Joy

What a day!  Travis and I started out our day with church in town.  Dickenson and Davidson were able to join us, and noone else from our team wanted to go, so we enjoyed a little family time with the boys worshiping and catching up a bit.

Today we partnered with the other Healing Haiti team that is down here to help them kick off their sports camp at Grace Village.  We meshed really well with the other team and we had a blast playing with the kids during the morning hours.  There was basketball, kickball, 500, skateboarding, dancing, bowling, catch, ring toss and more...It was a BLAST!

Group learning some tap dancing.

Skateboarding

After Grace, we visited Juno's Orphanage which was a first for me.  The children were so welcoming and they sang us a song to thank us for coming before we got started.  We sat in a circle and introduced ourselves, sharing our names and what we do for a living.  Their sweet voices speaking beautifully clear English was adorable!  We then taught them a couple songs with actions and had fun being silly with one another.  We brought materials to make paper airplanes and the children enjoyed throwing them and watching them fly.  We had so much fun with these kiddos that it was hard to leave!  When it was time to go we all went around and gave hugs and kisses and said orevwa (goodbye).

A Tooti Ta game with the kids

Travis with Edwinson when we went on our tour.

When we got back to the guest house, a few of us walked over to the Palm Inn to take a quick dip in the pool before dinner.  As we were walking to the pool, out of nowhere, Dickenson came running up and jumped on Travis' back....He joined us for a swim and has gotten a lot more comfortable in the water since last year!  Davidson joined us shortly after, and we had a fun time splashing and talking more about their school year and how well they did on their exams.  They were so proud to tell me they were first and second in their class.

Our team is awesome.  Our meeting times have been so rich, and we have been able to be transparent and vulnerable with each other in how we are processing all of our experiences.  Sometimes it is difficult to process and it is so helpful to talk through the emotions we are feeling.  Bonding is happening!  On another note, this team knows how to have fun.....So much laughter and silliness and not taking ourselves too seriously going on over here :)

Jean came over tonight, and we invited the other team over for a salsa lesson.  We had so much fun! Jean is a great teacher and we look forward to having another lesson later this week.

Fun after the lesson, doing our own thing

Water truck day tomorrow, the anticipation is making it hard to calm myself so I can go to sleep (note the time I'm writing).  I am so excited!

Till tomorrow,

Alicia

Inviting

Our first full day of serving and it was fantastic!  Today we had to switch up our original plans, but we know that being flexible is key, so it was no big deal.  We visited three elders today.  Our first stop was to see Pierre.  He welcomed us all with a big smile, and hugs to go around.  He helped each one of us down the rocky terrain to his home and was such a gentleman.  We enjoyed visiting and were able to wash his feet, arms and back and then gave him a nice lotion massage which he seemed to love.  As we were finishing his foot massage, the girls decided to tickle his feet at the same time.  He laughed and wriggled and loved it.  We knew that Pierre loves to dance, so we brought with a speaker and had a dance party!  It was awesome!

Our second visit was with Marie.  Marie is 104 years old and she is super spunky!  We enjoyed time painting her nails and massaging her back and then we took a great group picture because Marie loves to take pictures  She says that if we take pictures of her we will remember her and come back to visit her.

We then went up for our tour of Grace Village.  It was great seeing all of the progess and new things that are going on at Grace and its always great to have some of the kids join us on the tour for fun.

Our last visit was with Edmond.  Edmond lives alone and cannot see and he doesn't hear well.  He was so happy to see us!  We gave him his care package and then enjoyed washing him and giving him a massage.  We then prayed for him and headed back to the guest house

There is so much to capture and I can't do it justice in this short post, but I want you to know that we are bonding well as a team and are sharing many laughs, but have also created a safe place to be vulnerable with one another about what we are experiencing.  Haiti can be difficult.  God is stretching all of us in different ways, but we are all LOVING our experience thus far and can't believe we've only been here one and a half days.

I need to get to bed, as I am waking up early to go to the Tent Church early in the morning.  Good night and God Bless!

Alicia

Reunion

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to be back in Haiti! As I write this, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness having this opportunity to be here to serve once again. I have said many times that Haiti has captured my heart, and both Travis and I felt it was a homecoming today when we arrived. My word of the day was reunion today, because we were reunited with many friends and people we have come to call family over the last few years. Upon exiting the airport we were welcomed with huge smiles and hugs from Brunet, Emmanuel and Maxim. After a quick catch up, and loading up the  tap tap with our luggage, we were on our way to the Guest House. The next scene was so wonderful I have tears just thinking about it...As we pulled up our street I spotted Dickenson waiting in the shade across from the guest house and I called out to him. He jumped up and sprinted to the tap tap, jumped on the back and grabbed my hand through the opening. Davidson was right on his heels and did the same. Both Travis and I shared our excitement with them about finally seeing them again and I told them we would be right out to see them.  After unloading our luggage, we got approval to step outside and have a proper greeting.  When we opened the gate, we had two bright beautiful smiles beaming at us and I have never been squeezed as hard as Dickenson squeezed me.  After what felt like a long time, I told him I wanted to see how much he had grown this past year and when I pulled back I noticed he was teary-eyed. My heart melted. These boys are so sweet, and we are so thankful to be able to be reunited with them for a few days this week.  Travis and I snapped a couple pics and then headed in to be with the team the rest of the night.

Our team is fantastic!  We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other and look forward to a great week ahead of us.  During the short rain tonight, some of our team decided to make the balcony a slip and slide and enjoyed the refreshing rain.  I think we're going to have an amazing week!  It takes a long time to write blog posts because of the internet connection, and I am exhausted from our day of travel, so I'm out for tonight....Catch you up tomorrow.

Ke Bondye Beni' ou,

Alicia