The ocean is calling

If you have gone on a mission trip before you know that part of the experience should include taking in the sights and interacting with local people. A storm blew through the previous night so the surf was high but that didn't stop us from taking our trip to the beach. The day was still overcast so there were not a lot of other "tourists" at the beach that morning. You might think is a good thing...NOT! We definantly interacted with the locals. I think everyone in Jacmel was there trying to sell us something...everything from paintings and jewelry to shells and food. After trying unsuccessfully to convince them all that we didn't want to buy we made our way to the beach. I thanked God for the beauty of his creation that was all around us. It was awesome swimming in the ocean with the waves washing over us and the beautiful view of the mountains as a backdrop. How wonderful it is to be alive. Denny tried to convince everyone that he was lighter because the saltwater made him more boyant. Carolyn found a cool shell in the surf so the search was on to find shells. I have to say she was the winner though. We had chosen this particular beach because Denny Ron and Tom had been there before and said you could get a huge lobster dinner for 11 bucks. I knew since they are men they probably exaggerated somewhat. So the lobster was huge but it cost us 15 bucks....there goes my extra shell buying money! HOW am I going to get the shell guys to believe that I have no more money. The lobster was very tasty even though I almost ate the eyeballs...YIKES I SAY! After another swim we climbed aboard our faithful tap tap and headed to the hotel to change. The guys gave us 15 minutes and believe it or not we were pretty close. Then we were off to see the kiddos again. We arrived to learn that they had water issues during the night so the guys tried to fix the problem. The rest of us kept the kids occupied so Mama could rest. No outside activities today since it rained. Marty made the mistake of trying to paint fingers and toes by herself. Even some of the boys wanted painted. I handed out some small airplanes for the kids to put together and it was pandimonium! Note to self...come up with a better system when handing out our gifts. Needless to say it was a little noisey in there but everyone had fun. We did some other activities and it was time to head back to the hotel. Its amazing how fast the time is going by.

Oh the glory of the mountains

Friday Barb took the nurses and some of group two for a hike up the mountains. They saw many interesting things along the way including a man purposed to be cursed by voodoo. Marty said ie was pretty scarey. They also saw many goats and pigs that are usually tied to a tree. An older boy named James travels up the mountain ..every day to feed his goat. Papas cabin was described as something out of the wild west. Very primative but effecient. Papa stays at the cabin several times but is now at the new orphanage. The remainder of our group played with the children while Mama rested. Mama has not been feeling well which is quite a concern as she is the backbone of the orphanage. About 3:00 we got to see the children have their dinner. American children really could take some lessons from these Haitian kids. They are to stay away from the tables until all the plates with food are placed on the tables. Then either Momma or Ellisia call them and they quietly seat at the tables and they are quiet thru the whole meal and eat every crumb. Barb and Rick and the group were somewhat subdued most of the day as this was their last day with the kids. The nurses had gifts to pass out and the kids exploded with excitement. But then came the sad time of goodbyes. By the time we left everyone was crying both children and adults. We all loaded up in the back of our tap tap....all 19 of us in the back of a small toyota pickup! Don't anyone tell my mom or I wont get to come back! The pool was calling our names so many relaxed with a cool swim before dinner. Every dinner at the hotel is an experience. Very good Creole cooking. Most everyone turns in early as we are warn out by the heat and trying to keep up with the kiddos. So we said goodbye to our friends. May God watch over them and help heal the sadness in their hearts.

