A Little Clarification

Ok, a wise and wonderful friend of mine clued me in to something about the previous post.  It was not my intent to somehow say that we as Christians here are LESS Christian than those in the church in Haiti.  Or that our worship was less “real” than theirs.  My frustration lies in the ease with which we are able to live compared to the daily pain and suffering of others in this world.  It is not my place to “judge” your faith, I would NEVER do that.  It is my opinion (THAT’S THE COOL THING ABOUT HAVING A BLOG) that it is “easier” for those of us who “have” to have faith and serve our amazing Father.  I don’t know that if I were to have to walk hours to church through dirt, despair and suffering every Sunday how often I would be able to do so AND praise and worship our God when I got there.  I found that to be inspirational.  Again, I am not sitting in judgement, that is not my place.  Still decompressing!!!!

How was your trip?

This is the question I have heard over and over in the last few days. It is a reasonable question. A normal question, one that is usually easily answered after a vacation or weekend getaway. However, for me, it is not so easily answered after a trip to Haiti. Every time someone asks I hesitate. What do I say? Do they really want to know the roller coaster of emotions that we experienced? Do they want to hear how deplorable the living conditions are or the number of children in orphanages or the unimaginable poverty that 90% of Haitians live with all their lives? Do they want to know the poor condition we found our boys to be in or how difficult it was leave them or how Mackenson and Mackenzie did not want us to go this time? Maybe some people want to know but for the most part I think not.

I think people want the short, sweet version. The one that doesn’t push them out of their comfort zone too much. Don’t get me wrong, there were amazing and wonderful parts of our trip. Watching Pappa bond with his 3 boys for the first time, seeing the sheer joy on their faces when they would count to 10 and jump into our arms in the pool, dancing around the room with them each night and hearing them giggle until they couldn’t catch their breath or the moment when we were all in bed, lights out and Paul and I told them each that we loved them in creole (something we did every other minute since they arrived) and for the first time they each responded with the same. How do you share all of this in a brief passing? How do you NOT share all of this. See my dilemma?

Adjusting to being home this time was,for me, even more intense. Having worshipped in Haiti just a week before sitting in our church was a profound experience. It was also a frustrating and painful experience. Looking around at the worshippers in Port Au Prince and knowing where they come from each week just to give praise to their God, seeing each of them give an offering when you know they have NOTHING and then looking around our church on Sunday, hearing our pastor preach about giving to the world, I had to leave in tears, it doesn’t compute, it is so difficult to keep from jumping up and shouting, wanting everyone to know what suffering is out there. I WANT to make people uncomfortable, I WANT to yell and scream about how good we all have it, how selfish we can be, how we need to wake up and LISTEN. Yet I don’t, I can’t, it’s not OK , it’s not in The Comfort Zone. Frustration, that’s what I am feeling. That’s what I am working on getting through.
SO, do you REALLY want to know? I believe you really SHOULD want to know and then you really SHOULD want to do something to make things better. I believe that is God’s mission for us as His people, to reach out to The World!

Get your t-shirts!

Check out the screenshot from the dreaming[BIG]dreams blog!      Recognize the family?????

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If you are so inclined, buy a t-shirt!!!!  They are comfy and cool and support an AMAZING ministry.  If you do, send us a photo and we’ll post it!!!!  (for those of you who know us locally, I am ordering a couple in green so if you would like one leave a comment and I will add yours to the order, MJ you are covered!)

While We Decompress…

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Home

It is late but we are back.  To drained physically and emotionally for a major update.  Today was difficult for all of us with the exception of little MacKenley who just seems to roll with the punches. We have lots to share.  Will post again with all the good stuff soon.
Thank you all for your prayers, they were absolutely felt by both of us.
Bonne nuit. Good night.

Back With The Boys!

THEY ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!
They arrived sometime this afternoon. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you the time as I lost all sense of time once I saw them. Mackenzie seemed to recognize me right away. Mackenson realized it after he saw his brother and (Tante Sheri you will appreciate this) Mackenly just woke up so he could care less about anything. We spent great time in the pool, Paul was quickly immersed in the life of having 3 boys. They all have their handful of “machines” and we played a rousing game of football (soccer).

