This past week our circuit breaker box had problems which left us with no power for two days. No power meant no lights, no tv, no internet, no way to charge our phones, and no water. The water pump for the house is electric so there was no way to get water from the well. No water meant no bathing, no teeth brushing, no drinking, no cooking, no flushing the toilet, no washing clothes and no washing hands. The first day without power we filled up a big barrel of water with a hose from the neighbors. The second day we walked down the street to different neighbors and carried water back to the house in buckets. Yes, I did indeed carry buckets of water on my head like a Haitian. I got pretty wet.. The third day our water got fixed. I think about all the people in this world who have to walk far, sometimes miles, to manually pump their water. Then I think of all the people who live in the tent city that I can see out the school room window at the foot of the mountain. They don't even have a well. They have to rely on rainwater and a water truck that delivers water once a week. Unlimited, running water is such a luxury and something I rarely am thankful for.

Noah has had a skin problem for the past week and a half. I took him to the doctor last Tuesday. The doctor could only guess what the problem was and gave me three medications and a creme in hopes that it would fix it. It's been a week and he's still not better. I'm going to try and take him to a dermatologist in Port au Prince tomorrow. Poor little baby.

Last Wednesday Haiti had a 4.6 earthquake. It was in the evening and I wasn't sleeping yet but the shaking woke up the workers. They were scared and grabbed all the kids in their room and ran outside. Faboila said she grabbed baby SonSon by the foot and just ran with him like that because she was going so fast. After the ground stopped shaking we heard dogs barking and people in the neighborhood shouting. I'm glad that most of the kids slept through it. It sad to see how scared the workers were from such a small earthquake. I can't imagine what a reminder it must have been for them from the earthquake two years ago.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was one of the best birthdays I've had. Katie and I took the boys with us and went to a church in Port au Prince that is in English. I didn't realize how amazing church is when I can understand it! I got chills when they started singing the first song. I felt so revived afterwords. Our  new friend named Grant came to church as well. He is an American and is going to live in Haiti for 3 months. He and his friend came with us to Epidor (a chain fast food resturaunt with pizza and burgers and things) after church to eat pizza with us. Katie bought us the pizza and Grant bought us cheesecake. The cheesecake was better than life itself and I have never appreciated pizza like I did that day. After Epidor we went to Pierre's house to visit with one of his American friends who lives in Haiti. They loved Jackson and Noah! The boys did SO good all day. They didn't cry once. They flirted with all the ladies in church and were perfect babies.

We got home shortly after the rest of the kids got home from church which was good. I got the BEST presents that I've ever gotten. Samantha told me that she would pray for me for my gift. When I laughed a little she said "don't laugh! That is a beautiful gift Rebecca!" I love that girl. Later on in the day she gave me 1 gourde (there are 40 gourdes in one American dollar). It was all she had. Jennifer made me a beautiful card and signed all the kids names by herself ;) She also asked Faboila for 5 gourdes to buy some cookies for me. She talked about it for a week before she actually got them. She was excited, but not more excited than me! Juliette told me she would give me five BIG hugs for my gift. Erline made me a card and wrote something in French for me. All the kids colored pictures and gave them to me. Katie made a card and all the kids signed it. Sue worked really hard to make a cake for me. She told me she had to go to 3 different stores before she found the right kind of sugar to make the frosting. I got a big kiss and many hugs from Claudeson. Peter gave me a pamphlet that he got in church about heaven and hell "so that I can read in Creole." Jackson threw up on me and all the kids said that he gave it to me for my birthday. My family and friends wrote me cards months ago and sent me to Haiti with them to open on my birthday. They made me cry. I didn't get any fancy or expensive gifts but the 1 gourde, cookies, heaven/hell pamphlet, endless cards, hugs and kisses were enough to make me the happiest birthday girl ever. Personally, I recommend having a birthday in Haiti with people you love. Even if they're sticky, stinky, crazy little people. Those crazy little people have big hearts and it's wonderful to be on the receiving end.

