Humbled

I was truly humbled today by an incident within my family home. I have been humbled by a pastor's words, by a dear friend's advice, by music lyrics, and by mission trips throughout the years. Today I was humbled by a broken pipe in my home's foundation. This actually happened yesterday, but it really hit me today. It all started with some flooding in the guest bathroom, master bedroom, hallways, living room, and garage. Whoo...after some drilling and searching by the wonderful Isaac, we discovered a broken pipe in our foundation which left us without water for awhile. We do have water this evening, but we do not haveheat and the guest bathroom (where I do all of my preparations) is completely torn apart. My shower is gone. No joke. IT. IS. GONE. My toilet is on top of my sink and everything else is thrown about the room. Last night I spent the night in Irving with my sweet mother (who was celebrating her 29th birthday : P) so I was able to take a hot shower at the hotel. Tonight-when I got in at 11ish-I was not so lucky! I then decided that since I have to get up early in the morning for work, I needed to clean up tonight. I got a big bowl of water and heated it in the microwave. I washed my face and brushed my teeth with that. Then I stuck my head under the kitchen sink faucet and washed my hair...it was freezing! It's like twenty degrees here...way too cold to have my head under a cold water faucet!!!

Anyways, I was really humbled by my whole experience tonight, and it got me to thinking about wonderful, amazing Jamaica! If you didn't already know Trevor and I, along with our First Baptist Denton friends, went on a mission trip to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. It was beautiful! The people are amazing, and I loved working in all of the different places! Vacation Bible School in one of the local schools was my favorite. Going to the children's hospital was also a favorite as well as one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life. Anyways...we worked with a lot of Jamaicans while we were there and we always had multiple Jamaican bodyguards with us. It sickens me now to think of my constant complaints about our water supply. We barely (BARELY) had any water at all to take showers. Most days, I sat underneath the tub faucet and waited for something to come out. To top it off, my room was infested with ants that would crawl up your legs when you stood still.

On one of the last days we were there, one of our bodyguards humbled himself and took us to his home.

This amazing man was so proud to show us his home! His home (which is probably smaller than most of our laundry rooms) was so special to him. He was so proud of his little house! He had heard us complain all week about not having water or not having enough food to eat or an infestation of ants in our room. He listened to us all week and yet was so happy to have such a special place (with no heat, no running water, a leaky tin roof, AND he had to hike up a mountain to get to it). It truly makes me sick thinking about it.

So, today I was humbled by a broken pipe in my 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 car garage, heated and air conditioned home. It brings me to tears to think of the amazing men in Jamaica who have so much less than me or the majority of us here in the U.S. and yet don't utter a complaint. Tonight, I am thinking and praying for my dear Jamaican friends! I will not utter a complaint tomorrow when I wash my hair and my face in my kitchen sink for God has blessed me abundantly!

This is a family that we visited with and prayed over.

This is an unfinished orphange where we all worked the first day and then many went back each day to lend a hand.

These are two very sweet girls that I met at Vacation Bible School! They were so beautiful; they just craved love and attention. They really enjoyed singing with me and the others!