Mackenzie can count to ten and seemed very proud of that. They definitely have lost weight in their arms and legs and their bellies are VERY distended. Someone we met who has been working with an orphanage in PAP for many years, immediately said they have parasites. Fortunately, she has medicine for all three boys that was donated so it looks like we can treat them when they are here and again in six months. Meanwhile a high carb, high protein, low meat diet is on the menu. They did not have much of an appetite tonight so we will see how they do.

Enough for now, going to rescue Pappa Paul upstairs not to mention love on the 3 most gorgeous boys ever. Will try to send photos tomorrow.

OH, I almost forgot, it seems like we are going to be able to attend a church here in PAP tomorrow with a blogger who I follow.   I am totally psyched and will report when I can.
Life is good here in Haiti!!!!!!!

Back in Haiti

WE ARE HERE! We arrived safe and sound this am at 7:40. The good news is I think I finally found my mind, the bad news is we lost one piece of luggage. Hoping it comes in on a later flight today. Waiting anxiously for the boys to arrive. Haitian time is kind of like southern time in the US only X10.

Our hotel is nice. Sparse but clean and the people seem nice. There are 2 other families visiting kids so we hear the children all like to play together. The heat is much more oppressive than last trip (we lucked out then Sheri) but there is a small breeze so you can at least sit in the shade.

So far Paul is doing well. He now understands all the restrictions we told him about. He is quite certain he does not want to go out for coffee in the morning!
Will update again once the boys arrive, hopefully with some photos. Happy weekend!!!!!!

Chatting w/ Emily! (Sorry it's so blurry, slow internet connection!)

Chatting w/ Emily! (Sorry it's so blurry, slow internet connection!)

Back to Haiti!

We are all set for our flight to Miami!

We actually are considering bagging the hotel and sleeping in the airport as we figured we will only be at the hotel for 5 hours and then we will be off to Port-au-Prince.  We will see how we feel tonight.

I managed to purchase the rest of the things for the boys here in NYC.  We are loaded up for sure.  Paul is getting a little nervous.  It is not often that he needs to listen and follow me.  It is usually the other way around. Can you say “control freak?”  But we love him just the same. :-)

I have heard that our wireless connection is intermittent at best but I am going to try to update from Haiti at some point.  For the prayer warriors out there, the boys and their mom have an embassy appointment at 7 am on Monday.  Please pray that this goes off without any issues.  Our appointment is the same day at 11 am.

American Airlines and other stress…

Right, so before I launch into my crazy story for the day, here is a snapshot of the last week.

  • pulled over for speeding to find out my license has supposedly been suspended for 2 years, yes 2 YEARS, oh and did I mention my mom was in the car with me?
  • Our auto loan company randomly decided to take out $1,300.00 out of our checking accout, unauthorized obviously.  It seems they just put it in some account out in oblivion for no apparent reason.
  • American Airlines almost put us both in the nuthouse, story to follow
  • In the craziness of packing 200 pounds of supplies i forget; my make-up, a brush, my sneakers, my PHONE and my computer cord.  I could cry!!!!

And YES, to answer several people, I really DID go off my anti-anxiety meds 3 weeks ago!!!!!

Ok, so now the American Airlines story….
A lovely adoptive mom (Lila) let us know about an American Airlines credit card that defers payments for tickets up to 6 months so we applied.  We were immedialtly approved and told we could use the number right away to purchase our tickets.  I bookmarked the page with our card number thinking I would go right back and get the tickets after checking with Paul.  Well, when I went back, of course the page was gone along with the number (understandable because of security.)  I called American Airlines and was told that they could not give the number over the phone but they had mailed the card and it should be here in two days.  This was on the 15th.  Come Friday, the 19th, we still had no card and no tickets.  I called American Airlines again and was told to go to the airport or a travel agent and they could get the card number and get the tickets for us.  Hang in, here is where it gets good (is that the right word for it?)

