Dance 2011/2012

Both of the girls took dance classes this year. Kaylen's was tap-ballet-jazz, and Josephine's preschool class was just tap-ballet.

Kaylen didn't really enjoy most of the year of classes, mostly because of another girl in class that picked on her a lot. I think she enjoyed learning the movements and routines, and she REALLY enjoyed recital. She had so much fun, that after recital she was begging to continue next year, even though throughout the year she'd been begging us to quit and we made her stick it out. She was one of the newer girls in her class, so I think that made her nervous, not knowing some things at the beginning so she'd have to work with one of the teen assistants during class sometimes to get things down. She improved so much throughout the year, and got really good!

Josephine seemed to enjoy every class, and had a lot of fun at recital. It's always so cute to see the wide range of abilities, attention spans, memories, etc. in a preschool class. Josephine did really well in both of her dances at recital, but seemed a little rough at rehearsal the night before. I guess that's why they do rehearsals - ha! My videos are from rehearsal, as we weren't allowed to take phtoos/videos at recital - but you'll get the idea.

A few photos from picture day, a month before recital:


Photos/videos from rehearsal:
Josephine's ballet dance:
The song was "Nobody Here But Us Chickies", thus the chicken hats. :)


Kaylen's tap dance (starts in back row, far left)


Kaylen's ballet dance (starts back row, far left):
"Needle" solo (near-splits standing with one foot up and head down by other foot)


Kaylen's jazz dance - her favorite (center back row).
She had a leap solo here and did an awesome job!


Josephine's tap dance:

Sibling Rivalry

So for Father's Day, Jock wanted to go out for donuts for breakfast. Kaylen had a 10 am soccer game, so we decided we'd all go instead of some of us going to church and splitting up. We were all up and ready by 8:15 and headed to HyVee. That gave us about 45 minutes to get there and eat before heading out for the soccer game.

I grabbed myself a Chai at the Starbucks just inside the store, and Jock and the kids headed for the bakery section. We met in the cafe area and sat down for a nice Father's Day donut.

As we'd expect, the kids each picked out the biggest glazed donuts they could possibly find, a couple with cute sprinkles and filling, and one with an inch thick of frosting. Jock got me a cake donut with white frosting, and himself an apple fritter, and juice for him and the kids.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the donuts. One of the kids finished very quickly, as we would expect this one to - such a sweet-tooth! The other two were slowing down, I think realizing that the extra large donuts with the thick frosting and filling might've been a little too much. One had about two bites left and said their tummy was full and asked, "Do I HAVE to finish?!?" Jock said no, and asked "Speedy Sweet-Tooth" if they wanted to finish the last two bites -- until the full child rescinded the full comment and quickly shoved the remaining bit into their mouth.

Not five minutes later, when it was nearing time to leave, the last child to finish had about 1/3 of the enormous donut remaining. Jock suggested maybe giving it to "Speedy Sweet-Tooth" who wasn't full and would be more than happy to consume more sugar. "Last-to-Finish" also decided to take a few more bites rather than give in to "Speedy Sweet-Tooth", although did eventually give in because it was just too much donut.

Oh, the selfishness in making yourself miserable just so that your sibling cannot be more happy. I'm sure I did some of the same when I was a kid, but seriously, this is the stuff that drives parents nuts! How did my parents not go crazy?!? :)

James' Update - June 2012

We got our update about James on Monday afternoon, just a few hours after we heard the good news about our adoption process moving past Parquet...

Happy Summer from GLA, Jock and Lisa!

This past month has been very busy and adventure filled here at God’s Littlest Angels. We started off the month by taking in 23 kids from an orphanage that was shut down up the mountain from us in Kenscoff. If you check with our blogs you can read about how they came to be with us and how the adjustment has gone. Most of them were older then 3 years old so they are staying at the Toddler House. Despite space issues we have been making it work for them to sleep in one of our classrooms since May 31st. We are praying that their parents will be located soon so we can determine a permanent solution for each of them, whether that will be with us and a forever family or with their biological family. Besides that we have gotten more volunteers and teams in the last few weeks. We are grateful for each person who comes to stay with us and give of their time and gifts to assist the kids in their growth and development until they can be home with you.

