Meet my little Princesses!

5/23/2012 

Today was the first day that I woke up feeling ok. I was ready to go for the day and wasn’t completely exhausted. I am finally adjusted to the new time zone and getting up at what feels like 4am (7am my time). Today was slightly different because we had a team working with us today. There were 10 of them who actually flew into Haiti on the same flight that I did. The girls in the group joined us with the babies for today while the guys worked on the new house that GLA is building up the hill. It was nice having the extra hands today because all of the kids were able to get outside some, but it also meant that there was a lot of activity on our small porch. 11 adults and 11 babies....but we had fun with our guests! 

I am going to write about each of my kids now and post of picture of them as well. Because of safety purposes, I can’t post their names with the pictures but it will give you an idea of who I get to love on each day! 

Miss S. is such a sweetie pie! She is full of loves and cuddles. We are working on getting her to sit up all by herself. She spends lots of time in the jolly jumpers to strength her legs. She also practices sitting up by herself by sitting in the bumbo seat....these chairs are AMAZING by the way! We also try and get her lots of time on her tummy so that she can strengthen her neck muscles as well. Her favorite though, is just being held and sang to. I give her lots of cuddle time and lots of kisses too! 

Miss W. is such a cuddle bug! Today (5/23) her birth mom came to visit her and her little brother, so she was dressed in a beautiful dress and she was all smiles today! She had clearly enjoyed the time with her mom this morning so she was extra smiley and giggly as well! We are working on her independence and her walking skills. She is developmentally behind for her age. She is two years old but doesn’t want to walk by herself yet. We spend lots of time practicing walking and she loves to walk with holding onto the furniture. It is my goal to get her to take a few steps by herself without holding onto me or the furniture before I leave. 

Miss S. is a sweetie pie! She is full of smiles and giggles as well (but she is harder to catch smiling with my camera!). She has a horrible diaper rash right now so we have been spending our time together laying in the sun and airing out her little sore bottom. Because of her and the boys (I have two more with bad diaper rashes), I have gotten a lot of sun and am getting darker everyday. When Miss S. gets all better, we will work on her legs strength as well. She will spend time in the jolly jumper so we can get her legs strengthened in order to walk soon. She is a joy and has found a special place in my heart. 

Well, here are the details of my girls! I love them all and can’t wait to see the growth they will go through in the next few weeks. Please pray for my 3 little ones with bad bums...they are all in lots of pain and we can't do much developmental work because of it. Pray they would heal fast so we can get back to working on their specific needs. I realized today that I only have 12 more days with my babies! I can’t believe I am going to have to say goodbye. I am going to be so attached to them...God loves them more than I do though and I know that after I leave, God will provide for and love them even more than what I can do for them. Stay tuned for tomorrow, I will send details of the handsome men in my life! :) 

Haiti...day 1

5/22/2012 

Today was my first full day here at GLA and it went surprisingly well. By lunchtime it felt like i was in a routine that was totally normal and that it felt like I had been here for longer than just a few hours. 

We woke up and got ready and had breakfast this morning. Then we went down to the Main House where our kids are. Once there we checked on the babies and all of mine were still asleep or still being fed by the nannies. So, I went back upstairs to clean some before my kids were ready. 

The volunteers and I each have our own set of kids and we hangout together on the porch. The porch is full of toys and games, kiddie pools, jolly jumpers, rocking chairs, strollers, pretty much anything you can think of for babies. We spend all of our time with the babies up on this porch. It is a long time in the same place but it is a beautiful view and the perfect amount of sun and shade! 

This is the view from our porch where we spend our days. Absolutely beautiful! 

This is the porch where we spend everyday all day. We have lots of toys and games here for the babies....

I got to spend time today with each of my babies. Each child I got for about an hour and 15 minutes or so and they were all really easy babies. I have three boys and three girls. I will do a write up of each of them in the next couple days to give you an idea of who my kids are. 

