Here For Awhile...

well....

2010-03-26T21:18:00.002-05:00

I rarely post anymore but my newsfeed shows that there are still people visiting so I'm adding some photos!! Maybe I will try to post some France photos over the next few days!

Baby Boy Brown 10 days old! and Big Sister E!

2009-12-21T15:40:00.001-05:00

Lila - 17.5 months

2009-11-25T21:00:00.000-05:00

My Best Friend's Wedding 10-10-09

2009-10-17T13:11:00.002-05:00

A few unedited pictures...

2009-08-21T13:51:00.006-05:00

Some of the boys watching the vehicles outside the gates

Salinda

Richardson and Gino

baby Amelia

Naomi

Amelia

2009-08-15T12:49:00.002-05:00

Benitha and Amelia. Benitha can not keep Amelia and is bringing in paperwork to leave her at the orphanage. For now Amelia is living with me. She was born on Sunday evening and I got her on Monday afternoon. Amelia weighed 6lbs on Monday and yesterday weighed in at 6lbs 11oz! She's getting chubbier :)

2009-08-07T19:14:00.002-05:00

Fifi and Kembert

Richardson and me

Ricardo

Baby Daniela--she and her mom are living with me for awhile to help her gain some weight

1 yr on July 4th

2009-07-13T18:33:00.003-05:00

California and Camp

2009-06-26T13:41:00.004-05:00

Jenny and Jeffry are doing amazing in California and it was so fun to see them! It was a whirlwind trip but so great to so many Haiti friends!Camp Beechpoint has been in session for 3 weeks now and I've been out to visit at least once a week. I love seeing my campers from when I was a counselor!

In IN for the week...

2009-05-17T19:38:00.002-05:00

I'm in Indiana for the week taking care of Luca and Jonas with Anna (friend from CA) while the rest of the Hubley's are having fun at Disney World! If you want to see photos/read updates about our week check out the Hubley's blog...Anna and I will be updating it periodically

Has it already been a year?

2009-05-12T10:27:00.002-05:00

Monday morning started off fairly normal for my last day in Haiti. I woke up early and got a lot of packing done, did the chores and hung out with all of the kids for awhile, then met John in his office to talk about a project we were doing. I had been talking to Sheila off and on throughout the morning getting updates on Estaphanie and Zeus who had shown up at the gate at 6am. After some confusion they had been sent off to Estaphanie's appt. Sheila had commented on how bad the baby seemed to be doing and around 12:30 we took him from her. He had a fever of 103.3 at 3 weeks old. We could see that he wasn't nursing and she said she had fed him water and some oatmeal type mush. Sheila and I spent the next little while feeding him with a syringe a milliliter at a time but he couldn't even keep that down. He would have coughing fits and throw up everything we had just given him. We knew he wasn't doing good and I suggested Sheila call Dr. Jen. She said to get him to a hospital. (by this time his fever had come down some). So Sheila went and talked to John and when he came down stairs he looked at Zeus and said, "He's dying." what?! I had known he wasn't doing well but convinced myself that he wasn't actually that bad and that he was going to get better. John said he needed to get to the hospital now. As I heard him explain the situation to Junior (John's assistant and the one taking us to the hospital) in creole what was happening I kept hearing him say, "This baby is going to die today if he doesn't get help now."
So Sheila and I jumped in the car with Junior driving and Estaphanie in tow. As we were driving I kept my hand on Zeus' stomach so that I could make sure he was still breathing. At times he would have coughing fits and then not breathe for 4 or 5 seconds at a time. Those were the slowest 4 seconds ever as I willed him to take another breath.

The first hospital we went to wouldn't take us because he was too young. That meant we had to go to General Hospital. This was my first experience there and it was not a good one.
This is how Sheila described the hospital in her blog:
General Hospital is a large complex of many white buildings with forest green trim. It kind of reminds me of an old church camp with a blue and white Catholic church off to the side and people praying at the locked gates. There is one main street inside the complex littered with trash, people waiting, eating and sleeping. While you are there you are responsible to have someone stay with the patient at all times, empty the bedpans and bring in food and water. When you get an actual visit from a doctor and medication is needed you must leave the compound, walk down the street outside filled with pharmacy after pharmacy looking for the meds that you need. There is no a/c, no padded chairs, no clean towels or sheets, you get what you can carry in with you and that is it. So, while you are out it is good to get a bite to eat from the street vendors and a bottle of water and prepare for the long wait.