You may be surprised that this update has come a little early this month. This is because I will be going home to Wisconsin for a couple of months leaving on June 21st and returning on August 22nd. My co-worker, Emelyne, will be in charge of writing and sending your updates to you for July and August. They will continue to come from this email address but they may look a little different then you are used to.

This month the theme of the photos and update for the babies at the Main House is “Bath Time”. Bathtime in the nursery is an interesting time of the day and there is nothing like it. To a first time visitor it may looks like chaos as the nannies just finish giving the kids supper and start taking each one to the changing room for a bath, powder, and pajamas. The nannies start a sort of assembly line during bath time. They will stand in a row and each one will do a different part of the process. One will bath the child another dry and yet another will powder and the next dress them in their pajamas. Their teamwork skills are amazing! Bath time is personally my favorite time to visit the nursery each day because all of the kids seem to be in the best mood. Their bellies are full and they are clean!

James loves bath time! He seems to most enjoy being clean and hanging out with his friends in the nursery before he needs to go into his bed.

He has done really well this month. He went for a lot of walks in the neighborhood with his volunteer and she told me that he has become really very independent on the walks. He has gotten very good at navigating the rough terrain all on his own. He got so used to going for walks and loved them so much that the first thing he would do when he arrived at the balcony was go find a pair of shoes to wear. One day his volunteer had to say no and he was a little upset until he found out that he would get to go in the pool instead. He loves to play chase games and will run as fast as he can. He also does a great job with playing with play dough. It is sweet to see kids get to the point where they can do this activity without wanting to place it in their mouth.

James is healthy and growing: Height: 81.5 cm Weight: 24 lb 4.5 oz

Blessings, Susie

Oh, precious boy, I'm so looking forward to having you in our arms again, and bringing you home!

Parquet Approval

Monday morning we got the following update on our adoption:

Congratulations Jock and Lisa! Great news! Your adoption of James has just been approved by Parquet. This week, we are preparing your dossier to enter the courts, in which we will create the civil court document and the Act of Adoption. This is when James will legally become your child and take your family name of Naert.

After the courts, we will ask National Archives for an attestation signature for the Act of Adoption and then we will legalize the Haitian legal documents in both the Department of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs (MAE). These steps together – courts, attestation signature, legalization, and MAE – should take approximately one month to complete.

Then, we can apply for James’s passport in the Minister of Interior’s (MOI) office. I may not always have the time to email you as we exit each step, but I will, however, be sure to email you when we apply for James' passport at MOI.

Once again, congratulations on being one step closer to taking your angel home!

After our last adoption, it's hard to believe how fast this one is going! IBESR took 10 months for Elijah & Josephine - 10 weeks for James. Parquet took 7-8 months for Elijah & Josephine - 2 months for James! And they're saying courts/attestation/legalization might be only a month - it was about 7 months for Elijah & Josephine between Parquet approval and MOI entry. Amazing! The 4-6 months Dixie told us was possible the day before we left in May is a very real possibility... James could be home for Christmas! :)

Jock and I met for lunch right after we heard this news. On the way to the restaurant, the song "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns came on my radio. I shed a few tears as I thought about how I've been letting my doubts creep in about just how soon James could be home. I hear things are moving much more smoothly and quickly than they have previously, and I see it happening in our adoption, yet I'm skeptical. That song was a good reminder of God's goodness as we go through this process. He will bring James home in His perfect timing, and I just need to trust in His timing. I have had a peace about this adoption that I cannot describe. It's really quite unbelievable considering how difficult Elijah & Josephine's adoption was. And even through my unbelief, I believe God has given me that peace to trust in His ways. Thank you Jesus for carrying me through this adoption process. It's amazing to look back and see God's hand in this adoption, and He deserves all the praise and honor and glory!

Oh, and to add to our excitement, we got our monthly update with new photos Monday too. I'll post those tomorrow.

James' Update - May 2012

We got our May update about James a couple weeks after we returned home.

Happy Mothers Day from James!

