No day at the beach

Yesterday the older kids and teens of NLL and HFC went on their once a year trip to the beach. The kids had been emailing me and asking me to please come back to Haiti and spend their special beach day with them. Stephanie was especially excited about the trip and was the one really wanting me to come with them. I thought about them all day yesterday wishing I could be with them. I was so sad for Stephanie when I read this in my email this morning:

On a sad note, Stephanie was on the bus, all dolled up and ready to go, when Dr B came down, saw her and sent her packing back to the orphanage. I still don't even know what she did - all he tells me is that she has been causing trouble, which I know she is capable of, but it was too bad that she had to be trouble right before the beach day. Jude was really sweet about it. We got to the beach and we were swimming together and he started pulling rocks off the bottom. "I have to take rocks home for Stephanie so she can play osle (a game that involves tossing a rock or a goat bone into the air while grabbing another one of the ground and catching the first rock on the way down)." So we collected some pretty white rocks for her.

I did notice while I was there that Stephanie was sweet, loving, fun, and full of energy. I did also notice some signs that she may need a lot of dicipline and boundaries set for her when she gets home as she does have a very strong (and very good in many ways) personality. I trust Dr. B's judgement and am sure that if she had to stay behind on such an important day that there was a good reason for it. However, it also made me so very sad for her because she was so excited about it and it was such a big deal for her. Today after church Kez will be telling our kids about the delays and it is sure to break their hearts. I'm mostly concerned for Jacques because his wait is so much bigger then the others and he really wants to come home, but now I'm also more concerned about Stephanie because yesterday must have been so terrible for her and now this news today. PLEASE keep our children in your prayers this morning!!!

The rest of the kids had such a wonderful time and there were very few and minor injuries. Praise God! :) Kez was so busy with the kids that she was not able to get pictures of the day but the missionaries with her did and promised to send them to her and she promised to send them to me as well so I'll post them as soon as we get them.