SonSon in his party hat on my birthday

Passing out party hats

Scheelanda and I ready to eat supper and cake

Me, Noah and crazy Claudeson

Blowing out all 23 candles

My card from Jennifer

Excited for cookies from Jennifer

Samantha, me and Michaelle hanging out in the kitchen

My birthday hair courtesy of Jennifer, Erline and Samantha

Noah and Jackson

Noah and Jackson

Peter and SonSon in school

Paulette is in the back and Faboila is in the front

Photos

Tomato plants from our new garden

Peter and SonSon watering our little garden

SonSon playing in the water

Me and Michaelle being goofy

Jean, Bebej, Diana, Scheelanda, Francesca

Peter, me and Michaelle in our classroom

Katie, Claudeson, Jennifer, and Samantha in their classroom

Joshua

Jackson, SonSon, Noah, Joshua

back row: Betchina, Mislanda, Marvins, Juliette, Erline
front row: Scheelanda, Bebej, Diana, Jean, Francisca

Claudeson picked some flowers for me 

we always end up a mess

Guess who got to go to Leogane yesterday? Yup, that's right, this girl did. My friend Frankie called and said that he had to run to the girls orphanage to pick up some tools. I took the opportunity for a free ride to go give the girls hugs and kisses and bring Katie to meet them. I miss them so much when I'm here and wish I had more chances to go see them. They're pretty special girls.

On the way to see the girls we drove past a big truck piled high with sugar cane. The guys who were sitting with the sugar cane were throwing pieces off every once in a while to the people walking by. They threw off a pile to a bunch of kids who swarmed it like a pinata had just broke. It warmed my hart. I wonder if I had a truck full of sugar cane to sell in the market if I would have given it out to people passing on the street..

In Bon Repos, two nights in a row, a mechanic down the street has been burning HUGE piles of tires. The first night it happened, we were worried a house was on fire because it was so big. Anyway, we woke up in the morning to a yard covered in soot from the tires. We're hoping it rains soon to wash it all away. Our floors are soooo dirty. All of our feet are covered in black soot all day long because we track it everywhere. When I give the boys a bath at night the water runs off brown. Yuck.

Also, the boys have been getting up into a crawling position. It won't be long before they're mobile. We'll be needing to put up some baby gates for sure!

That's all the updates for now!

These past few days have really made me not want to leave Haiti. These kids have been so sweet. Peter, oh Peter. He is a sweet kid but he's very emotional. When he's upset, he's UPSET. And man can he hold a grudge. Being his teacher, I sometimes need to make him do things that he doesn't want to do. So I often am the target for his anger. I've gotten used to him being upset with me for the majority of the day. However, for the past two days, he's been so good! He has rarely been angry. Two nights ago after everyone had gone to their beds, I asked him if he wanted me to rock him to sleep. I had asked him this question before and he always had said no. This time he said yes. I loved rocking him! Last night, he even ASKED me to rock him again and of course I said yes. School had been going a lot smoother and we've been having way more positive interactions. Hopefully we can keep it up!

Yesterday, it was Jennifer's turn to go on the weekly trip to the market with Fabula. She always gives the kids a few Haitian dollars to spend while they're there. When Jennifer got home, she pulled me aside to my room to give me a lollipop that she had bought with the money Fabula gave her. She used 1/3 of her precious money to get ME a gift! I was so touched because going to the market is such a treat for the kids because it happens so rarely. Thanks for making my day Jennifer!

Our new boy, Marvins, is doing good. He's a happy kid and pretty darn cute. He has been sleeping well and seems to be enjoying all the delicious food we eat. We sent him to school already and he has a good time. He has trouble pronouncing words which makes it hard for the other kids to understand him. It could be because his four front teeth have partially or completely rotted out. We've also discovered that he is a bit of a wild child. I don't think he's stopped moving since he got here. Even in his sleep he moves! We think that he probably has ADD. Last night Katie had to give him a coloring book because we could not get him to settle down enough to sit for more than 5 seconds. He finally calmed down and went to sleep two hours after the other kids. Tonight, we JUST got him into bed. He's not asleep quite yet but at least he's quiet. (Two hours after the other kids) He had Katie and I laughing so hard tonight. He literally was trying to bounce off the walls.. I told him to come to me and before I knew it he was up on a chair jumping into my arms. (just kidding about him being in his bed, he's running around the halls now...) Katie and I seriously are considering giving him some cough medicine. Is that ethical? Probably not huh? He is so sweet though and he loves giving huge hugs and kisses to Katie and I. It may take a while for the other kids to warm up to him but it's understandable. Marvins hasn't yet learned the rules of the house so it get's annoying for the other kids sometimes. The older kids are working hard at trying to kindly remind him when he does something wrong. We have to tell him things like "Marvins, we don't hit our friends.  In our house we are kind to each other. Marvins, we don't jump off the chairs like that in our house. Marvins, your feet belong on the floor, not the walls. Marvins, the balls belong outside and the books belong inside." He's only been here a few days so I'm sure with a little more time, he'll catch on. I really like that goofy little guy but man, are we in for it.