May holds a number of special holidays. Haitian Flag Day is on the 18th of May. This year that day fell on a Friday. The children at the Toddler House enjoyed a parade and singing through their neighborhood on Flag Day. Haiti is a truly beautiful country and if you have had the opportunity to come visit GLA you will know that the view from the balconies of all of our homes is truly breathtaking. In order to honor that beauty we have been blessed with, I wanted to highlight the incredible landscape we see each day by taking pictures of the kids with this view as the backdrop. The lighting posed some problems with the sun coming in and out but I think this months photos capture a small glimpse into the beauty that Haiti holds.

May also holds a special holiday we call Mother’s Day, which is celebrated the last Sunday in May here in Haiti, the same as it is in France. It is an honor to recognize the mothers that are waiting for their children to come home. It is certainly a special calling to be a mother of an adopted child and whether this is your first adoption or you have adopted several children, we at GLA want you to know that you are appreciated and loved by us and by the child who is waiting to be at home with you. I am sure with the passing of Mother’s Day this month you have thought about the child this update discusses.

It was a true blessing to meet both of you this month. I am so happy you got a chance to meet James and spend some time with him over the course of a few days. He is a fun little guy and I can tell he is going to fit seamlessly into your family. He continues to enjoy some time on the balcony each day as we now have more volunteers. He loves to spend time in the swimming pool splashing around. It has been a true joy to see this little guy blossom and grow over the past month. I assure you that we will continue to do out very best to care for James until you are able to bring him home with you.

I included a few photos of you with James from your time here. ENJOY!

James is healthy and growing: Height: 80 cm Weight: 23 lb 12 oz Happy Mother’s Day!

Blessings, Susie

Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 7 of 7

The last day of our Haiti trip. I think the whole mood of the day was a little somber. We knew we would have to say goodbye to James.

We were up and had breakfast before 8, as we were told that we could walk to from the Toddler house (about 2 houses from the Guest House) to the Main house with Melissa, around 8 am. We'd have about 1 1/2 hours to spend with James. Melissa wasn't quite ready to leave when we got to the Toddler house at 8, so we met Joyce, she got Jock a little bit of coffee, and we sat in the kitchen and watched a little girl having a frosted cupcake for breakfast for a few minutes before heading out! :)

The walk was pretty uneventful. A little slick walking in flip-flops on the steep hills after it had rained that night. We did see a motorcycle wipe out, but the two guys on it (one dressed quite nicely), caught it with their feet and hands, got back up, and continued on their way.

When we got to the main house, we were told James was ready, so we headed up to his room. You know that question by the US Embassy agent about whether we thought James recognized us? Well, we would now answer Yes to that question. Of course, hard telling who he thinks we are, but I'm certain he'd been told we were coming to see him again, and when he saw us at the door, he pushed past the other children and came right to us with his arms up, ready to go play. :)

We took him upstairs to play for the short time we had remaining with him. He, of course, went right for the Cozy Coupe again.

He also was on the swing for quite a while - and Jock had him smiling, but he still wasn't too sure of me, and I thought he was threatening to fall asleep on me, so I convinced Jock to try to get him out of there so we could have a few more minutes with him before we left.

He went over to a toy/book table, and found just the one he wanted. It was a big one, so he needed help to get that one out - but he wanted that specific one. We realized when we sat down, why he wanted that one - it was one where you push the buttons and it makes noises! :) He sat for the longest time looking at that book on our laps.

It was pretty quiet upstairs on the balcony in the morning. I think a few of the volunteers help with school at the Toddler house before coming to the main house, so only two were there. They were chatty, but it was nice to not have so many there in our last time with James. They also took a couple photos of the three of us together, and I'm thankful to have those.

It also was fun to see James in the morning, instead of in the late afternoon as we'd seen him the previous three days. He was so wide awake most of the time, very busy as usual, but more smiley and happy than in the late afternoon when he was already worn out from his day.

Around 9:25, we took James back to his room. Jock wanted to ask one of the volunteers to do it for us, because of how hard it is to leave, but for some reason, I needed to do it. James wasn't very happy to be leaving the balcony and heading downstairs, but when we got down to the baby room and I tried to put him down, he clung to me, and started crying - screaming! I tried a couple times to put him down, without success. Then a nanny who had been doing a little girl's hair, stood up (I assume James was her charge) and took him from me. He was NOT HAPPY!!! I was on the verge of tears, so I gave him a kiss, thanked the nanny, and got myself out of there.

