first "family" wedding in Haiti

Well, it is over and done and I survived!
Today was Frantz & Badeline's wedding.
Frantz is Ronel's cousin on his dad's side (the son of his dad's sister - I know, but I am just clarifying so you'll all understand)
Badeline is Ronel's cousin on his mom's side (I don't think that she is Ronel's first cousin but somewhere in there - she is related to him!)

So - there was ALOT of Ronel's family at this wedding and that meant ALOT of family that I had yet to meet! (some of them travelled a long way for this wedding)

So the wedding was supposed to start at 8am this morning (Dec 31st) Ronel was coming to pick me up and he had said he would be here like 7:30-7:45am depending on how many people were at the church and if the wedding party was there or not. I told him that I would be ready at 7:30am. So this morning I got up at 6am, showered, blowdried my hair, put on my makeup, etc. etc... and then got dressed - it was 7:35am. I then had to find my camera, make sure I had everything necessary to be gone all morning and then I started searching for my keys (not a huge deal but still wanted them just in case I came home and Karen had gone out) It was now 7:55am and still no Ronel. At 8am, devotions were finished and so I decided to walk down to the kids home with them and wait there. (with no keys - couldn't find them) As I was walking down - trying to avoid Pal (our German Shepherd who loves to jump on you when you are in nice clothes!) there was a knock on the gate and it was Ronel. It was just after 8am and he was in his dress pants but a casual shirt. So we went down to his house and NO ONE was at the church yet! So, we got to Ronel's, wrote the card for our gift (I hadn't been able to remember how to spell the bride's name so had waited for Ronel!) and as we were talking, the bell at the church rang, so Ronel changed his shirt into his dress shirt, tie and jacket and we went off to the church. When we got there it was about 8:25am and there was a handful of people outside the church gate, maybe about 15. There was the groom's mom & dad (Ronel's aunt & uncle who I know so was very happy to see them!), an uncle of the groom & Ronel along with his wife & a couple of kids, and a bunch of other people that I didn't know! Ronel & I went into the church, and cleaned up a couple of things that had been left out and then we waited.
We waited for about 15 mins before anyone else started entering the church and then people started slowly coming in. At the same time, the music guys, photographer and videographer showed up and started setting up (45mins after the wedding should have already started!!)

Then, at like 9:25am, most everyone was in the church and they started.

First off there was the "announcer" - a young lady dressed like a bride who danced (oh, yes - danced - it was quite hilarious to watch!) then - she got to the front and a young man came out from the side door dressed like a groom and another young lady again dressed like a bride did their own dance down the aisle. Apparently these were the king & queen. She danced down the aisle while he danced up and then they passed each other and then they finally turned around and found each other and danced down the aisle together to the front.
Then came the men & ladies of honor (that is how it translates) There were 7 of them and as couples they did a choreographed dance down the aisle all together - each couple doing the same thing. It was like sychronized dancing! Then when they got down to the end of the aisle - the flower girl (she was a teen and also dressed in white, with a veil) started down the aisle. At this point in time, the groom and his paren (best man) came into the church from the side door and started up the aisle, while the bride and her maren (maid of honor) started down with two children in front of her (dressed like a little bride & groom) The men & ladies of honor had all stood in line men on one side and ladies on the other down the aisle and held flowers up in their hands making an archway for the bride & groom to walk under. The groom went halfway up the aisle and the bride came down to meet him. They then walked down to the front of the church together. At the front of the church was 4 chairs set up - 2 on one side facing 2 on the other. On one side, the bride & maren sat and the other side sat the groom & his paren.

They sat for the entire ceremony other than standing to say their vows and kneeling down for the consecration prayer. After they had said their vows, they changed seats and sat with the bride & groom beside each other.
There were 3 groups that sang, a choir from their church, a trio (the bride's sister and friends) and another smaller choral group. The groups were actually quite good.

When they signed their marriage papers, they then have any number of people from the wedding come up and sign as well (not on the actually marriage certificate but some other legal paper) giving testimony that they witnessed the wedding as well.

There was a TON of people taking photos and video and for the vows and presentation of the couple they were all standing right in front and no one could see (people behind us started telling them that they weren't standing in a bad spot - we were in the front row and we couldn't see anything either!)

Then there was the reception - we got down to the house where the reception was (at the sister of the bride) There was a bunch of chairs set up outside of the house under a tarp but not enough for everyone that was there - Ronel found one for me and he sat beside me on his moto.
The wedding party entered the house where there were photos taken with the food (a big thing in Haiti)
After a little while some people came around with drinks and some food - but they didn't get to everyone. Some people went in, got food in take-out containers and left.
For the entire reception, we never saw the bride & groom again, there was no program or anything - just handing out of drinks & food and mingling in and amongst ourselves.

Ronel took my camera and went in and got some photos of the couple with the cake
















This is Frantz & Badeline cutting their wedding cake.
I think that this is more elaborate than any wedding cake I have ever seen in Canada!

