Last Days in Port au Prince

(Johnell...he just wanted me to follow him around with the camera)
(Jeremy to my front right, Orlando the right-behind, Fabinna to my left-behind, and Johnell in my arms to the left this was of course the only photo he was not being silly in)
(Jeremy sporting my glasses)
(Man those crazy kids!)











It has taken me a few days to get my bearings and I am still not sure that I have completely. In fact I'm thinking that it could be a month or two before I will...or maybe I am not even sure that I want to. Please don't get me wrong, I am thankful to be back in the US but there is still that piece of Haiti that I pray never leaves me. In addition to all of the sights and sounds, even more so, all of the acts of unconditional love that I witnessed are what I hope will remain. I don't think it's possible to go to a nation like Haiti, meet people like the ones I did, and not be moved and changed because of it. There is no way to know how it'll change a person or to what degree. It could be something as simple as a clarity never before experienced, an appreciation for things that you once took for granted, or it may be a new perspective entirely, but regardless of what takes place, there is no way to leave Haiti without being humbled by its genuineness. Upon arriving back in the States that was the one thing that I have struggled with the most. It is difficult to find people, myself included, that are as genuine and that have as much character as all those I grew to know and love in Haiti. What is it about our culture that keeps us so isolated? What keeps us from caring? Or is it that we actually do care but don't know how to express it?

So the last two days at the orphanage in Port au Prince I spent as much time with the kids as possible. We took photos and goofed around most of the time and I said my goodbyes which did turn out to be just as difficult as I suspected it might be. Though I had only ended spending half as much time as I originally planned with the kids at the orphanage, I still had become quite attached to so many of them. For instance, when I first met little Maralee, she would barely even look at you but by the time it came time for me leave she would not only cry when I would walk away but when I was around her she was now ten times more active than before moving her arms that once remained static. I am not saying that she would not have brightened up for anyone else but just pointing to the fact that there are just so many of these children and not nearly enough people to love on each of them. I can only imagine the progress that a child like Maralee could make if someone could invest that kind of time with her on a consistent basis. The possibilities would be endless. By the time Friday night rolled around, I could barely get myself to go pack for my flight early the following morning.

Now that I am back from Haiti, I am missing those kids soooooo bad, more than I even thought possible. Days later and it still has me tearing up writing this post. I think that the most difficult thing to swallow is the fact that I may never see these kids again or if I do they will very likely be all grown up. I pray that the orphanage there in Port au Prince can step up to the challenge to continue to give them that much needed direction and I pray that as the kids do grow, Christ will be in the forefront of each of their little lives. After all, God must have special plans for them to have even been spared from their, what must have been devastating circumstances, that they should even end up in an orphanage to begin with. As my favorite verse of Scripture states, and God promises for those who Love Him..."For I know the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope." (Jer 29:11)