I could hear him screaming for a few minutes until they got him calmed down, and that was not easy. We stood around downstairs for a few more minutes, and I was relieved that James had stopped screaming before we left, but still So hard!. A few of the staff were around to see us off, and I could barely talk to tell them goodbye and to thank them for all they do there.

Around 9:30, Ernst was ready to take us in the truck back to the Guest house, to get our luggage, pick up the other family, and head to the airport for our 1:00 flight. About half-way back to the guest house, I think I regained my composure. One more bumpy ride in the back of the truck, and we were on our way home.

We got to the airport in decent time - although I don't remember what time it actually was. We had plenty of time to get checked into our flights, get through the multiple security checkpoints and get our exit stamps on our passports. We even stopped by a souvenir booth, but it was very small. We thought there'd be a large area of shops upstairs as there had been before, but no such luck. We'd gotten through the final American Airlines security, and went upstairs, but it was just a bar - no shops. There had been one other place with a stairway right near the small booth, but it was before security, and we wondered if that's where the other shops were, or if they were just gone. We didn't ask at that point. We were happy just to sit and wait out the last half-hour or so before boarding our flight.

Fortunately, our flight from PAP to MIA boarded and landed on time. We got through immigration and customs just fine in MIA, grabbed our luggage and headed to our hotel. Leaving PAP around 1:00 in the afternoon, we were not able to get back home that Thursday, so we decided to spend the night in Miami instead in the airport in Chicago. It was also my birthday, so we'd planned to go out for dinner at a Cuban restaurant we'd been to on a previous trip. When we got to our hotel, first on the agenda was showers, of course, to wash off the grime from the truck ride to the airport. :) Then we headed to the hotel's complimentary drink reception before heading to dinner. After dinner, we had nice intentions of taking a dip in the pool or hot-tub, but we went back in for a quick nap... and just went to bed instead. Jock was starting to feel sick, and we were exhausted from the emotions of the week!

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed back to the airport. Our flight from MIA left around noon for Dallas Ft. Worth. We were on time departing, but we circled the DFW airport for quite a while because of the weather, and were late landing. We already knew we had about a 5-hour layover in Dallas, so we weren't too concerned. We did head to another gate to see if there were any empty seats on an earlier flight to Des Moines - no such luck - it was full. So we found a restaurant and sat for a while nursing a plate of appetizers and a drink.

We headed to our gate and got out a deck of cards, but couldn't play long, because Jock's cold was coming on like crazy. So he tried to nap, and I just sat and read and people-watched. As it got closer to our departure time and other people started arriving at our gate, we found out there were two flights scheduled at that gate, because of more delays due to the weather. Our flight was delayed a half-hour, then another half-hour and a terminal/gate change. Then another longer delay and another couple gate changes. We ended up leaving about 4 hours later than we'd planned, and landed in Des Moines around 2 am, and got home around 3 am - and Jock with a NASTY head cold!

Grandma and Grandpa had stayed the week with the kids, and were planning to head out Saturday morning. The kids woke us up around 7 am - that was a short night! Kaylen had soccer at 11, and Elijah & Josephine both had t-ball at noon. With Jock in bed sick, I took Kaylen to her game, but left early to get E&J to their games. I left Elijah with his coach and another friend's parents, then walked across the park to Josephine's game. One of Kaylen's teammates' parents brought her to Josephine's game, then when that was over we rushed back to pick up Elijah. Then it was finally NAPTIME!!! Josephine took a nap with me while Kaylen read and Elijah played quietly. Poor girl missed her mommy! She's usually too wiggly to snuggle for long, but not this time - and then she cried when I had to get up later. Oh boy, I wanted to cry too. I missed my three at home dearly when we were gone, but was missing James so much too!

Please be praying that the remainder of the steps in the adoption process go smoothly and swiftly so we can have all of our children home with us!

Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 6

When we came back downstairs from checking if James was sleeping, Susie pointed out that the lunch food was still out if we were hungry. Jock checked it out and realized it was authentic Haitian food, so he filled a plate while I was checking email and sending out a few photos. When I realized there were fried plantains, I went over to filled a plate too. Beans & rice with a creole pork sauce, piklis (spicy Haitian cole slaw), fried plantains. YUMMY!!! Well, Jock had scraped the bottom of the bowl of the piklis, but one of the cooks came over with another big bowl and offered it to me. I asked, "Cho?" (pronounced "show", meaning hot) She said yes, and I awkwardly refused, since I can't handle the spicy food. I should have just accepted some and given it to Jock, but hindsight is 20/20! I thoroughly enjoyed the fried plantains, though! :)

After lunch, I took a few more photos around the grounds and read a few more emails while James was napping. This first one is the dining room - the kitchen is behind the wall to the left, and Dixie's & Susie/Melissa/Emmalyne's offices are behind the staircase. Magaly's desk is in the open area right at the bottom of the stairs.

There's a small sitting room between the dining room and the front entrance. The front entrance has bookshelves along one wall, and tables for dining overflow as well as for birth families to fill out paperwork when they bring place their children at GLA. Dixie wrote about it on her blog, but two families with babies had been there meeting with Magaly that afternoon.







When you come in the gate there's a parking area with a basketball court, and some mechanical operations off to one side. The other side has an apartment building where some of the volunteers stay.



















The main house (3 stories) has balconies on all stories. The small balcony on the 2nd floor with women sitting in it are just off the NICU room. Sometimes birth moms come and stay with their babies who are just there for support, not for adoption, to provide breastmilk and learn how to care for their babies.




After a while, Jock went to check on James. He was just starting to stir, so we shut down the computers and headed upstairs. He was so excited to see us come in the room, and came over to us immediately, held his arms up for us to take him for playtime. :)

It was after 2:00 by then, and Pastor Brandon had arrived to the main house. We learned that the chairs they were setting up around the dining room were for devotional time with the staff. The volunteers were setting up to take spots in the baby rooms so the nannies could come downstairs for devotions. We were told it would be loud but we were welcome to listen if we wanted. We decided to bring James downstairs with us, and he just snuggled on Daddy's shoulder while the ladies sang and Brandon spoke. We had no clue what they were singing or saying, but there was no mistaking God's presence, and it makes me so thankful for the Godly staff that are caring for our son until he can come home to us. I took a couple videos with the camera just so I could record the audio, but pointed it at the ceiling so as not to be disrespectful of their worship.

When the devotional time was finished, we took James upstairs to play... and not surprisingly, he headed straight for the little cars and handed us the string to pull him around!













Then some swinging.








Then some playing with his little friends.








Then popping some bubbles that volunteer Alissa was blowing for a few kids. (And don't worry - he got right back up after that fall... and then immediately tripped over that same wrinkle and fell again... and then got right back up and kept going! :)

After all that fun, it was time for James to go back to his room for dinner and bedtime, and for us to head downstairs for supper. We had another somewhat authentic Haitian meal. It was black rice with a Haitian sauce over it. We also had kebobs, which were awesome, some fruit, veggies, and a dinner roll. I'd never seen black rice before, but it was so good! I think I could've eaten 2 plates full of the black rice and creole sauce... but I didn't.

We visited some more and I got a couple photos of the dogs - there were three - a ginormous one, a large one, and a teeny-tiny one - so funny to see the three go running off after something! ;) (I can't believe I didn't get a photo of the little tiny one - he couldn't have been more than 6 inches off the ground!)

Pastor Brandon and his family joined the staff at the Main house for dinner. There were quite a few people there that night, to celebrate the birthday of one of John & Dixie's sons. What we didn't realize, since we'd been visiting over dinner at one of the tables around the corner, was that they were also having a devotion in English for the American staff - so we missed the first half of that devotion - but we came to realize that it was likely the same one he'd done in Creole earlier in the day. Funny how you have no idea what they're saying, but yet you sort of get it. :)

After dinner, we were able to chat a bit while we waited for a ride back to the guest house. The other family we'd been traveling with had checked emails and had a couple urgent messages - come to find out that a family member had a medical emergency that afternoon and his family had been trying to get ahold of him. Tough situation to be so far away from home, not able to get home for another 24+ hours in an emergency. When we got back to the guest house, he used the internet phone, to get ahold of his family, got on the internet to check on possible earlier flights home (which wasn't possible), and then we played some cards to get his mind off things for a while before we all got showers and crashed.

