School Days

Well, I took both my mom's and sister's advice and we began "school" today. Kerwin has a desk area and "school clothes." We have a daily schedule which includes prayer, calendar, exercises, writing/spelling, a themed lesson, counting/numbers, computer, and free play time. Today's lesson was on food groups. He did fairly well today. He was excited about starting but he does not enjoy the structure of a school setting. This was evident when he was in school in St. Louis but there was little I could do about it there. I think this will be a really important step in getting him ready for school when he gets home. Surprise, surprise, he loved P.E.

We swam in the pool this afternoon and played "trashketball" (also at my sisters suggestion). Kerwin enjoyed it and we also learned how to keep score using tally marks.

We are enjoying having more access to family here. We are able to communicate a lot more than when we had less internet access.

We looking into going to the beach for the weekend. That would be a nice change and another first for Kerwin. There is a beach resort that a family staying with Barbara is going to and we might tag along. We are still working out the details.

The pictures are of Kerwin first thing in the morning, our little school, one of me thrown in just for kicks, and one from "trashketball."

Okay, we're back

I know it's been several days since we've written. We've had a lot of crazy circumstances and some disappointments that kept me from feeling much like writing. We are now at the hotel. We checked in a day later than expected. The first day we got her with all of our luggage to find that they were full. We had tried to call the night before but none the over half a dozen phone number listed were working properly. So we made a reservation for yesterday and checked in ridiculously early becuase that's when we got dropped off. Then we sat around all day and waited for news from MOI. When we got the news it was far worse than we expected. There is a problem with the legalization of the birth certificate which is going to take many days to fix. Plus, Barbara and all her staff are leaving for America during the middle of all of this so it will further slow the process. I had a really nice big cry yesterday (okay several nice big cries). I slept like a baby because I was exhausted and we woke up today and had a really great day. This is what I have come to terms with and am now preparing myself for. We are not going to make it home by the date on our tickets (August 11th). We thought this would be more than enough time to finish everything, change our tickets and come home. I am not going to be able to take a school contract this year. Kerwin is not going to start school on time. Mike will probably have to go home and start working and I will stay here. We will be together, well fed, happy, safe, healthy, and blessed for the remainder of the summer. We will just be all those things in Haiti. There is nothing that I need to be home for. I am creative and resourceful enough to do what I need to do for my family here. We are only disappointed when things do not meet our expectations. I expected to be home by now so I am disappointed. I am now changing my expectations. I am also changing what I expect of myself. No more muddling through until I get home. We are here now and that is where we must live. Okay, enough philosy. But we are fine and will be here several more weeks.

Okay back to Kerwin. He's doing great. He was extremely excited when he heard we were going back to the hotel. We have had a lot of fun here. He loves the pool and watching TV. We get PBS here and I love the PBS kids shows. Yesterday we watched Sesame Street and today we watched Bob the Builder. They are great for me to teach him sign language with. He still loves anything having to do with sports. I am using this to my advantage. I will make up little worksheets and mazes for him to do and as long as they have a ball or a gun in them, he loves them and asks for more. We also have been making him practice spelling his name and answering questions while playing in the pool. He's learning to name the letters in his name and he copies us in finger spelling it. He can write it with dotted lines and lots of assistance but he is making progress. He knows almost all of his colors. He especially knows blue, red, yellow, and pink. I loves pink icecream. He doesn't really care for chocolate all that much. Today, they were out of strawberry so Mike got him cherry vanilla. At first, he attempted to only eat out the pink parts but pretty soon he just mushed it all together and drank it like a pink milkshake.

The pictures are of Kerwin tying Mikes shoes, Kerwin upstairs at Barb's, Kerwin with daddy at the hotel, and Kerwin playing with the bubble wand. The bubble wand is almost useless now. It started to get low on bubbles so Kerwin took it to the bathroom and filled it back up with water. It just barely can make a bubble now. Oh well, it's a pretty neat bubble wand. We will just have to wait till we get it home to fill it up.

