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A different Haiti

We experienced a different Haiti on Saturday. We could call it “Haiti Heaven” or Our Mountaintop Experience”. Venturing to a different part of Haiti didn’t change Haiti. We came down the mountain to the same smelly streets and sad faces. But it did change us. Our hearts were mended. Our minds were changed. Our minds were changed about what we are doing here. People often ask, “What do you do in Haiti?” or “Why did you come to Haiti?” We often ask ourselves the same question. Sometimes we ask it when we look at our bank account. We usually ask it when we are taking a cold shower. When students we care about cheat and have to face the consequences. When the tenth beggar boy assaults our vehicle with his rag frantically wiping…hopeful then angry when we don’t have any gourdes to give. When we pass by the street our girls live on and try to think about enjoying the day without them. How in some ways being here where they are is easier…how in many ways it’s harder. When we wish that so many things could be different about Haiti. When we wish so many things about Haiti we could have everywhere else. When we admit that we didn’t come here expecting to change Haiti. When we admit that we came here because we needed change too and how ironic that feels. And how true that is.
And so when the Oostland family invited us (actually we asked and they said “yes”;) to go with them to Belot, we felt a twinge of guilt for getting to have this experience…then asked ourselves why we felt that way. Maybe because we feel like this isn’t supposed to be about us. 
Like our lives here are supposed to be about fixing the broken Haiti 
(even though we’ve already said we don’t expect to do that). 
And when we see a different Haiti where people are smiling, 
where the air is cool and clear,
where children look healthy, 
where there isn’t much…
but there is SO much…
and we don’t see anything to fix change. 
And we ask how we got here and what this is really all about?
“Lord,
We are on the mountain edge which keeps caving in from erosion.
Day by day more is caved away.
In the world we are on slippery ground;
we are standing on the edge of a caving in mountain…

Speaking about who and what we are won’t secure us.
For safety, we must step up to higher ground.”
-Haitian Prayer

“Don’t put your load of trouble in a basket on your head…
Put them on Jesus head…

You won’t have headaches.”
-Haitian Proverb

It is a long walk up the mountain.
Today this boy didn’t have to walk as far.
And our kids scooted over…and learned.

We arrived here at the mountain top before following the -> around the corner to Montcel.
Something about this small mountaintop community made us jealous.
Jealous of their lives.
Their simple lives.
The way they smiled and lived and played cards on this Saturday.
Content simply to breathe this air.

“Lord,
I know my garden doesn’t grow or produce
unless I work it and visit it.
So, please Lord, work and visit the garden of my heart.
I want to produce for You.”
-Haitian Prayer

After a bumpy ride we find that there are still 4 kids (Jenna, Ethan, Evan, and Nathan) in the back of the pickup as we arrive at Montcel. They didn’t complain about the bumps…cause when did they ever get to do this in the states?

We looked around to see what there was to do.
We didn’t feel like we were in Haiti. 

There were ponds and buildings that were very un-Haiti like.

But there is a lot of French influence and it was evidenced here

where we later ate lunch
and pretended we were at La Madeleine…

But if we come back for a date here…we won’t be ordering “poulet sauce creole”.
We advise you not order it here either. 

We saw lots of these.

And tried to catch this one.

And discovered there will soon be strawberries in Haiti.
And we know where to find them!

For Kelli 

In addition to dining, pig catching and tennis,
Le Montcel has other activites.


Like horseback riding!
And flower gardens

And rock gardens 
Where the kids climbed and explored.

Where Evan was in his element.

Where we enjoyed our children…
though we wished the rest of them were here with us.

Le Montcel Restaurant

Montcel balcony view (made up for the poule sauce creole).

“Dèyè mòn gen mòn.”
“Behind mountains there are mountains.”
-Haitian Proverb

And at the top of the mountain that’s what we saw

…more mountains.

And goats.

Thoughts of David watching over his flock came to mind.
And the Psalms he wrote while overlooking hills like these.

“Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.”
Psalm 95:2-4

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.”
Psalm 95:6-7

“Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.”
Proverbs 8:1-2

“Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth;
While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,
Or the primal dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
When He established the clouds above…”
Proverbs 8:25-28

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills-
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2

We lingered…

breathing in the mountain air 
and fantasized about living here.

And driving back down the mountain…

 through these clouds 

the following verse echoed in our hearts. 


And we were reminded that… 
None of this is about us. 
None of it is about Haiti. 


All of this is about Him. 

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.”
Psalm 19:1-4
Thank you Oostland family for letting us come and experience, and learn, and change with you! We are so thankful for you and for all those who pray and partner with us in this life as we look forward to the next. Thank you for pointing others to Him!

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 11:36

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Some things are different here in Haiti…

The boys made a list of things that are different here in Haiti than in the U.S.A. 
More differences were announced by Evan but Ethan said he was only going to write one page!
Here’s what made the list. 


By Ethan and Evan Ream
* “Inverterator” is a 7 year old’s combo of inverter and generator.
We shall talk about those things another time.

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Choosing to remember!

