This may be a shorter blog for Saturday. It was only two days ago, but I feel like I have already forgotten things. The days sometimes run together because activities are so similar each day. (It doesn't help that I am sleep deprived.) I do remember a few sweet things about the day.
First off is the time with T's friends, which happen to be other kiddos with families from our same agency. Since we connect through Facebook, we have the opportunity to support each other by checking in with and spending time with these other AWAA kids on our own trips. I think they get used to hanging out together, so it just naturally happens that the AWAA kids end up on the balcony together. I got to see them interact and watched T share her goodies with them. Some sweet photos that I wish I could share with you are of her applying chapstick to all of her little friends. I have a handful of pictures from that activity and just about all of them are of T putting the chapstick on either her lips or her friends. My favorite photo from that day is T and three other girls huddle together with their arms around one another, their faces all close to one another with big smiles on their faces (except T, who was applying her "gloss"). I look forward to trying to stay connected to these families once the girls are home. Thank God for technology that will help us do that!
Another cute moment was when we were siting on the floor of the balcony looking at pictures and videos on my phone. I was showing T pictures of Shawn and Eli and a video that they made for her. She shared it with her friends. At one point she stumbled upon a video I took of her on the swings the day before. She was signing something on the swings and at the end of the song she put some major emphasis on the last couple words so it sounded funny. I have no idea what the words were to the song, but when her friends heard the way she said those last two words they all cracked up and watched it over and over. I think she felt good to amuse her friends.
The day at the orphanage ended much like every other day. I dropped off T with her nanny and T had tears again. We had decided to change things up on Saturday and instead of going right back to the guesthouse we stopped to see the house that Linda, Pam and Marti's translator is building and we took a trip to Papillon, also known as, The ApParent Project. (I will share more about Papillon in a minute. First let's talk about this house and the determination of this translator.) It is located about 3 minutes away from our orphanage. We have unknowingly passed it every time we have taken a trip to the orphanage. It is in a small village block on a small plot of land. He was so excited to show us his home. The home is probably about three quarters of the way built. It is missing doors, a finish roof and a couple things for his kitchen and bathroom. It has a very small kitchen and bathroom and a larger main room. It was so humbling to stand inside this man's home that he is working so hard to build for himself. He was so proud to share his progress and what he hopes to finish by December. It was touching to have him share this with us.
Ok, so some of you may remember that we have done a couple of bracelet and ornament fundraisers with ApParent Project. It is a place that supports job creation to keep parents employed to support their children and avoid poverty orphans. They are an amazing organization and I was so excited to be able to finally see where it is located and experience the boutique. I loved everything and because it is for such a great cause it was hard not to leave with the whole store! I got myself under control though! :) Unfortunately, we were not able to take the tour and meet the artisans because they are closed on the weekend. It would have been neat to meet these amazing men and women. If you get a chance you can check out their project here.
In addition to seeing this great organization, I also had the opportunity to see Delmas which is just outside of Port-au-Prince. Our translator had told Shawn about it when we were on our bonding trip. He had shared it is where he lives and it is a bit nicer than Port-au-Prince. It was nice to see a different part of Haiti. We actually saw STOP SIGNS! Crazy! We didn't think there were any in Haiti. Apparently just not in PAP. In order to get to Papillon, we had to drive up this long, steep hill that gave us a beautiful view. The photos I took from the back seat of the car don't do it justice at all. It was a great panoramic of the mountains spread across the sky in front of us. Haiti really is such a beautiful country, despite the poverty and natural disasters that they have experienced.
All in all, Saturday was a good day!
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