Oh, Rachel (my sister) sent us a bunch of pictures from our house. We looked at them today. Kerwin was excited about the pictures from his room. He especially liked the ones of his toys and of Max (our dog). Mom, I will try to get them to take some more pictures of me tomorrow. Until then...

Not quite as much to say today

After yesterday we don't have a whole lot to tell. I did speak to "the man" today just to let him know that we are here and counting on him to keep his Friday deadline. He is very cordial on the phone but that is no indication. We will see.

Otherwise it was a fairly slow day today. We played Yatzee. Kerwin enjoyed it but got bored near the end of the game. It was a good introduction though. Lawanna gave the kids big bubble wands today that one of the adoptive parents sent in. They were really neat and Kerwin is still having fun blowing bubbles. We watched
"Night at the Museum" with Kerwin this afternoon for some down time. He likes this one we just have to start it about 20 minutes into the movie when all the action starts. He washed the dishes again this morning. He still thinks it's great and we make a big deal out of him being a "good helper." He also enjoys tying Mike's shoes. He can actually tie shoes pretty well but his shoes don't have ties so he doesn't get to do it very often. I brought water shoes for him because he cannot (or at least he couldn't) wear regular shoes and still walk because of the contractures in his legs. He went barefoot all the time or else he couldn't walk. He may be able to try some other shoes soon, his legs are continuing to develop and get stronger. He used to always drag one foot behind when he walks. Now he is able to lift his toes just far enough off the ground not to touch it. Also, when he sits down on the bed to put on his shoes or socks. Before he always had to use his hands to pick his leg up and put his foot on the bed. But the other day I was watching him and noticed that he could now lift his foot all the way up to the bed without using his hands.

We went to the market today with Lawanna to get some essentials. We are planning on going to the hotel tomorrow if we can get a ride. That shouldn't be a problem as there are folks coming in tomorrow and they will need to be picked up at the airport. The airport is very close to the hotel. Barb has not arrived yet and it's 6:20. We are beginning to wonder if she hasn't changed her flight plans and not notified anyone here. I guess we will talk to her when she gets back.

I have taken a few pictures the past couple of days. I will post them tomorrow when we get to the hotel and can use our laptop again. That will be a nice treat. We will aslo be able to instant message our family there which is great for us. Until next time.

Lots to say

Since I didn't get to write yesterday, I have lots to say today and probably not much time before I lose my internet due to the storm that's rolling in. The news from MOI is this. When Mirland went in yesterday they said again that they were working on it. So Mirland said that we need to go in again but to wait till Barbara got back. I didn't really want to just sit and wait till Barb got back (tomorrow) so I thought maybe we could call "the man" in MOI and ask him about the progress since we had been in to see him for the interview appointment. Mirland said that would be good, that we should call him. After several telephone conversations what happened is this. He said that we should come in. We were unable to make it until tomorrow so we sent Mirland instead. He told her to have us call him and he will tell us what is going on. So, I called him today and he did remember Kerwin's name and that he said he had checked on our dossier and it will be ready on Friday. Now, you may be getting a slight feel for what it's like to work with government offices in a third world country. You have probably guessed that we are not holding our breath for a Friday exit from MOI but it is possible. Mirland said that we should call him everyday and stay on top of him so that he will push our dossier through the process. Perhaps this is what we should have been doing the whole time. I don't know. Anyway, we are hoping to stay on top of things until Friday and see where that gets us. Mirland did seem to think that once we get out of MOI things should move pretty quickly for us. I hope she is right.

Regarding Kerwin, he is doing fine as usual. He has been enjoying washing the dishes recently. The dish washing method is two tubs and a draining rack in the bathroom. So, he sits on the toilet and washes while I rinse and oversee the washing. He has also been working on writing and fingerspelling his name. He is doing better but still needs a lot of practice at writing. He spent most of the morning inside and then played outside this afternoon and got as dirty as ever. There is just no clean place to play.