We went to lunch around noon and got an hour and a half break. We eat lunch and thats how long it takes to feed all of the babies too so it was a nice break in the day. Then after lunch it was back to more babies and more drool, spit up, diaper changes, jolly jumpers, tummy time and cuddle time! Cuddle time is my favorite! :) 

We finished with dinner at the house and then came back to our place. I am sitting on the porch watching the older kids play outside on their toys. Tonight I plan on showering and reading and then going to bed. Days here are long but they are rewarding. It is nice to be able to have evenings sorta off...gives us more time to refuel for the next day. 

Made it to Haiti...FINALLY!

This is a blog post I wrote yesterday. That is what I will be doing, writing a blog post at the end of the day but posting it the next day so keep that in mind as you read. Also, blogger is in French since I am in Haiti so that complicates things slightly   but I think I figured it out! Enjoy...

5/21/2012

Wow. What a 24 hours it has been. I boarded the plane last night with all my luggage. One backpack. One suitcase for me. One suitcase full of diapers, dictionaries and baby vitamins. And One duffle bag full of the same as well. I saw a glimpse of God’s goodness in the first few minutes of my trip. I thought I would have to recheck everything again in Miami and go through security again because I was changing airlines (one source of stress that I was not looking forward to). And, the lady made it work so that my bags went all the way through from Seattle to Port-au-Prince. Praise God! 

The flight from Seattle to Miami was rough. I have never flown overnight before and I can see why so many people don’t like it. Even with taking a Benedryl I had a hard time relaxing and getting in a comfortable enough position to sleep. There were a couple really cool things about flying overnight though. 1) STARS! Everywhere I looked there were stars. All over the place. Left and Right. Up and down. It was one of the most beautiful things ever! 2) Lightening storms! We flew just south of a serious lightening storm for about 30 minutes or so and the entire time I just was in awe of God’s power. It reminded me of the song ‘At your Name.’ As already being a person who enjoys the thrill and sheer awesomeness of a good thunder and lightening storm, the fact that I was flying so close and seeing it right in my face was amazing! 3) Sunrise! (See picture below) We flew into Miami just as the sun was rising and it was a gorgeous welcome sight. The amazing beauty of the flight truly reminded me just how awesome and near my God is. Suddenly, I had an incredible amount of peace knowing that He is with me...for good...no matter what happens. I was able to walk off that plane this morning incredibly groggy yes, but with a new found confidence and peace that God was going before me. 

Fast forward a long 4 hour layover in Miami and it’s time to board the flight to Haiti...FINALLY....it’s here! Because I am me, I made a friend in the waiting area. His name was Nicholai. He is a flight attendant for a different airline but wasn’t working the flight I was on, so he was able to tell me stories, give me advice and even though his ‘advice’ wasn’t the most encouraging and restful, his thoughtfulness of attempts at being helpful were a God-sent. 

I made it through the flight just fine filling out customs and my temporary visa paperwork. We landed and were bused to a huge warehouse where we would be passing through customs. Everything went smoothly and it was time to grab my bags. Knowing from Ryan and a few others about the craziness of this moment, I was full on ready to say, “No, No Merci!”... as many times as I needed...and hey, it works! :) I found my large amounts of luggage and braced myself for the walk out of the ‘airport.’ My first few steps on Haiti soil. Just me and God. 

Let me tell you, walking out of the door of the ‘airport’ is nothing like I have ever experienced. Me being a young white girl, was quickly surrounding by Haitian men asking to ‘help’ me so that I would tip them. I imagine that those watching would have thought it was like a single crumb hitting the floor and ants fighting to get whatever they could. That’s what it probably looked like and that’s what it felt like for me. Totally surrounded by dozens of Haitian men in red shirts and red hats. Again, I pulled out my strong, “No, No Merci!” And again it worked like a charm. A few seconds later a smiling Haitian man (who WASN’T in a red shirt) held up a sign with ‘God’s Littlest Angels.’ - That was it. He was the man that would get me from this mess to where I was supposed to be. He was there. And I was all good! 