When you're there, it doesn't matter how sick you or your child is, you wait in line and get seen in the order that you arrived. Let me just say that that is real aggravating when you're holding a dying baby in your arms! At this point Zeus is just not doing well. There were at least 3 times when Sheila and I looked at each other panicking because he hadn't taken another breath.

We finally got a bed for Zeus at around 6 or 6:30 but that doesn't mean much. There were 30 other patients in that room with IVs running everywhere. From the looks of it, people rarely leave that hospital doing better than when they came in.

While trying to decide what to do while waiting for Lynch's house lady Nedege to come stay with Estaphanie and Zeus we watched a new mom with a tear stained face carrying her dead baby around begging for some one to save her baby. Just before leaving we stood in the hallway talking as 2 people carried out the bed of a baby that had just died. As they turned the corner and tipped the bed the baby just about rolled in to my lap. This is the saddest place I've ever had to spend any amount of time in!

Sheila, Junior, and I ended up leaving Estaphanie and Zeus at 7:30 knowing Nedege was on her way. We prayed over Zeus and knew we had to leave him in God's hands. By the way-at this point Zeus still hadn't been seen by a doctor, still had no IV, and seemed to be going down hill...fast.

You'd think our crazy emotional day ended there but nope. Would you believe that 5 minutes down the road the car just stopped working?! So there we sat while waiting for John to come rescue us.

All Sheila and I could do was laugh...it's so Haiti! I also forgot to mention that when we walked into the hospital Sheila took a step in and did quite the graceful move as she slid through a puddle of diarrhea....sick

Finally at 9:30 pm I was home and heading to bed dreading saying goodbye the next morning.

3 weeks after I posted this little man went to Heaven....I'm thankful there is no HIV or pain in Heaven.

24 days...

2009-05-10T20:01:00.005-05:00

Once the ticket is purchased I let myself actually believe that the trip is happening! Aug 5th I will be in Haiti again! 24 days in Haiti and I can't wait!

Just a few more...

2009-05-08T20:53:00.005-05:00

More Of Miss E

2009-05-07T19:12:00.003-05:00

Meet Kerlande!

2009-05-06T10:17:00.002-05:00

As of today I am sponsoring Kerlande through Compassion Int'l. Kerlande's birthday is Oct 15 and she is 7 years old. She lives in Haiti near Croix-de-bouquets which isn't too far from Heartline. I am hoping to visit Kerlande when I go to Haiti in August.

my eyes burn...

2009-05-05T19:05:00.005-05:00

i feel like i've been staring at a computer editing pictures for days...here's a few from Debi and Terry's Engagement pics and EJB's one year pics.

boys love fire trucks

2009-04-29T18:19:00.005-05:00

"You're a good driver, Ica"

2009-04-29T18:10:00.002-05:00

Someone pulled out in front of me today causing me to slam on the brakes....squealing tires, burning rubber...not fun. I am shocked I didn't hit the guy. Poor Maren was in the backseat and a little freaked out by the sudden stop. I kept assuring her we were fine, everything was ok, and bribed her with candy in the store. :) After we left the store and were driving home I heard her say, "You're a good driver, Ica."
Thanks, Maren :) Hopefully she wasn't too traumatized!

Little Miss Lila

2009-04-23T14:06:00.003-05:00

Spring!

2009-04-10T16:30:00.006-05:00

123....

2009-04-04T20:09:00.003-05:00

From Tara

2009-04-01T20:43:00.003-05:00

Tara sent these pictures of Annie today. SO cute :) I still miss her!

Sam--7 months

2009-04-01T15:05:00.004-05:00

mwen sonje ayiti anpil jodia

2009-03-24T20:55:00.005-05:00

i took these easter photos of the girls one year ago today.i found these photos from when beth and i put rice in the big turtle and let the boys go crazy. they loved it!

