Men Anpil Chay Pa Lou

Men Anpil Chay Pa Lou 

Many Hands Make the Load Light

A friend found this Haitian proverb many months ago when we first started this journey.  How grateful we are for the friends and family that surround us.

We are truly stunned by the generosity, care, and blessings that we've received from our family and friends over the past many months.  Whether it's Dad painting the girls' room (and many other rooms), Wayne putting together beds we were given, friends throwing a beautiful shower, or all the generous gifts and donations - we are blessed.

Our anxiety has been eased by everyone who has shared a kind word, offered support, or provided a gift that's allowed us to purchase mattresses, comforters, shoes, hair care products, counseling sessions, classes, swimsuits, and everything in between.

Vivid

viv·id

    adjective

1.

strikingly bright or intense, as color, light, etc.: a vivid green.

2.

full of life; lively; animated: a vivid personality.

We've always had "vanilla" walls.  Neutral paint, no wallpaper, ordinary.  While many of our walls will still be neutral, the girls come from a land of intense and vivid colors - amazing hues stretching across the color spectrum.

Our task of selecting the right color for their room started in the Home Depot paint department.  Staring up at the wall of color squares, trying to determine what might be a good fit, feeling uncertain. 

After several minutes of pondering, a color caught my eye..."I really like this one...not sure if it will be too bright, but it's beautiful."  Pulling the paint swatch from the wall, we looked curiously for the name - Haitian Flower.  No pondering needed.
#UL 100-16 Haitian Flower Interior

One wall, highlighting the beautiful furniture from a friend.  The rest of the walls are vanilla.   :-)

pleth·o·ra

pleth·o·ra  noun
overabundance; excess


We've been meaning to post this picture for awhile now...

One of our recent tasks was to finish the required paperwork for the U.S. Immigration process.  Many forms, phone calls, and filing tasks later, poof!  One set, 93 pages...3 sets, 279 pages.  One tired printer.
Huge sense of accomplishment.

Learning Curve

We are experiencing the Mount Everest of learning curves.  In preparation for the "becoming a family" learning curves, we are crawling our way through language learning, feeling our way through understanding the impact of trauma, and braiding our way through hair and skin care.  

Fortunately, mountains are for climbing...and persevering...and standing in awe of the beauty around you.

Last Saturday, one of our stops along the climb was our first hair and skin care class.  The Cradle, an agency in Evanston, offers this and other classes.  We're grateful for their training and support.  Wayne and the other dads were applauded for their effort and growing skill. 

Shoes for Orphans

New shoes provide health.Shoes are foundational to good health. In many developing countries we serve, children are forced to walk barefoot for miles to gather clean water, to visit a doctor or to go to school. Diseases like hookworm, jiggers, tetanus and other parasites enter the body through the feet. These diseases can stunt a child’s growth and development, as well as cause life-long cognitive impairment. Walking barefoot in rocky or muddy terrain can also cause injury to a child’s feet, further opening the possibility for infection or disease. http://www.shoesfororphansouls.org/about-shoes.shtml

We don't know if the girls have received our letters.  If they did receive the letters, we don't know if our words were translated.  We aren't sure if the clothing we sent actually worked for each of the girls.

What do we know?  We were thrilled to receive this simple sentence from our social worker.

The shoes all fit and the staff is working hard to prepare the girls for the transition!

Tidings

ti·dings

    noun 

news, information, or intelligence.

Hopeful tidings-familiar tidings-reassuring tidings-warm tidings...

We aren't sure how our letters have been received.  Were our words translatable?  Did someone read our words to the girls?  How did the girls respond?  We don't have the answers to any of these questions.  We have to have faith that our words are helping to build the foundations of family from over 1,800 miles away.

A letter, individual Valentine's Day cards and heart candies are leaving for Haiti today.  We wrote about the recent snow, what Valentine's Day is and how it is celebrated, how we think about and pray for the girls everyday, how we are looking forward to being together soon.

Inspiration

in·spi·ra·tion   noun 

a thing or person that inspires.

a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.

Many of you so kindly take the time to check in with us and ask how things are going-how the girls are-what we know about the timeline.  Very often, we lack answers to these seemingly basic questions.  

We certainly find ourselves questioning-wondering-puzzling over the challenges that arise during this journey.  It's these moments that lead us to seek inspiration.  Inspiration from words, from songs, from others in the pursuit of a brighter world.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think on these things.  Philippians 4:8

The verse above and the story linked below are a few recent sources of inspiration.