The American Airlines airport ticketing agents had never heard of their own company’s card and refused to help.  So home we went to wait for the card over the weekend.  No card arrived.  SO, Monday we went to our AAA office.  An amazingly wonderful women assisted us ( now known as Jill) and the insanity really began.  After explaining the situation she got the tickets ordered which had now risen from around $700 ea. to $1100 ea. since Friday.  She gets to the point where she needs the number and calls the American Airlines card customer service as we were instructed.  After she gives the explanation she is told if she were an American Airlines agent at an airport she could have it but they won’t give her the number.  REALLY!?!? I AM PRETTY SURE WE TRIED THAT ALREADY!!!!!!!  So I get on Paul’s phone and dial the SAME number to speak with another person.  After much explanation and being put on hold so she could check with “who knows who”, my agent says she will give the number to Jill. WAIT, at the EXACT same second the agent Jill  is on with tells her there is NO WAY WHAT SO EVER they will give out the number.  Again, REALLY!?!?  Someone at the same number JUST DID!

Not over yet folks…  Paul gets on Jill’s headset to (excuse me) “have words with” the other American Airlines agent and she actually hangs-up on him.  So we think we are set but no…  The American Airlines card is not a regular credit card, it only has 13 numbers and no expiration date so AAA’s system won’t take it.  Our amazing Jill will not give up, she calls American Airlines directly.  We are now on hour 2 since our arrival at AAA.  Jill again explains everything and the agent gets our tickets ready to be purchased.

Side-note: when we arrived at AAA our direct flight from JFK to PAP was available, an hour later it is sold out, did I mention I wanted to cry???

Ok, back to the story, we are ready to purchase and the American Airlines agent asks for an expiration dateTHERE IS NONE!!! Their card DOES NOT EXPIRE! It is her company’s card, you think she would know this, not so.  She refuses to put the tickets through and Jill hangs up.   I am now beyond insane.  I move to the next desk to call the afore mentioned customer sevice number.  I explain ONE MORE TIME!!!  At the same time Jill decides to call American Airlines back and pretends she never called in the first place, she goes through the whole process and low and behold the agent ACTUALLY knew what she was doing and processed our card and tickets.  I hung-up!!!!!  Jill is our newest angel in this crazy journey.  For anyone who uses AAA travel sevices, please ask for her at the Cicero office, she was amazing.  I always felt my AAA dues were a waste before now.  Now, I will never question them again.

Just as a kicker, Paul has an American Airlines Master Card for work purposes that acrues points.  He is eligible for FIVE first class upgrades.  GREAT, right?  Oh no, not so, our flights are “K” flights and we can only use his upgrades for B flights.  Of course he can turn in 15,000 points and pay $50.00 and they will upgrade us on ONE flight.  You can only imagine the words flying around our heads!

Enough for now, how could there be more.  I will update tomorrow before we leave.  We thank EVERYONE for all their help, donations prayers ect.  You are all amzing and Thank You seems not enough!!!!!!!!!  Sorry for all of the mentions of American Airlines, just trying to get their attention :-)

The Next Trip

Just wanted to give a quick update. It looks like we have an appointment at the US Embassy in Haiti on Monday the 29th. We will be leaving on Friday the 26th as there are no direct flights on the weekends and given the load we will be carrying we do not want to connect and risk lost supplies. We will be staying until Wed July 1st so we can give the boys some good nutrition and lots of love for 5 whole days. So far the mom is staying put. We have had some amazing response as far as supplies go. We are still working with the airlines to take as much as we can. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, to everyone who haas reached out thus far. When all is said and done and I can think straight I will write some of the amazing things that have happened through all this. One thing I do want people to know is that the supplies that we collect are going to be split between our boys and 3 other children in need of immediate care as well. I was blessed to be able to meet these three and their mom’s during my trip. I am really happy to be able to help these families as I know they would do the same for ours.

I did think of an odd request but if anyone out there has any MP3’s that they do not use and would like to donate, the boys, especially Mackenson really loved my IPOD and I thought it would be fun to put some music on for them to listen to when we are there. We will not leave them there but will bring them home with us and keep them for future trips.
On a non adoptive topic, I am so proud of Paul as he finished a 200 plus bike ride to raise money for Special Olympics. Let me just say I think he is looking pretty darn hot!!!!!

Last, thanks to whomever dropped off the stuff for the boys on our doorstep. Not sure who it was but we appreciate it very much.
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