Turns out there were 5 others on my same flight who were also going to GLA so we tracked them down and headed to the car. Now, driving in a different country is a whole nother story. There were cars darting in and out of each other, motorcycles going crazy, no one turn signaling, no ‘oh be nice and let him in,’ no street lights, no observation of stop signs and one HUGE difference: It seems like the horn is the favorite part of the car for every Haitian driver. Left and right someone is honking at someone, and, it isn’t a nice honk, it’s a “I am coming now, so move it or lose it’ kind of a deal. 

The poverty of the country is seem left and right and it is really hard to deal with. It isn’t too much different than Tijuana, Mexico. It is just more so, and everywhere you turn people are on the streets or in shacks for homes. Our driver told us it was going to be 45 minutes or so to the Orphanage from Haiti. Well, that 45 minutes turned into 2 hours of dodging cars and honking at people and break slamming. 7 of us, in a 7 passenger van, with all of our luggage. If this isn’t the real ‘missionary experience,’ I do not know what is! 

After we finally arrived at the Orphanage, we were given a tour and then told to just ‘pick a baby and play!’ There are two main homes here at GLA. One is the infant & baby home which houses about 48 babies under 2 years old (this is where I will be working). Then there is the toddler home which has about 68 children from roughly 3 - 8 years old (I am staying at a ‘dorm room’ at the toddler house). I am bunking with 5 other female volunteers who are all working with me at the infant home. Everyone picked their babies and Holli showed me my assignment titled, ‘Jennica’s Littlest Angels.’ I have 6 babies whom I will start to take care of tomorrow. Each has their own needs and I get to just help them out and play with them and I could not be more excited to get to know each of my babies. 

We played some with the babies and then ate a Creole Chicken and rice dinner (which was FABULOUS!). Then celebrated the birthday of one of the staff guys, and we sang and had cupcakes. I am now settled into my room and am going to read a little before I go to bed. It has been an exhausting 24 hours but God is good and I have compete trust that he is going to work everything out for his glory in my trip to Haiti. 

The picture to the right is a picture of the street side in Port-au-Prince. Most of the city looks just like this with trash everywhere. More pictures to follow later. 

Pray that God would give me continued strength as I now adjust to a new schedule and time zone. Pray that God would give me more love than I can imagine to pour into my babies. And pray that I can develop good friendships with the other volunteers that I get to serve with. And Praise God with me for his provision and hand of guidance over the first leg of my journey, I know that He was with me and he was going before me! 

Preparation day: Success!

Today was a full day! After being up late last night coming home from school, we were up this morning and hit the ground running. After stops at the bank, target and ross, we made it to Costco to get supplies for the Orphanage. 



Our needs: Diapers, baby wipes and children's
vitamins. God put it on the hearts of many people to give to my trip so I was able to spend about $500 on supplies for the Orphanage. Just in case people were wondering, $500 worth is a LOT of diapers! This is what one of my suitcases looks like and I have an extra large duffle bag full as well. 


Besides the diapers, Dads Rotary club donated some french/english dictionaries for me to take for when I am teaching english in the second portion of my trip. The box of 24 dictionaries in underneath the pile of diapers in this picture. 


After shopping for supplies and cramming them into my suitcase and duffle bag, we came back home and finished unpacking my car. It is super hard to pack everything, unpack and then repack in such a short amount of time. By the time we were done I was tired of packing and I did not want to do anymore! We got everything finished around 6:00 tonight and it was just a matter of last minute details. Fortunately I have been keeping a list going for the last week of things that I need so it wasn't all up to me remembering today. 

The entertainment from today came from our two new kittens, Sophie and Charlie. They were into EVERYTHING. Trying to pack everything and keep track of all the small items was crazy because these two thought that all of my things were their jungle gym or new toys. I would set something down and come back for it a minute or two later and it would be gone. Sounds frustrating I know, but seriously, with how cute these two are it made for a fun day of play and productivity! 


