All Terrain
It might have been my second trip to Haiti. I was making the harrowing 12 hour trek to Jeremie, a town on the southwestern edge of the island. The distance from Port-au-Prince was a measly 180 miles or so, but these roads looked like the kind from a Jeep commercial. Rocks the size of my boot made up the roadway and the 4x4 trucks that we had rented for the mission jostled and bumped along at a snail's pace. There were places where I thought it might be more productive to just get out and walk.
This is the memory that comes to mind when I think about the past school year and my Emari. I was equipped with the proper tools, I had the right motivation to arrive at the destination, but the way was rocky. Everyday there was a struggle to get her through the study material. She would ask me why it was so hard for her to do school and that she didn't want to go anymore and my heart broke every time. I knew that it was my job to help my baby in this endeavor, but I must admit that I got to the point that I dreaded coming home from work. We studied and we practiced with flash cards and I found spelling apps for the Ipad. There was some extra reading that we did and the two of us had some head butting moments for sure.
Just this afternoon, I had the extreme pleasure of watching my baby confidently stride up to the front of the auditorium and accept an award for Honor Roll. The look on her face pushed all the hard work and tears to the side. It was sunlight through the clouds.
I share this to encourage any of you who are bumping along the rocky path and wondering if and when its ever gonna get easier. These journeys are rough, they carve out character, they reveal hidden symptoms of complacency. Don't despise the road you're on. Hard times help to forge us into people of quality.
This is the memory that comes to mind when I think about the past school year and my Emari. I was equipped with the proper tools, I had the right motivation to arrive at the destination, but the way was rocky. Everyday there was a struggle to get her through the study material. She would ask me why it was so hard for her to do school and that she didn't want to go anymore and my heart broke every time. I knew that it was my job to help my baby in this endeavor, but I must admit that I got to the point that I dreaded coming home from work. We studied and we practiced with flash cards and I found spelling apps for the Ipad. There was some extra reading that we did and the two of us had some head butting moments for sure.
Just this afternoon, I had the extreme pleasure of watching my baby confidently stride up to the front of the auditorium and accept an award for Honor Roll. The look on her face pushed all the hard work and tears to the side. It was sunlight through the clouds.
I share this to encourage any of you who are bumping along the rocky path and wondering if and when its ever gonna get easier. These journeys are rough, they carve out character, they reveal hidden symptoms of complacency. Don't despise the road you're on. Hard times help to forge us into people of quality.
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