Greetings from group 2

We are having trouble with our wifi connection so I will try to type quickly.... What an experience! God is good all the time! Many of us had never flown internationally. The view of the ocean was amazing. The airport in Port au Prince was an eye opener. We are definately "different" but that is ok. We have never seen anything like the streets of Port au Prince...their driving is CRAZY! Everyone driving in a hurry with no traffic laws. Horns blaring wildly. Quite something just hang on and "enjoy" the ride. They took us to see the old orphanage. Very depressing to see that most of the people are living in those conditions. It took about an hour to get through the city. Then the real experience began....our trip over the mountain. The view from the upward winding road was spectacular....as long as you didn't look down...YIKES I SAY! After our sensory overload in the city the beauty of the mountains was a welcome sight. Everything is so luscious and green with flowering trees everywhere. Could this be what Eden looked like? Once there we checked in to our hotel. Another slice of paradise right on the ocean. Waves breaking against the beach and sea birds calling. What more could you ask for....how could someplace so beautiful be painful for so many. We were so glad there was enough time to go meet the children. A crier by nature I was surprised that their joyious faces didn't make me cry...they were so happy to meet us all that came to my face were huge smiles. These children have been transformed from the shadowed being they once were. There is much dancing and singing and all the things children do. It was a God moment for me...so precious I will never forget it. It was nice to see Rick and Barb again and meet the nurses. We had a late meal together and learned some of the things that need to ne done. And so ended our first day.

Team One Saying Goodbye, Team Two ready to Work!

We have had a full day today. Many of us with James and Saul, two of the boys in the orphanage, hiked the mountain to see Papa's land that has been in his family. We noted after starting that the boys speak no english and our Creole is spotty.  Rick can say hi and start conversation so we just walked on!  It was very humid and hot today but the journey was beautiful and the tropical forest quiet and peaceful. We met the 3 goats and dog and saw the potatoes that had been planted. We came back and went to the orphanage.  The children sang songs with us praising God. The student nurses did physical assessments on the new children. Some medical work to be done was recorded. Team One passed on a long list of things to be done to Team Two.  Many games were played. The children were instructed on using scrubbies and soap.  Good demonstration by a former flight attendant with us! We had jump ropes and yoyos with much joy. You could feel our hearts fill with emotion with the anticipation of leaving as the afternoon turned to early evening. How do you walk through such an incredible journey and  say good bye. Not for good but for now?  God was so  great in planning that we do not leave them alone but with another Team to help for another week.  Then we will leave them wrapped in prayers and an e-mail away.
Leaving is so bittersweet,  seeing the children running and outside ( which they are all the time except when eating) brings such complete joy and contentment to your heart. But not being able to kiss each one in the morning leaves you with great sadness. Mama said good bye with tears streaming down her face. Which did not help us at all.  How does one say thank you, how do you process the journey that is so far from the road anyone was traveling on just a short time ago? The answer for all of us is LOVE.  It is not so complicated or complex. It is simple, basic and really what Jesus walked on this earth to show us. Love The Lord your God and then Love one another.  Sometimes teaching Sunday School helps to break it all down. So much we can learn from a child's perspective.
May each person who has been part of the journey so far feel the peace that surpasses understanding in their heart. It does not matter if you have stuffed envelopes, played golf, wrote grants, attended meetings, bought towels, sent medals, or prayed you have loved!

We have arrived!

We arrived yesterday afternoon to Jacmel. Drove through Port au Prince on the way to Jacmel, for many of us this was an eye opening experience. We all arrived safe to the hotel in Jacmel, the hotel has a beautiful view of the ocean. A few of us went for a swim before heading to the new orphanage. The children were absolutely ecstatic to see us, a little tired from their first time swimming in the ocean. We had the tour of the orphanage, and it is amazing...the children have so much room, and are so grateful for everything they have! Came back to the hotel had pizza, and many of were exhausted by the day and went directly to bed. Right now sitting in the villa eating breakfast, and watching a couple of fishermen in a row boat. Plans for today: hiking to papa's home, going to the orphanage, and see what else God leads us to achieve today. We thank God for our arrival, and ask Him to guide us through this journey. 

