NOOOOOOOOO...........

Ok well, I just spent 2o minutes typing another post about my trip and lost it all, so I will have to go for now and I will post it again later. Sorry!! A quick note, if you click on the Three angels link on the right you can see a few pictures from our trip. On the events page there is a picture of Noah(Wilbert) and I meeting for the first time. Browse around its a great website, with a lot of info on what they do in Haiti.

Wow!!!

I am so overwhelmed right now! I'm going to try to pull it together enough to post about my trip because I know some of you are waiting to hear. First of all it was a wonderful trip. I couldn't have asked for it to be any better. It is currently peaceful in Haiti compared to what it has been the last couple of years. It still doesn't compare to the states. We had to have escorts everywhere we went but we encountered no problems of our own. We witnessed a woman being beaten at the Grocery store and men with automatic weapons intervening but it was stopped and the remainder of our stay was peaceful. We are so blessed to live in a country where we can go just about anywhere we want to and feel safe.

I know you want to hear about Noah and I will try to tell you all about him, but it is a very emotional time for me right now, having left him in Haiti. Our meeting was wonderful!! I was waiting outside the "O" while the nannies dressed him. He had just had a bath and they wanted him to look nice for me. I was shaking and crying at the thought that he was just inside the door. After all this time I was going to be able to hold him and my emotions got the best of me. Finally Gail came out and said, "There's someone who would like to meet you." I slowly walked in and there he was, sitting in a small chair just waiting and looking at me. I slowly walked over to him and knelt down beside him. As I went to pick him up he put his arms up and we were together at last. He laid his little head on my shoulder and within a matter of minutes he was sleeping in my arms. It was such an amazing moment for me. I believe he knew his Manmi(Mommy) was there. From that moment on he didn't leave my sight. He stayed the nights with us at the guest house and even when we went to the "O" in the daytime he never got very far away. By the second day he was calling me Manmi. Jeremy and I had prayed before I left that God would help Noah to know who I was and that he would feel safe and secure with me and the Lord definitely answered our prayers. They tell me he has never responded to anyone like that before. God is sooooooo awesome!!!!

He interacted much more when we were away from the "O". He would talk and play and venture out a little more. When we were there it was more like he was afraid if he left me, I would leave him. I hope now that I am not there he realizes I will be back for him. By the end of the week he was speaking a little English. He would point at Jeremy's picture and say Papa and he said all the kids names in a 2 1/2 year old Creole way, but it was very sweet. He was saying Thank you, Be careful and best of all I love you. Meeting him felt the same as when my children were born. You long for the day when you can hold them and see what they look like and you wonder what their personality will be like then the day comes and all you can do is look at them and cry. That is exactly what it felt like.

A lot happened while I was there. An eight year old little boy was dropped off and that was heart wrenching. He cried off and on for days. Sometimes I would see him sitting alone in a corner singing a song with tears streaming down his face. I can't imagine what that must be like for him. Everything that he has ever had or known gone in one moment. When they changed his clothes it was hard for him. It was like they took away the last thing he had. I spent some extra time with him just trying to bring comfort. He was a sweet little boy with a very broken heart!!

I had the privilege of meeting Noah's birth father. He was a nice looking man, tall and thin and he loved his son. In our meeting he told me he didn't want to bring Wilbert (Wilbear) to the orphanage but he did, so he wouldn't lose him forever by death. He told Noah he would always be his son but now this was his mother. I of course was crying and I thanked him. I assured him that Wilbert would know that his father loved him and saved his life by giving him to us. I will never forget the sadness in his father's eyes as he realized this might be the last time he would ever see him. I told him I hoped to bring Noah back someday to see where he was born and if so we would try to get word to him but there is no guarantee that we would ever be able to find him because he doesn't have a home and is forced to move around a lot. I will pray for him that God will watch over him and bless him for this wonderful gift he has given us. We will be forever grateful for what he has done and for the sacrifice he made to save Noah's life.

I am going to have to stop for now. I will try to post more later. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me. Please continue to do so as being home has been harder than I expected. I knew it would be hard to leave and it was as I could hear him screaming for me inside, but being home has proven to be just as hard. My heart is broken but I thank God that He is faithful and though this sorrow may last for the night His joy comes in the morning. I know it won't be long and morning will come and our Noah will be home with us forever and what a day of rejoicing that will be. Thanks again for your prayers and my love to you all!!