Life is hard in Haiti. You see it on the news. We see the news every day in real life. It is easy to get tired of seeing the hard, smelling the sewage, cold showers, power failures, being drenched in sweat, rain on laundry day, turning away beggar boys… and how that makes the heart ache. 

How just a walk outside the gate makes the heart ache. 

We don’t like to take pictures and post about those things. 

But we have decided to choose to remember…

that Haiti was once called “the Jewel of the Antilles”
and that there was a reason for that…
and even though we usually see the hard and it is easy to forget

that we are living on a Carribean island…
Just a little farther beyond our gate

And through several street rivers…
(That’s us in the vehicle and Eric driving in Haiti for the first time!)


…we can find that reason.

These waters and the mountains surrounding them are what greeted Christopher Columbus when he discovered the island known today as Hispaniola and set foot on what would become the nation of Haiti.
Columbus discovered paradise…and so did we!

And very large crabs!

And rocks covered in sea slime!

And how much fun Aunt Emee is!
Elisabeth’s sister Emilee surprised us by flying in on Friday which was another good reason to spend Saturday here.

And to play water Frisbee!

Until someone gets stung by one of these!

And everyone got out of the water to see (and touch if they were brave enough)!

That poor someone stung by the very large jellyfish was Eric! 

So then we stayed closer to shore!

And on shore

And off shore

where brothers and sisters played in the jellyfish free waters!

For a long time…

Until it was time for lunch!

Our beach buds (other teachers from our school)

For Betsy

Our girls ate two heaping plates each and this fish didn’t stand a chance!

Time for more play!

Come and get Dad!

And line up…

to be thrown in the air

and caught

and taught how to swim

and to enjoy this paradise!

We saved you a spot!

And to drive home later than planned…cause who wants to leave paradise?

And to sleep all the way home…

until we got back into Port au Prince 
where there are way too many roadbumps  gaping holes and ravines where a road should be to sleep.

And as we drive through river streets and try to avoid those ravines in the dark with no street lights and finally get home to cold showers and wake up drenched in sweat to no power and the smell of sewage filling the hot house…
We choose to remember!
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What do you do when…

What do you do when…
You have 4 children
(2 of which don’t speak much English)
and they are bored
because it is raining outside
and there is no such thing as a tv
and the batteries ran down on the Leapster
and the power is off so the computer died
and you are trying to cook dinner
but 4 children are all around you in the kitchen 
and they want to eat every food item in sight!
Well, I don’t know what you do 
(if this ever happens to you)

But we…
Make ji! 
We make ji (juice) with lots of limes, water, and sugar!

Here is the ji we made Friday night.

And then we did it all over again on Sat. morning!

And everyone kept busy…
And liked making and drinking our ji!

Want some?
And just so you know…all those limes were premeditated, prewashed, and prepared for such a time as this! And just so you know…all these cute pics of swimming, smiling kids hugging each other and having a great time isn’t always the reality around here. But we are making do with what we have and this week it was limes! We are thankful for your prayers for the transition time for our family and it has truly been great! But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t had hard moments. Moments when we don’t know what to do. Moments when I didn’t have a premeditated bag of limes ready and waiting. Moments when I want to run and hide and read the Connected Child 50 more times! We believe that our previous trips to Haiti have allowed for the amazing bond we have with our adoptive girls. They are doing really great and so are our boys! However, we have many many issues to overcome that limes will never solve. Now that we have had some really awesome family bonding time, we are ready to get to work on the issues we do see (while knowing there are many more waiting to surface from the depths of pain in our girls hearts). We don’t know when we will be able to have the girls from week to week, and so working on issues is difficult at this point, but we are praying that whatever time we have with them will be well spent working on the heart issues for all of us. We would appreciate your continued prayers that we will seek God’s heart in all of these things and for His grace to get through each day (with or without limes)!
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Mommy’s Day Off

