Naomi, Noelle and Brendan, her sister and brother, and their parents before we made the offer on this house. It sealed the deal; we couldn't believe how perfect it would be to have built-in playmates when we moved to the country.

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Naomi and Madeleine were fast friends: They share their loves of books, lots and lots of books, and art. Sarah and Noelle, also of similar ages to one another, share their sweet but mischievious temperaments. The fearsome foursome made a lot of fun trouble in those years of living within shouting distance!

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We quickly grew to love the entire family. They pastored the church across the road from us before they were called back to work in missions. You see, they had been in Haiti for (I think) three years before moving to our little quiet corner of the world. That's where Naomi and Noelle joined their family. Since living back in Oregon, both parents have pursued graduate degrees, made multiple mission trips to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, added another boy to their family (making a total of four fun children!) and they have been planning a move to Africa. Just a little busy, wouldn't you say?

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So of course the distastrous quake in Haiti is on our minds and hearts. Naomi's dad is in Haiti right now. Mercy League had a team in the area at the time of the earthquake. Everyone on the Mercy League team is safe but no one currently there spoke Creole. So our friend and father of four flew to Haiti Friday with his knowledge of the language, his compassion and all the antibiotic cream, ibuprofen and protein bars he could carry.

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I know that among his hopes of helping deliver medical supplies and aid to the people of the country, he also hopes to locate Naomi's birth family.

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I have been told that Mercy League will be shipping a container a week directly to Haiti. Time is critical. I started writing this post four days ago but my utter lack of knowledge of the workings of rescues, rebuildings and missions have had me paralyzed. We are so incredibly blessed in this country with reliable water and power and medical care and building codes that keep our families safe and insulated that I am stunned, maybe like some of you, that elsewhere mothers are struggling daily to find clean water for their babies.

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Please pray for the people of Haiti. And if you don't already have a place to send your donations, please consider giving to our friends at Mercy League as they continue to help the people of Haiti.