It has been one year since the devastating earthquake hit Haiti. I still cannot fully explain WHY this tragedy affected me so greatly. I know it was partly because I had been to Haiti, fallen in love with the people myself several years earlier. I know it was partly because my friend Kristen was there with her infant daughter, visiting her son who they did not have approval to bring home from Haiti. When I read about the earthquake online, I immediately thought of her and panicked that it seemed no one had heard from her. I know it was partly because I had several friends in Haiti on a mission trip, to the same compound I had stayed at myself. One of them is my age and had young children back at home. But I also know it was partly because God chose that day and that disaster to stir in mine and Trent’s hearts. He used the situations and conversations and news stories that came out of that day to open our eyes to His will for our life, and asked us to trust His faithfulness even through our fear and even after such devastation. Two months after the earthquake, almost to the day, we sent in our application to adopt a child from Thailand.

Since January 12, 2010, THIS BLOG has been my newsline to Haiti and the horror and hope that is so inexplicably mixed. I encourage you to read Tara’s post today, including her recount of one year ago. I’m sure you won’t be able to look away, and I beg you to be praying for Haiti.