Arriving in Haiti

When we arrived in Haiti, I was so excited!! I never dreamed going to a third world country would bring such joy. I was thrilled to be seeing Noah again, but there is something about this little country that brings joy to my heart. I feel I will continue to travel there even after Noah comes home. I remember in the airport waiting to clear Customs, Kristina looked at me and said, "Look at you, you are all smiles." And I was! We met Gail, a director of Three Angels and Angela, a volunteer I met on my last trip in baggage claim. I was happy to see them both! They are both awesome people and I feel blessed knowing them.

When we arrived at the O, I couldn't wait to see Noah. Last time I had to wait for them to get him ready, but this time I dropped my bags and ran in. Unfortunately he was mad at me. He looked at me and I could tell by the look on his face he recognized me then he purposefully turned his head away. Also he was eating lunch and the boy likes to eat, so I left him alone to finish. I went outside to watch Kristina meet Jonas which was awesome. They connected instantly and he called her Manmi (Mommy) as soon as they put him in her arms. At this point Jeremy couldn't wait any longer and we went inside to see our boy. He still wasn't happy with me but he wanted me to hold him and wouldn't leave my side from that point on. It took him a little longer to warm up to Jeremy, but that is completely normal. The children don't see a lot of white men and some of them, honestly, are scared by them. By Saturday they were buddies and Jeremy was able to hold him and play with him. I think it made Jeremy's day once when Noah saw him through the window and excitedly said, "Papa!!" The first few days was hard for Noah. We could tell that every time I put him down he was afraid we were going to leave. It made it a little rough but within a couple of days he relaxed and we were able to see the playful side of him.

So much transpired on this trip, I'm not even sure what all to write about and I don't want this to be the post that never ends so I will share one very exciting point and then end for now. As I mentioned in my first post after coming home, Shawn and Angela met their children, Steven and Angela. Well what is awesome about that is, they didn't know they were their children until after we arrived. They went on this trip completely open to what God wanted to reveal to them and said if He wanted them to adopt a child or children they were open to that and if not that was ok too. It is so awesome to have friends that are open to what God wants in their life so much so that they are willing to open their hearts wide and say, "Here we are Lord, what do you want?" Well He revealed to them rather quickly what His plan was. On Thursday evening (we had arrived on Wednesday) they announced in our time of devotion that they were going to adopt Steven and Angela. I was beside myself with joy!! Steven has a special place in my heart, because he is the one I talked about from my first trip that was brought to the orphanage. He is such a sweet boy! When we arrived he came running up to me and leapt into my arms, wrapping himself around me like a monkey. I was so happy to see him and to see how well he was doing. Angela is a little girl that was brought in a couple of weeks before we arrived, she is 8 as well and has a smile that lights up the room. It didn't take long for us all to fall in love with her. She truly was a joy to be around.

I am so excited to know Noah will have this common bond with these three children, Steven, Angela and Jonas. God is so awesome in how he has orchestrated these events and these four children who were born in a different country and left at the same orphanage will all be coming to this same city and will be able to grow up together. I am so thankful for that!! All the children at Angel House hold a special place in my heart so I am also thankful that I will get to watch them grow up and am blessed to be a part of their life.

I will continue to share bits and pieces of our trip, but I don't want to bore you so I will post more later. Thank you all for your prayers and we love you!!

Time flies!!

I can't believe we have already been to Haiti and have been home for a couple of days now! The trip was incredible. I'm not even sure where to begin and probably like last time I will have to recap over the course of a couple of posts. So bare with me as I get accustomed to being back home. Both times I have been overwhelmed after arriving home. First over leaving my son and second over the blessings I have here. It's always hard coming home without him but I cherish every moment I can have.

This trip was a success in sooooo many ways. We finished many projects in a short amount of time. Jeremy met Noah and by the end of the week they were buddies. Kristina's meeting with Jonas couldn't have gone better. Shawn and Angela met their children, Steven and Angela. It was a busy, busy week!!

Thanks to all who donated supplies and or money. We were able to build shelves in two locations, a bathing station in the nursery, fixed the leaking roof and molding ceiling, painted, scrubbed walls, floors and toys. It was incredible the amount of work that got done. None of which could have been accomplished without everyone's generosity. So thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Flying Out!

Well, we fly out tomorrow. I haven't went to bed yet (obviously) and it's almost 12:00am so it's just about time. I am so excited to be going again, of course to see Noah, but also just to go. I fell in love with the Orphanage and all the people there and I can't wait to visit with them again.

This trip has been so much more involved than the last one. Last time I had myself and Mom to take care of getting bags packed, info distributed, etc. This time there are 10 of us and it has been crazy, but very exciting. Thanks to our friends Shawn and Angela, who are joining us on the trip, we have managed to fill all the bags tonight. Now we can enjoy spending time with our kids tomorrow before heading to the airport. Angela helped me finish the shopping today and we packed totes for almost 4 hours straight. Shawn came and helped Jeremy drill all the wholes and we wrapped it all up, ate dinner (at 10:30) and they went home to try and get a good night's rest. I appreciate them helping soooooo much. We owe them one, definitely!!

We are expecting to have a great trip and get a lot done at the O. The whole team is excited about being there and helping out. We appreciate your prayers during this week. I will try to post shortly after returning home on the 20th.

Love to you all!!