popsicles and michael jackson

last thursday after school kendall, kim, lauren and i took a couple of our kids who don't go to public school to get POPSICLES! they played in the park and got chinola stickiness all over themselves..


THEN (my favorite part) we had the boys from chichigua (minus wilson) over to our apartment for some popcorn and a michael jackson DANCE PARTY! we totally get to hang with some of the coolest kids on the planet.. check out bernito. workin' it for the camera- yeeeah, b!




..and do you see memo on the floor in the background?

love these dudes.

Haiti (first part)

“how was haiti?” has been an interesting question to try to answer and i honestly still don’t know how to answer. i guess i will try to explain what we did while we were there. warning- i will try not to be too wordy, but this might be a bit long..

wednesday (jan 20th)
we made the decision to go. cara, kendall, rachel, gideon and i would be leaving friday for cap haitien (on the north coast of haiti) to take supplies to a couple, johanne and chris, who work for emmanuel’s wish foundation and are starting emmanuel’s wish orphanage. we would do everything we can to supply the orphanage with immediate needs and prepare the place for about 50 children.

we ran to puerto plata to buy some supplies we didn’t have already and had some beds made for the kids (this means having foam mats cut and rolled). we met at rachel’s to decide how to spend thursday preparing and made bags for every kid to have for their things.

our bag-making system at rachel's

thursday
in short- we ran around like crazy people getting ready from the time we got up almost to the early friday morning hours. rachel met gideon at the airport because he'd just gotten in from canada to make the trip. we were thankful to have all day to prepare (no school) because it was a holiday.

friday
5am- wake up! cara, kendall, and i left for rachel’s to finish packing her truck.
stars out, sun starting to come up, we were on the road. rachel’s truck and mine and cara’s car (good ol’ negrita). drive, drive, drive to dajabon where we would cross the border.

dajabon in a word on friday (market day): MADNESS. it took us FOUR hours to cross the border. in the middle of papers being checked, being sent from this office to that office, back to another line to pay this, another line to pay that.. in all that i was wondering how on earth chris was going to find us. he was supposed to meet us to drive us in but how would he find us in this mob of people? our cars could only move inches at a time bc there were so many people BUT he did! praise God. we were definitely the only gringos there, but i wouldn’t have known where to start looking.. thank you, Lord.

we started following chris and an hour and a half later we were in cap haitien. dusty, dusty. people moving everywhere. waiting at their house was johanne and their beautiful daughter, hannah. we unloaded negrita and rachel’s truck, ran to the store for something for dinner (no refrigerator makes it hard to keep things!), ate at the house and went to bed.

"driving" through the mob of people at the border

the border at dajabon

rachel's truck finally in haiti!

the stuff we brought from the DR

saturday

our first stop for the day was a “kresh” (forgive me. probably misspelled) where johanne used to work. it is kind of like a temporary orphanage. the idea is that all of these kids have somewhere to go. either they are being adopted and waiting for the process or their parent are temporarily unable to take care of them but want them back. we talked with the staff about their situation and played with some PRECIOUS kids!

after stopping by johanne’s old house to get a phone number, we went to a hospital where people from port au prince were being brought. across the street was a makeshift hospital (a school building- no more room in the hospital), which is where we went to give them chris and johanne’s information in case they need somewhere for kids. a man took us into some of the rooms. i don’t have the right words to describe it really. we can’t possibly understand their places or pain. i wish i could do more but the only thing i could even think to do was tickle one sweet girl who was playing with her bedpan. A smile won’t fix anything but maybe for a second relieve a bit? acknowledgment? no words. i still don’t know why we were taken to see what we did.

we left the hospital and went out to the site where chris and johanne are building a church. it was beautiful out there! after the church site, we got a late lunch/early dinner and then went into town to go to the haitien market. tons of people all over- it was wonderful. we bought some more sheet sets for the orphanage beds. thank goodness johanne was there to help us figure out how many gouds= haitien dollars= pesos= american dollars..