The boys got their first hair cut today. I really wanted to have them grow out their hair until they said their first word because that's how people do it in Haiti. But it was just so long that it was getting impossible to comb without them screaming their heads off. Sue said she was going to cut it after I left anyway so I just decided to do it on a whim today. Paulette did it for me but I took a few snips here and there just to say I did.

Noah's first hair cut!!!

 

 

Things in Haiti, politically speaking, are heating up. A while ago, the prime minister resigned. Without a Prime Minister, the government can not function. That is not good news for anyone, especially the families who are in the process of adopting. In addition, yesterday, thousands of Aristide supporters gathered in protest in Port Au Prince. This is also bad news. Aristide was president of Haiti but after being forced from office in 2004, he was exiled. He returned to Haiti in March of last year. During his presidency he supported Haiti's ruthless and violent gangs and those gangs supported him. Needless to say, he was not the best President Haiti has ever had. This is why it is bad news that his supporters are gathering for protests. It could mean that more protests are to come and more protests could mean violence. We found out today that Aristide probably has something to do with the resignation of the Prime Minister. Be praying for Haiti people because things may be getting crazy.

18 kids and counting... AGAIN

Now we’re back to 19 kids again. This time it’s a different little boy who’s going to live with us. His name is Marvins. He is 5 years old and has the sweetest little face. A woman, who we will call his guardian, showed up at the gate today with him saying that she couldn’t care for him any longer. She said she was friends with Marvins’ mother and that he was left with her one day. She said she hasn’t heard from the mother since he was dropped off. I don’t know if this is the truth or not, but either way, he’s here to stay. She can’t care for him and wants him to be adopted. She’ll be back (hopefully) later to have a meeting with the man in charge of adoptions as well as to visit Marvins within two weeks.

When Marvins first walked in the gate, he was visibly scared and unhappy. The look on his sweet face brought Katie to tears. When his guardian left, Marvins ran to the gate and yelled out “mommy!!” For the first half hour or so, he just sat on the steps looking so pitiful. After some time and a lot of coaxing, he finally came to get a tour of the house. I made him a bowl of corn flakes which he seemed to enjoy. At this point, he was being responsive and answering questions and the like. After a few hours, he finally got up and started running around with the other kids. He and another boy were were running around the house while I was inside doing school work with Peter and Michaelle. Marvins walked in the house with Katie and blood was streaming down his face and onto the floor. Apparently he ran into a piece of metal sticking out of the side of the house and cut his head open. Not one tear fell from his eyes and not one sound came out of his mouth while Katie was working on him. If we had been in the states, I’m sure he would have needed 10 stitches. The cut was big and head wounds bleed a LOT. I couldn’t watch and knew I’d be of no help so I went to mop up the drops of blood which led all the way outside to the crime scene. Makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Katie ended up using little strips of duct tape to close up the wound. Paulette shaved off the hair around the cut so the tape would stick. Marvins did so well and although I’m sure he was scared and hurting, he didn’t freak out and let Katie fix him up calmly. Every time a Haitian kid gets hurt, I am amazed at how brave and tough they are. All Haitian children have been through so much. I can’t even imagine what this precious little boy was thinking today. First, he was abandoned (I don’t like using that word because it has a negative connotation towards the “abandoner” although many times, the “abandoner” is making the best decision they are able to) and then, the poor kid got a giant head wound only hours into his stay here. I thank God for the resilience of human beings, especially Haitian ones. A lot of hardships make for strong people. I can already tell the Marvins is hardheaded and will likely be a little stinker, but I will have to look back to his first day here remember where he came from, and how he’s had to learn how to live in this unfair world. A teacher in college once told me that every behavior is born out of a need. When working with kids, it’s my job to figure out what that need is and meet it. That has really helped me remember to have compassion and patience when working with all people, but especially kids.

