Is it bad...

...that I'm already dreading leaving a week from today?!

Today Jenelle and I went to Mother Theresa's. It's always a tough, draining morning. We knocked on the gate a little before 8am and were let in. I always have a hard time talking through the lump in my throat once I walk in to the rooms of crying, sick children. Svenson is 10months old and weighed about 7lbs. He looked like he was no older than 2 months. He could barely reach up to me from where he was laying in his crib. I picked him up and he snuggled right in. These kids are craving touch and love. I held Svenson for over an hour and he eventually fell asleep while I was feeding another little girl then woke up to eat his breakfast. The nanny gave me a bowl of "mush" to feed him but he wouldn't even open his mouth for the spoon. I told the nanny and she made him a bottle of milk to try. In Haiti it is very common to cut the tips of the nipples so that the milk comes out faster. This isn't good for any child but for a little guy as small as Svenson, his stomache can't handle that. I let him drink a little at a time until he started to act uncomfortable. I knew what was coming and sat him up just in time for the couple of ounces he had just taken to come back up. The poor little guy couldn't even keep an ounce of milk in him!
After that one of the Sisters came in and took him to put an IV in.
While they were doing that I picked up a 16 month old girl, Staline, who was longer but didn't weigh much more than Svenson. The nanny had to change the sheet on her bed and had sat the little girl on the floor naked. Staline hadn't eat yet so they gave me a bottle to try with her. She was refusing to drink it so they had me try the "mush" with her. She seemed to want that because she was using her weak little arm to pull the spoon to her mouth when she wanted a bite. After a few bites I could feel her stomache rumbling and I knew we had to take a break if she was going to keep it down.
We left shortly after that and it's so hard to lay the babies back down in their crib not knowing when they will be held again by someone who isn't just there to get their job done (changing diapers, etc).
Thankfully, there are some people working there that really do love the kids and how to properly care for them.

Full Day

Today started early and was busy. We had a team come down to do eye exams on anyone who showed up. We were all assigned different jobs and had a pretty efficient system going.

For the first few hours my job was taking them after they were checked in and explaining how to read the "E" chart and telling them how their eye sight was and what we were going to do with them then passing them along to the next person. The second half of the day was supposed to be our child development class but we decided to just feed them and let them all get their eyes checked so we spent a lot of time holding babies while their moms got their eyes checked.

We had one mom bring in her 6 day old baby girl who still does not have a name. The death rate is so high that many Haitians don't name their babies right away because they might not live anyway. It's very sad.

After all the women left Beth, Jenelle and I picked up Yvie from the girls' house and took Agathe (our Haitian translator) home. It's a beautiful drive a little ways up the mountain.


Tomorrow Jenelle and I are going to Mother Theresa's Orphanage for the morning then coming home and baking cookies all afternoon with Beth for the big New Years Party at church.
It's been a lot of fun seeing my Haiti friends. Below is a photo of Brittany and I with 2 babies.

child development day

I will try and write something later tonight while we watch a movie. Things are going great!

Feels like home...

IN HAITI!

We're here, safe and sound! It still feels like home!

stuck...

today was pretty stressful but we thought that once we got to the airport we'd just get on a plane and be on our way...
4 hours later we're still in the airport and hoping our plane will leave at the newly scheduled time.
we had a hotel for tonight so we tried to cancel it since we won't be getting into FL until at least midnight but they said since it's the day of we'd still have to pay the full price SO we are going to catch a cab (cause of course the shuttle doesn't run after midnight) to the hotel and sleep for 3 or so hours then be up in time to take the 5:30am shuttle back to the airport.
we're so close to warmer weather..... :)
Please pray that we get out of Chi tonight and into Fort Lauderdale so that we can leave on our scheduled flight into PAP tomorrow morning!

Leavin' On A Jet Plane...

I can't believe we are actually leaving tomorrow! The time flew by and suddenly the trip is here! Jenelle and I are really excited. We leave from Chicago tomorrow and will land in Haiti on Saturady!! I cannot wait to be back in Haiti. It's been 7 months already since I left...
Please continue to pray for us as we travel. I definitely have a fear of flying so getting on 4 planes in two weeks is not my idea of fun but I have to do it if I want to get to Haiti!
I will update sometime Saturday/Sunday to let everyone know we are there.
Thanks for praying! (the picture if from when I flew to Cap Haitien in Sept last year)

Easton, Chapman, and Maren

Maren



bowling with Easton, Chapman, and Maren

98 hours...

til I am on a train headed to Chicago to meet Jenelle then we are on our way to Haiti!!!!

Cali Bound

Jenny and Jeffy are flying to California today after a long wait....Just in time for Christmas!

Snow Fun

Purse Party

Cheryl Vanderwell and I had a purse party on Saturday and it went way better than I expected! We sold apprx $1000 worth of purses! We definitely could have sold more but we ran out of many of the styles so people placed orders for me to bring back in January. It was really exciting to see everyone's reactions to the purses! Except for a few people that came towards the end of the party, I don't think a single person left without at least one purse!

LGJ

Country Style

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LOVE it!

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By Jenelle

I cannot believe the Lord is sending me to Haiti! I am beyond excited to go do my best to show Christ’s love to these Haitian children. This trip that I am taking with Jessica over Christmas vacation is approaching so quickly! I feel like it was just yesterday that Jess brought up the possibility! Going to Haiti is not something I ever pictured myself doing, but I am so excited to see what God has in store for me while I am there. I have been praying daily for safety and that the Lord would use me in great ways to reach those I will be in contact with throughout the trip. I have also been praying that the Lord would use this trip to draw me closer to him.
When Jess and I first started planning this trip I was scared about all the typical things that one might be scared about when traveling overseas to an unfamiliar area, but as time has passed the Lord has given me a true peace about everything. He has taken away fear and worry and replaced it with excitement and anticipation to see what He has planned for me. I believe that the Lord is in complete control over every element of this trip and I have faith that He will take care of Jess and me as we try our best to serve him.
In all honesty, I do not know a whole lot about Haiti, but I am very excited to learn all about this culture as I do my best to serve God’s children in any way I can. What an amazing opportunity the Lord has given me! Please keep praying that Jess and I would stay safe and be open to anything the Lord is trying to show us on this trip. Much Joy!

D.J Tanner

A few years ago I had a couple people tell me that I looked like DJ Tanner off of Full House. I had totally forgotten about it until today when I was in line at Subway and the girl waiting on my said, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like DJ Tanner?" Um yea...actually they have! The subway girl did say that my teeth were much straighter than DJ's. SO...what do you think? Is Candace Cameron my long-lost twin???