Blog - Haitian Children's Home: May 1, 2009-- We're home!

^{May 1, 2009

Hello Friends.

Well, thanks be to God—we made it. After an excellent send-off by our family and friends on Sunday. On Monday, we left the house at 3:30AM, and rolled into Jacmel about 15 hours later. As you can imagine, traveling for that many hours with three rascally kids was a bit of a challenge at times, but we were truly given God’s peace and presence, even amidst our frustrations. The trip was smooth—no delays with the flights (unheard of lately!), all our baggage arrived and made it through customs in tact, and even our drive from Port Au Prince was fairly simple, with little complication.

Right now we’re staying at the home of Danny and Leann Pye (houseparents of the Haitian Children’s Home) while we get the final details hammered out with our lease and some last minute drama with our new home. We’re hoping things get ironed out all the way by Monday, so we can move in, in earnest, next Friday. Between now and then we will remain here at the Pye’s home while they leave Haiti on a short vacation. We’ll be acting as relief house parents for their 23 kids in their absence. The past few days have been relaxing and busy at the same time. Nick has been out and about quite a bit—traveling overnight to Port Au Prince again on Wednesday and Thursday with Danny to get some things set up for our family as we will be moving to Port Au Prince in about two weeks for a month and a half of language training. I have been mostly staying home with the kids and helping them with their adjustment to their new country.

While I have been a stay-at-home mom for nearly 6 years, this is a new learning curve for me. Being extremely extroverted, I am not used to the “at home” part of stay at home parenting. This is a much simpler culture. Which, don’t get me wrong, I love, but it is forcing me to engage my creativity a lot more… there are none of our “regular” hangouts—the park, museums, playdates, etc. to pass the time. And even if there were places we could go, we share a vehicle, so transportation would be an issue. I hope it doesn’t seem like I am complaining… I am really not. It’s just a part of the adjustment that stretches me a bit. I think learning more about our city and learning the language will be good for me, and help me discover ways to connect with others. In the mean time, I have picked up my guitar to entertain myself and the kids, which I haven’t played “for real” in probably 8-9 years. There is a LITTLE bit of it that’s coming back quickly, but I am finding I am having to re-learn a lot of it… and my fingertips are very sore!

Our kids are doing great for the most part. Their transition has been interesting to observe. Nia, who is almost 6, has been a trooper. She’s trying very hard to participate in the culture and seems the perfect age for this kind of transition. She’s eagerly embracing “Haitian” things—like cold baths, trying to use the language whenever she can, etc. She’s been writing in her feelings down in her diary the past few days and the words that come up most often are “happy,” “excited,” “a little sad,” and “tired.” She’s loving being around all the kids, but being a mostly introverted child, I know she will do well to be in our permanent house here, where she can get some quiet time away from all the noise every now and then. One other newsworthy thing to note with Nia is that she’s really had something “click” in her head and is reading all the time. I came outside today after putting the boys down for a nap and she was reading “The Giving Tree” to Nerry (one of the HCH boys) and Nadedge (one of the nannies.) It was cute and they stayed there patiently during the whole book.

Nico is really thriving. I am loving watching his reaction to Haiti and Haitian culture. It’s more pronounced than on either of our two previous visits here with him prior to the move. (Just to bring everyone up to speed who may not be aware—Nico is our 4.5 year old son who we adopted from Haiti nearly 2 years ago.) It’s very obvious being here that Nico is proud to be Haitian, which makes us very happy. Having heard some horror stories from various people, we weren’t expecting this transition to go as smoothly for him as it is going. Thank you for your prayers for him. I truly believe he knows at the core of him that we are mom and dad—something I don’t know if he knew just a month or two ago.

Josiah is… well, Josiah. He’s as rough and tumble here in Haiti as he is in the US, but he’s met his match a bit in Riann (the Pye’s daughter.) Like Josiah, Riann is outgoing and strong-willed, and the two of them together are a HOOT. (Or else they are driving me and Leann crazy breaking up fights!) Our biggest struggle with Josiah’s transition is that the mosquitoes seem to LOVE him. He’s getting dozens and dozens of bites despite the fact we’re using applying insect repellant in ridiculous quantities. He’s adjusting well- but I have to admit, he makes me tired.

Nick seems to be thriving here—lots of new experiences for him! The first day was a bit rough—within an hour’s time he drown his phone in the ocean and forgot to put on sunscreen, leaving him quite red and uncomfortable for the past few days. He’s jumped in to driving, which, in Haiti is a WHOLE different thing than in the US. It’s a stressful thing, and I think he’s doing a great job!

Thank you for your prayers and support. They are SO appreciated. We’d ask for your continued prayers for our family during this transition.

We have a long list of needs this time, so thanks for bearing with us:
- For hearts willing to be molded and stretched by God here in our new home.
- For a spirit of unity between Nick and I. The transition is straining our patience with one another at times.
- For our children to experience peace during this time of many, many changes.
- For the details of our lease on our Jacmel house to work out over the weekend so we’re able to move in by the end of next week.
- For us to quickly learn the language and understand the culture.
- For our transition to Port Au Prince, and that all of the details there can be worked out (namely, a currently non-operational generator!)
- That we’d be and feel safe in our new country.
- For Danny and Leann to have a GREAT vacation together, and that we’d manage the house and children well in their absence.

During these past couple of weeks, I’ve been daily focusing on two passages of scripture, and I thought I would include them. I hope in some way, God will encourage you with them, as he has with me.

Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 127
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.

3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

With an ever-grateful heart,
Gwenn + Nick
(and the three kiddos!)}