Trip two...day three

So far this is turning out to be a great trip. It has been so nice having a chance to get to know my friend's mom and friends. It is great to hear how things are going with her granddaughter's transition home from Haiti. It is both encouraging and enlightening. In addition, their presence at the orphanage has been a blessing. It has helped with crowd control on the balcony. :) These ladies are doing a great job ministering to the kids and it serves as a distraction for many of them. I am hopeful that someday when I am a grandma I am traveling to foreign lands to serve with friends. It is a true testament that you are never to old to be used by God and make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Friday I was solo on the trip to the orphanage, with my driver and translator of course. The other ladies were spending the day at a different venue ministering to an elderly woman that is taking care of 14 children on her own. (Another example of never being too old to serve.) I finally had my first Stop & Go experience, yay!! This is a grocery store that is very Americanized. It is not like the place we went to while we were on our bonding trip. The store has automatic doors that open to the produce section where they have a decent variety of fresh fruits and veggies. Behind the produce section is the deli and baked goods counter. You can get fresh meat and cheese slices, cakes and an assortment of pastries. 

I have been hearing about the chicken pate from a couple other families that have frequented this store and heard it was fantastic. They are this fluffy croissant type of pastry filled with a BBQ type of chicken. (For all who know my eating habits...this is actually a stretch for me to try. It is out of my comfort zone, but it was good!!) I ordered 4 chicken pates through my translator. (Two for T and I and one for our driver and translator.) I paid at the counter for the pastries and then we were on our way through the rest of the store which had about 10 or so aisles with everything from personal hygiene products to frozen foods. I grabbed a case of water and paid at the very normal, American style checkout line. 

We arrived at the orphanage around 9:30. On the way in to the building I stopped to share a video with a nanny of a sweet little friend that went home with her forever family a few months ago. The nanny was so excited to see her and she had me play it multiple times, as she called over another nanny and the kids so they could see it too. It was sweet to see the genuine excitement to see an update on one of the little girls that she had the responsibility of caring for at the orphanage. The video detour clearly took too long because T decided to come track me down. I looked down from taking a photo and there at my leg was my Sweet Pea! I scooped her up in my arms and we made our way up to the third floor balcony for the day. 

Our translator helped regulate the number of kids again today by closing the balcony door and tying a rope at the top so that kids that can open the latch still couldn't reach the rope to open the doors. They can sometimes be determined to get on the balcony where they know there is extra fun and goodies. T immediately headed for my bag to search for treasures. She found a Nutella snack pack, which she LOVES! I think she could be their next advertising campaign!

Our first activity was a manicure using nail stickers and polish. What little girl doesn't love that!?!?! Then we headed to some dolls that are similar to Barbie Dolls, but they are black. I brought two dolls and two extra outfits. The handful of girls that were sitting with T and I as we broke into this activity started instructing T on what she needed to do to change out the wardrobe. They were all over it. I tried to show off my hair braiding skills, which seemed to impress when they saw the pretty french braid I did on one of the dolls and a twist in the other doll's hair. I have mad skills...just wait and see when T comes home. HA! (We'll see!) Doll time ended when she packed everything up and wanted to bring it down to her nanny. (I did find out that this is apparently, just what they do. My translator said that they all do this to have the nanny put it aside for them.)

T was basically a bottomless pit today. She kept going back to my bag searching for more stuff. The two meltdowns she had were related to me telling her she needed to wait to have more food. I didn't want her to make herself sick. They are not used to getting all this food, so I feel bad limiting her, but at the same time I know her body can only take so much. The meltdowns today were a little less dramatic. She ended up falling asleep after the second one. Unfortunately, I had to wake her up because it was time for their dinner. She was not thrilled to be woken up. When we took their table she was not thrilled to be there and clearly was not hungry. (Hmmm...I am sure it had nothing to do with ALL that food she had eaten earlier in the day. She shed some tears as her nanny told her she needed to eat. Eventually, she brought three quarters of her meal back to the nanny and she didn't have to eat the rest. 

When it was time for me to leave she cried again. I felt bad giving her back to her nanny because she was not a happy camper. Lots of tears and maybe even some kicking of her legs. I thanked her nanny multiple times and our translator told T that I would be back tomorrow. It will be hard to leave her on Sunday for a while. Hopefully we will be able to come back sooner rather than later!!