Pictures, of course!

Angelo and I--Angelo is being adopted by a family in Grand Rapids, Michigan!!!
Jemima--2 months old
I love this photo of our ladies. The class was teaching them how to talk to and play with their babies and to kiss them and love on them. These ladies were doing great! Guerda and Samuel, Elamide and Jessi, Clernise and Jemima, Rosenie and Kendorly.

Rainy Day

The kids and I had a lot of fun playing in the rain yesterday. It was definitely the highlight of their day!

Joseph took this photo...I guess he didn't see the tree in front of a couple people ;)

New Roommate

I went to the sink to wash my hands and, luckily, reached for the knob on the left. Next to the knob on the right was the spider....YUCK

I've been asking God for a roommate/apt when I get back to MI....this is not what I had in mind.

btw-I did not kill him because those spiders are FAST and I was a little freaked out. I went into my room and pretended like I didn't see anything. Although every night since then I've had dreams about spiders. I saw it again the next day in a different spot in the living room. I haven't seen him since and I don't know if that makes me feel any better since I don't know where he is...

I think it's an obsession...

Richardson
Child Development class on Tuesday-teaching the moms to really play and love on their babies

Ricardo and jenny getting their hair done
Laundry Time!

Florence in her beautiful dress!

I have way more photos than I could ever need but these kids are just too darn cute!

my new purse

Go Here to see the purse I just purchased made by Vadette in our Women's Program

unfortunately the baby didn't come with it...

Photos

Mishiel-his mom is in the women's program and makes most of our plastic bag purses-5 months old

Isaiah and Jeffy playing with legos

Gino

Florence-one of the newest little girls in the women's program-2 weeks old

She did it!

Sheila and I just called Beth and on the Skype phone and she sound amazing for just runnng 26 miles! She said it went well!
We were able to follow her online as she ran. She completed the Boston Marathon in 5 1/2 hours!

another little sister

Maddie is my "haitian" sister. :o)

Cheering you on!

Beth is running the Boston Marathon tomorrow! We're cheering you on from Haiti!

Love-- Jenny, Kesline, Ali, Nyomie, Ashley, Yvie, Isaiah, Isaac, Sebastion, Kembeert, Ricardo, Richardson, Angelo, Gino, Franky, Sammy, Chris, Jeffy, Maddie, and Parker

Haiti Scenery

Sometimes it's hard to believe both of these photos were taken within a mile or two from eachother

Photos from Marceline

Group shot: Joseph, Stephanie, me, Bethsabe, Cherie, Naomi, Junior

the toilet we used-sick

probably my favorite part of the trip was going to this waterfall.

Cherie's cousin's little girl

We left for Marceline at 5:15am on Tuesday and drove about 6 1/2 hours on crazy roads. Bethsabe, Naomi, Cherie, and I were all squished into the middle seat of the vehicle the whole way down and back. The only good part of that was that when we hit the big bumps we didn't get quite as airborn!

We got to the village and hung out with Stephanie and Cherie's bio families (that is who we were going to visit-they were adopted through John and Beth 12 years ago) then went to the waterfall.

After we got back they had dinner for us and we ate and sat around then went to bed. Stephanie and Bethsabe slept at Stephanie's grandma's house while Junior, Naomie, Corey(Cherie and Stephanie's adoptive dad) and Cherie slept with Cherie's family. Joseph and I slept in the car. Needless to say, it was night a night of rest.

At 3:15am Junior comes out to the car with everyone and gets us packed and ready to leave. He said he woke up and decided we might as well get going! None of us were too thrilled. It is not like in the states where you could just sleep in the car...it is WAY too bouncy and crazy to even think about trying to sleep.

We finally got into downtown Port-Au-Prince and Junior did a few errands for adoptions and Cherie, Naomi, and I did a little shopping on the street.

Then we were off to head up the mountain to meet Stephanie's bio mom. We left Steph, Naomi, and Bethsabe to eat lunch with the bio fam and the rest of us continued up the mountain to the Baptist Mission for lunch and so Cherie and her dad could do some shopping.

