A few new things

Took the kids to the new town square for an outing. They were busy looking and being looked at by the other kids there, most of whom were selling some form of something or other. We bought some chips and juice and visited with them. Then I had a small heart attack when I realized that two kids who didn't go with Sadrack and some boys who had to pee, decided they wanted to go, and ran across the street by themselves to join them! They have a very basic(aka small and minute) understanding of traffic safety, and are used to always having someone directing them and looking out for them. I caused a bit of a scene as I jumped and ran to the edge of the park and then barrelled across the road after them! Thoughts of Needless to say, we had a little lesson that afternoon about being safe and asking permission to go anywhere, even if you see someone else doing something you want to do as well!

This is Mike, the son of our cement worker, Boss Doudou(ok, you can stop laughing at his name now!) In Haiti, all significant events(graduations, weddings, etc) have a godmother and godfather for the event. I was asked to be the godmother for Mike's kindergarten graduation. It was a long, long event, but an interersting array of old and new culture mixed together...and a LOT of people squashed into what was, when the event started, an airconditioned room. At one point a fellow we were sitting with got up to take some pictures and this lady and her friend squeezed themselves down the small aisle in between chairs and took his chair. So, when he came back everyone had to shuffle their buns and get cozy. Just another day in Haiti!

Here is the family and godfather and me. It was really funny as the two girls on each end were arguing over who got to stand by the "blanc"(aka me). I think every picture we took outside has a shoulder or hand or something that got in the way as people just continue on Haitian style and barrel their way through!

Catch up!

Ok, so i don't know that to start with as it's been so long, so here goes. I am thinking that this list is going to be random and such, but hopefully will give you an idea of where things are at!

-Thym's wedding went well from all I heard from Pat and Melinda. Lots of jokes made about needing to come back to Haiti to get a rest!

-we have had a number of sick kids coming through the doors...a set of month old twin boys...were here for a while, one went home, the other stayed not doing too great at all...now he's fine and headed home soon. thank you Jesus!

-new baby girl came in yesterday...not sure of all the details of her history yet....mostly just shell shocked as we know her dad is 60 and her mom was 21!

-Carlos, Samuel and richard are all walking, along with Ester and Aneve

-Carlos refuses to hold his cup for himself, but this morning the little imp stole a cup Odette was using to feed Bertho and plopped on the floor and proceeded to drink from it by himself! Things like that are a big deal in this house!!

-we moved the 10 babies up to the classroom. They are getting too big and starting to walk and crawl more and they needed more room! They are so happy!

-RoseLissa is doing great. She got her casts off about 3 weeks ago and is now getting used to things again. She was really fragile for a couple weeks and her feet were really sensitive. Now she is starting to try and stand though, and use her legs more normally. She still has problems with her knees, but it will take some time to see how much they will correct on her own

-Speaking of RoseLissa, about a week and a half ago, we went to Port to get groceries and go find the place that the doc. in Port had referred us to. Two hours later, after her dad Sadrack had gotten in and out of the truck probably 30 times(this is how it goes in haiti when you need to find a place...you get out and ask and get this or that pointed out and then jump back in and go until you don't know where to go again and jump out and...well you get the picture) he came back to the truck and said that he thought he had found the place. However, something about how he said it made me wonder what in the world he had found. Much to my chagrin, we squeezed into this horribly smelly, tiny little 20x20' room, full of leather, shoes in various stages of making, a tiny little old man and a rather large and volomptuous(spelling?) lady who did not have the most flattering aroma. I knew were were experiencing OIH(only in Haiti). Our "wonderful" doc had referred us to a place that he himself had never been, only knowing of it as someone had dropped some paper off with some very general information he had not bothered to follow up on. Sadrack could only say(though too polite to say it in front of the tiny man big lady), "the shoe place in Mirebalais is nicer than this one, not to mention we didn't want a shoe place anyway!"
We got back in the truck and burst into laughter. It was all we could do really. All that time driving around the streets of Port and to find that delightful place. Next thing to do is to try getting into St. Vincent's hospital and get what we really need...hopefully!

-the bridge has been going out on a regular basis. Every time it rains, it washes away the temporary fix they have made with rocks and dirt, and they start again. This bridge is the temporary one they made after the hurricane last fall. It's not holding up so well, and hurricane season just started! There have been some adventures walking across a little piece of the bridge that is not broken, about the width of a baby formula can! I have enough of a time keeping my balance, and have huge respect for the steady stream of people crossing with a 5 gallon jug of water or a basin full of this or that balanced on their heads!

