Catching up ...

I'm sorry that it has been a couple of days ... photos haven't been uploading and I know it is better to see pictures than to listen to what I have to say all the time! The team has kept busy and will soon be heading back to the states. Thanks so much to all of them for the many projects they helped us out with this week! And ... they certainly kept us laughing!

They finished up 2 sets of cabinet/shelves and I think that they will work great in the kids' rooms. They also completed the absolutely HUGE task I set before them which was organizing the storage room. Not only can I find things now, but it looks incredible! I am THRILLED beyond measure that they were able to help out with this!


Friday afternoon, we took the children to the beach and had a great time together. And then on Saturday afternoon, we took just a few employees and the team to Wahoo Bay, which I believe is one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Haiti. Both days were great fun and good breaks for all of us.

Although Cheryl probably wouldn't approve, I just had to include the above picture ... when she caught a crab at Wahoo :) She and Lexi were chasing him around for quite some time. I took a zillion photos of different scenery sort of stuff at the beach, but the one below is probably my favorite from the two afternoons.

Today was church in the morning ... Pastor Micah preached a phenominal sermon and the team ministered through song. It was a great time of worship and a great time for some of them to love on the kiddos (altho it does get a tad hot and a bit overwhelming to have 50 kids with you in church!).

Thanks again, to everyone on the team for all you've accomplished this week for the kingdom. Thank you for taking time out of your "normal" life to spend a week with us and to share your lives with God's precious children. A special thanks to Rusty and Cheryl ... there aren't even words to express how much I appreciate them, how much I love them and how honored I am to know them and to be a part of their lives. You guys are a treasure. You are incredible people and we love you so much. Thanks for giving your all ... over and over again!

Sharing God's Love

We have a team here this week and they have been working on some projects to help improve the orphanage. They have made the children some swings, put together many parts and pieces to make 4 bicycles, are working on shelving for the childrens' rooms and the storage room, etc. They have also enjoyed playing with and getting to know the children as well as holding a men's conference last night and this evening for some of the men in the community. I can hear them worshipping over at the church right now as I type these words. After the conference tonight, they will be fed a chicken dinner.

They have been keeping busy, as have I, and I have not been able to spend a lot of time with them over the last three days. On Tuesday afternoon, our precious Jerry (10 years old but very small for his age) fell and broke his arm. That afternoon, I took him to Doctors without Borders and spent a loooooong time there. They are doing great things there and help many people ... but honestly, it is a very difficult place to be. I had a tough time being there alone with him and finally had my breakdown when I returned to the orphanage that evening. In the bed next to him was a woman who had been beaten ... next to her were two children who had been severly burned. It was heart-breaking. Jerry was scared and having a tough time, but I gave him loads of love and held him tight as much as I possibly could. :) I thanked God many times throughout the day that I was able to be there ... and that I took a few years of Spanish way back when because that is how I was able to communicate with the doctor ...

That next morning (yesterday), we took Jerry to Sacred Heart Hospital to have surgery. This hospital is quite amazing for Haiti and very much like a hospital in the states. It was a nice change! The surgeon made a small incision in his arm and put in two pins. In a few weeks, I will take him back and they will be removed. He did GREAT and was a very brave boy all day yesterday! Since the surgery was a little later in the day, we were unable to take him home and he spent the night in the hospital ... Jonas stayed with him. I went back this morning to pick him up and meet with the doctor again. He said everything went so well and that Jerry is doing fabulous. We are thrilled with the success and ask that you keep little Jerry in your prayers as his arm begins to heal and become strong again.

Now that Jerry is back at the orphanage, he is getting a whole lot of attention from all of the children as well as the adults. Earlier, he came upstairs with a handful of suckers and a big smile on his face :). He slept in my room last night and believes he is again tonight ... which is fine by me. Jerry had a special place in my heart long before his injury, but now ... Mama Shelly loves him like I love my own. He's a special guy, that's for sure. Again, please pray for a full and quick recovery for Jerry. The doctor said that he shouldn't have any pain and that he should heal quickly. And believe me, we'll be keeping an eye on him. I am SO thankful to have been here when this happened ... and Jerry, a precious little orphan boy, had two mamas to be there for him and to love on him.

Sunday afternoon

Yesterday, as we were toward the end of our church service, I saw a familiar truck drive up to the orphanage, followed by two vans. As I walked over to see what was going on, children began piling out of the vans like crazy! I'm thinking, "No, no! I can't take all these children!" Come to find out, these were all the children from the orphanage that was destroyed by the hurricane ... all the children who stayed here during those days following the tragic event. They had come to say thank you for helping them and had a few songs prepared to sing for the children. It was great fun and there were many many hugs following!

After the children were gone, we began the great adventure of making sandwiches, snacks and juice to take along with us to the beach. I had found out that morning that there is a different beach, a little further down that is literally 1/5 the price of the one we normally go to. The children were THRILLED when I said that anyone who wanted to go was welcome to come with. There was a whole lot of yelling and screaming and excitement in the hour before we left and throughout the trip there. The van was packed with 27 children ... and Nick and I. Once there, the children LOVED this beach and had a great time playing in the water and hanging out together.

Of course, the photographer in me took over and I had the best time taking all sorts of different photos. When I had taken almost 60, I realized that was probably enough for one afternoon :)

The mountains are so magnificant and the sunrise was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The emotions were inexplicable as I was photographing the sites and enjoying the children. Several times, I had to wipe a tear trickling down my face as I thought about our first 5 weeks here and next 5 to come.