They May Not Be Irish But They Sure Are Cute!

2009-03-17T19:13:00.008-05:00

Ricardo and RichardsonFrankie
Ecrissa
Isaiah
Sebastien
Kembert
Gino
Angelo
Kesline
Alli
Jaryse
Annie Grace

experimenting

2009-03-14T20:39:00.006-05:00

I love my new lens but I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it yet. These are a few of the pictures from the past couple of days.
Lila
MarenEliasGabe

BUSY!

2009-03-12T13:47:00.002-05:00

Some days I look at my schedule and have no idea how I'm going to fit everything in. For example, this is what my week looks like:
Today/Thursday: special needs lab 9:45-11:45, study for test, do homework, government class 4:30-6, adult/child interaction class 6:15-9:15, spend the night at Jen's and watch Grey's and Private Practice
Friday: watch Maren 7:30-5 and Lila 9:45-1, watch Elias and Gabe 6ish-?
Saturday: watch Lila 11-3, watch Luke 5:30-?
Sunday: church 9-10:30, chicago for the day with Debi
Monday: Maren 7:30-5 (maybe Lila too), class 6:15-9:15
Tuesday: infant room lab 7:30-9:30, infant/toddler dev class 11:30-2:45, government class 4:30-6, watch Lila 6:45-?
Wednesday: Maren 7:30-5, MRI at 8:15pm, out with friends at 9
Thursday: special needs lab 9:45-11:45, government 4:30-6, adult/child interaction 6:15-9:15, spend the night at Jens to watch Greys and Private Practice

repeat again the next week....and the next...and the next. only changing a few things here and there. it's busy! add in car troubles, hanging out with friends, getting hw done, etc and there is not much time left in the day!

lens cap from china

2009-03-09T14:26:00.003-05:00

i ordered a lens cap off of ebay this weekend for 26 cents. i thought it was a good deal :) this is the email i got from the guy who was selling the lens cap:
hi jessica,
thanks for your shopping here, and i have dispatched the item. i hope you will like the item you buy here.
i am a chinese student and have great fun to open an online store on ebay.and i have saw the movie "You've Got Mail" there is a book store called :the shop around the corner in the movie owned by Catherine .so i named it my store.
jessica is a great name ,and when i saw your name i think of tom hanks' another movie "sleepless in seattle" there is a girl also named JESSICA as you !
thank you for your shopping here and leave a positive feed back for me !
best wishes
sincerely yours

i also bought a 50mm lens that i am really excited to get. all of the photographers i know rave about it and the one i bought is practically brand new and half the price it would have been in the store.

Cillian, Maren, Winter Blast, CK

2009-03-06T08:19:00.006-05:00

My friend from high school had her second baby 4 weeks ago. I went and visited them yesterday and loved cuddling with little Cillian.

Maren playing outside on Wed.

I finally got the rest of my photos from Winter Blast off of friend's computer so here are a few more from the weekend.

Cheri Kay is picking up visas for Ecrissa and Jaryse today!!!! Their adoption process is FINISHED and they will be coming home soon!

Update on CK and kids

2009-03-03T20:01:00.002-05:00

I had mentioned here that Cheri Kay and her kids were nearing the end of the adoption process and all they were waiting on is a visa. Well they have a visa appointment for THIS Thursday morning! Please join in praying that the visas are approved. This is the last step and CK can bring those kids home!!!

Winter Blast 2

2009-02-23T13:54:00.001-05:00

Baby Brown

2009-02-23T09:06:00.005-05:00

I took some pics of miss E in August and we'll be doing another little photo shoot in a couple of weeks. I took these at camp yesterday after the kids left (pics from winter blast coming soon) and before our staff meeting.

Indiana and Maren

2009-02-16T14:39:00.002-05:00

I drove down to Fort Wayne on Saturday and stayed with the Hubley's. It was a fun weekend and nice to get away for a couple days.

Maren and I had a little impromptu photo shoot this morning.

