October 27, 2016
The day we headed to the airport to fly to Haiti! It's so crazy to me how long we waited and then suddenly, the day was here. Previously I had been harboring so much anxiety surrounding this trip. I was worried about leaving Eden and Israel behind. Safety while we were in Haiti. Mosquitoes. Hurricanes. You know...normal things (some sarcasm there). But, honestly, once we got up to the day I felt so much peace. It was incredibly hard saying goodbye to the kids. I held it together until we walked into the airport and then it came crashing down. But, I had to get on that plane so I got over it and moved on. We flew from Portland to Dallas that first night and stayed in a hotel since we had a 12 hour layover. It was SO nice and exactly what we needed. Josh has been basically non-existent lately due to work so having a time where we could just sit and talk and eat take out and have zero responsibilities was so wonderful.
October 28, 2016
We had to get up at 4 am to catch our next flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Truth be told I hardly slept anyway so it didn't make much of a difference. We said goodbye to Dallas and flew off to get one step closer to Haiti. Each one of our flights was only around 3 hours and then we had a 2 hour layover in Florida. We grabbed some lunch and then waited to head to Haiti. There were so many emotions running through us at that point, but we were just so ready to get there.
Our next flight was so different than the others because suddenly it was us surrounded by a bunch of Haitians and not much was said in English. I loved it. Stepping off that plane was so surreal. And I was extra thankful that Josh had been here before because he at least knew where to go and what to do. We grabbed our bags and headed out into the sunshine and found our driver right away. It's so interesting stepping into a culture that is just so different from ours and it certainly makes it even more interesting when you can't speak the language, but we have managed. I really wish we knew more creole. I practiced a lot of toddler words, but I would love to be able to communicate with more people. In the car was our orphanage director and she helped give us the lay of the land as we drove to our location.
We didn't think we would meet our daughter until the next day so it took us by surprise when she said we were heading there. It ended up being a really good way to just slowly introduce ourselves as to not completely overwhelm her. We mostly just watched her interact with her friends and her nanny and didn't interact with her much on our own. We felt it was important to take it really slow. We then said our goodbyes and headed to the guest house where we would be staying for 15 days. As soon as we walked in our friends were standing there. They had received their referral just after us and it ended up that not only did they overlap us by 1 week, but they were also staying at our guest house. Stacey and Tyler are from our tiny little town and we started this process together, never even imagining it was possible that we would be here at the same time and staying together. Having them here has been a huge blessing. They keep us busy and sane so we don't have to get too homesick. We are beyond thankful we get to have this time together. The rest of the night was for unpacking, getting settled, eating spaghetti with eggplant marinara, and playing lots of Uno. By the end of the night we were so exhausted and so ready for some sleep.
October 29, 2016
Today was a full day with our girl! We woke up and ate some breakfast and then headed straight over to the orphanage. When we got there they were doing preschool so we just sat off to the side and talked to the orphanage director some more. The kids sang lots of songs and our girl couldn't stop dancing the whole time. We got to watch the kids eat snack and head back out for some more school. By the time they were done it was time for us to leave. The nanny didn't realize that and handed her to us, but we had to tell her we had to go. We saw our girl get sad and that broke our hearts, but we knew we would return after their naps.
After our goodbyes, we were escorted back to the guest house (we had a sweet lady who walks us to and from the orphanage every time) and ate the most delicious rice and beans I have ever tasted. The cook and the guest house manager have been so wonderful about accommodating our food needs and have been cooking fully plant based for us and doing an amazing job of it! Our friends were headed out on a trip overnight with yet another friend of ours that is in Haiti so we said goodbye to them and then we headed back to the orphanage after a quick break. When we arrived most of the kids were still napping so we just hung out out of the way and then as soon as they woke up it was snack time. The kids were all half asleep at the table. Our daughter (we will call her Selah since we can't share her real name) was so quiet and just not interested in eating or interacting at all. I thought the rest of the day may not go so well, but eventually she perked up and was in the best mood. She seriously lights up a room with her smile and her giggles. I could listen to her laugh all day long. Josh and I had a lot more one-on-one time with her this afternoon which helped us get an even greater sense of her personality. Selah LOVES music so we brought her a shaker egg (its a plastic egg shape with little beads in it that makes sounds) and she enjoyed shaking it and singing along. It was fun interacting with all of the other kids as well. We know many of the families that are also adopting from the same orphanage so seeing their kids, the ones we have prayed over for so long, was just an incredible experience. They are all just so fun and amazing! Today really was a great day. Now I am ending it with swollen feet from the ridiculous amount of mosquito bites that I have, but it's so worth it. I am loving it here!
Hopefully I will be able to upload photos to future posts, but the internet here is not so great so I am not sure that it would even work...hopefully it will at least let me upload this post! Thank you to everyone who has shared in this journey with us. We have been so grateful for every prayer and for each one of you that has encouraged us. There's still a long way to go until Selah is home, but we are thankful for this time. Goodnight from Haiti!
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