Something that I have not been able to get out of my mind for the past few days is a visit that we had at the orphanage. A group of 15 people came walking in the gate the other day, one older woman, 3 or 4 young ladies, 3 or 4 young men, and the rest were children (maybe 10-15 yr olds). As they were all chatting amongst themselves and then to an employee here, before he had to tell me, I understood that they were the family of one of our little 6 year old boys. He came out to the front porch to meet with them and was very quiet, couldn't look anyone in the eye ... I was told (by an employee) that this is the first time he has ever had his family come to visit him. My heart broke as they walked away after spending 5 minutes here. My heart ached as I looked at him and wondered what he must be thinking, seeing them leave WITH SO MANY CHILDREN. What about him? It was very difficult for me and I cannot imagine how much more difficult it was for him.

He speaks very few English words ... but I merely walked up to him and gave him the tightest squeeze I could and told him that I loved him. He smiled and hugged back and said he loves Mama Shelly too. A few minutes later, he took off on a scooter and was back to himself. But I can't help but wonder what he was thinking as he fell asleep that night. I can't help but wonder what a lot of these children think, the things they have been through ... it breaks my heart over and over again and makes me want to not only squeeze my own daughter a little tighter, but love on these kids more and more each day. God gave us an incredible opportunity in being able to spend our summer here and when I leave, I want each and every one of these children to feel a little more loved ... by me and by their heavenly Father.

On a Mountain Top

This afternoon, we went to the top of the mountain ... okay, more like a large hill ... that overlooks The Habitat. We hadn't been up this way before and the view was great!

There's just somethin about being somewhere with a view like this. The mountains ... in all their majesty ... proclaim God's majesty like nothing else.

We even me at few little friends along the way :)

Earlier that afternoon, as we were waiting to leave for our little adventure, one of the nannies came up to me with another who speaks English quite well. She was hiding somewhat behind the other nanny ... I asked them if they needed something and the English-speaking one told me that the other needed money for a tap-tap ride (somewhat taxi-ish) home. She had no money. I nodded and asked her how much it would cost ... and was told "ten goudes."

Ten goudes.

In the U.S., that is equal to 25 cents.

25 cents and she was sheepishly coming to me, asking for help.

I went upstairs and grabbed a few coins, counting them on my way down. I had grabbed 20 goudes. I handed them to her in two piles of 10 goudes, counting to two and showing her it was enough for two rides. She literally bowed to me and got all teary-eyed "mezi mama, mezi mama Shelly." You would have thought that I had given her a thousand dollars.

These are the moments that break my heart, yet the very moments I treasure.

JOY

God is hope to a broken world.
He is a Father to the fatherless.
He is love where there is no love.
He is peace throughout the storm.
He is joy amidst the sorrow.
He is the way ... every time.

And today ...

I will rejoice for He has made me glad!

(pictured above: Madeline, Fritzon, Mackinson, Dourison, Dada, and Roudfaelle)

An out-of-ordinary Beach Day

It will probably sound funny when I say that we only had 10 people along on our beach trip yesterday ... but in comparison to two weeks ago, when we took 21 ... it was a breeze! We took the older boys on the outting yesterday, along with a girlfriend for Lexi. Who would have thought that in taking boys 12 and older that we would have the privaledge of hearing awesome praise and worship music on our way? No, not the radio ... not a cd, but the boys sang their hearts out the whole way to the beach. It blessed me like crazy. And once we were there, they all had a great time.

After a while, several of the boys joined another group there in playing soccer, so Lexi, Mirloudes and I went for a nice long walk. It wasn't too hot (only about 95) and there was a nice breeze and we had a great time exploring. We found some really great treasures, too!

About 1/2 hour before our "normal" leaving time, it began to POUR down rain, without any notice. We grabbed all our belongings as quickly as possible and headed for shelter. There we stood, eating our PB sandwiches and watching the rain, when one of the boys asked if they could go out into the downpour. There was no thunder, no lightening ... so I smiled and said "Okay." The word was barely out of my mouth and all of the children went running into the rain ... what a riot!! Until it began to lightening ... then we packed our wet selves into the van.

But the van would not start. And it would not start. And it would not start. We joked about sleeping in the van, sleeping on the beach, and the van would not start. Nick finally pointed out that we were really low on gas and perhaps we were out. He took a container and got a ride to the gas station, while we walked back out onto the beach, as it had stopped raining. There was a guy out there smoking ... and one of the boys told him, "The Bible says that you should not do this" and did the smoking motion with his hand. It was quite funny. The guy had no idea what to say, and just sort of shrugged and laughed. Nick finally returned over 40 minutes later with gas. We piled back into the van as it began to rain again, and the van would not start. And the van would not start. And the van would not start.

After almost an hour, we finally get a man who knows a man who knows a man who can come pick us up and give us a ride back to the orphanage. He lives about 20 minutes out ... as he pulled up next to our van, Nick tried it once more and it STARTED with no problem. Hmmmm ... I had to pay the man $50 Haitian (about $6 US) for wasting his trip, but that was better than the $150 I was going to pay him for taking us home.

After all was said and done, our beach day ended very late and we came home with a bunch of tired kids ... we didn't eat supper until 9pm and I think we were all asleep before 10.

The fun never ends around this place, I tell ya!! It is certainly one adventure after another!

Lovin' on Babies

This afternoon, Lexi and I spent some quality time doin nothing but loving on some wee ones. We had fun, they had fun ... and we got some cute pix too :)

Sweet, sweet Emily, always there with a smile on that cute face of hers!

Jack-Jack is starting to come out of his quiet little shell!

Lexi giving squeezes to everybody around! Emily, Dourison, Jerry, KC, and little Mack

Big squeezes and tickles for my babies! Dourison and Emily ... ya gotta love em!