One other highlight of the day... In chatting with Dixie for a few moments after supper, we said our goodbyes since we'd be leaving the next day, and she said something like, "Well, hopefully we'll be seeing you back here in 4-6 months to bring James home!" Huh?!? What?!? I was completely shocked! I had to find my tongue, and remember how to use it, and asked, "Do you really think it'll be that short of time?", meaning, "Do you really think things will move that quickly on the adoption process?" She said that, of course, anything can change, but things have been going that quickly recently. Wouldn't that be awesome?!?! So we started calculating... 4-6 months out would put us at mid-September to mid-November! Trying not to get my hopes up too high for having James home by Christmas, but wouldn't that be awesome?!?

Haiti Trip, May 2012 - Part 5

Wednesday, May 9th started out earlier than the previous days had. I had set my little travel alarm for 5:30 am, but I didn't quite roll out of bed at that time. We were downstairs for a bagel and PB around 6:15. Terriot picked us up at 6:30 for our trip to the US Embassy.

We drove past the Haitian Police headquarters, where we were stopped on the street, to respect the flag-raising that was going on right then. They raised the flag, saluted it, then let us get on our way.

After we'd gone a ways, we kept noticing that Terriot kept talking to a few people out his window. One of them we recognized as Ernst, our driver that brought us to GLA from the airport. Pretty soon after that we were headed down a residential street to Magaly's house. The other adoptive mom we were with, who understood/spoke Creole, told us that he'd been talking to people out the window asking them to call Magaly and tell her we were almost to her house, because Terriot didn't have his cell phone with him that day. Magaly came out about the time we arrived, and followed us in her car as we headed the rest of the way to the US Embassy.

However, shortly after leaving Magaly's house, we came to a small traffic jam, and then realized it was because the road we needed to be on was washed out from the rain the night before. There was a huge rut where you could see the rain water had carved a little river down the street the night before. There may have been a path on the edge of the road down the hill, but there was a truck stuck spinning its wheels trying to get up the hill there.

Terriot conferred with the locals out the window, whether there was another road that would get us around and back to the main road where we needed to be. Someone told him there was and pointed and gave him and another driver a little bit more information, and off we went. And if we thought the main (-ish) roads were rough, these felt like we were driving through farm fields. Soooooo bumpy! I somehow hadn't had any problems with forgetting to take my dramamine the day before, but was very glad I'd remembered to take it that morning!

We did indeed make it back to the main road, and made it to the US Embassy between 8:30 and 9:00. We had purposely left most of our electronics back at the guest house except for our camera and cell phones which we left with Terriot, along with our water bottles in the vehicle. We headed inside with less drama at the security entrance. We waited quite a while for them to call us up, one family at a time.

They didn't only have us sign our documents in front of the official - she actually interviewed us. It wasn't very private, as she was using the microphone on the other side of the glass so we could hear her - the same one she used to call us up to her window. She asked us some demographic questions about us and about James, questions about our trip, when we met James and how the first meeting went. She then asked us if we felt like we have bonded with James. Uh, um, well, as much as you can with a child who's under 2 years old and can only spend 2 hours with him. She also asked if we thought he recognized us. Uh, he's not even two years old yet, so we had to be honest with her and tell her we weren't sure. We did tell her that we thought he'd been told that we were coming and he was excited when we arrived, and held his arms up for us to pick him up. She didn't really react to our answers, just was writing them down on her questionnaire. Then she had us sign our documents and it was the next family's turn. They, of course, had the benefit of hearing our interview, so had a few moments to think about their responses.

When both of us had finished with our interview/signing, our jobs here in Haiti were done. Both court appearances, and our I-600 signing were accomplished! We headed back out to meet Terriot, and he took us back to the Guest House. I took lots of scenery photos on the way back from the Embassy to the Guest house.
I assume the person/family living in this tent runs this nursery, selling the plants along the side of the road.

