Just Some Pics

Belvy, awesome kite flyer, not as easy as it looks!

Sister Odilon and Adele

Girls Basketball Tourney

Nickolson with his cute socks.

Sweet Gage

Gage playing in the rain water

Baboo getting checked out at the Partners in Health Hospital. We believe she is diabetic, but they had no equipment to test her for it.

Michael filling in around the retaining wall.

The crowd I gather!

Kids playing at our house.

Thank you World Wide Village & TOMS!!

Rice to be distributed.

We celebrated 10 birthdays in April!

Fedeloumie and Dhimy got to go to town.

What I've Learned in Haiti, Part 1

I have learned that:

12 people can fit in a car.

eggs do not need to be refrigerated.

clothes actually dry faster hung in the sun than in a dryer.

comfort is relative.

"right now" really means later today, or possibly tomorrow.

there is no such thing as immediate satisfaction.

I can live without a blow dryer.

nothing is sadder to me than seeing a child dig through trash, especially when it's mine.

mangos can make you break out like poison ivy.

I DO sweat, not just glow.

a Walmart could be really handy here.

healthcare should/can be free to all.

honking means "excuse me" and not #@&*^#@!

I do like other peoples kids, or maybe just the impoverished orphan ones.

I am spoiled (there, I said it)

clean water is a luxury.

I cannot carry chickens or anything else on my head.

I can go without a shower for 5 days, don't like it, but I can.

there is an exchange rate here for time as well as money. 8:1

God is Magnificent.

Sister Josett, What can I say....

What can I say about Sister Josett Blanc? She is the birth mother of Jeff-Taline Pierre Francois, the sweet baby girl Michael & I adopting. I cannot even imagine being so selfless as to give up Gage or Elijah just so they can have a better life in a country I have never been to or seen. Isn't that exactly what God did for us? On a much deeper level, of course, God gave his child for us and then let him die to save us, can we ever comprehend that kind of love?

Josett is a house mom here at the orphanage. She loves on and takes care of 78 children along side Sister O. Josett is from the town of Thomassique where her 5 other children live. Her oldest child is a 14 year old son. Josette is 35 years old and always has a grin on her face. One of the sweetest things she has ever said to me (through a translator,of course) is that I am Jeff-Taline's momma and that's how she sees things. Such a precious statement that means so much to me! During this interview she also said that if we spoken the same language she thinks we would be best friends!! All the more reason for me to learn Creole!

Jeff-Taline, what a stinker! For this little girl, it's ALWAYS on HER terms. She is very loving, but only when she wants to be. She tries to act shy, but she's really not. She is a total tomboy, always running, jumping, playing, and, being the youngest of girls here, she has nominated herself Boss of all the other kids! AND they seems to respect that! She prefers shorts and tennis shoes to dresses and sandals and always has a sweaty forehead. But when she does sit in your lap to cuddle she falls asleep, looking like a sweet little angel. And I wonder if we will ever get to bring her home to be part of our family? I can't even imagine how that will be. What will she grow up to be? Who will she grow up to be? We want her to love Jesus and someday come back to Haiti to share that love. Can't wait for you all to get to meet Jeff-Taline. We started trying to call her Tilly but it just doesn't fit and from what I've been told, Jeff-Taline IS a girl's name here.

We are loving the time we spend with her and cannot wait to have our house finished so she can have her own room and really be a part of our family!