March 16th - Day 9
Not really a whole lot to report from this day ...... mostly spent gathering all our stuff and packing and saying goodbyes and such.
We were suppose to be doing to children's program for the kid's of Heather's Home tonight but as we were finishing the balloon animals the electricity went out (as it does quite often in Haiti) so that kinda put a kabosh to that which bummed the kids out something aweful. We all felt bad.
We did have an impromptu church service in the dining room at Heather's Home at 9 PM! =) That was cool.
March 17th - Day 10 - Time To Go Home
We all got up early so we could say goodbye to the children before they went to school which led to pictures and then 4-5 of us from the team actually went with the van to take the kids to school. And that was it for me, as they piled out of the van my waterworks starting. I was a wreck. I didn't want to leave "my" kids.
Around 8 AM we headed to the airport and by 10:30 we were all thru customs and everything and waiting for our plane -- not without "incident" however!
The guy checking my baggage opened one of them to find a Haitian doll and said "your daughter?" Assuming he meant "for my daughter." I said "wee, wee." He then proceeded to pick on me relentlessly .... "she is going to sufficate, your whole family will be very sad!" Oh man, everyone was cracking up! He called the head security guard over and told him I had a baby in my suitcase ..... he thought he was serious! I told him "you're going to get me into trouble. Knock that off!"
So when he opened up my 2nd checked bag he asked "any more babies?" hahahahaha.
The rest of the trip went off without a hitch ...... we left Haiti at 1:30 (an hr later than planned) and arrived at JFK at 7 PM. We got thru immigration and customs and found our next gate just in time to scarf down some food and catch our 9:30 flight out of JFK to Syracuse!!!
Oh my goodness, the minute I saw Don in Syracuse I ran to him. Hugs & kisses and just complete elation that I was finally HOME!!!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Haiti Trip - Days 7 & 8
Monday - March 14th
TODAY WAS MY OFFICIAL 1 YR ANNIVERSARY OF BEING SYMPTOM FREE OF MS!!!!! I PRAISE GOD FOR THE MIRACLE OF EACH AND EVERY DAY OF THE LAST YR (and the 30+ yrs prior to that too of course).
The kids from Heather's Home went back to school today from their week off. It made it very quite around the house and there was a lot of time to do "nothing."
I spent a lot of today reflecting .... every time I'd look at the clock I'd think "oh, I was doing .... at this time last March 14th." My mind was anywhere but in Haiti today. All I could think about was March 14th, 2010 and how I will NEVER forget that date!! Thank you, Lord!
Tuesday - March 15th
We decided to go sightseeing today to see the view of Haiti from the top of a very large mountain!!
About 3 hrs into our trip the van we were driving decided it couldn't make it any further up the hill so we had to park it in some lady's driveway and wait for a 2nd rental vehicle to come pick us up and take us the rest of the way up the hill.
TODAY WAS MY OFFICIAL 1 YR ANNIVERSARY OF BEING SYMPTOM FREE OF MS!!!!! I PRAISE GOD FOR THE MIRACLE OF EACH AND EVERY DAY OF THE LAST YR (and the 30+ yrs prior to that too of course).
The kids from Heather's Home went back to school today from their week off. It made it very quite around the house and there was a lot of time to do "nothing."
I spent a lot of today reflecting .... every time I'd look at the clock I'd think "oh, I was doing .... at this time last March 14th." My mind was anywhere but in Haiti today. All I could think about was March 14th, 2010 and how I will NEVER forget that date!! Thank you, Lord!
Tuesday - March 15th
We decided to go sightseeing today to see the view of Haiti from the top of a very large mountain!!
About 3 hrs into our trip the van we were driving decided it couldn't make it any further up the hill so we had to park it in some lady's driveway and wait for a 2nd rental vehicle to come pick us up and take us the rest of the way up the hill.
Our leader, Rev John Earley & our translator, Makin waiting by the "broken down" van.