To top the night off we had a family outing for ice cream to celebrate me being done with school and our last and only evening together as a family before I take off. It's so hard to believe that tomorrow is the day. The day I have been waiting for for months is finally here. I could not be more excited! I can't wait to see all that God is going to teach me in my 6 weeks in Haiti and I am glad you are joining me along the ride. Please pray for safety in my travels into Haiti, that is my biggest point of fear and I am ready for that to be over and for me to actually be present in Haiti. Until next time...

Just wanted to check in and update everyone again. Today was exhausting, it consisted of a date to the waffle window with Kenzie & Larisa, some last quality time before summer begins. Baccalaureate chapel and lunch then onto packing my whole room up and loading it (almost) all into my car and saying goodbye to my junior year at Multnomah. It is crazy to think that another year has flown by so fast without me even realizing it. This time next year, I will be graduating and not moving back into the dorms. That's just sad to think about.

Saying goodbye to Junior year made me think again how quickly time goes. How fast things go by when we don't even realize it. This made me realize that my time in Haiti is, 6 weeks yes, but that is going to fly by as well. I might just blink and it will all be over. My prayer now is that I will enjoy each and every moment of my time in Haiti. Not wasting anytime while I am there and that I choose to have a good attitude and love my babies and students each and everyday.

Then I got to thinking, how much we waste our life. Before we know it we will be gone. Earth is our temporary home. God did that for a purpose. We aren't gonna be around forever. So, why do we so often live like we are? It is my hope and prayer that spending time in Haiti makes me realize this in bigger and better ways.

Time. Something we often take for granted can also be our worst nightmare. What are you going to do with the time that God is giving you to live for him? It is my new challenge to take every day for what it is worth and to 'live it up' with no regrets. No regrets.

In 43 hours, my flight takes off for Haiti. In 992 hours, my flight from California will land in Seattle and my adventure will be over. Please pray with me that I learn to understand time. And to not take any of it for granted.

What am I going to do for the next 43 hours? Well, I need to unpack everything, then repack, going to the bank and a few other stores, go shopping for diapers and flinstones gummy vitamins for children and hopefully get some sleep too!

Thank you so much for all your support you have poured into my life and my trip to Haiti. I could not have done it without such faithful and loving family and friends!

What's YOUR Impact?

This past year, I have been working with the youth ministry at my church. I have co-taught Middle School Sunday School and I have lead a small group of 8th grade girls for youth group. For anyone who has ever worked with middle school, you understand the ministry...the tough nights of disrespect, flat out ignoring whatever you are saying, and not finding what you are sharing important. Honestly, some nights I walk away saying, 'What am I doing here?,' or 'this is such a waste of time...they don't even care.' Tonight, I was completely blown away and it was as if every frustrating night I have had the last year was totally erased in one evening. Beyond the challenges of the pre-teen stage, God is doing amazing things in the lives of young people. He is walking them through tough transitions where their bodies are growing and developing. He is challenging them to be their own person and to take their faith as their own instead of their parents. It is a struggle to find that middle ground of feeling like a child still, but realized the independence they are slowing gaining control of. 


Tonight, I said my goodbyes. This time, saying goodbye was even bigger. They won't be able to just text me or facebook me whenever they wish. Being in Haiti will mean less contact. And not only that, when I get back, I am going home for 6 weeks. That is a whole 12 weeks away from my kids. During our small group time tonight I threw a party for my girls. I figured since it was our last night it would be special to have treats and just some fun times. Little did the girls know that I was surprising them with something else...


Something I have learned about myself, this last year specifically, is that God has given me the gift of encouragement. I LOVE to encourage people. I think that in our society we do not vocalize our appreciations of the people in our lives; those so important to us. We tend to just think, 'oh, they know how I feel about them,' but really, DO they know? How would they know how important they are if you never tell them? With these thoughts running through my mind, I decided to take a moment and appreciate each of the girls...individually...by name. At first, they weren't sure what the heck it meant to appreciate someone. They thought it was a joke. I said, "I know you struggle with hearing truth about yourself at this age. So tonight, I am going to speak truth to you. Each of you. And I want you to listen. Please listen to me."