-the impetgo and such seems to be mostly cleared up. Seems like there are a couple kids who are just hanging on to their infections, but it's much better!

Ok. need to stop as there is a lady here who I promised to give a picture of her nephew. Will write more soon!

Late email post

Wrote this email a few weeks ago...for all of you who are not on my email list, here you go. For those of you who were really hoping this was a new blog, I am in the midst of doing that too!

Hello all! Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how things are! It's quite insane running the house by myself for a week! Definitely looking forward to pat and Melinda getting back on Monday!I am trying to deal with an impetego infestation:there are 18 kids with some amount. The ladies have been really great about bathing them all with permagamate(this herbal purple stuff that is an awesome infection fighter) and I've been dousing them with polysporin. Looking better already...this made day 3 of that regime. Takes about an hour each time. morning and night.We'll keep on trucking! I've been feeling a little bit like a chicken with its head cut off. So much to do. Had a baby come in Monday morning, breathing like an 80 year old smoker...thankfullly we had oxygen. That took up a few hours today, then we sent her to the hospital, then our own kids sick with this and that along with fevers, and then community kids coming in with high fevers.I had been busy trying to get the new girls organized and familiar with things....hard to do when I am running in 300 directions, but I am so glad they came. However, since they came, one girl just can't seem to handle things, so they left to go to the CAM mission where it is much quieter and a little more comfortable for a few days. Hope to see them again soon. In the meantime, I have to cook suppers too, but that's not been so bad as we kinda established a menu, or at least some simple meal ideas, a few months ago, and it's easy for me to get what I need for the most part. Thankfully the kids are not picky! Makes me really appreciate our volunteers who come and take care of evening meals for us! Madam Cedieu, one of our workers, came home from the hospital Saturday a week after her mastectomy. walked here by HERSELF from her house, abuot 5 minutes, in the heat, to ask me to change the dressing. I chastised her a little bit for not just sending one of her kids after me...told her I was more than happy to make house calls. Oh yeah, that's what else I did tonight after the kids were in bed. She seems to be healing well except for that a few of her stitches have come loose and she is going to need them redone sooner than later. It's been quite the learning experience caring for her and I know that God has given me the strength to tend her wounds encourage her, despite the fact that I feel so inadequate. There have been a few kids coming each day with fevers, diarrhea...definitely a bunch of likely malaria too! A girl who was about 10, her mom didn't know exactly when she was born(this is really common in Haiti) came with the side of her head covered in sores and a terrible ear infection. She was really brave and not too scared of me, and so I managed to get her cleaned up quite well, sent some meds home with her mom, and told them to come back so I can clean it again and see how things look. So, what can I say, I'm busy! I have been managing to get some good sleep though, so for the most part it has not been too bad. Lots of help to be had when I need it, so that does make the load lighter...the hard part is delegating...it takes time also to get people to do what you need them to do! One more story:Had a lady come yesterday...she walked what later took us at least half an hour to drive in the truck, starting at 3am in the morning. She came because she is 9 months pregnant and she has 4 other kids, and is a widow. She cried and cried asking for help, as she has seen her kids become sickly since she has no one to provide for them. We got her some food and milk for her kids, and attempted to take her home. We got near her house, but then could not pass due to the mud, and we had to get the truck back to pick people up that were coming in. So she walked the rest of the way home. We wanted her to stay at the orphange, but there was no one to stay with her other kids. Late this morning she called to let us know that she had given birth to a little boy at 7am this morning. I had a hard time dealing with feeling so helpless in this country....there are so many people who need help and there is only so many we can help. It was really hard for me to realize so blatantly yesterday that she is just one of so many women who are so desperate. Had to walk away and collect myself before we talked with her more. Next week once Pat and Melinda are back we will see what else we can do for them. I feel so blessed to be able to care for the kids in our home here, and that God has seen fit to provide for us, and in turn allow us to bless those around us! However,it's great to be back! The kids are all so big and so many of the toddlers suddenly have so much to say! They are so funny! I feel like I haven't gotten to spend enought time with them yet, as there is always someone calling me away to do something, but that time will come! The older kids have been grilling me about who and what I saw in Canada and ask to see the same pictures everday! Please keep me in your prayers as I do feel tired, especially at this time of the day, but really wanted to share all that has been going on thus far! I will be blogging...just not this week!Talk to you soon