We got home around 3pm which means we spent almost 12 hours in the car on Wednesday! The only time we weren't in the car was the hour or so spent at the mission.

I told Sheila yesterday that I was really tired of riding in the car. I am very excited for normal roads again!

I still have not caught up on my sleep since things have been so busy but I guess I can always sleep when I get to MI...which is in just over 3 weeks! I'm still amazed at how fast time is flying by!

Village Trip

Cory, Cheri, and Stephanie are here visiting for a few days. Cory and his wife adopted Cheri and Stephanie 12 years ago through John and Beth.
Their bio families live out in a village 5+ hours away and tomorrow we are taking a trip out there. It's going to be a long drive but I am looking forward to the village experience. Hopefully some cool photos. We leave tomorrow morning at 5am and we'll come back on Wednesday. We are taking nothing with us but the clothes we are wearing-you sleep in them and then wear them home! Hope no one starts to smell :)

4 weeks til I hop on a plane to Chicago!

New Pajamas

Ashley, Ali, Kesline, Nyomie, Jenny, Yvie
You wouldn't believe how excited these kids were for new PJs! A big thank-you to the visitors that brought them!!! There was a bunch more for the boys house as well but they haven't been given theirs yet.

back row: Kesline, Jenny, Ali, Jeffy
front row: Yvie, Nyomie, Ashley

MICHIGAN

This picture is from December but I never posted it. Go Michigan! :)

Calm after the storm....we're hoping

The internet won't let me post any more photos to this but this one was taken at an intersecton a mile or so from where we live. The black spots are where they had been burning tires. Normally this intersection would be full of cars and people but not many were out. It's been really calm here since yesterday and we're hoping it's all done. Businesses are reopening and we are really thankful that the store we go to the most was not broken into at all! I haven't heard much about what is going on downtown but at least around here things are much better!

Can you hear me now?

Steve and Shayla (Yves' adoptive parents) have been here visiting for a couple of days and Shayla did hearing tests on our older kids and a few of the nannies that wanted it done. They were told to raise their hand when they heard the "beep."














This photo is of the roadblock we came to earlier in Beth's car then had to turn around. We later walked through it. When I was brought back to my house after dinner the roadblock was gone for the night but I'm sure it'll be there again in the morning.

Manifestations

We heard on the radio today that things were going to get a lot worse if Preval (the president) didn't speak soon. As far as we know he has not spoken yet and there are not roadblocks all up and down Clercine. All of our houses are on sideroads off of Clercine. We aren't right on Clercine and none of the protestors come up our roads.

Anyway, this morning things were fine. I walked to Dan and Sheila's house one street over and the only difference was the lack of cars on the road. About 1/2 an hour later Beth, Yvie's parents, and I were standing outside in the yard and heard lots of shouting. We looked out the gate and could see a huge crowd of people going down Clercine. A poor tap-tap was stuck on the road as they flooded the street and was banged on until they finally passed. Dan also got stuck in it but had 2 Haitian men direct him through. All of our nannies have been talking about the "manifestations" that have been happening. We are so glad that all of workers made it to work today!

So, obviously I won't be walking to Dan and Sheila's anymore.

Then this afternoon we all were at Lynch's house just hanging out and working on a few things for the Women's Program then left to go to Beth's house. We got most of the way before running into a roadblock of tires and a bunch of people. They waved the first car through and were motioning for us to go through as well but when we got up there they held up a sign that said, "Kanpe la" (stand there) and wouldn't let us through unless we paid them. We turned around and went back to my house and Beth called John to come and get us.

John came down and said we were going to walk to Beth's house through the roadblock. He said we should have just paid the people a little and they would have let us drive through but for now we'll walk. So, off we went. 6 white people and a little haitian. When we got up to the roadblock a couple of guys were yelling, "the white people can't pass unless they pay us!" but John is great and just started joking with them, shaking hands, being friendly while the rest of us just walked right through. Once we got through the roadblock the road to Beth's house is practically right there so John and Dan left us to walk the rest of the way to Beth's house and they went back to get the car. He did give them some money and had them all laughing again on his way back.

