Class Notes

Dear Class-

I am so excited I can be back in Haiti even thought I miss you guys already. It feels a lot like home here. Even through it does not feel as much as Colorado. I’m excited to get started with school here and I am really excited for when it ends to see you guys. I am so happy I can be back here, because I like it here. This week we have not done very much because we have only been here for a few days. We went to the orphanage and we went swimming at a pool.

On the way here we went to NY, we got to stay for ½ day. We went to the worlds biggest Toys r Us. It probably had like 5 floors. And there was a ferris wheel in the middle I got lost in there and could not believe how many toys there were. We went to a big M&M place, they had all flavors of M&M’s in all colors. They even had a big one with strawberry in it. Then we went to a Hershey place.

The pictures I sent are from me in NY in front of the police department, me acting like Steve Urkle at the zoo with all my cousins (what a nerd), my puppy with her "baby", and my brothers learning to swim.

I really miss you guys and am excited to come back in about 3 months.

Sincerely-

Houdini

Dear Class-

I miss you so much. We went to NY and we went into a lot of stores. There was a giant Toys R Us. I wish you could be with me. We got back to Haiti and we are about to start school. We went to a pool. And we went to church. I am really happy to be in Haiti. Because there is a lot of fun things. We went to the orphanage, so that was really fun. The kids barely remembered us since we were gone so long. They were very happy to see us. I was VERY happy to see them. We brought our dog Roxy. She is a Rottweiler, she is so cute.

The pictures are of me at the American Girl Doll store, at the zoo with all my cousins, me holding my new little cousin Isaac, and me with most of the babies from the orphanage.

I was really happy I got to see you.

Good Bye-

IS

Dear Class-

I miss you. I am back in Haiti, we went to the orphanage. On the way here we went to NY we went to the candy store and you can make a tool box or a bucket out of chocolate. My cat has grown a lot and my dog is getting skinnier.

Good bye-

TJ

The Orphanage

We have been missing the babies at the O we go to most often. Really missing them.

We had to make a quick stop there this am. When we arrived they were mostly all sitting on the couch or in their high chairs waiting. All except the group that is potty training, stupid potty training takes some of my favorites away.

I had to catch a picture while I could of all of them together.

From left to right (some names skipped due to parent requests)

Nicholas, a girl friend, Grace, a boy friend, Nora, new baby Whitney, two boy friends and baby Alex.

The new baby Whitney on the right and sweet, chunky baby Nora on the left. Nora is about 7 months, Whitney is 3 years old. Angie, this one if for you!

SF with a friend and the same new baby. SF is supposedly her age. SF is in the 2 % for weight for her age, I wonder where Whitney would fall.

IS and the boys were not about to miss their chance to be in the picture.

This one is for you Amy. Not a great one, but they were both vying for my lap time and I had to just take a quick picture for you.

The welcoming committee. Whenever we pull into the gate or leave, this is the sight we see. I love it. They are excited to see us come and actually totally fine to see us go, especially when we take our dog with us. We are working on it, but most are still not dog people. It just makes my heart happy to get to be part of their lives for this time.

Most Embarrassing Moments

We are back in Haiti and I have lots of thoughts about our trip home and back that I will have to share when my bloggers block is gone.

I feel like almost daily in Haiti I am embarrassed/humbled by something either myself or my children does.

Today was no exception.

The oldest two and I went to church this am. We were the only ones ready as the time change is still catching up to us and two of the babies GI system had a tough time in the US. We arrive at church at 8:50, the time that sacrament is supposed to start. (Sacrament is last and our church starts at 7 now instead of 6). The Bishop is already talking which I was surprised by because it did not seem we were that late. I think I hear him saying something about Joseph Smith, maybe bearing his testimony, which is also weird at the beginning of the meeting. But, hey I really have no idea what is going on. So the girl stands up to start conducting and I make my way to the piano (somehow I am the ward piano player, choir director, and piano lesson teacher. This is another story which includes A LOT of humbling opportunities) and I start playing the opening hymn. I do not play well by reading music, I play by sound much better and since the hymn book is in French most of the time I have no idea what I am playing. This time I actually recognized the song in the first few measures. Plus for me! Until a girl from the front row came up and changed the page for me!

Apparently they decided to start church at 6am again and it was the closing hymn they were on. I was on the opening.

Nothing like a big slice of humble pie first thing on a Sunday morning in front of the whole ward!

Haiti through a child's eyes

(Sorry, this is a very long post)

We asked each of the kids to put together some thoughts to share with their classes as they will be able to visit while we are home. Here is what they wrote that they wanted to share about their experiences in their first 3 months in Haiti.

CT-

Things that are different

- Animals on the road

- Everything is not cheap

- No electricity

- People are very different.

- We get water for showers from rain

- Bananas on trees

- Pom Pom tree

- Language (Creole) sounds like Bonswa, Sava

- There’s other white people

- There is jungle everywhere

- People pee on the street, when they gotta go they go

- There are rats running everywhere

Most similar things

- is it is beautiful

Also

-We go to the orphanage and play with the baby’s

-We walk on paths that no cars could ever go on

-It is kind of like a rainforest

-Haitians eat rice and beans and chicken and use lots of pots and pans and a weird mashing thing

-People are either light brown or dark brown.