Katie Gibson

Joyful, Joyful We are thankful

Our blog is spotty as is the internet in Jacmel.  We have been all so very busy and the children are so happy and all have come to life in the outdoors!  It is a lot of smiling, running. playing and learning. The learning curve for all is very steep.  We have accidentally emptied the cistern. ( left faucets on when power was off, when power came back on in middle of night everyone thought it was raining).  Emptied a months worth of propane. Turned off the flame but did not turn off the propane. We are all learning so much.  I even know how to fill the cistern from the well!
The concept of bathroom is so new. We are taking turns spending the night to help in cottages. Leading them to the toilet in their sleep instead of a bucket or outside. Brushing our teeth in a sink, taking a shower and not going under the faucet for the cloths washing area! Last night I spent time turing on the lights and fans. Why are we sitting in the dark?  This is followed by much excitement and praising God.
The dining hall is such a blessing also.  Everyone sitting together and you can hear a pin drop.
The children continue to capture our hearts. They are truly gifts from God.
Time to take 47 children to the beach for their first swim!  need prayers for sure!

Miracles continue, Praises Flowing

The days are full of work, organizing, educating and taking care of medical situations in Jacmel. We fall into bed at night and although the air is 100% humidity we fall quickly asleep.  The children are also sleeping very well with all the constant motion they are in all day long. 

The nurses spent time teaching everyone how to use the toilet. We will need to continue the educating daily. It is all a process.

We said a tearful good bye to the Ochylinski family whose generosity made this a reality. They will be back. It was hard to take the children out of their arms.

We continue to explore Jacmel taking groups of children with us so they can see their new town. They are so excited to be out walking around and seeing the ocean is an amazing site for them. The joy continues to be felt in ways that in our lives we rarely feel for short times much less days at a time. 

Our hearts are full. Thank you for the prayers we are feeling every one of them.  GRATEFUL,  Barb

Amazing Graces!

It will be difficult to put into words the experience LOVE Takes Root, DSN Students and  Ochylski Family  had today moving 47 children from a less than desirable location to a very wonderful newly built home.

The morning started early with miracles like our bus arriving on time to pick us up at 6:30 am sharp AND our breakfast ready before the bus arrived. Arriving at the La Concorde it felt a little like Uncle Jed and Grannie throw back.  We had a bus, moving truck and van. They were all filled to the brim. With belongings and people. Some like Connor Rick and Genevivie were sitting in the back of the open air moving van on some belongings. While others were in the van holding the younger ones on laps. Then there was a bus filled with children in yellow LTR tee shirts and Doug. The neighborhood was buzzing with excitement. As we waved good bye and headed to drive over the mountains.  All was well except for Doug passing the kids "the bucket".  

We arrived at the new site of La Concorde to be greeted by a long line of all the workers that had worked at the building site over the last 6 months.  The children lined up and walked through the workers into the new dining hall. They then had a celebration of song and prayers so heartfelt not a dry eye in the room. The praise for gratefulness was an overwhelming expression of joy. Mama had her arms raised in praise to The Lord. 

We then toured the site, the kitchen,the boys cottage, the girls cottage named for Eleanor Ochylski, the staff house and the great outdoors!  There were beds for all, toilets, sinks with water running, showers, a bedroom and porch for Mama and Papa. The kitchen is spacious with stove, refrigerator and deep freezer! Missing some content like fork, spoons and plates but we are on our way to a new future. 

We all wondered if the children we all know and love so much would be over whelmed and quiet or go wild with the joy of the experience. WELL they went wild! They ran and ran and ran all over the outdoors. Interesting many fell multiple times because they had never had room to actually run before. We had scrapes and lots of dirt. The older girls not having had a shower were all striped down in the bathroom taking a shower or two. They were truly singing in the shower. The talking, laughing and smiles were like nothing we all had ever seen before.

We then all gathered for a late lunch. ALL the children, all the guests and all the workmen! It was about 150 people eating a feast. We learned the workmen have gotten a noon meal daily working on the site that is part of their pay. It was wonderful chicken, hot dog, rice and juice!

The children continued to explore every inch of ground. They walked in the tall grass out back. They saw a cow over the fence and watched it munching grass, they learned about shade trees!

