grace upon grace

From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.

John 1:16

Christine and Christina

611. The cool breeze that’s blowing across the roof right now.

612. Christina, talking while I fed her breakfast.

613. Worshipping at Port au Prince Fellowship on Sunday.

614. Getting to see the Meadows family at church.

615. Beth’s graciousness and hospitality.

616. Coconut M&M’s.

617. That Mama Emmanuel had her baby, and the miracle God worked in his birth.

618. Getting to be on “night shift” with Lena the night after Raphael’s birth.

619. Visiting Fort Jaques with the kids.

620. Remembering just now that I have brownies left over from our quick stop at the Baptist Mission (hoping they’re not stale)!

621. Getting to stay a few nights at the HeartlineGuesthouse.

622. Seeing Esther and baby Judler on Tuesday and Thursday.

623. Dinner with the teen moms and their babies at the McHouls’ house.

624. Getting to see the new Heartline property.

Pastor John climbing the precarious ladder.

625. Talking to Shelley after church on Sunday; so thankful for her encouragement and kind words.

626. Being able to spend so much time at Heartline while still having time with the kids at Notre Maison.

627. That Heartline is a finalist for the Giving of Life grant.

628. God’s perfect timing in allowing me to be in Haiti for these two weeks.

629. This song that we sang in church on Sunday.  Even more meaningful to be singing it in Haiti among people from all over the world.

630. Walton (without prompting) sweetly thanking me for the toy car I’d given him earlier.  Much better response than from most of the older boys who’d also gotten cars!

me and Keloke

Today was a good day.  I had planned to go with several of the kids to physical therapy this morning, but instead I ended up staying at the orphanage to translate for a group that's here now from Ohio.  We/they spent the first part of the morning cleaning and organizing one of the rooms, and then several of the men managed to put up a huge tarp over the driveway to shade the yard from the sun.  This entailed a lot of tree-climbing by the pastor of the group (at several points he was perched so precariously, I couldn't believe his wife was managing to watch him so calmly!), and then, he even climbed up a ladder that was only leaning against another ladder (while being supported by several people).  I was quite relieved when the tarp was up and everyone was safely on the ground!  I'm really hoping that now that the tarp is up, the kids will be able to play outside more, and especially that the kids in wheelchairs can come outside more and get fresh air.

Christina

Once they were finished with the tarp, I took Christina inside to feed her lunch.  I was sitting on the floor with her on my lap, and one of the nannies came up and asked Christina where her "manman" (pronounced as a nasally "mama") was.  Christina immediately squealed and launched herself at my neck.  Melted my heart, or some other equally sentimental phrase.  I was very tempted in that moment to go post a Facebook/Twitter status asking if any guy out there might be ok with marrying me (say, tomorrow) so that I could adopt my Ti Nina.  Be proud of me; I managed to refrain.  I really don't know if Christina even understood the question or if she was just responding to the attention from the nanny, but still.  Given that I've wished for a year and a half now that I could adopt her, that didn't help matters.  But we'll see...  Bondye konnen.

Lovely

This afternoon, the Ohio group put on a mini-VBS, which the kids enjoyed.  It was interesting, though, hearing Gertrude translate on the spot the skit they did, having not had the opportunity to prepare for words/phrases that might need to be adjusted to be better understood in Kreyol.  Some things just don't translate the same.  For example, in English, we use "power" and "electricity" interchangeably; unless I'm mistaken, it just doesn't work the same in Kreyol--you don't generally say you have the "electricity" of Christ in you.  The skit used a play on those words to get a point across, but I think it kind of got lost in translation...  Regardless, though, I know the kids enjoyed it.

Christine

So tomorrow...my last day...  What horribly awful words.  Have I mentioned that I really am not ready to go back?  But back I suppose I must go...for now.  But.  I do still have tomorrow.  Currently planning to go back to Heartline for child development day (rumor has it that Beth, Lena, and I will be doing a skit during class).  One of the teen moms wants to braid my hair afterward, and then I'll be back at the guesthouse for the night.  Evan has agreed to give me a ride to the airport on Wednesday, though I've asked that he come up with a way to (safely and without causing anyone harm) sabotage my departure.  Let's see if he comes through :)