-People have to walk a ton every day

-People have to walk around to find a Clearwater lake to drink from

-People sell stuff on the street so if you wanted bananas you would just step on the street

-Our house is GOOD compared to other houses in Haiti and horrible compared to US houses

-Haiti kind of reminds we of the three little bigs. The 1^st little Haitian made his house of hay, then the second little Haitian made his house of twigs then the third little Hasian made his house of cinderblogs. Then the big bad earthquake swept the houses down on the Haitians.

-People steal from us. Like someone stole $45 from me

-We go to beaches since we live on as island.

-I like swimming in the ocean, there are fish and seaweed

-There are good buffets and food at the beach

-There are also swimming pools at the beaches so you are basically in water paradise.

My least favorite thing here is that I don’t have friends at homeschool, and I miss you guys.

Conclusion: Haiti is really cool even though I missed you guys so much!

IS-

My favorite part of Haiti is the waterfalls. They are by the house we walk there on a little path. It is like a rainforest. They eat rice and beans. Is it verry good. Rosily mashes up the spices to make the food. She buys the food on the street. At a market. There is a lot of people. They sell frute and vechtibols. We go to Gint supermarket to get other stuf. Up stars it is toys and stuf like that, down stars it is food. It is like Walmart. Stuf cost a looooot of mony. Stuf on the street does not. My house is verry big and it is a real house. Others are tents, they got runend in the earthqwack. They live at a tent city. We visit them, it is fun. Our house does not have carpet. We go to the beaches and orphanages and feeding clenecs. We are going to bild one. And maby a school. They beaches are verry far away we see cow and hourses and dogs and goats. My mom ran over two goats. There are water melen by the beaches. There are pools at the beaches too. The pools are fun too. At the orphanage there is a little girl named Mica, she is nice. I like that we can live in a house. I miss my friends.

TJ-

-Swimming Turtles

-There are other white people

-They speak a different language, but Cops speak English

-Beautiful waterfalls behind our house. We call it TIC

-People pee on the street

-We visit the orphanage

-Lots of nice people

-When I say “bonswa” people laugh

-We go swimming a lot

-The weather is steaming hot it never snows, it always rains

-Eat mostly beans & rice

-We buy food at the marche

-Pigs walk around and eat garbage

-Bulls are tied up everywhere

-Playing soccer with big kids, they play with popped balls and bamboo goals

-Our car is a beast to turn around

-We sit in the back & don’t wear seat belts

-We have a deck and a baby swimming pool

-We swing in hammocks

-We sit at the kitchen table to do homework

-We see lots of pigs, but no deer. Lots of flies too

-My Mom ran over a goat

-Sometimes the power goes off

Least favorite part, people laugh at me and I don’t have friends to play with

Favorite part, we have a cat and a dog and rats to catch.

Roxy

So this post is mostly for me for when we are out of town and our new baby is not with us. I will at least have these to look at.
Not to worry, the cat is vicious and holds her own.

BJ is practicing his vet skills with my stethoscope on his ever patient patient.

She loves to sleep on her back, weird thing.

Oh my goodness it's official. I have become one of those crazy animal people posting about my pets.

For those who know me well, this picture will shock you. I do not like cats. There is not a nice way to put it, I just don't. So this scene every night makes me a little uneasy. But it makes TJ so happy, what can I do?

In all fairness this cat acts more like a dog. She comes when you call her, she eats dog food, and cleans up the scraps on the floor at the table. Plus she lets the kids harass her, which they do very well and holds her own with the dog so I guess we will keep her...while we live here.

Look at it all snuggled up to my child, ugh.

Walkabout

My Father in Law often takes our kids on walks which they call "walkabouts." Since having our new puppy, we are doing a lot of "walkabouts". We have discovered some great waterfalls and followed some local people to their fresh stream where they collect water. The boys love exploring in the jungle and I love walking with my new puppy. It feels good to exercise a little.

The hill is really steep around us. The people are really friendly with us as we walk by their tents. They all tell us to be careful as they run by in their flip-flops.

There are children everywhere playing soccer. It is usually with a half inflated, non-soccer ball.

The creek bed that was dry when we took this picture. It is now full of water.

The Orphanage

The orphanage today;

Rachel, who runs the O, called to say they have a new little girl. She wanted me to check her out. We hardly need an excuse to go to the O. Her parents say she is 3, she was wearing a size 0-3 mo shirt when we arrived and it fit fine. I think she probably only weighs about 15 lbs. She has the teeth of a 9 mo old and feeds like a 9 month old. She stands well, but cries. I really think her bones are not strong enough to support her and she lacks muscle tone. I just hope her parents were confused on her age.

We are on our way back now to teach Rachel and the nannys' how to feed her properly. As much as I hate that my own children have feeding issues, I feel grateful today that I can pass on some of the things I have learned and even more thankful that I have great OT's in my life. Thank You Karissa for all your expertise!

Our Friends. BT, IS, Nicholas, Nora, Alex (in the background) and some big friends.

I think we all have a special attachment to a child or two at the O. Rachel loves these two, but really they picked her. The are always by her side while we are there. It is really sweet.