Grafitti

A local graffiti artist named Jerry. 

He does amazing work, very politically minded. 

Check them out and see what you think.

Apparently this one was on the cover of some major newspapers/ magazines the day he died. 

This is my personal favorite, kind of tells you what some of the people think of us "suits" coming into "help" Haiti.

Another favorite. 

I just love these women in front of this one. 

My new definition of clean

I have had to majorly redefine my definition of clean.

I am the kind of Mom who baths my kids every night with very little exception, then put them in clean PJ's every night, then puts them in a bed where sheets are changed weekly. 

I like things clean. 

I do not like shoes in my house, etc.

So, Haiti was a major readjustment. 

PJ's are worn for days because all laundry is done by hand.

There are literally worms in the water we bath in.

Dishes are all done by hand with cold water. 

The funny thing is that nobody really got sick while we were there, again another way we feel blessed.

Our bathroom we all shared. Something I will NOT miss! Another major difference, at "home" each child has a labeled towel that is theirs only. In Haiti, they all share. Again a laundry thing. 

Justins engineering. You flush the toilet by pulling the string, this was after months of lifting the lid and sticking your hand down the back. YUCK!

Somethings do not change, of all the babies that came and stayed in our home, this was still their first stop. 

And just when I start to feel gross about our worm water, I see these are some people on the street collecting water from a drain on the street. 

Clean sheets, that have been washed in cold water and hung to dry. Then they fell off the railing and laid in the dirt to finish drying. 

Clothes are usually dried outside in the dusty air, unless it is too rainy, then they lay inside for a few days on the stairs to finish drying. 

Who needs a bib?

Haitian Food

As I am posting this I am sitting at home in the States, in my den wishing Roselie was here in so many ways. One of them being to make a wonderful dinner. 

Oh, the beautiful and delicious French pastries. I miss you!

Riccole, don't ask me how to spell it. I just know it is delicious.

Soup Joumou, a beef soup made with pumpkin based broth.

Rice and sauce pwa. 

A few of my Favorite Things

I can not believe we have been home over two weeks! 

We were able to drive to our family reunion last week and Justin did all the driving on the way there so that I could organize all of our Haiti pictures. 

Here are some that I found that I wanted to remember. 

Don't know why but I love this look

 Silly Cat

So on "packing day" one of our suitcases went missing from upstairs where I was packing. After looking for quite a while I finally found it in the pile of already packed suitcases downstairs.
Check out what was in it. Both of the boys dee dee's  (special blankets) and a play hammer.
Because if you are BJ and BT all you need to move home is your hammer and your dee dee. 
Then you have to drag the suitcase downstairs yourself to make sure it gets home! 

This is a rock that we pass all the time, it is carved into a face.  The kids call it the Santa rock or the SF face.

My favorite game, the only "game" besides soccer I have seen kids playing here.
This child has the plastic rim from a 5 gallon bucket pulled off and he is using a bent piece or wire to roll it down the street. The object is to keep it upright.

Zamni Mwen

I have been really picture happy then last few days, there are things and people I want to remember. 

Like this guy, I do not know his name, but he drives this giant truck up and down our hill more times in a day than I do. And whenever he sees us he waves like his life depends on it. 

The first time I saw him outside while we were on a walkabout (I think we had been here about a month) he grabbed my face, kissed my cheeks and said 'Zamni Mwen" (my friend).

I will his smiling face and his frantic wave.

Discipline

Discipline. Can I just say I hate discipline. Why can’t my kids just be good without me having to do any work? I guess because then it would not be parenting.

While we are here we have been using IPad time as a reward. If you can not behave I can not let you have IPad time and you will loose minutes.

When we are in public people often comment on how well our children behave. But, look at this picture. 
Here I am sitting with our two borrowed Haitian children and a slew of others and look at my other 3. Literally climbing the walls, and doing donkey kicks. Whew! The best part is that these are my 3 who are generally the easiest. 

This is a note I found on one of our stools, written by CT. In case you can’t read it, it says “I lost minutes for nothing”.

Perhaps it is because we eat like crap here, as everything fresh is super expensive. I rarely let my kids have chips at home, here they are each with a bag of cheesy crap, because hey they were less than 20 cents for all 4.

Or perhaps it is because we do science experiments where we light things on fire. Or because we ride in the car without seat belts of car seats or because we are all together all the time?
What ever it is it has got to get better when we get home!

A day to Celebrate?