Aneve's Arrival

On February 10th, a little boy named Aneve joined our household. His father and grandfather, both of who are also named Aneve, brought him to our door. It was very apparent that this little boy was suffering from the effects of Kwashiorkor, which is a form of malnutrition caused by a lack of protein, which causes edema(swelling), thinning of the hair, irritability, and other serious issues including liver damage, and this is the cause of many childhood deaths in Haiti. Aneve's mother had died suddenly about a month before, and they had been trying to care for Aneve and his two older brothers. Thankfully they took the perogative to come for help before it was too late. It was really a sad thing to see them come, knowing that this little boy was so sick, knowing they could not provide for him, and knowing that they were going to have to give up their namesake. That is one of the things that I still struggle with so much in Haiti...knowing and seeing so often that people love and want their kids, but even more so, they love them and want them to live. I wish so often that we could just take kids in more often and get them on their feet, and then send them home. But, as I have learned, that's not always possible. We do have a number of community kids that come and stay for a short while here and there, but they have mothers. Mothers are the key to a lot I have learned. I was recently reading an article about a doctor who works with new and expectant mothers in Africa, and she addressed the reality that when mothers die, families fall apart, and when families fall apart, society is not far behind. This such a stark reality in Haiti. God really knew what he was doing when He invented the family.



Aneve has come a long way in the last 3 months. He cried a lot the first while, and we spent lots of time holding him and just comforting him. His skin has almost cleared up now(he was covered with impitego and ringworm) , and has lost that dried/cracked texture. He has become a very smiley cute little boy! Not to mention he wins the award for the blackest little Haitian in the house!

Minnie holding the newly bathed and shaved little Aneve

Aneve's skin was swollen and loose and infected and...oh he was a mess!

Swollen hands

Kids with Kwashiorkor face many challanges, one of which is that their cells begin to absorb water, causing swelling, which then over time causes their skin to start cracking(you can see this really well on his leg), and soon after fluid starts seeping out as their body cannot contain all the fluid build-up. Aneve came to us just before his skin started seeping fluid.

This is Aneve 5 days after he arrived. He started smiling and it was amazing to watch the healing take place in his body and spirit.

As you can see, Aneve is beautiful BLACK baby! (notice the shades of brown!)

Derson's New Wheels

Many of you know Derson and his story. He is a 10 year old boy who is hydrocephalic, which in the simplest of terms means he has water on his brain. This causes pressure which affects development and abilities in many ways. Derson is unable to walk, though he used to pull himself to his feet in his crib when he was smaller. Now that he has gotten so big, he is not able to do so any longer. However, he does feed himself, and when he chooses to be, can be very interactive. He loves to laugh, especially when one of the older children is getting scolded about something, or when someone takes the time to sit with him and just chat. A great guy who was here last year managed to put together a wheelchair for Derson with pieces of other wheelchairs we had around here, and that held out for almost a year. I began looking at somehow getting another chair for him a few months ago...and to be honest, had no idea where to start. However, I was checking out the blog of our friends who work up in Cazale, and low-and-behold (is that even how you write that...I just realized I have NEVER written that phrase before!) there was a little story there about them having a chair in the states that they wanted to get on their container! On a whim, I wrote and said "hey, when that chair gets here, if you haven't already designated it for someone, we have a little boy who would love it!". Lori or Licia wrote back and said "we would love you to have it! And in the mean time, we have another one in storage you can have too!!" So, a few weeks later we met up with them in Port-au-Prince and Thym brought home Derson's new chair. It brought tears to my eyes when I saw how almost perfectly it fit him! I am always reminded how God knows....he knows our names, our needs, our hopes....way before we even realize them ourselves!

Derson and his stylin' new chair

There was no seatbelt for the chair, so I found some luggage straps, ripped apart some seams, made some new seams, and wa-la (again, how do you spell these expressions!?!??) Derson smiled much more than usual that day, as everyone came over to compliment him on his new wheels, and he burst into laughter and shook his head no when Grandma asked for a ride!

Feb/Mar/April Birthdays

Samuel-1...and there goes the cake!

With all of the craziness at the house, we got a little behind on the birthdays. A couple weeks before I came home, I realized I had better get on organizing the birthday bash, or when I came back we would be even farther behind! Thankfully we had a lot of people(big and small) around to help decorate all 6 cakes (which sometimes be a little stressful on my sometimes perfectionistic self) , and help put up balloons and streamers! So, for all of you who have been wondering what cakes we came up with this time, here you go!

Richard-1st Birthday


Ketteline-8(Thanks for the 5 lbs of Mini Eggs Mom, they made this butterfly delish!)

Conleigh reminded everyone of a little madamoiselle with her hat!

The Birthday Gang

Jay-2, Ketteline-8, Conleigh-2
Richard-1, Naika-4, Samuel-1

Conleigh was full of dramatic faces...excited and a little overwhelmed at the attention!

