Phat Cat

11/26/08

A year ago tomorrow Beth called me to tell me that Jocelyn had given birth and Byron and Shelley were on their way to pick Jocelyn and the baby up to take them to the hospital. She told me to get bottles and things ready for the baby. A couple of hours later Shelley came over with a small little bundle. Annie weighed in at 5lbs 8oz. Shelley passed Annie off to me to be bathed and given a bottle. Annie started sucking from the bottle right away which made us all excited but later on decided she didn't like it so the rest of the day she was fed by a dropper.
Annie lived with me in the apartment for 2 months before Tara and Tina came to Haiti and Annie then moved in with the Livesays.
I LOVED having Annie and became attached real quick! I was able to see Annie a couple of times between Jan and May when I left Haiti and it was fun to see how she had grown! Here are some pictures from Tara's blog from Annie's birthday celebration!

Ali Cat

Miss Allissanne is going home to New Mexico with her adoptive family this week!

Sam I Am

Link

This is an update from my friend Ari's blog. She wrote about the school that just collapsed in Haiti.
http://ari-haitilife.blogspot.com/

Good Memories...Hard Goodbyes

Emily and I at camp this morning
Emily's baby girl
Joyce and Molly surprised everyone and flew in from Haiti for the weekend. It was so great to see them even if just for a short while. It definitely made the goodbyes at the end of the day even harder.
Ivy and Adeline
Lovely
Jiovenda-she and her two sisters have only been home from Haiti for 1 week! I'm not sure if Jiovenda actually remembers me from GLA or not but she seemed pretty content to sit with me and loved the fact that I could speak creole with her. It was cute.

I am so ready to go back to Haiti but I am blessed to have such a great "Haiti connection" in Michigan!

Jonas, Peterson, and Sam

Jonas left Haiti the same day I did in May. He has been home for almost six months and has changed SOOO much. He's a completely different little boy. On Sunday I am traveling to Indiana with a few people to be at their church for Jonas' dedication.
Peterson came home from GLA in March and is doing great as well! He has SO much energy but is such a loving little man.
Sam did great today....he slept a LOT which is great for me but not so great for his mom who will probably be up with him all night. sorry becky!

Tomorrow is the Haitian Adoption Gathering in Hudsonville (which is why Jonas and Peterson were in Michigan). I'm excited to see a few kids that I haven't seen since May and some that have just recently come home from Haiti.

creole lessons

I got to talk to Ruthie (Kesline) on the phone today. She just recently went to Arkansas with her adoptive family. She kept making me laugh with everything she was telling me. At one point she said something about how her brother (who was also adopted from haiti a few years ago) doesn't remember any creole anymore. I said that I was forgetting it too. She asked why and I said it was because I didn't have anyone here that would understand it if I was speaking it to them. Ruthie said, "Well then tell your mom you want to go back and visit and the kids can teach you!!"
problem solved. mom, I wan to go back so that the kids can teach me creole!
btw-Jenelle and I bought our tickets on Sunday! We leave Dec 26 and get into Haiti the morning of the 27th. We will return to the states on Jan 7 but won't be in MI til Jan 8. We are both so excited to now have tickets!

baby sam

WZZM13 says...

Today will be sunny with near-record high temperatures in the low 70s inland and around 70° along the lakeshore. The record high for Grand Rapids is 71° set in 1964 and tied in 1981; the record high for Muskegon is 70° set in 1938; and the record high for Holland is 71° set in 1987. The warmest Presidential Election Day in Grand Rapids' history is 73° in 1964. Winds will be south at 7-14 mph inland and south at 8-16 mph along the lakeshore.

this is my kind of november weather!

Happy Halloween

These are the three little munchkins that I watched for 5 hours last night. (10 months, 9 months, 4 months). Thankfully they slept most of the time I was there!