So, after the new van arrived we all piled in and drove another 1 1/2 hrs to about 1.5 mi from the very top of the mountain. That's as far up as this van could go safetly. So, the men of the group and I all decided to hike up another .25 mi of the mountain to get a view for pictures because where the van stopped was all tree covered and you couldn't see anything.
That .25 mi was VERY steep and rugged terrain!! But, since I was healed a yr. prior to I had no trouble!! =)
So, after 4 hrs we finally made it up here to see this gorgeous view! And I wouldn't trade 1 min in the hot 12 passenger van with 13 OTHER people for anything!
On the way back home we found a rare delicasy in Haiti and stopped for a snack ..... DOMINO'S!!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Haiti Trip - Day 6
THE BEST DAY FOR ME - HANDS DOWN!!!!
Sunday - March 13th
Today started out with a great chance to sleep in and rest. 1/2 of the team headed out to Pastor Lucien's church to minister while the rest of us stayed back at Heather's Home to rest and get ready for the evening service at Pastor Eladge's church.
We had a great time with the children in the morning and into the early afternoon. We headed out to Pastor Eladge's church around 3 PM .... it takes about 2 hrs to get there.
Sunday - March 13th
Today started out with a great chance to sleep in and rest. 1/2 of the team headed out to Pastor Lucien's church to minister while the rest of us stayed back at Heather's Home to rest and get ready for the evening service at Pastor Eladge's church.
We had a great time with the children in the morning and into the early afternoon. We headed out to Pastor Eladge's church around 3 PM .... it takes about 2 hrs to get there.
Almost immediately I caught the eyes of this beautiful little girl and got a chance to hold her and love on her. She was so cute, even when she spit on me ..... she's only a yr old! =)
WOW! Talk about a worship service!! I have never been in a worship service so spirit-filled and AWEsome!!! Tonight was the eve before my 1 year anniversary of being symptom free of Multiple Sclerosis and what a celebration it was!!
I don't speak (or sing) in creole but worship was so loud that noone there knew I was singng in English and tounges. I just made up words to the tune they were playing!! It was GREAT!! I've never felt so free to just praise God.
This video is the VERY BEGINNING of worship ...... I was too "into" it later on to even think about getting out my camera to video! =/
Monday, March 21, 2011
Haiti Trip - Days 4 & 5
Friday - March 11th --
Today I stayed at Heather's Home with the children while the rest of the team took a 12 hr. trip to visit the YWAM (youth with a mission) facility in Haiti.
I had a GREAT day just loving on all 10 children all by myself. We sang songs, I taught them "chubba" (for those of you who've never seen my "chubba" just ask the next time you see me), I painted their faces, we took pictures ...... it was a blast!! It made me miss Emily something fierce though. I was also able to rest and spend a lot of time with God today. I got ahead in my Old Testament Quest reading and just throughouly enjoyed my day "alone."
Saturday - March 12th --
Today was a great "break" for all of us! We drove to a Haitian Beach Resort and spent the day relaxing in the sun, playing beach volleyball, scubba diving and (some of us) drinking non-alcoholic pina colada's!! =)
I got A LOT of souveniers this day ..... including 2 very large, gorgeous shells. My husband and I kinda of collect them ..... especially the big ones since some are worth a lot of money!!
The best part about today was watching the sunset over the ocean --- absolutely amazing!!
On our way back to Heather's Home we were driving by a huge mountain and all of a sudden we could see that the top of it was on fire! That was a gorgeous sight but also knowing that something was ON FIRE made it scary.
As soon as we got back to Heather's Home we were mobbed by the 10 beautiful brown-haired loves!!! =) That was always the best part about going anywhere ...... the coming home!!
Haiti -- Days 2 & 3
Wednesday - March 9th -
Today we went to the Embassador's for Jesus Children's Home, an orphanage that The Love Church of Horseheads has been supporting for decades.
While we were there we did our children's program which consisted of a skit, balloon animals, making a wordless book bracelet and a short message. We all had a great time loving on the children that attended.
Got my first taste of a Haitian "super"market today too. They are about 1/8th the size of Walmart! =)
Thursday - March 10th -
First experience in "waiting" (which is common on the mission field) this morning!! We were suppose to leave for the Good Shepherd orphanage at 7, instead we left at 8 due to a flat tire.
