Day 2 - First full day

Our first full day started off rather slowly, which was very nice after a fitful night of sleep for our little Cal. Dan and Wedly woke in the 7 o’clock hour (5am our time), I got up around 8 and Gabe and Calvin slept through till about 9. During our stay here, we will have the blessing of a couple of Haitian women cooking breakfast and lunch for us. We had pancakes for breakfast and enjoyed eating it out on the porch. While it may be hot and muggy here, everything is green and beautiful and the birds are constantly singing their song. Roni came over around 9 and told us we could meet Anderlin on his way to therapy at 9:40. We quickly got Gabe and Calvin dressed and fed and headed down the walk.

Anderlin’s therapy began with general stretching and range-of-motion activities. The therapist, a Haitian employee, then had him roll around on a ball, rock back and forth on a piece of equipment that had suction cups on the bottom of it, causing him to have to work harder at forcing the piece of equipment to actually go back and forth. 

She had him work on some fine motor skills, as well. He definitely eyeballed us through the process and I’m sure started putting the pieces together as to why we were there (more on that later). I’m guessing he probably wasn’t quite as focused on his session with the 5 of us there to watch. Gabe jumped right in and stayed near to Anderlin during parts of the therapy, helping him to put together the exercise mat, which holds together like a jigsaw puzzle (not a part of his therapy, but something they both wanted to make right).

At one point while the therapist was distracted, Gabe went to sit by Anderlin and he promptly told Gabe to “Go away”. Gabe didn’t seem hurt by it and happily jumped up to come sit by us. After therapy, we headed back to Hope House with him riding the plasma car.

The Hope house has about 6 plasma cars parked out on their front porch. After arriving at there, our 3 boys jumped right in and started playing with a few of the boys (Fritzlin, Fanelson, and Bonnet) and their outdoor gear (plasma cars, trampoline, etc.). The kid’s spotted 3 or 4 big toads in the yard and I took the

opportunity to check out Roni’s garden, which has pumpkins, tomatoes, and peppers growing. We hung out at their house for nearly an hour and the kids had a lot of fun making a plasma car train. With some teamwork, it actually worked fairly well! The kids really got to laughing and I remember in particular, a moment where Anderlin was cracking up when Wedly, who happened to be the Caboose and directly behind Anderlin, fell off the end.

At about 11:30, we headed back home for lunch. Not even a little bit hungry after our pancake breakfast, we hung out making balloon animals, and organizing our stuff for a while. Our cook, Mod (pronounced Mode), was entertained by Calvin, who felt he had to show her all kinds of treasures from our bags. He had her laughing out loud and me wondering where in the world he got his intrinsic people-loving personality from. J

Lunch was a delicious Haitian meal of fried meat balls, rice, beans, beet/corn salad, and green beans. It was delicious! Wedly practically licked his plate and made us proud when he exclaimed to Mod how wonderful the meal was. Speaking of Wedly, he’s expressed many times since we arrived how happy he is to be here. While we’ve yet to see his Papa, I’m so happy with his response to everything.

After lunch, Calvin and I napped and Dan, Gabe and Wedly read/did computer work. After we all were awake, I did some cleaning, the kids watched a bit of a movie, then Calvin and I spent some time coloring while Dan worked on our first blog. It was nice to have some quiet time for Dan and I to reflect on our trip so far. I think I’ve experienced every emotion possible in the past 24 hours, which in some ways has been challenging. Two nights of nearly no sleep will do that to me, so it shouldn’t really surprise me, but it’s helpful to talk, reflect, and remember God’s faithfulness to us. He’s used no measuring cup when pouring out blessings on our family – but rather has poured them out to overflowing.

At 4 we were able to visit Hope House again. Upon arrival, they told us they were going to head to the playground, so we headed that way on plasma cars. The kids started out doing their own things (some on slides, some on swings, some on monkey bars) but ended up collaborating on a project of making rock mountains, an airplane in the rocks to sit in, and playing that they were ninja turtles. Anderlin gets around pretty well (sliding on the ground to wherever he wants to go) and while he can’t keep up with the

Favorite picture of the trip so far! From top to bottom: Gabe, Anderlin, Fanelson, Wedly, Fritzlin

kids running around, he seems pretty happy whether surrounded by friends, or doing his own thing. Whenever there was a building project going on, he was very quick to join in on the action. He seemed to enjoy each of our kids a lot…whew! Calvin was a little too “helpful” during the building projects, and made a little bit of a pest of himself, and the kids got a bit too free with their sword sticks, but otherwise, it was a fun time for the kids to all play together. While
watching the kids play and build, Dan and I were able to get to know Roni a bit more, which was great.

After a couple of hours of play, we headed back home for dinner. There was a breeze this evening that was absolutely heavenly, making dinner so pleasant. We ate quickly, and headed out of the compound gate for a quick walk before coming back and putting the kids to bed. We read the Bible, and while Dan sang to Gabe and Calvin who are sharing a bed (they both fell asleep in record speed), I read “Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh” to Wedly. That's all for day 2 in Haiti!