As I appreciated each girl individually, the room gradually grew more and more silent...(which is an INCREDIBLY rare thing with my girls, especially after we had had brownies, cookies, mountain dew and sour candy). They were listening and not only that they were blown away that I had noticed them. Individually. I pointed it out. It bonded us. Instantly. 


After the night was over, Leanne took some time to pray for me. She asked 3 students to pray for me and to my shock 5 of them volunteered! (Our middle schoolers are cautious to pray because they don't want to do it wrong or something....) So, having 5 of them volunteer was huge and it already made it special. Each of them took turns to pray. They prayed for my safety, for my health and that I would come back to them! They wanted me to come back to them! After a year of wondering what I am doing and if it is even worth it, they wanted me to come back. Tears began pouring down my face, partly because I was realizing that Haiti is just 4 days away, but also a wave of sheer proudness was coming out. I couldn't believe it. After they prayed, they saw me crying and came running to the front and dog piled me. My middle school kids...surrounding me in pray, love and hugs. I really cried at this point. They gave me individual hugs and each said goodbye to me, in their special way...I was making an impact. 


This was just another lesson God wanted to share with me before I go to Haiti. I am going to Haiti in 4 days and I could not be more excited. I realize though that I might not see the impact I am making. I may wonder if it is even worth it. I might even think the whole trip was a waste of time. But I know now that the little things we do, the time we spend serving, God is working in hearts and in lives way more than we can ever see with our eyes. I have no idea what will happen in Haiti. But, I am confident that even though I may not see the outcome, I know God is working and for that, it is all worth it! 


So, next time you are discouraged that something isn't going 'super great.' Or, next time you are discouraged and wanting to give up on someone or something, ask yourself, 'what is my impact?' Will you allow your slight frustration and discouragement to stop you doing ministry and serving others? Or, will you use it as a challenge to trust that God is doing something you can't see? I know my response...what's yours? 

"I will Follow"

I figured it out! I found a song that is meant for me during my time in Haiti. I was listening to my pandora station on shuffle this afternoon as I packed and this song came on and I knew God wanted this one to be my song. For some reason at THAT moment it was as if God was saying my name and calling out, 'this is for you Jennica.' It is exactly where I am in my walk with the Lord. Surrendering complete control to the Lord and trusting He will guide me as needed. The song was 'I will Follow' by Christ Tomlin. In an interview, Chris Tomlin explains the story behind this song. 

'Isn’t that still what it means for anyone to follow Jesus? It means that we lay down our own agendas and hopes and dreams, and faithfully obey day by day. It’s a daily dying to self—the crucifying of our own petty and self-centered desires so that we might more clearly reflect Christ to the people around us. In the end, it’s not about bravado and bold statements. It’s about simple, ongoing obedience to the words of our Lord. To say “I will follow” is really not so different from saying “Help me every hour to die to my own desires, Jesus, so that you can live more fully through me.”'   

(Taken from http://breathecast.christianpost.com/Christian.Music.Artist-Chris.Tomlin/Article-203_4506.htm)

This is what my trip to Haiti is all about. Me surrendering all of my desires, my own hopes and dreams so that I can be in line with what God's dreams and desires are for my life. I can't wait to see what God is going to teach me through this trip. 


Here are the lyrics...I will never hear this song again without thinking of Haiti...


Where you go, I'll go 
Where you stay, I'll stay 
When you move, I'll move 
I will follow... 

All your ways are good 
All your ways are sure 
I will trust in you alone 
Higher than my side 
High above my life 
I will trust in you alone 

Where you go, I'll go 
Where you stay, I'll stay 
When you move, I'll move 
I will follow you 
Who you love, I'll love 
How you serve I'll serve 
If this life I lose, I will follow you 
I will follow you 

Light unto the world 
Light unto my life 
I will live for you alone 
You're the one I seek 
Knowing I will find 
All I need in you alone, in you alone 

In you there's life everlasting 
In you there's freedom for my soul 
In you there joy, unending joy 
and I will follow