Speaking of this afternoon, it was a bit dramatic. We are not sure when we will need to get out of the clinic because other people are coming to stay there. It could be very soon. So, I wanted to go ahead and clean the place really well. Also the toilet seat has been broken ever since we got here but we have just been using it anyway. Johnny bought us a new one a long time ago but I didn't want to put it on lest we break this one since apparently the toilet seats break fairly often around here. (I don't quite know why that is.) So, I finally got around to putting the new toilet seat on. While I was doing all of this, I here the wailing which is normal for this one girl here in the village. She cries and throws a big fit every day over a variety of issues. However, when I looked at her, she had blood running down her face and down her back. It took a while to get her to hold still but when I did I still couldn't see the source of the bleeding because her hair was really thick and bloody. I ran to the clinic and got gloves, gauze, peroxide, and a sterile towel. Eventually I found the gash. It was about an inch long and probably wouldn't have required stiches in the States. But here we just cleaned it, put some Neosporin on it and she was on her way. I gave her the tube to keep applying. I didn't know what else to do.

Shortly after this episode, I caught Kerwin sticking a piece of wood from the groud in his mouth. That was the last straw. We have spent the last two months Americanizing this kid and I am beginning to feel like we are taking a step back. I like that there are kids here but the kind of play they engage in is the kind I'm trying to get him to stop doing. I told Mike how I felt and he felt that today he had reached his breaking point to. So, I think we have decided that we are going to go back to the Visa Lodge really soon. Barb returns tomorrow and we will see when the next group is moving into the clinic. Depending on the answer, we'll figure out what we are going to do. Additionally, Lawanna leaves on Sunday and it just won't be the same without her.

So, I am again asking for prayers. Please pray that "the man" will be true to his word and that out dossier will leave MOI on Friday. Pray that Mike and I will remain hopeful, patient, and in good spirits. Pray that Kerwin will continue to grow and learn and develop. Pray that we will continue to grow together as a family. We are praying that we will see you all soon.

Interview with Andy

We spent the whole day today at Barb's village. This will be our last day with Andy, so he interviewed us this afternoon for a couple hours about the adoption process to give him the information he needs for his story. We are glad he was able to come spend a couple days with us here before he goes home tomorrow. Kerwin had a good day today. He has been playing inside and watched 2 movies (Toy Story and Night at the Museum). We will take Andy to the airport tomorrow morning and hopefully we will find out something from MOI by tomorrow afternoon.

Sight-seeing and my birthday party

These pictures are all from yesterday. The first is the President's Palace. The second is of Kerwin playing at the village. The third one was to try to show how dirty Kerwin was after playing at the village. I don't know if it will come out as bad as he really was.

Yesterday was another good day. We left early for the airport to pick up our friend Andy. What we didn't realize was that Rolgard, one of Kerwin's caregivers from Heaven's Waiting Room was flying in with him. Rolgard was going on to Jacmel to visit his family. We gave him a ride down to the bus station. Kerwin and Mike rode in the back with Rolgard. Kerwin was very excited to see Rolgard. He was also very sad to see Rolgard leave. He cried for a while after we dropped him off. I think this was probably the most confusing thing that has happened to him so far. Everthing else he knew was coming and understod it as part of the process. This was kind of a surprise and a difficult one to understand. After we dropped him off, we went driving around a little more and ended up going to a really neat gift shop in town. We bought a few things and by the time we got there, Kerwin was doing fine again. We went for lunch at this big nice bakery place. They have lots of pastries and goodies but we got pizza and hamburgers and french fries. Then we made a trip to the biggest supermarket I've ever seen in Haiti. We got a few groceries and headed home. We ate spaghetti for dinner and played cards. It poured last night and the lane in the village is flooded again. We also didn't have internet because of the storm

Today is my birthday so we went back to the Visa Lodge to celebrate. We ate lunch at the buffet and went swimming. Then we had ice cream and the internet has just finally started working here at the hotel so I am writing frantically to get done before our ride shows up. Kerwin has been very good and is just starting to get bored.

The paperwork news is that Milande went in to MOI on Thursday to ask about it and they told her to come back Monday. I don't really know what to make of that so I'm just waiting till Monday to draw any conclusions. We'll keep you updated as we hear things.