Children's Museum Fun

2009-02-11T12:55:00.007-05:00

Lila-7 months

2009-02-08T18:06:00.002-05:00

New Favorite Song

2009-02-07T15:25:00.002-05:00

I love Chris Tomlin's new song I WIll Rise. This is a video where he talks about the song and then the actual song is below that.

Pray Them Home!

2009-02-01T17:40:00.002-05:00

Cheri Kay is from Michigan and moved down to Haiti to take care of her kids while their adoption process was completed. They had been stuck in one part of the process for 20 months and were just signed out last week. She is hoping to have the kids passports printed sometime in the next week or two and then they will have a visa appt. It's a very real possibility that they could be moving back home sometime in the next month. CK is so ready to move back home with her kids! I know she would appreciate your prayers that the rest of the process will go quickly. Ecrissa and Jaryse are two of the cutest little kids! They are a lot of fun and I'm excited to have them so close in Michigan!

Last Year on Jan 30th

2009-01-29T22:24:00.007-05:00

Olivia was brought to Heartline because her bio-mom couldn't take care of her. I got to keep her for 5 days and loved it. She was a little peanut at just over 5lbs. She's now a year old and walking! and cute as can be :)

Winter Blast 1

2009-01-26T17:50:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was Winter Blast at Camp Beechpoint. I had the second oldest girls' cabin and they were a great group. It was a COLD weekend but lots of fun.

Haiti Video

2009-01-21T12:28:00.002-05:00

Too Tired To Write...

2009-01-08T05:23:00.005-05:00

It's 5:30am on Thursday and we'll be boarding soon to head to Chicago. We've been sitting in the FLL airport since 2pm yesterday. I got maybe an hour of sleep last night and don't have the energy to post anything more than pictures...
Clernise and Jemima

Angela

me with Jessi and Isabelle

Fedna, Jenelle, and I at the airport in Haiti

She did amazing all day! Such an easy little girl!

Fedna playing in the airport

passing Fedna off to Jamie in FLL...sad for me!

Just One Day Left... :(

2009-01-05T17:11:00.003-05:00

Sebastion

Nyomie

Frankie

Yvie swinging

a couple of pictures from our walk to the market this morning

Boys Will Be Boys

2009-01-04T19:40:00.003-05:00

The girls house is pretty quiet now since Jenny, Kesline, Ali, and Ashley have all left and Yvie and Nyomie are pretty quiet...but the boys house is just as crazy!! I love all these little boys!! Jenelle and I will spend most of the day with them tomorrow and I am looking forward to it and hopefully getting lots of photos!

Fedna and Beach Day

2009-01-03T20:43:00.004-05:00

Fedna is a little girl with spina bifida currently living at Real Hope For Haiti and is headed to the states on a medical visa. I will be escorting her to Fort Lauderdale to meet Jamie Ivey. The Ivey family will be taking care of Fedna while she is in the states for surgery. Please pray that everything continues to work out and that we have no problems getting Fedna to the states! There's also another little guy with spina bifida who desperately needs to get to the states soon but they are waiting for some of the offices to open up to get his passport. This is still a possibility that he could get his passport by Wednesday when we leave and if he does we will take him to FL as well. Prayers that it happens are greatly appreciated!!

Jenelle and I went with the Mansassero's, Rod and Brittany, and a few others to the beach today. It was BEAUTIFUL! The weather was perfect and the ocean felt amazing!!

Olivia

2009-01-02T16:24:00.003-05:00

It's hard to get a good picture of everyone looking when a baby is involved :)

Anpil Photos

2009-01-01T20:52:00.007-05:00

Tomorrow Chris, Leslie, and Olivia are coming in to Port and are stopping by for a visit. It will be fun to see them and play with Olivia for a little bit. Then we have the prenatal program. It is normally on Thursdays but since today was a holiday it is scheduled for tomorrow. After that John and Beth are having dinner with some friends so Jenelle and I are going to Manaserro's to hang out.
Just 5 more days here...It really is going fast.
Photos
Having fun leading worship just after midnight.

Most of the girls that were at Tlucek's today. It's an amazing group of people!

Ari and I at Tlucek's today.