It was last Tues. The day after our first eventful weekend with our girls and the day after I had returned and spent the day with them (and the chicken) at their orphanage. We are sitting around the breakfast table talking about our plans for the week. It was stated in those plans that “on Friday you boys get the day off from school”! Eric said, “But I don’t”. Friday was parent/teacher conference day. Ethan pipes up and says, “Well Mommy gets a day off EVERY day!” They think because they see me in the house when they leave and usually when they return home from school that I’ve just sat around eating and sleeping and blogging all day long. 
Little do they know!…Perhaps I should let them know by not doing this!
My Tuesday…Then it rained.
And on Tuesday while doing umpteen loads of laundry that ended up hanging to dry all over the house, I made a big pot of potato soup. And wouldn’t you know this cute and hungry fellow (the one next to Evan) would just happen to stop by right at dinner time. 
Us?..have strange boys walk into our house and make themselves at home? You’d think we were back in the States or something! Meet “Jimsey” (nickname for James). But my nickname for him is “beggar boy”. Just spend an hour with him and you won’t think I’m mean for calling him that. He found us when the last missionary couple had had enough of him. We’ve just about had enough too. But what do you do when you have a big pot of potato soup? I did think about it. And despite the consequences I knew would come, I just couldn’t justify not feeding him…no matter how annoying he is. Eric told me I would regret it. I did 5 nights later. But we decided to look on the bright side that it forced us to practice our Creole each and every time beggar boy came knocking. Or should I say “entering” because he doesn’t know how to knock, or when to stop asking for food, or when to leave. There are lots of Jimsey’s in Haiti. And these are the kinds of things we are learning to wrestle with the best way to respond every day.
This is what I typically do on Wednesday (at least the past two). This is my friend Mary who is teaching me the ropes in Haiti along with the sweet little Madame from whom we choose to buy our produce. Madame wasn’t there the week before because her husband had died. Please pray for her
And this is my new friend Audrey who I can’t thank enough for being my personal chaffeur! Audrey’s kids go to Quisqueya Christian School where we live and work and her daughter Jenna is in Ethan’s 2nd grade class. Audrey’s family lives up the mountain past where our girls orphanage is located. She told me she had been praying for a way to serve others with her time while her kids were in school and I was praying for someone like Audrey to come along who was able to do things while my kids were in school! Most of the people we are getting to know are other teachers/missionaries who are not free to do things like go to orphanages during school hours (which is the time I have to do such things). So Audrey is a Godsend to me! And we’ve found that we have many of the same interest (like orphans and shopping and talking) and I’ve enjoyed being with her and serving with her and getting to know her so much in the past week! And we praise God for her and all our precious new friends daily!
Thursday. I met Lance on Thursday. Lance did not like it when I put him down. I wish I could hold him every day. Lance is one of the many beautiful children at Maison de Enfants de Dieu orphanage that is close to us in Port au Prince. We have had the privilege of spending time with the Haitian orphanage director Pastor Pierre Alexis back in the states when he has visited our son’s previous school and our home there. I was able to hug and visit with Pierre and deliver the cards friends had sent for him upon the passing of his dear brother Kiki. Please pray for the Alexis family during this difficult time. Kiki was the attorney who processed adoptions at this orphanage where several of our friends are adopting children. 
Children like Jamie and Sophie who will go home to their forever family in IL soon!
And like Wilson who still has a long wait ahead but will eventually end up in my home town of San Marcos, TX with our dear friends and his forever family the Guenthers! It was a blessing to visit our friends at Maison (For His Glory) and to take pictures for some of the adoptive families to encourage them. Audrey and I were invited back and hope that will happen soon! 

Still Thursday. Evan gets out of school at noon so Audrey had to take me back to the school to pick him up and we decided to have lunch with Ethan and Jenna as well. Then we headed out to stop by the Apparent Project. 
If you don’t know what that is click here to find out!
Evan jammin with the Apparent Project’s “Boys in the Hood” who may have ended up as a “crew of thugs but for the fact that they now have work and all go to school-they are turning out to be quite the respectable hip-hop jewelry makers in the basement of the artisan house.”

And around the corner we got to say hello to some very talented basket weavers!

And Evan got to play with classmate Zebedee and his brother Jackson and sister Ember. The Clay family recently moved to the same location as the artisan house where the Apparent Project goods are made. I’ve had the thought before that the Clay’s were just about the coolest people I could imagine and I never imagined that our kids would be buddys in the same class! So. Cool. Corrigan Clay kept an eye on the kids while Audrey and I looked around (ok, we were shopping) in the jewelry and purse department upstairs since Evan was much more interested in legos than purses. I was very interested in the purses since I had managed to not bring a single purse to Haiti! It’s not that I’m trying to make a fashion statement around here but my oversized fanny pack (that I only intended to use in the airport) is just not jiving with my style and the needs of 4 kids to have me carry all their stuff for them.

And on this Thursday I (along with my fanny pack) was very happy to finally meet one of my biggest heroines (though she never knew that)…Shelley Clay! I want to be just like her when I grow up! Then we went home and Jimsey (aka “beggar boy”) showed up AGAIN and I prayed that someday he would learn that his way of begging isn’t helping him much now (and certainly won’t when he gets bigger) and that he might grow up to earn a different nickname like “respectable hip-hop jewelry maker” and that maybe God would allow us to be here long enough and be part of that! 
And then…it was Friday. And we all did have a day off. Well, all of us except for Eric who was very busy with those parent/teacher conferences. The kids and I were invited (by dear Audrey) to go out to eat and then swimming at Jennifer’s (Quisqueya Art teacher) house nearby. Audrey picked up our girls on her way down to the school (where we both had our conferences with our kids teachers) while the kids played and then we set off to 
Epi d'Or
And marveled at how the 3 families represented here ended up with both Haitian and American kids for this day and how good it was for them all to be together!

And marveled some more at a very dramatic response to the automatic hand dryers in the bathroom!

And then we went to the pool where the girls stayed on the sidelines for awhile…

And finally ventured out…

To bug brothers…

It was a really funny sight to see two big girls wearing baby floaties floundering around the middle of the pool where little kids with no floaties were swimming.

It took Ethan a minute to figure out why he wasn’t going anywhere. Haha!

And kids swam so hard they were eventually all fighting over the floaties!

But all in all…

We had a great day off!
It was a day when orphans didn’t feel like orphans. 
And when new friends felt more like old friends. 
And when Haiti didn’t feel so much like Haiti.