I also love how Badeline isn't smiling - it looks like she is at a funeral, not her own wedding but most Haitians don't smile when they get photos taken.

So, that was my morning & afternoon and tonight I am going down to Ronel's church in Borel for a New Year's Eve service which will be from 8pm till midnight. Apparently it is a huge celebration - so I will see what happens tonight and I will write about that tomorrow!

Happy New Year's to you all!!

only in Haiti..... the undie story

Okay,
So I just have to write about this because I was laughing so hard and trying not to pee my pants!

So today I have been doing a TON of laundry and Germaine has been hanging it on the line for me

About my second or third load, I did a load that was mainly undergarmets and whites. I had told Germaine that she could put most of my clothes on the clotheslines on the second floor (which is right outside my apartment) as there aren't that many lines down below and the kids clothes is getting washed today too. (plus I don't really need for my undies, bras and other such items to be on display for all the male workers!)
So Germaine comes into my office and comes over to my desk and asks me if I "soaped" my underwear before putting them into the machine. In Haiti, they have this soap that apparently is a good stain remover and they use it on all their clothes before they wash them with detergent.
I tried to explain to Germaine that not all my underwear were new and some of the "stains" were there from a long time ago and those were not everyday undies (come on ladies - you know what I mean!)

Germaine was clearly a bit upset and said that all my undies need to be beautiful. This was where I started laughing. I told her that no one sees them but me and I don't really care how beautiful they are as long as they are clean. Poor Germaine - she was horrified! She said that Ronel (my fiance) would be horrified and if he saw my undies he would tell me that I needed to throw them out! So, in an attempt to make her feel better, I told her that maybe I would need to just throw all my underwear away before the wedding and start fresh! She seemed to think that this was a great idea but said that I still need to learn how to soap my undies before washing so that I didn't need to keep buying new underwear!

I just had to share this because it made my day! I laughed so hard and thought it so cute how Germaine felt the need to let me know that my undies would not be acceptable should my future husband see them (which he shouldn't be doing until after he is my husband! - just thought I would make that clear!)

So, that is my day so far!

my 2 boys & my adventure home to Haiti!

My gorgeous nephews!

This photo was taken back in October just after Tristan's first birthday. I love that there is a Christmas tree in the background and Calvin is wearing shorts & a short sleeve t-shirt!

I couldn't believe how much Tristan had grown since I was home in May. He was not too sure of me when I got home in November with my extensions in my hair and tons of braids but he did start to warm up to me by the time I left 3 weeks later! I spent lots of time with Rhonda, Calvin & Tristan this time. I also got to spend time with friends, some of whom I didn't get to see much of when I was home in May. Janine came down again to visit for 3 days and we had fun catching up and we went shopping for some gifts for me to bring back to the kids here.

My first Sunday home I had an invitation to come speak at Vic & Dorothy's minichurch (bible study) This group is made up of mostly seniors' and I was glad to go and spend time with them. They all told me that they were looking forward to hearing about life in Haiti. So I went, unsure of what to expect, but took my photos as well as my mom's scrapbook from her trip to Haiti in June. (She did an AWESOME job on her scrapbook! It is really neat and shows so much of what she did here!)
There were lots of questions which I was more than happy to answer, especially since I find it easier to answer questions about Haiti than just have to talk - I never know what people want to know about!
After talking for quite a bit, Vic starts to tell me that each minichurch chose someone who has gone out from our church into ministry to bless this Christmas season and that their minichurch has chosen me. I was quite blown away! It wasn't anything I had expected! So, they presented me with a cash gift that they told me was to be used on me personally and that they were very proud of me and what I was doing. Also, that they kept me covered in prayer (and that group is filled with prayer warriors and I am very thankful for their prayers!) I was speechless (not an easy task!!) and so touched by their thoughtfullness and generosity!

I truly enjoyed my time in BC, though it flew by WAY too fast. Then I spent a fun filled day with my mom and Jacques in Seattle, visiting Pike's Place Market before they dropped me off at the airport for my 11:30pm flight to Miami. There were a few tears at the airport and I found it hard to say goodbye to my mom. I had a really good time with her here in Haiti and I think I feel closer to her after having her see what I do and where I live. I then flew to Miami where I spent three days with Eileen and Pia. Eileen was my roommate in Haiti my first year and I enjoy hanging out with her and her roommate Pia in Florida. This time, Pia's sister and neice from Austria were also in town so it was a lot of fun, and a bit of an adventure as her sister speaks very little English, her niece speaks a fair bit of English and I speak NO german!! But we still had fun, and Tuesday afternoon, while Eileen & Pia were both at work, the three of us went shopping together and had fun and even found ways to communicate!