St. Ard

One of the children that has been staying here at the village needed to get back to the orphanage where he usually stays. So, we went along for the ride as did LaWanna and Ashley, the three babies, another little girl they are watching, and Johnny. It was a full truck but it was better than someone sitting in the cage. St. Ard is about 45 minutes north of the village. The road was actually pretty good by Haitian standards. The compound that the orphanage is on is very nice. It reminds be a bit of the mission at Nortwest Haiti because is has an orphanage, church, school, clinic, and pastor's trainging center. However, it is on a much bigger piece of land and it seems a bit more rural there.

Johnny had a wedding to go to this afternoon so we made it a quick trip and were back home by lunch time. We've been taking easy this afternoon. Kerwin decided he wanted to watch Air Bud again so we've set it up upstairs so the other kids can watch. Mike and I got to read for a little while. We are looking forward to Andy coming tomorrow and are hoping to have Mirlande make an inquiry for us at MOI. Sorry, no pictures from today. We'll keep you updated.

Staying home (away from home)

The pictures are of Kerwin helping with the backpacks, the pump where we get the wash water, the cage on the back of the truck, Mike with some of the kids, and Kerwin playing in the rocks.

Not much news from today. We spent the day here at the village. It was hot in the morning, cooled off in the afternoon and rained like a monsoon this evening. The whole lane is flooded. Yesterday I hired one of the ladies here in the village to do our laundry. This morning, I just had a few things I wanted done so I thought I'd do it myself. I got a big wash basin, my laundry soap and went to the pump. I filled up the basin put in my clothes and soap and started washing. Well, apparently I was not doing a good enough job because the ladies that were sitting near by had to come over and show me how it was done. Eventually, a group of three of them ended up doing it all for me. And man, do they ever scrub those clothes. They used up almost all of my soap, plus used their own and they scour each garment for several minutes. So, I got an education in hand washing today.

Kerwin played outside at the playgroud in the afternoon. We tried to keep him inside this morning as it was so hot. He has learned how to play "Crazy Eights" and we taught some of the other kids to play with us. Also, there has been a young man who has been here at the village helping take care of the children. He is a friend of LaWanna, one of the Americans who is staying here taking care of the babies. His name is Evens and he is also deaf. He loves Kerwin and he plays and talks with him alot. He is a nice kid. He was going to the deaf school here in Port-au-Prince but they tell me it has closed. So now is he is bored. He comes here to help with the babies and do whatever else they ask him to do. Sometimes they pay him a little if he does some manual labor. And he has also got free meals,clothes,and eyeglasses out of the deal. He is helpful with the kids and nice to be around.

We are hoping to take a little road trip tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the prayers. We had a very happy and peaceful day today.

A day out

Today started out a bit crazy. We got up and got all ready to go with everybody up to the Baptist Mission where we had gone a few weeks back when we first got to Port-au-Prince. We knew there were going to be quite a few going. When we got over to Barb's place she said that there was not going to be room for us. So we fed Kerwin breakfast and figured we'd wait till everyone else left till we made ours (it's a really small area and a lot of people). We were helping them load up and Johnny said, "Aren't you coming?" And we told him we were but there wasn't enough room. He insisted that there was so we decided to hop in right then and go. We rode in the back with several other people at first and we had Barb's luggage because we were dropping her off at the airport. So after we dropped her off and one more passenger it was just Mike, Kerwin and I in the back of the truck. I wish I had a picture of the truck. In the back there are benches built around the edges and then the whole thing has a big cage around it with a lock. So you kind of look like you're int he paddywagon. However, unlike your typical tap-tap in Haiti, you don't have to worry about falling out at every jostling. (You just have to watch your head).