As those of us honored to be a part of something so much bigger than all of us we jumped in the back of the pick up to find our hotel.  It is remains a miracle that so many people with the love to care made such a difference in the life and future of children who are our future. 

Preparing to MOVE

There was much excitement in La Concorde Orphanage today.  The belongs are packed ready to be put in a truck. The children are aware but not really sure what this all means. The adults are sleepless with anticipation.  We had a wonderful last day in the present site with dancing, singing and playing some hand movement games. It seemed like we had been waiting such a long time and also like it was just yesterday we started this vision!  We have a wonderful new little girl joining us, she is 3 years old quiet and seems to have a lot of pain. We will be deworming and hope that will help. Moving with the children are two new kittens and a puppy.  They are too cute and bring a lot of joyful entertainment to everyone. Elisee went to the new site today with people from his church in PAP.  They were blessing and praying on the land in preparation.
Rick took both the nursing students with Keetah and then the Klein Family with Aunt Jessie on a walking tour of PAP today.
We are meeting the bus, truck and van at 6:30 am tomorrow. So grateful for all the work done by so many people to make this a reality. God Bless each one.  Trying to fall asleep!   Barb

Port au Prince - Day 2

The girls woke up in Port au Prince today, sticky as can be. Showers were needed to feel refreshed before heading to breakfast. The girls were a little droggy until they had about a pitcher of coffee each, it was hard to stop because it tasted so good. After breakfast, with Rick as their tour guide, they ventured through the city. There aren't many words to describe the way of life the Haitian people live. You could still see the destrucion of the earthquake that hit the city in January 2010, and a few tent cities still existed. There was garbage everywhere, cars driving wildly obeying no road rules or laws, and goats, stray dogs, hogs, roosters and chickens wandering around unoticed by bystanders. The girls were able to grasp a good idea of the state the people of Haiti live in during their walk around the city, and they were able to taste some sugar care and view the local hospital. The girls were in awe and at a loss for words when seeing the destruction that still exsits.

After spending an hour and a half walking around Port au Prince the girls and Rick headed back to the hotel. There were 3 men selling Haitian paintings, carvings and gifts outside which Rick said were priced fairly so the girls spent a little time shopping for souvioniers. They then freshened up the best they could, some put their feet in the pool to cool down, they grabed a couple snacks and then started walking to the orphanage.

They arrived at the orphanage after another good walk through the city. They waited anxiously outside as they heard the children singing on the other side of what can only be described as a "steel barn door". Rick did his secret knock and everyone inside screamed with joy. The girls were overwhelmed when they finally saw the kids everyone had been talking about. Although the orphange had been described as "hell" the children couldn't have been in better spirits. The joy that these children have despite having almost nothing brings incredible perspective. The girls spent the next few hours getting to know the children, they watched them sing songs, saw their incredible expertice at working iPads and iPhones, and loved having their photos taken and taking photos in return. You should see these kids run an iPhone, not to mention Instagram. No wifi in the orphanage, darn. They laughed and cheers and crawled all over the girls, they tickled each other and danced and couldn't have been happier to have the DSN nurses there to hang out with. The girls were able to see mama prepare dinner for all the children and got to see them sing there before dinner song, or maybe it was a prayer. The girls could not be more excited to transition these children to their new home in Jacmel tomorrow morning. The future that these children are getting because of the love and generosity of Love Takes Root is astouding, and something that the girls will treasure for a lifetime.

We Arrived

We are sitting at the Ausberg finishing our meal. All have arrived safely. The LOVE Takes Root members, the Klein Family and Aunt Jessie and the DSN Nursing students are getting to know each other and ready to work together to have the children move.  The weather is wonderful and there is a lovely breeze. We are tired and ready for a great night of sleep.
The drive through Port-Au-Prince was amazing for those of us who have been coming for 2 years noticing all the improvements and those who have never been here trying to understand the quick change from Miami to PAP.
As it happens here the check in at the hotel takes a long long time. And we even paid with one person.  We are thankful for the opportunity to be here.  We can not wait to hug the children tomorrow and spend time together.  Such blessings.

