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!