One more kid in this house will make things more hectic. It will be a challenge but I will need to remember that all these kids come with needs. They won’t ever behave perfectly because I can never meet all their needs and there’s no such thing as a perfect kid. There’s no such thing as a perfect me either. That means that I need prayer for patience and compassion times nineteen!

On a silly note, I unintentionally started a water war with the five kids who stay at home for school. It started innocently enough with a few drops of water on peter’s foot. It ended with me getting soaked from head to toe. Peter, Claudeson, Michaelle and Samantha made it out pretty dry but at least Katie and I got one good bucket of water on Jennifer’s head. I also spent a good part of my day laughing with Jennifer, Samantha and Michaelle while they braided my whole head. It’s moments like those that make me want to stay in Haiti forever. 

Baby SonSon after eating a Mango. He's wearing his new underwear! Potty training has commenced for little Sonson. Pray for us..

Marvins enjoying a Mango pit

Haitian and American flag crafts to hang on the wall of our school room

Me and Noah

Me, the boys and Dianna

Handsome Claudeson (big SonSon)

Baby SonSon and Fabula

Bebeesh, me and Jean

Visitors

Two American moms were just here for a weeklong visit. Serena (Michaelle and SonSon’s mom), and Mary (Juliette, Jennifer, Joshua and Dianna’s mom) came. They also brought their friend Shannon and her 13 year old son Collin (coolest 13 year old EVER!). I’m so glad that they could come to visit (no, not only because they brought me chocolate and other treats!) It was so good to see how much the mom’s love their kids and can’t wait to get them home. They taught me a lot about life and love. I really enjoyed talking to them. Both of them were foster moms for a long time. It was good to relate to them about raising other people’s children and learn from discussing their stories. I’m having a really hard time recently thinking about how I’m leaving these kids soon. Katie and I have been talking about it a lot. I can’t even imagine how I’m going to be able to be home after being with these kids all the time for 8 months.  In a lot of aspects, my time here has flow by. I only have a few months left. Yet, I feel like I know these kids so well. I don’t know what I’ll do when I get home and don’t get to wake up the boys talking in their cribs and Peter and Claudeson singing in the shower and Dianna coming to show me her pretty outfit for the day. Part of me wants to go home to the U.S. and be comfortable again, but the other part of me wants to stay in Haiti forever. I have always had a hard time knowing what the right next step is. I haven’t figured out how to tell what God’s will is. How do you ever know??

On a different note, I got to go to the beach TWO times this week. Shannon, Serena, Mary and Collin watched our babies for a day while Katie and I got to have a day off at the beach. We went with Frankie, his sister Taberno, and their two friends. It was so wonderful just to sit and relax and interact with other adults. Then, on Friday we took all the kids to the beach. The kids had soooo much fun! Jackson, Noah and Joshua stayed home with Sue but the rest of the kids got to go. It made my heart so happy to watch the kids on the taptap getting so excited about everything they were seeing. Jean pointed out EVERY vehicle he saw to me like it was the most exciting thing in the world. All the kids could hardly stay seated in the taptap because they didn’t want to miss anything. I wish we could take the kids out more often to go do fun things like that. They keep talking about it today and I’m sure that we’ll continue to talk about it for weeks to come!

All in all it was a great week and I wish they would come visit every month! 

The best we could do at getting a group picture at the beach

Jackson, me and Noah reading in my bed

Samantha and SonSon in their masks for Kanaval

Shower time

Taking a shower in the rain is always a good idea during rain storms in Haiti.

Another life experience completed.

