This was the last group photo taken of us in Haiti.
Can't believe we've already been home for two days now, and all those vivid pictures of Haiti that we talked about and wrote about on the airplane are starting to fade . . . boo, I don't like that feeling! Maybe if I write about them here, they'll reappear for at least awhile . . .
- 2 year-old Jackson riding a skateboard
- The sun rising outside our back door and hearing all the roosters crowing
- Seeing Shelley's smiling face at the end of the airport walkway on that first day
- Meeting our sewing students and translators on the first day and hearing their life stories
- Walking with Rodney through the tent city to see his "home" and meet his family
- Downtown Port au Prince - the devastation, the poverty, the smells, the begging people
- The Tap Tap rides on hard, rutted, rocky roads
- The faces of the Haitian people who lit up when we looked in their eyes and said Bon Jour or Bon Swa
- Having the Haitian children stroke our white skin
- Baby Sarah asleep on "Grandma Mary's" shoulder
- Vesiline and her new baby, Pierre
- The pride on Makeline's face when we walked to the house she is buying for her family
- Jacqueline's infectious smile and laugh whether she was cleaning the house or working on a sewing project
- Colorful, hand-made beads of every color strung together to make pieces of art
- 3 men in a dark tent weaving beautiful baskets to eke out a living
- Jackson and Ember coverd in sand and gravel from head to toe
- Leo sitting on the floor of the Clay's home teaching us how to make paper beads
- The pride of accomplishment on the ladies' faces as they completed a project and we cheered for them and took their pictures
- Corrigan's initial welcome - thanking us for coming to Haiti, for having the courage to GO where God sent us
- LeAnne doing homework with Kezia
- 6'4" Junior tenderly hugging the small children
- Rodney stopping to help the small boy who had fallen and lost his sandal
- The beautiful coin purses that were created by the Haitian women (and men)
- Arda teasing Junior about being her future son-in-law and Junior "blushing"
- Our mission team struggling to learn Creole. We were thankful for words like "diaper, OK & bye-bye"
- Dawn having her bag checked at the PAP airport and then being responsible for all the keys as our gate-keeper
- Joed writing blogs and Facebook posts
- The swarm of red hats trying to help us with our bags
- The beautiful knitted hats Kim taught the boys to make and watching them proudly model them
- The Clay children eating M & M's off the floor
- Carol's laugh as she taught Rodney how to make a diaper and how to do "This Little Piggy Went to Market"
- Wendy and Mary holding the first Haitian babies we saw in the house
- Fresh fruit and eggs each morning, delivered by Louisna
- The "angel boys" who walked with us to church, sang on the way and sat through the service with us
- Sewing machines with sugar ants crawling in and around them
- Heat and humidity, sweat and bug spray!
- Three live goats tied on the top of a Tap Tap
- Playing Bananagrams on the picnic table
- Hearing Shelley communicate with the Haitian people
- The prayers of the Haitian women and singing "How Great Thou Art" with them
- Zebedee so excited and proud to make us a present and the look on his face when he saw that we posted the pictures he drew for us
- Ember singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and having most of us read a book to her
- Kimberly doing a backflip in the courtyard, much to the surprise of Rodney and Novens
- Wendy's tears when she was the first one to have to say good-bye to her sewing student on Thursday
- the broken bed frame at just the right time - as we all said "AMEN"
Please Lord, keep these memories vivid in our minds and don't ever let us forget Your beautiful Haitian people!