Marley is John and Beth's dog and Harley (Dan and Sheila's dog) is Marley's son. Harley is living with us til Lynch's get back on Tuesday.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:56:00.002-05:00

Is it bad...

2008-12-31T16:20:00.002-05:00

...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

2008-12-30T20:33:00.008-05:00

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

2008-12-30T17:18:00.003-05:00

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

Feels like home...

2008-12-29T20:15:00.003-05:00

IN HAITI!

2008-12-27T15:08:00.000-05:00

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

stuck...

2008-12-26T20:17:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-12-25T23:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-22T21:08:00.003-05:00

Maren

bowling with Easton, Chapman, and Maren

98 hours...

2008-12-22T07:55:00.002-05:00

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

Cali Bound

2008-12-18T09:37:00.002-05:00

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

Snow Fun

2008-12-17T13:19:00.002-05:00

Purse Party

2008-12-15T22:07:00.001-05:00

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

2008-12-09T21:44:00.006-05:00

Country Style

2008-12-09T09:29:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

LOVE it!

2008-12-08T22:51:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

By Jenelle

2008-12-06T16:58:00.000-05:00

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

2008-12-01T19:50:00.003-05:00

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???

Phat Cat

2008-11-30T20:56:00.004-05:00

11/26/08

2008-11-25T17:57:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-17T22:00:00.004-05:00

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

Sam I Am

2008-11-12T13:46:00.004-05:00

2008-11-10T15:27:00.001-05:00

Link

2008-11-08T20:20:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-08T19:57:00.009-05:00

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

2008-11-07T22:02:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-06T17:06:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-05T18:00:00.001-05:00

WZZM13 says...

2008-11-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-01T09:21:00.001-05:00

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!

one year

2008-10-30T16:12:00.003-05:00

One year ago today I flew from Cap-Haitien to Port-Au-Prince for a one week "trial period" with the McHouls. A week went by, then two, then a few more....and I didn't leave for 6 1/2 months!
When I go back in December it will have been 7 months since I left....I can't wait to see everyone again!

October Birthday Party

2008-10-26T15:01:00.001-05:00

Lois (Oct 5), Mom (Oct 30), Wendy (Oct 11), me (Oct 4). (and maren just wanted to blow out candles)

Kayla Jo

2008-10-25T21:23:00.006-05:00

impromptu photo shoot with Debi's niece, Kayla

Help Me Come Up With A Name

2008-10-22T15:08:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to come up with a name for my photography so that I can print out business cards since I've had some people interested in my taking family pictures etc for them.
I'm open to any suggestions! I would love to tie in Haiti somehow....like a creole word that translates into something fun in english.
SO....I could really use your help! Start leaving comments :)

More Fall Fun

2008-10-20T22:02:00.003-05:00

Friends and Fall

2008-10-15T20:32:00.002-05:00

Debi

2008-10-15T20:17:00.004-05:00

Gabe

2008-10-11T17:35:00.004-05:00

I watched Gabe and his older brother this afternoon but Elias slept most of the time I was there so Gabe and I spent some time outside taking pictures!

10.04.08

2008-10-05T14:41:00.009-05:00

Sally (friend of Laura's family), Sarah (Laura's sister), and I all had birthdays the day of the wedding and they brought out a cake and sang to us during lunch.

Laura was the first of the 'fab five' to get married! The wedding was beautiful and she looked amazing!

Lila

2008-10-03T19:35:00.005-05:00

highlights for this weekend

2008-10-02T16:18:00.004-05:00

babysitting friday 7:30-12:30 then again 1-3:30ish
free birthday burger at Red Robin for dinner with Aunt Lois and Maren
bonfire at Laura's and spending her last night of singleness with her
saturday Laura gets married
my birthday!
spending the night at debi's house after the reception
sunday...hopefully lots of sleep

photo update

2008-09-28T19:15:00.007-05:00

Mason and Spencer at Fredrick Meijer Gardens
Laura's Bachelorette Party - Laura, Jess, Mindy, Meg
me and Emily
Maren

Scruffy The Farting Dog

2008-09-27T09:27:00.002-05:00

I'm dog sitting this weekend for two dogs. Loomis, a black lab, and Scruffy, a little mutt of some sort.