Tent city on a hillside somewhere between the Embassy and Kenscoff.
We drove past President Martelly's house. Many trees along the road in his neighborhood were painted like this. Terriot said that GSMM was some sort of political organization. There were GSMM bilboards along the roads too. Also in his neighborhood were many of the pink signs with his face on them. I didn't look up translations for what these signs said.
A park we drove past a few times. I didn't look up what the banners over the roads said, but a few of them had dates on them, like we might see in the states, advertising a summer festival or something.
Another park with a fountain, but apparently traffic was moving freely because I didn't get a very good picture of the fountain fast enough.
A very full tap-tap!







Terriot was in a hurry to get back into Port-au-Prince for another adoption errand/appointment, so just dropped us off at the guest house and headed on his way. We debated whether we should have him take us to the main house, but we both wanted to change clothes, so we got off at the guest house, around 11 or 11:30.

Once there, the pastor's wife asked us what our plans were for the rest of the day, if we'd planned on just staying there or going to the main house. Of course, we'd planned on going to the main house after a bit, but we'd no idea how we were to get there. We'd been told it was only about a 15-minute walk, but we didn't know the way through the maze of walls, curves and hills. She also hadn't planned on us for lunch - we were to eat our meals at the main house. We had plenty of snack foods we could have lasted until dinner, but she said there was a big bowl of soup in the fridge, so we had a small bowl.

A few minutes later she came back and told us that Susie and Melissa would be coming to the toddler house to pick up a few kids from the main house who come to the toddler house every morning for preschool. We could ride back to the main house with them. We waited a while for them, but realized that it didn't matter anyway, because James has lunch around noon followed by a nap. GLA does not like you to interrupt the kids' schedules, so we would not have been able to spend that time with him anyway.

Around 12:30, we were on our way back to the main house. However, the plan was foiled when on the second-to-last hill, there was a water truck broken down, blocking the road. Melissa didn't know another route to the main house, so she called Emmelyne to bring the Gator. Jock, Susie and I brought walked the three 2-year-olds (Susie carrying one who was already asleep) down the steep hill to meet Emmelyne with the gator for the rest of the trip to the house. I think we finally arrived around 1:00. Always an adventure! As it was, James was napping when we got to the main house, so we got a few photos of our precious boy sleeping. :)


The little girl standing up in her crib next to all the other sleeping babies was the same one that had fallen asleep on the way back from the Toddler House. She had apparently slept through lunch and was up earlier than the rest of the babies. :)

Our crazy life, part 98623845

We interrupt the Haiti Trip postings for, well, life!

Last Thursday was our final small-group gathering for the school year. We had lots of fun grilling out at a local park and playing sand volleyball, while the kids played at the playground or in the sand at our feet.

Friday, Elijah & Josephine graduated from preschool - so fun!

Saturday we had Josephine's t-ball game at 8 am, Kaylen's soccer game at 10:30 am, Elijah's t-ball game at 2:00. In between, we were able to come home and switch laundry loads and get a little housework done. After Elijah's game I somehow sneaked in a nap before we headed over to a friend's graduation party around 4:30, where we had dinner and played some more volleyball.

Sunday we went to the 8:30 church service, as usual, then visited for a bit afterwards, as usual. Then we had a family birthday party at noon at Jock's brother's house. When we left, we went to Home Depot for gardening supplies. We came home with lots of veggie plants, but didn't get any of them planted. Jock spent the rest of his energy on planting the apple tree he'd found. I, having sprained my ankle playing volleyball the night before, wasn't in much shape for gardening, but I was able to cut a ton of lettuce, and then distributed it to several friends. The lettuce really should've been cut around the time we left for Haiti, but it got neglected, so we had a ton of it to share.

Monday Kaylen had soccer practice. Tuesday was our 13th wedding anniversary, which we celebrated quietly at home. Today the girls had their dance classes. Tomorrow, if it's not raining, Kaylen will have soccer practice again.

Maybe with the three-day holiday weekend, free of soccer and t-ball games, we'll get around to planting the rest of our garden, doing so more blogging about our trip, and maybe finding some photos of the above events!

I'm sure we'll find several other things we want to get done too. There is never really enough time to get caught up on everything, is there?!?