My trip from Seattle to Miami had turned into a bit more of an adventure than I had wanted! When I got to Miami, The only suitcase of mine that showed up was my carry on which I had checked in at the gate (the flight was full so they were asking people to check some bags at the gate and I was only more than happy to not have to drag my suitcase around) So after waiting till ALL the bags had showed up (there was another family who was missing one suitcase - out of like 6) I went over to baggage services and filed a claim - the lady said I needed the local address where I was staying so they could deliver my bags so I went and found Eileen and came back to the baggage services and the lady told me that they had found one of my bags somewhere in the airport (Somewhere??? Why wasn't it on the carousel with the rest of the luggage from my flight!!) So, then only one bag was missing - and man, they ask a lot of questions. They wanted to know what the bag looked like, a list of 5 items that were in the bag, and a bunch of others that I can't remember right now! Well, maybe for most people, remember what was in your luggage is easy but when you have 2 suitcases that are fully packed with stuff for an orphanage - Christmas gifts for the children and other needed supplies - it is hard to remember what was in each bag and even what I packed. They said my bag was still in Dallas and should be delivered before 2pm. So off we went to Eileen's house. We went to a birthday party for the son of one of Eileen's friends that I had met when I was there in May of 2004 for Eileen's graduation. Then when we got home, we called to check on my luggage and they told me it was on route and should be there before 8pm. Well, the bag finally arrived at Eileen's at 4am!! (Bless Eileen, she let me go to sleep at 1am and she stayed up to wait for the delivery guy! - I was exhausted after sleeping on the plane, and even then it was only 2 hours here and 2 hours there!) Well, my bag arrived, but not in the same state that I had dropped it off in! It was the large duffel bag that Rhonda gave me (which has been so useful!) But when I saw it, it had a huge rip in one end, and one of the end pockets was almost completely ripped off! I don't know what they did to it to make it fall apart like that but thankfully everything was still inside and still intact! I got some thread and a needle and sewed the bag back together as good as I could and then used like 6 luggage straps to tightly secure the bag and lessen the chances fo anything happening to it before it got to Haiti!

Leaving Florida for Haiti turned into an adventure too!
I missed my flight from Ft Lauderdale. I was the next in line to check in when the lady said that no one else would be making the flight - there was probably atleast a minimum 25 more people behind me that also missed the plane.Jay (the American who was in line behind me and who I had started talking to and works at the US embassy here in Haiti) and I were put on the standby list for the next flight out of Miami (leaving at 9:45am - 10 mins after my original flight would have landed in Port au Prince!) and we hoped we would get there in time to check in for that flight. We found out that we had to find our own way to Miami, Eileen was the only one I knew in Ft. Lauderdale and she was due in court that morning (for her job!)so Jay & I decided that we would split a taxi to Miami, (cause we wanted to make any effort possible to get to Haiti that day!) the lady at the desk said that a taxi was probably like $50 (US) to get to Miami, well turned out it would have been more like $75 minimum and we could get a whole van (to ourselves) for only $65 flat rate. So we took a taxi van from Ft Lauderdale to Miami, traffic was brutal and I got a little nervous about whether we would even make this flight out of Miami, especially since we would be on a standby list. - When we arrived, the desk attendant gave me problems with my suitcases and then when I got to security I had been tagged for extra security checks! I was so frustrated and kept having to ask God to give me peace and patience that I would get a plane to Haiti! I then got to the gate and tried to call into Haiti to anyone to tell them that I wasn't on the original flight. I finally got through to Val (a friend who work with Clean Water for Haiti) who called Karen and then Chris (who also works with Clean Water and was supposed to be picking me up at the airport since he was flying out that same day so his driver had to be there anyway) to tell them that I would be on the later flight from Miami. When I saw Jay in the waiting area I found out that they had given him a seat at the check in desk and he joked that I was not having a good day! Man, was that so true or what! So when they called my name to come up to the desk for a seat assignment I was so glad and even happier when I saw that I had a window seat - I thought for sure I would end up with a middle seat! When I finally arrived on Haitian soil, I was SO happy and when I saw my suitcases arrive I was even happier. I was picked up by Jean Renaud, Clean Water's driver and driven out to Clean Water for Haiti which is about half way to our compound. I spent the night there with Val and Barb (another Canadian missionary) and Nicolas came to pick me up the next morning. It turned out that Karen had come in to pick me up with Nicolas and a police inspector friend of ours. He came in UNIFORM in hopes that he would be a deterrent to anyone wanting to harm our vehicle or anyone in it! He had to get back to work in St. Marc by noon so they weren't able to wait for me and so Karen had asked Chris if Jean Renaud could pick me up after all! Chris had found Karen at the airport to tell her the news from Val that I wasn't on the original flight. I guess Karen had gotten quite nervous when I didn't come out of the airport and actually managed to get inside the arrivals terminal to look for me! When she didn't find me, she got even more nervous and so was happy when she found out from Chris that I wasn't on that plane but she couldn't wait for my plane to land because of the police inspector having to get back to St. Marc.

Well, that is enough for now. I will try and be much better and writing in my blog in 2006!

Good night!