Scruffy has BAD gas. All the time. And there is nothing you can do about it.

This weekend consists of playing with the dogs, babysitting, LOTS of homework, and catching up on season 4 of Grey's Anatomy.

I have lots of pictures to post from bachelorette parties and other various events but since I'm not on my computer right now that will have to wait!

God Alone

2008-09-22T13:17:00.009-05:00

You Are God Alone

You are not a god
Created by human hands
You are not a god
Dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is
You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You’re the only God
Whose power none can contend
You’re the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You’re the only God
Who’s worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that’s just the way it is

Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable

That’s what You are

watermelon smiles

2008-09-18T13:33:00.002-05:00

I miss these girls! (and my long hair :( )

Bay Li Tete!

2008-09-15T09:11:00.003-05:00

Teaching the women in Haiti to nurse their babies has been a huge battle. A few women really get it and see how it helps their babies while others continue to feed their babies cereal, rice, or whatever else they have. Since Nadia lives with the kids and has a baby, the kids saw her nursing Salinda all the time. They heard all of us saying, "Nadia, bay li tete" to remind her to feed Salinda. We also had a nanny who was breastfeeding her little guy during the day and sometimes had one of the women from our program at the girls' house nursing her baby.
I've told Beth and Sheila that I can't even count the number of times I've said, "bay li tete" to all of our nursing moms. I probably said that more than anything else!! :)
Eventually the kids started telling Nadia or the other moms to "bay li tete" whenever their babies were crying and they even started to "nurse" their own babies. This video shows Yvie and Ashley "nursing" their baby dolls.

LOTS of nannying

2008-09-12T22:00:00.003-05:00

I have at least one nanny job everyday...some days two....and other days, like today, I have three. I watched Dylan 8:30am-12:30pm. Drove to the next house and watched Sam and Lila from 1:00pm-3:30pm. Met Debi at Panera for lunch, went home and showered and went to the next house at 6:00pm where I watched Elias and Gabe until 10:15pm. Oh, and three days a week I am also going to school. It's a good thing I have two calendars!
some days it's a bit confusing...

Sheila's blog

2008-09-09T11:51:00.002-05:00

I copied this from Sheila's blog this morning. I can't even imagine...
As I went to get Jean Kelley the other day some told me about a woman who went to the roof to get away from the flood that was coming and went into labor having her baby on the roof in the rain. Yesterday, Junior showed me this picture.....

I don't have the right words to finish those thoughts...

Haiti NEEDS your prayers!

2008-09-07T16:44:00.001-05:00

http://haitibaby.blogspot.com/2008/09/gonaives-haiti.html

the link above is to a blog of a family that is adopting a little guy from GLA. they are currently in Haiti and posted many photos of the flooding. Please be in prayer for Haiti....people have lost everything and life is going to be even more difficult for them...

More of K and K

2008-09-03T19:00:00.010-05:00

Chi Town!

2008-09-02T21:58:00.009-05:00

Simeon and I drove down to Chicago Sunday after church to visit Nikki. On Sunday we went to her church's picnic, out for thai food with some other friends, and then to the beach later in the evening. On Monday we ventured out to the Shedd Aquarium which we all loved. Then we walked around Millenium Park for awhile and ended up at Ed Debevic's for dinner. After that it was a long drive home which made getting up this morning pretty difficult!
Today was the first day of classes for GRCC. I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of being in school again but the two classes I had today seemed to be pretty fun/easy. We'll see if I still feel that way half way through the semester!
Outside the Aquarium
These things were really neat!

I love the dolphins!
Getting ready for the 4D movie....which is actually kinda scary!
Simeon, Nikki, and me
The waitors at Ed Debevic's dancing

Kendra and Kaylana

2008-08-30T13:53:00.002-05:00

Kathy asked me to take some photos of her girls today and I had to post these two while I finish editing. The girls are so cute! I met Kathy in Haiti 2 years ago in October when she was picking Kaylana up from GLA.

Playground Fun

2008-08-29T18:11:00.000-05:00

dancing queen

2008-08-29T12:07:00.002-05:00