Pardon the lack of Naika pictures. I was holding her, and thus the pics of her are on someone else's camera. This is her watermelon cake. I will post some pics of the birthday girl when I figure out whose camera they are on!


Everyone enjoying Chico's(cheesies from the Dominican) and Tampico(fruit juice from Haiti) and cake and excitement!

Jay turned 2. It was his first birthday with us and he wasn't too sure about everything, but definitely didn't mind when he realized he could eat the boat!

I have decided I need to make my cakes less appealing...or at least use fewer fun candy embellishments!!!! Just look at Conleigh's face...she was ready to go in for the kill...and she did, of course heading straight for the poor bunny's eyeballs! I actually LOVE making cakes for the kids...though now I personally have obtained this "wanting as close to perfection in Haiti as possible with my newly learned and limited cake decorating skills" attitude, which is very annoying as I realize I have spent WAY too long on a cake! But, it's always a labour of love!

Parent's beware:these children now accept only really cool cakes! Or at least ones with lots of love poured into them!

67= the number of days since I last blogged. Crazy! Can't believe that much time has gone past! So much has happened that is definitely worth blogging, but so much was happening it wasn't worth taking the time blog! And I did indeed have many days where I specifically had to make a point of going to the bathroom. Glad to share that information with youNow I am home for a month to visit and relax, and now I will begin the quest to catch you all up on what has been happening in Haiti! Thanks for continuing to look at my blog everyday, curse me under your breathe, and do the same thing the next day, for the last 3 months!

The last time I blogged, before I blogged about not blogging, I was headed to Cap Haitian to take Rose Lissa for bilateral clubbed foot surgery, and my youngest brother had decided to come to Haiti for a visit. So, that is where we will begin!

Trip to Cap Haitian

Our Ride...I really wondered what Rose Lissa and her dad Sadrack would think, especially when I realized how loud this little plane was! But, Rose just fell asleep right away and Sadrack didn't say too much, just grinned a couple times.


We arrived in Cap Haitain(Rose Lissa, her dad Sadrack, and myself) on Feb 15th, and were picked up at the airport by Pat and Clark Moore. They are a great couple in their 60's who have been married for 6 years, though have been in Haiti prior to being married for many years. Pat is a nurse and oversees 2 clinics in the O-Kap area,along with many other things, and Clark has spent many years doing amazing archeological research regarding Colombus and the original inhabitants of the island of Hispanolia(Haiti/Dominican). I had never met them before, and was delighted to be so welcomed into the home of these wonderful people.

The view from Pat and Clark's balcony. Amazing!

Pat Moore and Rose Lissa


We got settled in and headed up to the Justinien Hospital the next day to meet up with Dr.Nelson and his team. I was amazed at the HUGE number of people waiting outside the ortho unit to be seen by the CURE team. Children and adults with all sorts of deformities of upper and lower limbs, as well as scoliosis and other similiar issues were patiently waiting in the heat, sitting wherever they could find space, hope etched across the faces of them and their families. We were kinda led to the front of the line as they knew we were coming, and Dr. Nelson took a look at Rose quite quickly and they scheduled her for surgery that Wednesday. During this time, I could see that though they had a couple of good translators, there was a lot still to be done. So I asked if they wanted some help translating for a while, and was greeted with "seriously!? Please!" So, Sadrack and RoseLissa and Clark headed back down to the house, and I assured them that I would get back before dark.

A few minutes later I was in my element! The little 10x5' room was constantly filled with people, sharing their stories and eagerly waiting for what the doctors could tell them. I had tears in my eyes a number of times, especially when seeing the joy on parent's faces when I translated for them that "yes, your child can be helped this week!" It was an amazing experience! I spent about 4 hours with them before I realized I had better head back to the house! I had never translated in such an intense setting before, but I remember thinking, man, I need to do this more often! I felt so thankful that God has blessed me with the gift of speaking Creole!

The Docs


This piece of bone had worked its way out of this little boys leg after CURE teams had done surgery back in September.


His xrays showed that the bone had regrown and completely healed, and had effectively gotten rid of the piece of bone that had been injured. It was kinda fun to see the doctors so amazed!

The next day, we headed to get lab work and xrays done for RoseLissa. We had quite the treck across O-Kap to find an xray place that actually had a working machine(good old Haiti!) and then spent the majority of the day waiting to be seen...apparently everyone being seen by the CURE team had all come to the same x-ray clinic! Much of the time there was spent smiling and listening to everyone share their two-bits about how I should and should not take care of RoseLissa, and answering all kinds of questions about why I was there with her, and what was wrong with her, and why in the world if I am from Canada do I not speak immaculate French!

