1. MAY 3, 2011 A NOTE FROM BEAVER..SUNDAY MORNING IN HAITI by Kathy Brooks on Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 7:59pmSunday morning,, In Haiti I do not use an alarm clock unless I need to leave the house before 5:00am. It seems that 5:30am is just when life gets going again, after a good sleep and in bed around 9:00pm. So this Morning is no different. Up out of bed and on the roof like many other Haitians breathing in waiting for the coffee to get done. This morning I am waiting for 8:00. Yesterday God asked me to...
  2. JANUARY 14, 2011    HOW TO LIVE…THANKS MOM ! my mom recently told me that she is part of anew bible study and that they are going to study Romans 12 because it is one chapter in the bible that basically tells us “How to Live”. Intriguing….one chapter to do all that? so , not wanting to miss anything so important as “How to Live” i had to have another look at this ancient letter. I started out great , flipped open my tiny print bible and WITHOUT my left contact in, read: ” I appeal to you, by the mercy of God,...
  3. MAY 3, 2011  PEACEFUL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN HAITIPEACEFUL PRESIDENTIAL VOTE..HISTORIC by Kathy Brooks on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 7:44amwe were in Gonaives the evening that the “unoffical” results were annonuced. It was amazingly peaceful. There were a few spontaeous parades…dancing in the streets… but we heard no rioting, no gun shots…..and this in Gonaives where, historicallly political unrest begins. God is doing a new thing in this nation. “God we ask that You would so capture the heart o...
  4. FEBRUARY 18, 2011 IT SLAYS ME GONAIVES, I HAD A GREAT TROOP OF BOYS…FOUR, TO BE EXACT. They greeted me more than eager to show me what they had done, watering the plants, caring for things…and they wanted to work. They stood ready to move rocks, build cities or tilt the earth if need be…just let us work. So we made a little plan to build some “mi” walls for planters around the places we want there to be trees. i wanted to address the “payscale” as we are trying to not always be the white people with bags of...
  5. JANUARY 4, 2011 IS BEING AFRAID OF DEATH THE SAME AS BEING AFRAID OF LIFE? reading in Jeremiah this morning… it took alot of courage to continue to speak what God was speaking to him. He said some stuff that could only enrage the powers that be. He said stuff that got him beaten and thrown into dark ,small, muddy places…he said stuff that got him left to die in the bottom of a deep hole. But in the end, he lived and was allowed to return to his home… when the ones who had tried to take his life, the ones ...
  6. SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 COURAGEOUS POT MAKING 101 We visited a man that makes aluminum cooking pots for his living. He has a small thatch hut on the very outskirt of the village Jubilee. His domain is easily identifiable by the black soot that surrounds the ground where he works. We find this sinewy man, (though he appears ancient., in truth I am most likely his senior by at least ten years, maybe I also appear ancient? ) He is stoking the fire that burns hot with a strip of old tire. Careful to cover it loosely wit...
  7. SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 THE KID THAT GOT ME There is a kid named Obenson…actually there several boys named Obenson But this particular young man of about 12 years old “Got me“. He “got me” not because he was cute, not because he was kind, not because he was Haitian….but because he made me Crazy! He was one of the first faces to greet me each morning in Jubilee, whether I arrived on the truck, by motorcycle or walked in from the tap tap. He was always there. Sometimes smiling . Sometimes angry. Sometimes telling me t...
  8. HAITI SEPT 12 2010 GIVE TO EVERYONE WHO ASKS… I can’t help it. Honestly I love this . And I hate this, too. I love the environment of life all raw and real and in my face. I love the passion involved in buying a stalk of bananas and arguing over pennies in the deal I love walking over the salt flats and mud to get to the sea to watch wooden fishing boats pull in their nets. I love visiting the mamas in their homes as they with pride show me each of their children….so much to love in this place. I love the life ...
  9. DECEMBER 3, 2010 THE PHONE RANG NOV 2010 HAITI around midnight, the phone rang. i strained to hear through the walls . in a few minutes heard Emory and Mary up and moving down the stairs. “what is it?'” i ask. “A sick baby. they are on their way.” A few minutes later a gentleman arrived with a bundle of “baby “girl. Actually she is two, but so tiny. She has beeen throwing up for a few hours,, and diareah. I go wake up the doctor with the mississippi team. The papa is quick to explain the situation as he ...
  10. JUNE 26, 2010 VISION BECOMES SIGHT The kids this week at our “world changers summer camp have had some gret opportunities. They worked with clay in the pottery studio, have painted in the art studio, they’ve learned to waltz and basic ballroom protocol, they have started writing their own scripts to create skits around two significant historical events. and they have watched video shorts about world shaping ideas. It’s as we imagined it would be. Interestingly, the activity they seemed to really go aft...
  11. JULY 5, 2010 OUR HOME IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY BLENDED. WORLDS ARE BLENDING. OUR TWO WORLDS. Our Haiti World and our rural South Georgia World. It’s kind of beautiful to me. Creole flows. From english speakers and Haitian born alike. This was evident the other afterrnoon when the goats walked casually out the the open gate and Natasha yelled “Gade sa!!!!” to get everyones attention. and about 6 people of the 30 or more gathered around the pond understood her exactly. Homes are the best places to see tra...
  12. MAY 13, 2010 I WASH DISHESTO THINK. We have an “automatic” dishwasher. But we don’t use it. ever. a few years ago i realized that the idea of filling the sink with warm sudsy water and sinking my hands into the water and scrubbing the dishes . rinsing and setting them aside to dry…is a Pleasure. The idea of loading The Machine and emptying The Machine..having to check each piece for actual cleanness after The Machine has had its turn, getting upset when they aren’t clean, complaining, and then wash...
  13. Origin Story During my first trip to Haiti, nearly ten years ago now, my heart was forever changed when a young mother begged us to take her baby. Powerless to feed her child, she was willing to give her away. As a mother of five, I put myself in her shoes for an instant and tried to imagine how desperate I would have to feel to hand our youngest child over to a stranger, never to see her again…I could not fathom it. Looking back, I guess, 2ND STORY GOODS was born that day. Through Trade School Haiti, we...
  14. MAY 3, 2011   A FRANSISCAN PRAYERDISCOMFORT, ANGER, TEARS AND FOOLISHNESS….AMEN by Kathy Brooks on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at 5:42amMay God bless us with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may seek truth boldly and love deep within our hearts. May God bless us with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people. May God bless us with the gift of te...
  15. Christianna
  16. Father's Day Gift Guide Fathers are notororiously tricky to buy for, so we've created a list of gifts we know he'll love to make your shopping easier! Slim Leather Cardholder This cardholder is made from genuine leather in a chesnut shade. It is the perfect simple wallet for any dad! Burlap Journal A classic 2nd Story good! Dad can use this journal to process, pray, stay organized, take work notes...the possibilities are endless! The burlap for this journal is upcycled locally from the burlap ba...