We had a nice time at the Mission. We ate chicken fingers and french fries and corn on the cob and they even have FOUNTAIN drinks, my favorite (but no fountain Diet Coke). We bought some cookies and banana bread at the bakery and then we took the kids down to see the little zoo. They have fish, birds, rabbits, a goat, an iguana, a monkey, a snake, peacocks, pigeons (yes they were pigeons), and an alligator. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera because we jumped in the truck in such a hurry. Otherwise we are settling in to life here at Barb's village. We are figuring out where to pump the water, how to get the clean drinking water, where to put our trash, how to flush the toilet, how not to use up all our electricity, and where things are in the "kitchen."

The news yesterday from MOI was this: they are working on it. This is good news but not the news I was hoping for. It it positive because our dossier is working its way through the various offices. At what speed, I have no idea. But Barb does not expect it out until at least next week.

Our friend Andy Olsen, from home has been up at Northwest Haiti Christian Mission for a few weeks and is coming here on Friday to see us. We are very excited to get to hook up with him while he is here. Andy is interested in writing some pieces about Kerwin over the course of the next few years to tell his story. He has come down here to do some research and see what he can of Haiti. We are counting the days till he gets here. It is getting harder and harder for us to be here. After I post this, my next task is to email all the medical appointments that I made for Kerwin and reschedule them because we are not going to make it back for them. Not fun. As usual, Kerwin is taking everything in stride far better than Mike and I. Please pray that we will have the grace to make these days count and not simply wish them away.

Here at Barbara's

We have arrived at Barbara's. We have moved in and watched a little soccer. I tried to help Barb with a computer problem but we ran into one snag after another. Barb says, and I know this is true,that people don't realize what she has to go through to do the simplest things in Haiti.

We hope to hear some news on our progress in MOI tomorrow. Pray for the best. Sorry to be brief but dinner is ready and I'm borrowing Barb's computer. Love to all.

A vacation from vacation

Tomorrow we will leave for Barb's. Hopefully, we will become immersed in meaningful work and before we know it our passport will be ready and we will be heading home. Today we did what we've been doing a lot of eating and swimming. I'm not sure yet what time we will be leaving tomorrow but we haven't packed anything up yet so I think I'll start with a few things tonight. I did some laundry today but it takes so long: washing in the sink, rinsing in the shower, and drying outside on the chair and foot rest from our room.

At Barb's village there is one computer with internet in her office/bedroom. So we will try to work it out to where we get to use it once a day to update this blog and check our email. However, we won't be checking it three times a day and be online chatting all the time like we have been here. Hopefully we'll write soon with lots of new information. Until then...

Preparing to say goodbye

We packed up Denny's suitcases today with all of his things and some of ours that we are trying to get rid of. We want to be as light as possible when we come home. We have already decided that there's only one thing that we need to bring back home with us and he will have a ticket. Anything else, we will just leave here. Denny leaves tomorrow morning on the first flight out of Port-au-Prince. We will spend one one more day and then head to Barb's on Sunday.

Today was pretty much another vacation day. We played in the pool, played some ball and watched some movies. Kerwin began to entertain himself a little today. He was just getting to do this at the mission and then we left. Now he is beginning to do it here and we are again getting ready to leave. I think he will do great at home with his own room and his own toys.

I met a father and a little boy today that was being adopted. The dad flew in today picked up the kid and was flying out again this afternoon. They had come down in May to do some paperwork and hoping that they might be able to take him home with them but it didn't work out. So this time is was just a real quick trip in and out. I got to talk with him for a while. Barb has actually had a lot of kids leave this week as well. Passports are being made. Just not ours yet. We'll keep you posted.

Trip to Barb's

The pictures from today are mostly from Barb's village. The first two are of babies that are going to be adopted. The third is of the lane down the middle of the village. The fourth is Barb's kitchen. Look closely and you'll see a stove and an oven. The last picture is of Kerwin pretending to shoot a basketball. He really wanted us to take a picture of this.

Today we spent the morning playing around the hotel. We had a big game of kick ball and watched some Air Bud. We colored in one of the activity books and Kerwin went on a walk with grandpa.