rachel and one of the sweet kids at the kresh

driving.. can you find the road? :)

site where they're building the church

the market downtown in cap haitien

Haiti (continued..)

sunday
headed over to the house being rented that will be the orphanage. the space is going to be great for the children.. we spent the morning unloading everything we’d brought and setting it all up. we stored everything and got to lay out the beds and make them. because of the tight system right now, no kids were being released when johanne went to pick up the group we’d expected. we have to keep stepping and moving in faith even when we don’t know what will happen or when anything will happen. that afternoon we went to church and then back home to eat and rest together.

orphanage house

some of the beds all ready for someone to sleep on them :)

towels, toothpaste, shoes, medical suppies, etc

pulling stickers off the kitchen stuff. exciting.

johanne and chris

monday
drove to the orphanage house to move pepin (man who’d been staying there) out. after unloading all of pepin’s things, we went to a gym-turned-refugee-center to give chris and johanne’s information out. there we learned a lot of valuable information about how the system is erring on the side of caution about children, concern for diseases and aids spreading, who to contact in the UN about our team being there, etc.

downtown, we had some pictures printed of the orphanage to put with all of the information about chris and johanne’s place. we stopped at the market again before going back to the house where gideon set up a blog for chris and johanne.

gym where some people from port au prince were being sent

driving through cap haitien

tuesday
back to the DR. right back into the work we have been doing. literally 20 minutes after getting to the apartment, we had to leave for a staff dinner..

so thankful to know johanne and chris. they are incredible people and i know it that wont be the last time we see them. i am thankful we were able to bring supplies and set the orphanage up, but really.. i wrote about what we did to be able to share with you BUT truly it is NOT about what we did or do.

“ascribe to the Lord, o mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” ~psalm 29:1-2

i will continue to pray that it is HE who receives glory in all of this. thank you for your support and prayers. the Lord was absolutely with us.

if you made it all the way to the end of this- WOW. and high five. ☺

rain, rain..

we came back after visiting the states for Christmas to the island of sunshine and warmth.. no, wait. RAIN.

and then some more rain. now, i love playing in the rain and get that it is so good for all the vegetation and such. it's peaceful. pretty.. BUT imagine everything smelling like mildew, riding on a moto with rain in your face, rivers rising so kids can't walk to school, laundry you can't hang outside..

needless to say, i am so thankful the sun has been back out! woo! after weeks of rain, we are much quicker to recognize how wonderful the sunnnn has been (remind me of this in a month when we wake up in sweat because of that same sun and heat.. :)

one rainy afternoon in chichigua..

look at all those gringas (and little bernito) in our rain gear

kendall and bernito

wrinkle toes.

new start

i have been debating in my head about this whole blog thing. YES, it has been a loooong time. do i put up some of the posts i was going to write about summer and fall? do i start with the new year? do i start now?

really, if i am going to start doing this thing again, i really just need to start. now. new start. there is so much that has gone on and i wouldn't know where to start if i tried to back track..

so.. hello.

miss you, katy!!

all for you kah-tee. love you. :)

couldn't let you miss out on g's new mooooves.

zach graduated!

zach graduated. zach graduated. zach graduated.. that means he will be going to COLLEGE. whoa. when did he even turn 8 years old?? i don't remember him being this old.. anyway, wierd. SO stinkin' proud of my brother. it has been so encouraging to see how he has matured and grown. he is such a cool kid and i can't wait to see the man God continues to make of him. seriously, though. i could go on and on and i'm not just saying that because i am his sister.. he rocks, people.

some of the graduating peeps on the NEW field in georgetown (cool/wierd..)

i don't know.. some people say we look alike. :) proud of you, zachy!

graduated? YEAH he did!

brotha and some buddies.. can't believe they're all done!

christina and i are so proud of our brothers!

CONGRATULATIONS, ZACHARY!! i can't tell you how excited i am for you about all of the sweet things ahead of you. i LOVE you so much.