Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

Hope springs eternal...
Nowadays it is as if spring hopes eternal. With the bloom of spring everywhere, new life invades every cranny. Hope spreads throughout. What else can one expect as we celebrate the Risen Lord?

So it is only fitting, in this season of life and hope that seeds are starting to sprout within my own life. As I've stated before, our return from Haiti left Faith and me with plenty of issues, questions, and struggles. Oftentimes we were frustrated and flat-out angry. Confusion ran rampant at times. However, beneath this sense of urgency and chaos was a calm, soothing sense of hope and assurance.

Now, as the confusion, frustration, and anger are domesticated, this hope and assurance that ran quietly but persistently through us has given birth to a joy and elation. For Faith and I were notified a week ago today that we were accepted to be interns with World Hunger Relief, Inc.! While there we will learn the basics of sustainable agriculture, community development, and missions while living and working on the World Hunger Farm. Once we finish our internship in the fall of 2006, we'll likely go back to Haiti for 3-4 months, hopefully figuring out if we're to stay there long-term.

Granted, this opportunity provides a lot of questions and problems (i.e. what to do with our collection of 'stuff', where does one with no agriculural background whatsoever begin, etc.), but they pale in comparison to the fact that we're inching forward to our dream of a life together of service and community.

So, this summer we'll be preparing for the big move by trying to little ourselves down a bit. As we do, bear with us and pray for us! And if anyone out there knows how to milk a goat or slaughter a chicken, I'd be much obliged for a lesson or two!

Our path, with its turns and hills, leads on. Though we're "confin'd from home", Hope springs eternal .