Day Two In Haiti

What a huge day our second day in Haiti was. It was fun, exciting, silly, wonderful, and heartbreaking all in the same day! It's a lot to try and share but I'll do my best to take advantage of our six little darlings all fast asleep and try and catch up a little.

We woke up early on Wed. and everyone got prettied up, ate breakfast, and was ready to go by 9AM (the days 1st miracle). Here are a few moments from the guest house before leaving:

Jacques, Jude, and Stephanie

Me and my girls get ready to leave

Lovenie is all dolled up to go and see her Haiti Mom

We were told we were to be ready to leave by 9AM and head to the office where we would be able to spend time with Stephanie, Jude, and Lovenie's Mom. I was so excited. I had met her before and was not the least bit nervous about seeing her again. It was one of the things I looked most forward to in the trip. I couldn't wait for Jim to meet her and Stephanie, Jude, and Lovenie to get to give her lots of love. Of course we were also SO excited to get to see Vilner too!!!

When it was time to go we went outside and were thrilled to see that they had a van waiting for us (not the small SUV). Here we are enjoying our cushy ride!


We were allowed to have some privacy and wait in Dr. Bernard's office while someone from the staff had gone to pick their Mom up and bring her there for the meeting. We waited and waited and waited.

Hours into the wait and Jim was curing his boredom by picking on me!

There was also lots of time to love on each other (Jude and Jacques)

Time to entertain ourselves (travel sorry

Jude "kicks back" in Dr. Bernard's chair while he is out of the country.

Around 1PM we were informed that they were not able to find her. We were all very disappointed. Bryn had arranged for a going away party for Stephanie, Jude, and Lovenie at the orphanage and so we were told to go ahead to the party and when they found her they would bring her to us.

Before we could head back to the "O" Stephanie had one VERY important request. She told Bryn that the only thing she really wanted to do before leaving Haiti was to go to a Haitian Market (grocery store) because she had never been to one. So off we all went to a Haiti market. Everyone got to pick out two things they wanted and we ended up with lots of sugary treats. We also stopped at a street market with vendors and got each of the kids a gift to remember the day and a little something for ourselves. It was such a great experience seeing all these amazingly hand crafted items and so inexpensive. The whole experience was a great adventure for us all!

We saw many great sights on the drive to the "O" but the most beautiful one was of the President's Palace. So pretty! I'll share some video of our drive down one of the streets soon.

When we finally got to the "O" we had very little time left to decorate, allow the Jim's to see where their children lived, and for me and Debbie to love on as many kids as we possibly could! The photo above is of Debbie covered in toddlers. I'm amazed I got the photo okay because I was just as covered with toddlers where I was too.

Jacques, our sweet son, what a GREAT person!! All big smiles while being climbed on. We are so in love with him!!!!

Finally it was time for the Bon Voyage party:

Stephanie found out there would be a party and requested this food. We were so glad she did because it was SO delicious!!!

Bryn calls Stephanie and Jude to the center of the party for everyone to yell their goodbyes. We brought along enough goody bags for them to give one out to all their friends before leaving.


Once they said there finally goodbyes we decided to walk a little ways to wait for our ride back to the guest house. When we got to the spot where we waited I could see that Jude was not doing well. I pulled him into my arms and talked with him to learn that he was so sad to say goodbye (of course!) and he just clung to me for a long time while I rocked back and forth with him in my arms. It was one of the hardest things I ever experienced as I held our hurting son and fought with all my might not to burst into sobs over his pain. It was at that moment that it really hit me how much our children were leaving behind to be members of our family. Oh the pain!

We never did get to see their Mother. That night there was much sadness again as Jude saw a picture of his Mom in a photo album we made to give to her. He again broke down into tears. Stephanie told Bryn that she was not sad to go to America but she only wished she could have said goodbye to their Mom. It was SO sad. I suggested they write her letters that we would leave with New Life Link (along with the photos) and that seemed to really perk them up when that was done! How I regret not having that time with her and how sad I am for all of us that it didn't happen. :(