Monday, Tuesday...

 Our home for the week!  Josie lives in her sister's home in a quieter suburb of Port Au Prince.  Her sister lives in the states and will eventually retire back in Haiti.  I say "quieter" because the neighborhood is still bustling with shops and people and markets and businesses and schools and churches and animals! 

We drifted to sleep each night with what we call "the sounds of Haiti."  Dogs barking, chatter of families and friends, music, and traffic all mingle together.  We noticed it less towards the end of the week so I think we were acclimating to it!  We spent quite a bit of time in our beautiful upstairs suite!  Monday and Tuesday were very similar.The children left early for school and would not return til 330 or 400 each day so Chad and I woke up late Monday and Tuesday and had very leisurely days.  That first day was really nice to be able to rest and reflect on the fact that we were finally there.  Breakfast each day was served by Sylvania, Josie's housekeeper. She took great care of us with our late risings.  She bustled around made us omelets or warmed up our food, warmed our coffee or hot chocolate, made sure we had what we needed and tried to communicate with us, which early on was quite frustrating, I'm sure. Syl has been with Josie for over 12 years!  Trust is everything in Haiti and Josie and Sylvania have such an incredible history and relationship.  Syl took care of the house, the laundry, the gate, cooked, and was all around just amazing.  Josie fed us SO well!  We had a running joke by the end of the week with Josie and Roby about how Haitian we were because we had ONLY had Haitian food!  And we had the BEST of it!  I should have written down each meal, but in true Sarah fashion, I was much more focused on enjoying the food, then remembering what it all was!  We spent some time in the courtyard on Monday, did a little workout and tried to catch some sun while we studied our Creole. We put together a puzzle, played Yahztee and Farkle, studied, read and just overall had more downtime in a single day than we probably had since we were teenagers with a free Saturday!f 

Amessanitha and Dania got home first Monday after 3.  They have such a routine!  Change clothes, help Syl with whatever she needs for dinner, or chores.  Amessanitha quickly asked to braid my hair and I of course obliged!  The boys and Josie got home around 430 and same thing, they changed clothes, did a few chores and settled in.  Roby came with Josie and we were able to go through some more of our books and talked about the other kids.  One of the questions we asked is what makes you nervous or scared.  Amessanitha said nothing makes her scared. :-)  We noticed that not much conversation is directed towards Nickson.  I'm curious if that's a cultural thing because it seemed to be universal that he was "so young" so the conversations generally just go on around him.  For dinner, Monday, I DID write down what we ate!  Fish and shrimp in a sauce with onion and "national" rice which is brown with pinto beans. It was delicious!  We were definitely spoiled! 

Dinner was a time to visit with Josie and watch the kids interact with each other.  They have a really beautiful family dynamic with Josie.  She creates such a VIBE.  I wish I could describe it, but I know I felt it.  It was home for them.  Her sons were their friends and brothers. Dania and Amessanitha are CLOSE, like sisters.  My mind raced with what we were taking them away from.  Nickson would normally be at the orphanage, but seeing his relationship with Josie and her boys was affirming that they have had years of a beautiful, healthy relationship.  Amessanitha and Dania have only been living with Josie since school started a few months ago due to their high achievements academically that keeps them at a school close. But they operated just like a family. Mama Jo loving and caring for them as her own.  It was evident they all loved each other and we were able to observe it quietly all week. 

Monday we had an incredible conversation with Josie while the kids got to work on their homework.   She filled us in on the corruption and mess that is IBESR.  Much like other governmental agencies, the potential for corruption is high in Haiti(and everywhere, frankly). She said, "I hate adoptions." and then apologized, but I said, "no, I think I probably agree with you." What we have learned over the years with Haitian adoptions is heartbreaking and was confirmed by her experiences.  What she hates and we do to, is the business of adoption.  By putting dollar amounts to the precious task of caring for children, the potential for being taken advantage of is high.  A vast majority of children in orphanages have a living parent. Now this gets complicated a bit in the infrastructure of Haiti because poverty is vast and real and the care of a child can be painfully daunting.  Josie knows and has seen orphanages that essentially remove children from homes, promising education and care that the parents may not be able to provide in their current situation. She has seen money used to the benefit of the board and director and not the children. She has been offered a deal to "provide" as many children as she can for $10,000 a child for "clients" in Israel.  The lengths she went through to complete their dossiers was unbelievable.  At one point, in order to find a family member, she rode a bus, a moto, a DONKEY and then walked for miles searching for an aunt of theirs. She said she was sick from exhaustion when she got home! She had to organize and get several family members to a family council session to explain what was happening, which is a miraculous feat in Haiti. But she did it and countless other feats. We asked her why. Why did you say yes to us??  This was never in the plans for her.  She is not in the business of adoption. She has ZERO interest in the money in it.   We both remember our first conversation when I asked if their were siblings at HOLH and if she did adoptions. She did not, but said she would think about it.  We then learned, she talked to Margaret her sister and Thomas's wife and she said talk to Thomas.  She did and explained a couple had come with Kim and Keith and were hoping to adopt one day.  Thomas asked who it was and she told him.  His reply, "Yes, that is a good family! Any child would be good to be in that family."  

That was it.  Because my grandparents and parents had forged a relationship and bond with Thomas over years and years.  That's why she said yes to giving us a chance to adopt from her orphanage.  At that time, we had no idea that it would be Amessanitha and Nickson.  It was just a hope and a dream. But, dreams do come true sometimes...

After dinner each night was homework, homework and more homework.  We were blown away with the work ethic instilled in them. We joked that American school is going to seem REALLY easy for them.  They spent the next 3 hours studying. Memorizing portions of textbooks, doing math and then memorizing more portions of textbooks.  Monday evening they finished around 830 and we played some games. Nickson loved Jenga and we all played UNO.  The Jenga blocks came in handy to build with, create designs with and use like Dominos to create some fun flows with.  Chad and I spent the evenings studying Creole(you would think we'd be really good, but we're not!)  I was always too distracted trying to watch them or walk into the courtyard to hug them or smile at them.  

One of the evenings, Amessanitha was in tears over all the work she had to do.  Partly because Nickson had gotten finished first and we were already playing.  Josie just laughed and let her keep working.  I went and hugged on her knowing full well it was a good thing I wasn't in charge, cause I would have told her to come play, which would have meant trouble in school the next day. So I kept my mouth shut :-)  Nickson was upset a different night for the same reason.  He kept trying to memorize a part and wasn't getting it. I went into the courtyard, pulled him on my lap, much to Amessanitha and Dania's dismay and had him read it to me several times.  Then he was back up in to the desk and back to work without tears. I am so profoundly thankful for those little moments. The moments we get to show them we care and we love them and we will be showing that differently then maybe what they've been use to.  

Each evening around 9, the whole family circled up in the living room with Bibles in hand and had devotions.  Always a couple hymns, mostly from memory, a psalm from memory, a reading that the kids would take turns explaining simply, and prayers led by one of the kids.  We didn't understand it all, but the reverence they had, the importance it carried for them was so beautiful.  Chad and I both were encouraged to improve our devotions quantity with the kids back home.  So far, so good.  I'm in awe of how well they keep the important things important.  We get so distracted by activities and how exhausted we are by all the activities that it's easy to let some things that have real value slide, like dinners together and devotions together.  We came away from the week personally better.  After being in the house almost the entire time Monday and Tuesday, we were hoping to get out and about a bit as the week went on!  Wednesday and Thursday were perfect...More to come!!