We had the most amazing day at Children of Hope orphanage. The kids there are precious and well cared for. Since I was there in June, they have added several buildings and now have a school where many of the neighbor kids can come attend. They just finished it and today was actually their first day of school. How awesome that we got to be there for that. They also built a building where all the boys now sleep, which makes more room for the girls inside the main orphanage. The kids at Children of Hope are so much fun. They are so affectionate. We pretty much had a kid or several on our laps or in our arms at all times. And little Willbe who we met in June is doing so great. Our past team member Ashley has been coming down and working with him and he is so much more mobile now. And he's still just a sweetheart - his smile lights up the room. His crying when I said goodbye broke my heart. He was happy all day until he saw us waiving goodbye to everyone and he started crying. Broke my heart! Bobby said some folks are trying to adopt him. Would so love to hear he got to go be with a forever family.
We gave all the kids their own individual composition book for them to decorate and make their own so they could journal, draw, etc. And we gave the orphanage 42 backpacks (thanks to everyone who donated) and a bunch of other supplies such as diapers, wipes, tablecloths, kitchen utensils, etc. We know that anything we give here will be put to good use and indeed be used for the kids. I love the folks who take care of the kids at Children of Hope. It is clear that they love the kids very much and are doing all they can to take good care of them.
As we always do, we heard some heartbreaking stories of how the kids came to be there. The children of Haiti have seen and been through so much more than most of us can imagine or even really want to know about. It is heartbreaking. And yet, they are so resilient and thank the Lord for loving, caring people like Bobby and his wife who started Children of Hope and love on these precious kids who deserve that kind of love. I pray every one of those kids is adopted into a forever family.
It was a great day - the whole team loved it! And we have an amazing team - I love all these ladies - it feels like we've been friends for years. I love how God puts teams together. His ways are so wise. And He is indeed in all the details.
Sylvestre - our translator from the June trip - joined us today and helped translate. And we had the same amazing driver Jean. And the same bus and we're staying at the same place - I even got my same bunk bed. It feels a little bit like home being able to come back to all these familiar places. It's really cool. I have a feeling that I'll be back again:)
We just had a delicious dinner at the Guest House. Beverly and staff hook us up each night with the most amazing meals. After a day of playing with kids, getting dirty and sweaty and feeling totally disgusting - it's such a welcome sight when we pull up into our "home in Haiti" and can go in and take a cold shower, organize our supplies for the next day and have our team meetings in such a comfy and safe place. We love it here and are so thankful we found this place! And that they had room for us. There's always other missionaries staying here too so we get to make new connections and meet awesome new people.
How funny is this - a guy who just arrived from the Dominican Republic and is here tonight - well, I said "you look so familiar" and he immediately figured out that we met in the DR when I came in Oct 2008 for the International Advocates Conference with Compassion. He's a project facilitator with Compassion. It's such a small world.
Ah, a cool breeze is blowing in and it feels so fabulous. Thank the Lord for cool evenings. I've been sleeping like a rock. I'm sure partly because I do feel so at home and comfy here. I love how it has all come together - and I can't wait to see what the Lord will continue to do with Visiting Orphans in Haiti!
Tomorrow we are visiting an orphanage that is now in run out of a tent. Amanda visited last week when she was here and told me about it. Our friend and translator Daniel is coming tomorrow to go with us and we will visit this orphanage. We will give them enough toiletry kits for each kid - there are 25 of them. In the afternoon, we are going to go shopping to get supplies for the orphanages with orphanage donation money that the team raised. The orphanage we went to on Sunday is in much need of food - the kids are very hungry and we found out they are not getting very many meals each day. So we are going to bring food and actually make sandwiches and hand them out to each kid on the two days we are there. We will also hopefully be able to provide a new stove for them. We'll see what supplies we can find.
Will add more updates tomorrow but probably not more pictures since I'm giving the camera I've been using to get pictures onto my computer to our friend Daniel. So I will have to add the pics when I get home. But I will still add updates.
Stay tuned! And thanks for your continued prayers!
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