Today should have been a day to celebrate. 

It was Justin's last day of work and the kids last day of home school (which is reason for me to celebrate)!

Fate had other plans.

The day started with Roselie in my room before the sun even came up telling me she thought we should take her sick son, whom we picked up last night, to the hospital.

We decided we would take him to the Dr. when they opened in 3 hours and so I tried to go back to sleep.

Only to be awakened by BJ who handed me the cup that was sitting on my nightstand full of his urine. And looking rather proud of himself. I swear this kid is in for a rough American adjustment.

We finally got all 9 kids ready and out the door only to find another power line has fallen and blocked the road. 

Which  means we will probably not have power until we return to the states.

And it means we had to take a back "road" down a hill that is so steep I will not even walk on it. 

There were a lot of prayers offered and breath holding and we made it.

-to the doctor

-to the pharmacy

-to the lab

with all 9 kids

then back to the lab to get the results 

and back to the doctor because I was so frazzled I literally left without paying,

and forgot BJ's hammer

I'm not sure which was worse.

And it turns out Roselies son, Waldy, is very sick.

 (post to follow, it is bad and I need some time to digest)

So, I tried to be happy and have a fun celebration with fruit loops and lucky charms for dinner and brownies and ice cream for dessert.

But, instead we ended up with wild kids, I wonder why, and now I am am on my second can of Pringles while I do a blog marathon.

Wonder who is going to have a sick belly next?

Our sugar cereal dinner, in a lot of ways I am like my mother. Not in this way.
Who feeds their kids sugar cereal for dinner then gives them brownies and ice cream.
Probably the same nut case who has 9 kids walking through Haiti.  

My Lil' Haitian

It's official this guy is almost a real Haitian.

Beautiful Things Today

Amongst all the suffering in Haiti there is still so much beauty to be found.

For example;

This beautiful woman we ran into while walking this morning.

Later she knocked on our gate asking for clothes for the baby she is going to have in 3 months.

Luckily, thanks to good friends, I had some to give her. 

 This tree, I am not sure what it is called. But, it is everywhere right now and I love it. It only has leaves and flowers at the very top. 

 We live at the bottom of a VERY steep hill. We are always picking people up to help them to the top. I know stranger danger...

Anyway, this little boy and his mother were so adorable. 

He was just leaving the hospital from getting stitches.

 Roselie. 

Okay this picture is more of a mug shot than a glamour shot.

But, it is for her Visa. 

Today we got her passport, and are hoping and praying she can come and visit us in the US. 

My Favorite Day

I think Saturday was my favorite days in Haiti, of course I think that every few days. 

We hiked down to the creek bed where there were small puddles of water, as the children got wetter the clothes started peeling off. 

Pretty soon they were walking around mostly naked like the rest of the Haitians. 

Again the picture does the real thing absolutely no justice. This is a natural waterfall, I do not think any man could have designed it more beautifully.

As always we ended up with a few extra kidos helping up the waterfalls. The waterfall was up a narrow canyon surrounded by rock. Many adults were worried for us and telling us we should not be walking up the canyon in case another tranbleman (earthquake) came. One man was so mad at the Haitian kids going with us he spanked them. 

I LOVE this picture.
This is what Haiti will always remind me of happy adorable extra children, family time, outdoors, peace, tranquility, just an indescribable inner calmness. 

BT's helper. It seems that wherever we go an older child will "adopt" the babies. They carry them everywhere. Here is BT's friend holding a leaf in the waterfall creating a drinking fountain for him. It was so sweet and kind that I let him despite the fact that he will probably get diarrhea.  

 BT and his special friend. I am not sure they could look any more different and yet you can see they have the same kind gentle soul. 

SF and her friend. SF has very mild cerebral palsy. Her gait can be painful to watch at times, especially in this rough terrain. I try to make her work through it. 

The Haitians think I am awful and immediately pick her up, then they look at me like 'seriously lady, what is wrong with you?' SF also does not eat anything by mouth and has a feeding tube, imagine their disgust when we don't feed her in restaurants either. 

We ended they day with some "real" swimming at the pool. 

Haitians

Saturday we went on the most awesome hike down to the creek bed. 

We were of course the only Blans around. It was great to see Haitians doing what they do in their own environment. 

Shouldn't all 6 year old children carry a machete? 

 Some people standing outside their home

 A woman doing her laundry.

 Our hiking mates

 I loved this little girl with her white baby doll

 Velo and his friend