In the afternoon, Barb came and picked us up and took us to her village. She has a small lane that has several houses on it. She has allowed some homeless women and children come and live in the village. They get food and bathroom facilities and they help out around the village. Sometimes, they will take care of the children that have come from the orphanages if they need to stay with Barb for a while. She also has two American ladies staying with her now helping take care of some babies that are on their way to being adopted. After a tour of the village, we ate dinner and talked for a bit. The Johnny brought us back to the hotel. I'm glad we got to go out today. I was really hoping that Denny could see more of Port-au-Prince than the drive from the airport to the Visa Lodge. I think this did the trick.

While at the village, Barb mentioned that she does not have anyone staying in the guest house. From now until sometime in August it is available. So, we have decided that we are not going to go back to the mission at this time. Instead, we are going to stay here in Port-au-Prince with Barb. It seems to make the most sense for getting home sooner. If we go away, it can only slow things down. Staying with Barb will give us an opportunity to be "close to the action" as far as the adoption process goes but we will also have opportunities to serve in Barb's village. Her next big project is to stuff dozens of backpacks to give away to children. I think this would make a great family project. So, as of Sunday, vacation is over. We will be leaving our home at the Visa Lodge and going to stay in a "new room." This is what we tell Kerwin every time we move. We hope that this will be the last "new room" until we get home. However he is resilient and much more content than we are in the current situation. We plan to go back to MOI next week and show our faces again to see if it will help to speed up the signature process (we need our dossier signed by 4 different offices within MOI before it gets out of there). We feel good about this decision now that it has been made. We are hopeful that this will be the best route for getting home soon. As always, we covet your prayers during this time of transition. Until next time...

Kerwin and grandpa

Just a few shots from today. Kerwin spent a lot of time with Grandpa today. They played a lot of ball and went and got icecream and shared a Coke. Kerwin also watched Air Bud again and played in the pool with Mike. The picture is of him slam dunking the ball. He had pizza for dinner and he played with one of his activity books this evening after dinner.

Tomorrow Barb is going to take us to her village so that Denny can get out of the hotel and see a little bit of PAP. She is also going to have someone check on our progress in MOI. We are still praying that we will be home soon.

Pictures of me

Here are a few pictures of me. Funny thing, nobody really seems interested in taking pictures of me. Go figure. Anyway, that's the best I could do for today.

We pretty much just hung out today. We swam a lot and ate a lot. We had icecream this afternoon and watched Air Bud again. Kerwin was really affectionate today while we were watching the movie. He was climbing all over us and giving hugs and kisses. This was kind of new. It was very sweet.

Barb came by this afternoon with a group to eat lunch. One of the ladies in the group was a friend of an adoptive mother. The lady had Cerebral Palsy and was very interested in meeting Kerwin. She stayed around for a few hours. She will be heading back to Maine tomorrow.

We are planning on watching the All Star game in a few minutes. No news good or bad today.

Life around the hotel

Yesterday, Mike's dad got here. We were very excited to have him. Here are some pictures of Kerwin and his grandpa and Kerwin with his daddy. We told Kerwin that Denny was coming a few days ahead of time. He was very excited about his coming and looked forward to it all day. We went to the airport with Barb to pick him up along with another couple that is coming in to take their kids home. Kerwin an grandpa hit is off right away.

Denny brought Kerwin sunglasses, a watch, some new clothes, a Woody doll, Air Bud, and lots of other cool toys. We watched AirBud today. Kerwin loved it. He watched it very intently. He has enough sign language now that we could explain some of the plot to him but he still loves the action most of all. We knew that this movie would be a hit. His two favorite things to watch are sports and animals. We swam in the pool this morning and Kerwin enjoyed his new tube and beach ball. Tonight we are going to play some games in the room and then head to bed. We go to bed pretty early around here. It gets dark early and light early. Kerwin usually gets to bed around 8:30 and gets up about 7:00. Kerwin is learning how to play "Crazy Eights." He's getting the hang of it. He gets a little distracted while we are playing. I think he really likes the idea of playing the game more than actually playing the game.