They never threatened us or were mean. They didn't even talk to us except to ask Beth for money and she said John's the one with the money, ask him.

Usually at dark everyone leaves and you can pass through again but if not I might be sleeping at John and Beth's.

We still aren't being threatened and aren't in danger, it's just a major inconvenience and we need to lie low and can't go to any stores or anything b/c all the roads are blocked and stores are closed.

Luckily we have enough food for all of the kids for awhile!

We also have a UN person staying with us because where we live is considered a "red zone" and the UN won't come pick him up. FYI-we've always been a red zone and they wouldn't have come pick him up last week either.
So, that's the update for now. I will keep everyone posted! Keep praying for Haiti and that this passes quickly. We're all preparing for the long haul!

Food Prices

Go Here for a blog about how much some of the basic things cost. It's crazy!

Latest news

Many businesses and the gas stations have all been broken into. Pretty much all of the major roads were blocked and burning tires are everywhere. Some of our workers haven't shown up but luckily enough came that we are still doing good. John wasn't sure if our security guards would make it so he came to check on the houses and was preparing to have to stay at whichever house didn't have a guard. Luckily both showed up. Things have been quiet by our house, a lot more foot traffic since the tap-taps are on strike but overall we wouldn't really know that anything is going on unless we tried to go somewhere.
If I hadn't eaten in months and the price of food continued to go up I might start a riot, too!
We are still safe here but we need to be careful going anywhere. Schools are cancelled for tomorrow and, if things continue the way they are, will be the rest of the week as well since it sounds like this won't clear up before Friday which is when they want to burn the Palace.
Pray for Haiti and for the safety of everyone here!
This photo has nothing to do with the contents of this post but I like it anyway :) It's Yves, Jessi, and I with Yvie's babies.

A little...excitement

the price of food here has increased drastically (like 40%) and if the Haitians couldn't afford it before they sure can't afford it now.

Things are being closed down and Lynch's are trying to find a way to get there kids home from school since there have been riots outside of the school.

Here is a video that was on cnn. It's downtown in front of the palace. They are saying that if things don't change by Friday they are going to burn down the palace. We'll see what happens!

For those of you (mom!) that are prone to worrying...we're fine, just staying inside more and not going anywhere other than between our 4 houses.

2 months later...

Taken 2/1/08

Taken 4/6/08

This is little Olivia that stayed with me for about 5 days in January. Her bio-mom, Werna, is the one who is living with Sanise in the house that Lisa got them. Olivia is doing great and has rolls like you wouldn't believe! Chris, Leslie, and Olivia came in for church this morning and then to Tlucek's for Dan's bday party. It was so fun seeing Olivia again after 2 months!

Wahoo Bay

The Lynch's, Lisa, Renald, and I spent another great day at the beach. It was incredibly relaxing and this time we all brought enough sun screen. Sheila, Lisa, and I spent most of our time floating on the raft. At one point, Maddie came out and was floating with us and when she got off the three of us slid to the back but stayed on...until Dan came up and flipped us off the back!Sheila, Lisa, and I

The beach isn't really the only exciting part of the trip...getting there and back is quite an adventure as well. I wish I could give you an accurate image of what it's like driving here but it's really impossible. Let me just say we saw more naked people, BARELY (and i mean barely) missed getting hit about 3 (or was it 300?) times by overloaded buses going 80mph, a dog getting run over, a couple dead donkeys, more bumps than you could ever imagine...are you getting the point?

Maddie and Parker

Water fun

Joseph, Kesline, Jenny, and Ali-we went swimming at Tlucek's pool Monday afternoon and are planning to spend a couple of hours there today as well!We've entered into the rainy season and the kids have been begging to play in the rain. It was thundering last night and Jenny asked if they could play outside when the rain came and I said only if it was still day time. Every other time it's rained it's only been at night but just a few minutes after she asked me it started pouring!
Ali, Jenny, Yvie, Kesline
Yvie
Jeffy