Here are some recent pictures of all the kids

Bebej

Samantha

Claudeson ("Papa")

Peter

Mislanda

Gangster Noah

Noah and I having a very exciting conversation

Betchina and Jean

Scheelanda

Dianna, Josh, and Juliette

Jackson

Noah

Baby SonSon

Jennifer

Michaelle and Jennifer

Erline

Francesca

"Kanaval"

Kanaval (Carnival) is happening in Haiti right now. Kanaval is a countrywide dance party/parade/reason to celebrate. There are major Kanaval events that happen on specific days with one main event. However, all week they have "little" events with live music and dancing. Last Sunday night my friend Pierre (who is Haitian but lives in the U.S. and does lots of work for Extollo) was visiting and showed Katie and I some Kanaval festivities in Bon Repos. There was a giant flat bed semi truck that had a live band on it that drove down the street and everyone followed down the road dancing. It was very festive and I was so happy that I got to see it! It was also probably the craziest thing I've done in Haiti and something I probably should never do again. There were TONS of people dancing and singing and having a good time. I can't imagine what the Karnival in Port Au Prince or Jacmel is like since there are so many more people.

Yesterday, I went to Leogane to stay for one night. Frankie (Pierre's brother who lives here) came with me. We took taptaps (bus/taxi) because I didn't want to have to pay the $75 US it costs for him to drive me in his truck. Instead, I payed about $6 U.S. dollars on taptaps.  I only went to Leogane for one night because I can't be away from Sues house for too long and I also had Frankie with me to help. The reason I went to Leogane was because I needed to pay (finally!) for Yveline's school. It was a long ride for such a short visit but was necessary.

Our trip to Yveline's school this morning didn't go as well as I had hoped. I wanted to give her school the complete amount for the year and not have to deal with them telling us they needed more and more money later on. From my experience, that's a constant problem when people find out Americans are involved in paying for anything. The director of the school ended up giving a price that was higher than what they had originally told Yveline. I'm sure it was because he saw me there and knew that I was helping here. I wish I had stayed outside and kept out of it. Oh well. We ended up only paying for her tuition so far and I'll save the rest of the money for the other stuff that she needs to pay for later like supplies and graduation. Keep it in your prayers that her school won't charge us more than the money that was donated.

Although it took a long time and was a short visit, it was so good to see the girls and I enjoyed the experience and the price of going by taptap. It gave me a chance to get out of the house and see the country I love. I miss doing that. As we drove through Port Au Prince I saw so many little kids dressed up in the traditional Kanaval dresses with a lot of glitter on their faces and in their hair. I saw groups of little kids who were all dressed up and on their way to the party. What an exciting time! All the kids in Bon Repos have a Kanaval party at school tomorrow and their outfits are all picked out. Katie is going to make face masks with the kids who stay at home for school. We probably won't do much school and just end up watching a movie or something. It should be fun.

Things here at the house have been going pretty good. I get bored sometimes once my teaching duty is over for the day. The boys are so good at playing on the floor by themselves now and aren't as demanding as they used to be. They're getting so big it's amazing. Some days it seems like they change over night! They just had their 5 month birthday on the 10th. I can't believe that the have been here for 4 months and I've been here for 5. Life is SO different for me here in Haiti than it was 6 months ago! Crazy.

La plaj

I was having a really hard time the past couple of days. I was feeling really burnt out and just ready to go home. My friend Pierre has family here and was visiting. He showed up at my house on Friday and invited me and Katie to go to the beach with his family the next day. His invitation couldn't have come at a better time. Katie and I both needed to get away and it was a lot of fun. 20 (I think) of Pierre's family members and Katie and I all piled onto Frankie's (Pierre's brother) taptap and headed to the beach. His sister cooked beans, rice and chicken which we packed up and took with us. It was really fun getting to know some more of Pierre's family. Most of them live right down the street from me too! Pierre's kids were there as well.

I have started to teach Pierre's kids English once a week which has been interesting. They're pretty shy but learning quick. They come over to my house once a week for an hour and I teach them some simple phrases. Hopefully they'll warm up to me more now that we got to hang out at the beach together. I really like them.

Other than that not much else has changed. Oh! The boys have been sleeping through the night for a while now which has been so wonderful. If I wrote about it already, then I'm sorry, but it truly is the most wonderful thing ever to get an uninterrupted nights sleep. Speaking of sleep, it's past my bedtime. Bon nwit!