We performed pretty much the same routine as yesterday only with a different skit.
We were then suppose to head to a 2nd orphanage but while we were there the Pastor got a phone call from a lady in a tent city orphanage that needed help desperately so we felt the call of God to go there instead. If our driver had been "on time" today we wouldn't have been at Good Shepherd when that call came in!! God is good and His timing is PERFECT!
Upon arriving at the tent city orphanage we immediately starting loving on children and doing balloon animals and singing while Rev Earley and another man from the team went to buy them food. The children sang to us, in English, "We're so Happy You're Here!"
Also, I had another great experience at this orphanage ...... I got to pee in a tent city ..... a VERY large concrete above-ground well "hidden" by bed sheets (that were blowing in the wind)!! =) Picture of the tent city "bathroom" is below.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Haiti Trip - Day 1
March 7th -- the itinerary was this ..... head out for Syracuse from Elmira at 2 AM to catch a 6 AM flight to JFK. And then head from JFK to Port Au Prince, Haiti at 8:30.
Well, the good weather of NY state had something different to say about that! We left Elmira at midnight and drove through a blizzard VERY SLOWLY all the way to Syracuse. Upon arriving in SYR at 4:30 our flight was still set to leave at 6 AM. GREAT!!
Around 5:30, when we should have been boarding our plane to leave SYR we find out several things are going wrong with getting the plane ready ..... the maintenance men are stuck somewhere outside in the snow, then when they did get there they decided to get a plane that was set to leave at 6:30 AM ready before our plane. Ahhh!
So, because our 6 AM flight didn't end up leaving till 9:30 we missed our flight out of JFK to PAP and it isn't everyday that you can get to PAP. =( So, the airline rerouted us to MIA and we had to stay in a hotel that night and proceed from MIA to PAP on March 8th.
March 8th --- 4:45 AM - wake up to be ready to go to the airport at 5:30 to catch our 8 AM flight out of MIA to PAP!
Upon arriving at the airport we find out that our reservations were not in the computer ..... can you say "get behind me satan?" So, Christina and I just start singing, right there in the airport ..... "I Walk By Faith!" It wasn't long before they found our reservation (around 7 AM) and finally located our checked bags (that had come in the night before on some plane) so they could board them onto the plane.
FINALLY -- around 10:30 AM we land in Haiti and by 12:30 PM we are greeted by 10 beautiful brown-haired children that were so bummed that we hadn't made it the day before but SO excited to see us when we finally arrived!!!
Well, the good weather of NY state had something different to say about that! We left Elmira at midnight and drove through a blizzard VERY SLOWLY all the way to Syracuse. Upon arriving in SYR at 4:30 our flight was still set to leave at 6 AM. GREAT!!
Around 5:30, when we should have been boarding our plane to leave SYR we find out several things are going wrong with getting the plane ready ..... the maintenance men are stuck somewhere outside in the snow, then when they did get there they decided to get a plane that was set to leave at 6:30 AM ready before our plane. Ahhh!
So, because our 6 AM flight didn't end up leaving till 9:30 we missed our flight out of JFK to PAP and it isn't everyday that you can get to PAP. =( So, the airline rerouted us to MIA and we had to stay in a hotel that night and proceed from MIA to PAP on March 8th.
March 8th --- 4:45 AM - wake up to be ready to go to the airport at 5:30 to catch our 8 AM flight out of MIA to PAP!
Upon arriving at the airport we find out that our reservations were not in the computer ..... can you say "get behind me satan?" So, Christina and I just start singing, right there in the airport ..... "I Walk By Faith!" It wasn't long before they found our reservation (around 7 AM) and finally located our checked bags (that had come in the night before on some plane) so they could board them onto the plane.
FINALLY -- around 10:30 AM we land in Haiti and by 12:30 PM we are greeted by 10 beautiful brown-haired children that were so bummed that we hadn't made it the day before but SO excited to see us when we finally arrived!!!
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