I thought about half-way to the Baptist Mission (too late!) that I should've taken some dramamine. Oh well, too late now! It felt good getting out at the mission. Holli and Nikki held James for us while Jock and I went out on the street to do some shopping. We had wanted to get some souvenirs there, and we found a few pieces we were wanting to get. The sellers were a lot more respectful than I had remembered them being when I came on my only trip to Haiti without Jock a few years back. I don't like to haggle and barter, and I get VERY nervous doing so, so probably just having Jock with me made a big difference. We found the things we wanted, got what we thought were decent prices, and passed up what we didn't want without too much fuss. One lady lingered and followed us along most of the way. I felt badly for her, wanting to get her sale so badly, but her things were not very good quality, nor what we were looking for, so we had to tell her no.
On our way back into the Baptist Mission, we kind of got lost trying to figure out which door led to to the gift shop and restaurant. We ended up getting ushered into a small historical museum of Haiti, which we walked through fairly quickly. Then a kind man showed us where to find the rest of our group when we were finished. James was sleeping, and running his fever again when we found them, so I planned to give him some more Tylenol when we got up to Fort Jacques. As we walked out of the building back to the car, I was holding James, and felt wet suddenly. I thought he had soaked through his diaper, but then realized he was peeing, and it just happened that it was running right down his leg. His clothes were completely dry - go figure! It wouldn't be a trip to Haiti without getting peed or pooped on, right?!? I changed his diaper quickly before we got back on the road.
The Fort Jacques property was different than I expected from the photos I'd seen. I was expecting to see the toddler houses, but you can't even see them from the other side of the property - it was larger than I'd expected! Brandon gave us the tour. We arrived near the house Georges and Jocelyn live, the mechanic shop, the wood shop (building nearly complete), and Patrick and Holli's house and the gazebo. Brandon showed us around to the back of the property (which may eventually be the front with the additional property they've acquired). We saw the storage depot, and the toddler pods.
Two of the six toddler houses are finished, one is nearly finished, and the other three are framed now. Tim and Melissa Parker and their daughter Chelsie are temporarily living in two of the toddler houses - each set up with a bedroom in the loft, each have a bathroom, and the main part - one as a kitchen and the other as their living room.
The toddler houses have a gorgeous view overlooking Port-au-Prince and the bay. Brandon also explained the rest of the vision for a volunteer/guest building, main house/nursery, school building, administration building, playground, water supply/storage system, and possibly a house for John and Dixie separate from the nursery building. It was awesome to see and hear the vision for GLA, and also see the beautiful veiw of Port-au-Prince!
I had a chance to get James a little used to the baby carrier I'd brought with me, as we walked around the property, and I didn't figure James could walk it, and didn't want to have to carry him. He did get tired of being in it though - but still wanted to be carried. Oh well, he did allow it for a little bit!
I gave James his Tylenol (again pushing it into his cheeks while he clenched his teeth shut) - poor thing! We then had supper in the gazebo with the mission team from Canada, and many of the GLA staff. We had hot dogs on the grill, maid-rites, macaroni salad, and chips. We weren't sure if James was going to eat, but he liked the noodles in the salad. We figured he was hungry since he hadn't really eaten much for lunch, but he was also still running a fever.
We rode back to the guest house with Brandon and Nikki and family. Jock and I took a look at a few more souvenirs we'd wanted to purchase, and while he settled up, I gave James his bath. He did awesome this time - no crying when I took his shoes or clothes off - just had a really sad face like he was about ready to cry. He didn't cry until I put water on his head, but wasn't too bad at all really. And he calmed down right away when I wrapped the towel around him and just held him for a bit before doing his lotion and PJs.
After his bath, we joined the mission team out on the balcony for their final night of devotions and prayer. They prayed over us which was a huge blessing to us. They had actually been a big blessing to us the entire week - visiting when we needed the distraction from just sitting around snuggling with James, since we're not used to just sitting around a lot... to giving us the space when we needed it too. James mostly slept through devotions, as it was after 7 pm by then, and he was beat! After devotions, we visited with them a bit more before It ook James to bed. He was completely out, not wanting to be held, so we got some packing done before crawling into bed too.
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