No news today on the passport. Please, everyone pray for a miracle in MOI. We want our file to come out of there so badly. If we don't hear much of anything by this week, we will have to start making decisions about whether to stay here in Port-au-Prince or whether we will go back to the mission. We really don't want to have to go back. Please keep the prayers coming. God has heard them and answered so many already. I think that is encouragement to keep asking. Thanks for all the comments from home. They are wonderful at lifting our spirits.

Feeling Better

I just wanted to send a quick note to let everyone know that I am feeling much better. We will send a bigger update tonight with some pictures. The internet was down last night so we couldn't post anything. I talked a lot with my doctor on Saturday and he gave me some suggestions of things to take. As best we can tell, I was just having severe muscle spasms in my abdomen. The muscles still are sore but they are not in excrutiating pain like they were a few days ago. I believe I am healing now. Mike's dad arrived yesterday with lots of new toys, clothes, medicine, and some much needed moral support. We are all doing well today. More to come this evening.

A tough day

Today was a tough day. Becky woke up at 12:30 in the morning with excruciating abdominal pain. She made it through the night by sleeping in a chair with her head on the desk because it hurt too much to lay down. We went in to a local hospital to get her checked out today. They took an ultrasound of her abdomen (liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, gall bladder) and a chest x-ray and found nothing wrong. We called our doctor in Lexington and he thinks that she either has an ulcer or muscle spasms, but we seem to have ruled out anything seriously being wrong. We have found some medicine to take here and Mike's dad is coming down tomorrow and he will also be bringing some medicine. Please pray for Becky as she is still in a lot of pain. Kerwin was a good boy, he was very patient as he had to wait at the doctor's a lot today, but he did very well and we were proud of him.

Pictures from the last day at the mission

I'm just now getting to post pictures since it takes a little longer. Here are some shots from our last day at the mission. There is one from music class and several from around Heaven's Waiting Room.

Pictures from around Port-au-Prince

These pictures are of Kerwin sitting at the table at the Baptist Mission, the homeless women and children we delivered clothes to with Barbara, our group eating at the restaurant after the USCIS interview (there are the brother and sister that are volunteering with Barbara, the birth parents, Barbara, and Johnny), and a shot from downtown Port-au-Prince.

The good and the bad

These pictures are: Kerwin on the way to MOI, Kerwin after 3 hours waiting at MOI, and Kerwin eating fried plantains tonight at the restaurant. In Kerwin's defense, Mike admitted he was about 10 minutes from crying on the floor.


Today was another success. We had an appointment to meet our facilitator at 9:00. On the way there we found out he wasn't going to make it until 9:30. At about 9:45 we waltzed right into the office, went up stairs, sat down and waited. A few minutes later our facilitator came back with "the man." He must have said something right because "the man" (we are still not sure exactly who he is) came out and told us that he had two others in front of us and then he would see us. Well three hours later, he was as good as his word. He saw us and addressed our document. Barbara had sent us and another family in, each with our own dossier and another dossier. After he did ours we tried to begin with the other dossier. He began but said there was a problem and he could not continue. The next family went in. They had some trouble because the husband's middle name was spelled incorrectly on one of the documents. He said he will think about it but it will probably be okay. Then he told them that he could not process the other dossier that they had brought with them because they did not know that family personally. So, we got our miracle in MOI. We got our interview and it went well.

Now, the bad. We were not sure exactly where the document needed to go from today. We just found out that it still has to remain at that office until it gets signed by five more entities. After that, we will go to immigration which is where the passport is made. How quickly we get through those offices is up to any number of factors which we are told we have no control over. So, hopefully our going in today and his seeing Kerwin and telling him about how we are going to help him will move him to push our papers through the office a bit faster. But again, this is out of our hands into God's. Because only he could make these people move quickly. Barbara is thrilled with our progress today. She thinks it has saved us a lot of time. We are more reserved with our enthusiasm as we are afraid that this may be a longer wait than we had hoped. So, there's the bad.

Thank you all so much for the prayers. God has truly been guiding our steps here in the city. We need his help as much as ever. He has yet to let us down. We will continue to believe.