We are SO Thankful

We had a short week of school to celebrate the Thanksgiving holday. Wednesday night, we decorated our little christmas tree that my mom sent to us in the mail. We are SO THANKFUL! We have never had the opportunity to do this together as a family. What a wonderful experience. The kids were so excited. They had so much fun and were very proud of their final accomplishment! We then sat by out little christmas tree, read the Christmas story, and talked about how this season, we will be celebrating the life of Jesus and remembering the amazing gift of Salvation that he gave to us. Of course, as I am trying to be af bit serious and make sure my kids remember the real meaning of Christmas, Jaryse pipes in with "Yep, and then we'll get presents, and we'll rip them open, and then we'll be surprised and say "oooooooooooo"!!!" Leave it to the 4 year old!!!!!!

Ecrissa's pre-school class did a Thanksgiving "presentation" with the Kindergarten class and had a little Thanksgiving "dinner" afterwards. It was so very cute, and the little pilgrims and indians were adorable! Here are a couple of pics of my sweet little pilgrim!

This year (as they did last year), the class did a song in sign language. This year however, my little girl, decided to do 1 or 2 signs, instead of standing with her hands behind her back like she did last year!!!! Progress, that is all we can ask for is Progress!!!!!!!!!! We are very Thankful for all that we are blessed with!

A haitian holiday, blessing us with a day off!

Watch out Pixar Artists!!!! I have a 5 year old that can draw with the best of them!!!! LOL. Ok, so I am a little biased, but check out Ecrissa's NEMO!!!! I found her the other day, sitting on her bed looking up at a picture of Nemo, then down to her paper, then up to Nemo again, and then to her paper, and so on. And the final product................................

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A gorgeous Nemo!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of my little girl! She is growing and changing and makeing developmental gains everyday!!!!!!!

For our day off yesterday, we "hung out" as Jaryse would say. I felt like that day was such a gift. We played at the school, I did some running (I don't think the workout thing is working, I've done 3 and I still don't look like a superstar!!!!), then we washed the car and played in our small pool. We watched movies, read books, played games, and ate snacks. Wow! Blessed to have a wonderful day off!!!!!!

Maybe Haiti should have more holidays!!!! Just kidding, they actually have a ton, and it seems that they always fall right when there should be movement on my adoption papers! I'd rather see my papers finish then have a bunch of Haitian Holidays!!!!!!! I am sure other adoptive parents would agree with me!!!! I am blessed. I am so aware of my blessing lately. I have heard so many sad adoption stories from this country over the last month, that even though ours is hard, grueling, long and terrible, I am thankful for friends, family and my Lord and all that he does for me and my children!

Pics from the family trip!!!!!

Ms. Hollywood!

Uncle Henry, Aunt Teri and Ecrissa

Uncle Henry and Jaryse

Grandma at the orphanage

Aunt Teri May, Uncle Henry and the munchkins

Me doing therapy with Idoris! I love that kid!!!!

Kisses from Aunt Teri May!

Me walking with Sonel at an orphanage!

Goofball!

Teri and Cheniedoh!

Teri and Henry at the Orphanage

Princess Ecrissa eating lunch!

Thinking...........

So, this telephone pole is on the road near my house here in Port au Prince. I don't know how long it's been like that, but, it's standing (sorta), holding up the wires (sorta), and basically functioning on a daily basis. This telephone pole to me is representative of Haiti. Haiti, is broken. But, still seems to be functioning (sorta). When I look at this pole, only questions come to my mind...

*How long has it been like this?

*How long can it last like this?

*Is is safe?

*Is it effective?

*When is it too broken to work at all?

*Can it be fixed?

*If so, how?

*If it can't be fixed, will they replace it?

*How do you go about doing that without affecting the people that it is supposed to be serving?

I know that this is kinda a weird comparison, but I think of Haiti and it's issues everyday when I drive past this pole. I feel like these questions can be asked of Haiti too. I realize that I am not an employee of the electric company so I can do nothing to fix that pole. Then I wonder, if I can't fix a telephone pole, how am I supposed to be a part of any fix in this country??? Can I be a part of a fix???? Is there a fix????? This country seems to be going along day by day, like this telephone pole, broken. Seemingly serving the people, but maybe not.

When I see this pole, I only have questions and no obvious answer comes to my mind (good thing I am not in politics!!! LOL). This makes me realize that I need to pray for Haiti everyday. The only thing that can "fix" this country is a miracle from the ONE who created it. I am grateful that He loves this place and I am more grateful that He only wants me to do the small part that He has set aside for me to do. I don't have to "fix" Haiti alone. I don't even have to face Haiti alone. I need to pray for Haiti.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I put the country of Haiti into your hands. Father, I
pray for the government officials, I pray that their hearts will be convicted by
you to serve the people of their country. I pray that dishonesty and
corruption will no longer be the foundation of this country and it's
leaders. Father, I pray for the orphans, the widows, and all those who
have suffered so much at the hands of a "broken" government. Thank you
for loving this country, thank you for it's people, it's history, and it's
culture. Father, I pray that today, you will show me, the one thing
that I need to do to help this country and it's people. In your name I
pray--Amen

Catching up!!!!

My family left yesterday morning :( :( :( , but now I am in the middle of catching up. Oh, and Mia, I don't have pics yet!!!!! I am waiting for grandma and Teri to send them to me. I didn't have my camera with me, just grandma and Teri. We had a good visit though. We went to Jacmel and they watched me do therapy with the Jacmel kids, we played in the pool and enjoyed each other's company. We then came back to Port au Prince, did some shopping on the street, went to market's and to orphanages. On Tuesday my brother in law went to the medical clinic with me and to the school while I taught. I think that between all the driving around Port au Prince and the drive to Jacmel, they go to see alot of Haiti and experience some of the culture. I know they experienced nights (and even days) without electricity, the heat, Haitian Happiness (for those of you who don't know what that is, come visit, maybe you'll experience it too!!!), cold or semi warm showers, poor water pressure, bad roads, burning trash, rain (and lots of it), flooded roads, and probably much more that I just think is normal at this point!!!!!! Haiti is full of all sorts of experiences, without even going anywhere, and we were all over! I am so happy that they came, so happy that they played with my kids, and so grateful for their love and support.

I'll post pics when I get them from my sis (hint hint!!!)

The family is here

Grandma, Teri and Henry arrived on Thursday night. We have been super busy but totally enjoying out time. This is my Grandma's first visit to Haiti and the first time that she has met my two awesome children. They have had so much fun. Of course, grandma came with a suitcase FULL of new clothes and new toys and the kids are loving the gifts. It was like Christmas Thursday night when Grandma opened her suitcase :)

I have heard (but don't tell the kids :) ) That there are more presents to come from their Aunt Teri and Uncle Henry. i am sure that they'll be soooooooooooooo excited to get more fun things.

We are currently in Jacmel and will go to do therapy today with the three children that I see here in Jacmel in just aobut an hour. My family will go with me and meet some of the kids that I provide services for here in Haiti. I hope that they will be as blessed by these little miracles as I am.

I heard this morning about the school in Petion-ville. Apparently, a school building collapsed whille the children adn teachers were inside of it. I am about two and a half hours away from there, and don't know any real details, other than what I've heard on the news. Please pray for those families, as it's just another tragedy that these people are forced to face. Seems that there is a new tragedy daily here in this country for these people.

I will post pics as soon as we get home from Jacmel.

luvs, CK and the munchkins.