During the time we were at the xray clinic, I got a very sad phone call from Pat. They had called earlier in the morning to let me know that Vens was sick and on his way to the hospital. The second call was to let me know that Vens had died en-route. It was very difficult to deal with that news in front of a roomful of Haitians, trying to stay in control and not give them anything else to question me about. I felt myself wishing I was more Haitian, and could just let out these gut-wrenching sobs that were threatening to overtake me. God carried me through, and shortly after that phone call we got called in to have RoseLissa's x-rays done. She started screaming as soon as I walked in and put her down to take her dress off, and as soon as I put her on the table, she started to pee. Not a little bit either:a definite flood! We all laughed. We had to. And that was how God distracted me from my grief for a while and allowed me to focus on caring for RoseLissa. It reminded me of when Simon died and shortly after we discovered a wasp nest in the baby room and had to focus on getting them all out! God is in control!

During that time, we realized that we were not gonna be done in time to get to the airport to get Caleb who had flown into Haiti and was flying up to meet us in Cap Haitian. So, Pat saved the day and went to meet him for me! So when we got back to the house, it was so great to be met my little brother who was a little surprised at how little I was!

Caleb and I

That brought us to Wednesday, the day of RoseLissa's surgery! We got to the hospital around 7am and waited with the other people scheduled for surgery for the docs to show up. They soon came hopping off tap-taps and we headed to the OR. We had to wait for a while, and in that time, Dr. Nelson and company stole me off to translate for them, as they went and looked at x-rays and saw people who had had surgery the day before. When I got back, the nurses had already taken Rose Lissa to get prepped for surgery. I walked down the hallway and when I saw Dr. Nelson I asked him if I could get a pic of Rose before they started operating. He asked if I wanted to just come on in and watch her surgery! I jumped at the chance, and 5 minutes later they had me all scrubbed up and peering over their shoulders...from a safe non-germy distance of course! It was amazing! I had tears in my eyes a number of times, seeing the gifts that God has given to His creation and their abilites to do such incredible things!!

Right before surgery....you can see how crooked her little feet were

Rose's little feet straight for the first time!

Putting casts on

Recovering. Rose's dad came in and immediatly pulled back the blanket that was covering her legs. He looked at her straight little feet, covered them back up, and then uncovered them again...and left them uncovered. And then he proceeded to take a bunch of pictures. It was really moving to watch him absorb the reality of the amazing change already visible.

Sadrack and a new friend we made there arriving after surgery

I was lucky to have a good relationship with Dr.Nelson, and he allowed us to leave a few hours after her surgery and go back to Pat and Clark's house instead of staying at the hospital! That was a huge blessing, cuz staying at a Haitian hospital is no cup of tea! It is NOTHING like a hospital in Canada! Rose recovered really well...she cried a lot the first few hours after we got back to the house, though we seemed to manage her pain fairly well with Tylenol and Advil. I thought for sure I was going to be up all night with her, but God was gracious and allowed her to sleep through the night. At this point I cried a lot about Vens, I think finally able to relax that the hardest part with RoseLissa was behind us.

Bathtime took on a whole new meaning...and Rose hated it!

Caleb and Sadrack spent a lot of time teaching each other their native language...and running over to me to translate for them!

It didn't take long for Rose to get back to her normal little silly self, and she loved being the centre of coddled attention!

We went back to the hospital 2 days later, where the docs removed her first set of casts, ensured everything looked good, and put on another set of casts that she would wear for 6 weeks, at which time another set would be put on for 6 more weeks! We all had a good laugh, because as soon as Rose saw the doctors, she started screaming! Everything looked great, and we were given the go ahead to head home. We stayed there until Saturday, during which time I had such wonderful help from Pat and her friend Pam who provided such care to all of us, and really shared the load with RoseLissa. I am so thankful that God has plans that surpass all of my best laid plans and hopes!

Rose and her Daddy
Rose and Caleb...she still wasn't so sure of this big white guy who insisted on making weird faces at her!

Rose Lissa is doing great! She recently had her casts changed and has 3 more weeks until she is done. She insists and pulling herself all over the floor, and recently standing up, effectively wearing out her casts! It is so fun to see the determination she has! After her casts come off, she will need some ankle-foot orthosis(a suuport for her ankle/foot, and it is likely that further surgery will be required for her knees and hip. Please continue to pray that God will continue to heal and restore her! Thanks to all of you who supported this endeavor for RoseLissa with your prayers and finances! It's been amazing to know the power of prayer!