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| September 4th at the San Antonio airport. 5am. No sleep. Bags checked. Prayed with friends and fam that braved the nights last minute packing party. Excited and wondering if our bags will make the trip. We headed toward security after taking this pic. Security did not like the looks of our 8 carry on bags. They ordered us to go back to check point. Here Eric had to check another bag (costing us an extra $150). We emptied some items from our other too full carry ons into the checked bag. Somehow security let us through the second time, but we didn’t know how we were going to carry the remaining 7 bags (too heavy for the kids) through the next three airports! We barely made it into the plane before takeoff. We were in the first row of first class seats which we thought would give us first class service. Buying first class tickets saved us over $1,000 because we were allowed three 70lb bags instead of shipping our belongings to Haiti. The flight attendant didn’t care about all that. Apparently she was going on no sleep as well. She was beyond rude to us and our bags. She grabbed the bag that had every toy the boys were bringing to Haiti that they had selectively managed to condense to that one bag. She said it was too big. Evan started crying. No sleep did not help me to choose my words wisely as I proceeded to explain to the plane that “if I took out the big guns the bag would fit in the overhead compartment”. Every eye was on me. I then grabbed the bag and took out the oversized toy dart guns. The bag fit. The attendant rolled her eyes and did not speak to us (only about us to the other passengers) until the plane landed and she harshly told us we would have to wait until everyone got off the plane to exit (while we were obviously already doing so since they had taken our bags). We didn’t know how we would make it through the day. The boys were not seeing this as a grand adventure at this point and we were not excited about our next longer flight. Eric and I were each carrying 140 pounds through the airport with two active boys in tow. Dumb we know. We were now in Dallas at 7am. I whispered a prayer asking the Lord to help us get through this day and that the next plane experience would not be a repeat of the last. The moment after I prayed that a kind voice came up behind me and said, “let me help you with those bags”. He asked Evan where he was headed and Evan said, “I’m going to Haiti for the first time!” He asked what gate we were going to and I pointed straight ahead to D18. He said, “that’s my flight too and I’m your captain”. He said that he had been to Haiti many times and for Evan to come see him “up front”. I told him that we had one bag break (which was true and that we had to condense the contents into 7 bags instead of 8) and that the last flight was not happy about the size of our bags. I told him I was going to look around for somewhere to buy an 8th bag to make the bags smaller. He must have said something to the lady at the counter because they told us a few minutes later that they would be happy to check our carry on bags all the way through to Haiti at no charge! We kept 3 backpacks and two boys and the next flight and the next were the best ever! Thank you Lord for answering prayers! |
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| Evan did visit that nice captain up front… |
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| And so did Ethan! |
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| And the omelettes were great! And the flight attendant went out of her way to be extra nice to us! |
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| And Evan visited the captain of the next plane up front too! Evan said, “I’ve got to do this before but this is the first time I got to wear the hat!” |
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| Captain Joe had also been to Haiti many times and shared encouraging words with us! |
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| Then there was sleep. |
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| For the boys… |
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| Not for us. |
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| Evan’s first glimpse of Haiti! |
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| Port au Prince airport awaiting our 18 bags! |
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| The boys made a friend “Kenny” while waiting. Kenny loved the beyblades! |
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| The boys and bags in Haiti minus Eric who we left behind with another cart loaded with bags. |
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| Ethan’s first glimpses of a Haitian tent city. It started raining hard right after taking this pic. |
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| Home at last! |
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| After we unloaded the bags in the rain we left for a party. Yes. A party. Because unpacking and sleeping is ridiculous and the Ream’s are always up for a party and don’t turn down good food and great folk. So off we went to the birthday party for our new friends two year old son Asher. There we saw familiar faces and met many new friends and did get great food! I spotted this sign (our street sign) on the way and thanked God for getting us safely to Haiti and for the friendships that had blessed us. |
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| Ethan helping himself to the party food. |
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| New friends in Haiti! |
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| Ethan and Sebastian hit it off right away! Then we went home. We eventually slept. Well, Eric and the boys slept right away. I (Elisabeth) unpacked 22 wet bags. The fear of dealing with all that wetness later outweighed my fear of not sleeping. |
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| First breakfast in our new house…instant oatmeal is all I could muster. |
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| The boys ready for school on Monday morning (the morning after arriving in Haiti the night before) watching a group of kids playing red light green light before school. |
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| Evan decided to join them. Ethan decided to head toward the swings and watch because those playing were “little kids”. |
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| The school day begins. Mrs. Ackerman shows Evan his seat. |
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| First day in Haiti! First day of Kindergarten! |
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| Ethan meets his new teacher Ms. Rutz. |
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| Welcome to 2nd grade Ethan! |
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| Ethan and his teacher at Quisqueya Christian School. |
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| Our new pet. |
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| This one is much too large to claim as pet. |
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| Evan returning home from his first day of Kindergarten! Guess it went well! His class meets in front of our porch each day and is picked up in front of our house! The sounds of children playing are all around and it melts my heart! |
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| After school activities…Ethan and Sebastian battle the beyblades. |
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| While Evan rides a yellow horse. |
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| Our front yard…most of the day it is covered in multicolored kids! There are kids from all over the world at Quisqueya! Yesterday we learned that Eric will have kids from Syria, the Phillipines, Saudi Arabia, America, and of course Haiti in his classes! And today I saw a little Asian girl eating lunch with her chopsticks! We are so thrilled that our boys will grow up knowing kids from all over the world…and that they seem to be embracing this as a privilege and blessing as well! |
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| This kid is in Haiti heaven! |
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| First trip to the Giant Supermarket for groceries! |
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| My first trip to the street market where I walked away with these pretties! |
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| Our living room. Need my rugs that wouldn’t fit in the bags! |
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| Yes. I’ve already decorated. But just this room. When I get done with the others you can see those pics. |
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| We were blessed that someone from the school purchased some new living room furniture for us! |
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| Evan took me by the hand after school and said, “I want you to meet my classmates”. Here they are. |
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| And this is the view from my kitchen window as I am writing this post! WE ARE TRULY AT HOME IN HAITI! THANK YOU FOR PRAYERS & SUPPORT TO GET US HERE! |