Thank you for journeying with us :)
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Bonding Trip Day 1 and 2 -
So many words. So many feelings. So many things to be thankful
for. Such confirmation.
I am not sure I can adequately capture them all or capture them
accurately but I want to try and at least preserve as many of my jumbled thoughts
as I can.
These moments are too priceless not too. There are too many days
ahead to try and remember them all so alas here we go…
Day 1 - We said farewell to our first two
daughters bright and early at RDU. Thankful for loving family taking care of
them, knowing they are in good hands from everyone helping, but also
bittersweet saying good bye for so long. Off we went to start our day of
travel. It was a fairly uneventful day and we made it into Port Au Prince about
45 minutes late. We proceeded to immigration and Daniel grabbed us immigration
forms in French which I proceeded to mess up twice even with the help of some
very nice Haitians. Ah Well. We got down to the baggage area (which thankfully
we have both experienced so we knew what was to come)… chaos, missing bags, and
voila thankfully Daniel knew the trick and found our last bag “off to the
side”. We worked our way through to
customs and then see a gentleman holding sign with my name and our hotel up and
we were quickly whisked into the hotel shuttle and were off. Not more than 5
minutes later we were checking in and super thankful to have chosen a hotel
with AC, a warm shower and a king bed (albeit a VERY hard one).
We settled in and then had the immense blessing to have dinner
with another family in the adoption process from our same agency and orphanage.
What we were hesitant just a bit about at first, being that we were exhausted,
turned out to be the BEST decision. So grateful for their hearts, their wisdom
and their willingness to share life with us that night. So awesome to meet
people on this similar journey with you.
We finished up dinner and came back to our room to sort through
our things to figure out what the heck we wanted to take on day one. She is so
young, and it’s been so long, we really just didn’t know so we packed what we
thought would be best, reorganized and then skyped our precious girls in the
states and hit the sack. For a bed that feels like plywood boards, we slept
like rocks!!!
Day 2 - started with a fantastic filling
breakfast of fresh fruit, bread and then a yummy ham and cheese omelet (thanks
to our friends for the tip)! We came back to our room, grabbed our bags and
waited for our driver and translator to arrive. A good mommy brain moment
ensued when we were waiting and I looked down and realized I still had on my
flip flops (aka not good orphanage shoes!). A quick change and I was all set.
Haiti traffic is unpredictable so our ride was a bit late, but again we know that
is just how it happens in Haiti so not shocked. The normal vehicle which has AC
and tinted windows that our agency normally utilizes was in the shop so a
well-loved, no A.C. vehicle was our ride for now and our journey to meet our
precious daughter began. We made a pit stop at a local store (decorated with a
self-creating snow blowing Christmas tree) to pick up our water for the day and
we were off. The car was playing The First Noel and it was simply surreal. We
laughed, smiled and just soaked it in! We navigated through Haiti. Words are
not very accurate for the traffic, the sights, the smells, the landscape. It is
so foreign yet so familiar. As Daniel said to me, it just feels good to be
back, not quite home, but good.
We traversed the muddy, rocky bumpy roads out into the more rural
area where the orphanage is located and shortly pulled in. It’s an impressively
large building, gated in, dogs, chicken coop, rocks not sure what I was
expecting so not sure if this met or didn’t meet my expectations. It just is.
It’s her home. It’s a place that will forever be part of our story.
We got out of the car and a swarm of children came out asking
“who?” because they knew were someone’s mama and papa. We told them and they
pulled us to her room. The nannies took her out of her crib, a room with 16
beds and likely 20 babies, and proceeded to freshen her up for us. New diaper,
new outfit, creamed and powdered. As we
were waiting, Daniel pointed to a freshly painted mural outside her room
(painted the week after we were matched) that reads “You are my hiding place,
you protect me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah.
Pslam 32:7.” And we were floored. Right outside her door is the name. The name
we have prayed over since we started this journey in August 2013. Selah.
Her name. (Not sure where in her name, but part of her name for sure). What an
incredible gift, what a blessing to have those words. He is faithful. His
timing is perfect.
They then handed her to our translator who was in the room who
said “Maman Ou - your Mama, and then
handed her to me!” She snuggled right up onto my chest, and I melted ya’ll. I
just can’t even. My heart, right here in Haiti. We all moved up to the third
floor balcony which is reserved mostly for visiting adoptive families, which is
where we spent most of our day. We got settled with a handful of other littles
hovering around and just snuggled. This is all so new to her. This was likely
her first time upstairs. We were new. All was new.
After a bit of cuddle time, and Daniel playing with some of the
other kids (soccer, peek-a-boo, coloring tic-tac-toe etc.), and then he
cuddling her, we got out some toys. She held a little plush baby for a bit but
a little baseball rattle and a grippable ball with holes were the big hit. She
gripped them tight for most of the day. I was thirsty a little while later and
when she saw my bottle she started crying (well more wimper crying). I thought
she might be thirsty and showed her sippy cup but she wimpered more. (I now realize it was because she still uses
a bottle). I offered her some of mine and her sweet self did her best to drink
the water bottle like a bottle! (Oh mommy fail for no bottle today). She
snuggled some more and I just had this feeling she wasn’t feeling well. I knew
she would be snuggly, but she felt warm and the next thing I new I said, I
think she might need a new diaper. I look down and, yep. There was some milky
liquid. So I grab the diaper mat, lay her down and man oh man did she need a
new diaper. She had a massive blowout. I proceeded to do my best to clean her
up and was going to take off her outfit because it had gotten dirty. Mommy
mistake #2 for the day was standing her up to take it off without a diaper. The
next thing we know there is diarrhea everywhere, yep, straight out and all over
the floor and changing pad. Awesome. NOT!!! We did our best to clean up what we
could, got her in a too big diaper, picked up the gross mess (now have bags for
dirty diapers tomorrow), and headed down to her nanny. I told our translator
she felt hot and so the nanny called the nurse who took her temp, got her
medicines for her fever and diarrhea, a clean outfit and a bottle of pedialyte
which she chugged down! Daniel proceeded
into a wash room to try and clean the diaper pad to the best of his ability and
we all went back upstairs.
Our sweet girl proceeded to fall asleep in my arms for some much
needed rest and our translator kept the rest of the kids at bay (minus one of
the older girls who quietly colored with some markers and paper we had packed –
thanks Laura!). It was a nice time of rest and comforting our precious
daughter. When she woke up we only had a little bit of time left. She seemed to
be feeling a bit better and she lay on my legs looking at up us with her
beautiful brown eyes. Just going back and forth between Daniel and I, who knows
what her precious little self was thinking but we were falling deeper in love
each moment. Daniel took her into his lap for the last few minutes of our time
and we got her to start grabbing at a little duck finger puppet! It was her
first real attempt at interacting and of course it was then time to go! We took
her back to her nanny, waved bye bye and we were off back into way worse
traffic than before… Haitian traffic puts American traffic to shame. Seriously.
It’s a wonder there are not accidents every two minutes but they amazingly
navigate it seamlessly.
A quick (or not so quick) stop to buy diapers (her size which are
one smaller than I brought), bottles, diaper trash bags, bread, peanut butter
and jelly and water and we were headed back to our hotel.
Wow. What a day. Thankful, blessed, overcome and in awe.