The Adventure Begins

The trip started off with a packing party and a bunch of space bags and mountains of pillow pets. The DSN girls met at their school and stuffed the 60 pillow pets into 10 space bags and then sucked the air out to make them small enough to pack among their bags. It was quite an effort but the girls faired well. Nursing students: 1, Pillow Pets: 0.

The nursing students were on a Spirit Airlines flight leaving Denver at 11pm. When checking their bags they were really excited to see that they were under the 50 lbs! Only to be corrected that Spirit Airlines' policy was 40 lbs....well shoot. Luckily, half the girls had a nice attendant who waived the fee. The other half of the girls were being helped by a less than helpful female and had to pay the extra fee. The girls arrived 2 hours before departure and easily made it though security, except for Emily, who decided to push the boundaries by wearing an excessive amount of bobby pins, carrying more than the recommended amount of lotion and having a full water bottle, Airport: 1, Emily: 0. Once through security the girls had plenty of time to spare so they headed to The Chop House for a drink. After receiving their beers and taking their first sip they were told by their waiter that they were closing and to hurry up and finish, but that the bar across the way was open until midnight. During this time the girls also learned that their flight had been delayed an hour and a half, great...more time for drinking.

They headed over to the other bar, Jimmy's, to have a few more beers. They had a great time getting to know each other and had a lot of laughs. During a moment of going to the bathroom to break the seal they decided to check the flight board to see when their flight was supposed to depart, the board read: ON TIME! It was 11:15pm and the original departure time was 11pm. The girls were in a panic! They went back into the bar to grab their belongings, and ran out leaving their almost full beers behind (luckily they'd already paid!). It's too bad we can't break into the airport security to watch the tape back of the girls running through the airport. Not only were they a little tipsy but they were sprinting and bypassed all the walking escalators which could have saved them precious seconds on their quest toward their gate at the end of the terminal. When they finally got to the gate their was no one in sight and no plane was present. For a second the girls thought they'd missed their plane only to find out that it was further delayed till 3am....you've got to be kidding!  They just left perfectly good beer behind, Airport: 2, Nursing students: 0.

After laughing at the ridiculous of the situation they finally figured out where to talk to the Spirit Airlines representatives to figure out about making their connecting flight to Haiti, which was to leave out of Ft. Lauderdale at 7:15am. They were now arriving in Ft. Lauderdale after 9am. Spirit booked them on American Airlines leaving Ft. Lauderdale at 1:20pm. With nothing left to do until 3am the girls decided to head back to the bar which closed at midnight, they had about 20 minutes to have another drink. They were able to talk the waitress into giving them two drinks each if they promised to have them both drunk by 12:05am....not a problem. Pretty sure she hated them. Nursing students: 1, Airport: 2.

Once they were kicked out of the bar they headed back to the gate and found an incredibly uncomfortable spot to lay down and "sleep," which was tough between feeling like they were in an igloo and catching glimpses of the marijuana documentary going on in the background. The flight was finally boarded and took off at 3:40am and they were off to Ft. Lauderdale. The girls all slept pretty much the whole flight.

They landed in Ft. Lauderdale at 9:15am and luckily their connecting flight gate was next door to the one they got off. And, even more impressively, it was the original flight they were suppose to be on, which had also been away, evening up the score, Nursing students: 2, Airport: 2. They had enough time to hit the loo, grab some coffee and get in line to board. Once on the plane the girls were instantly the minority, they were the only six white girls on the flight, the adventure begins! The flight was a fairly quick and easy one with only slight turbulence for about 30 seconds. Once they landed they headed through customs, grabbed their luggage and headed out to find Frantz, their driver who drove a van with no door, but as Barb described, "is ok because he's a really good driver." They waited about 15 minutes before Frantz found them and led them over to the van which was about a 2 minute walk. Some of the girls made the mistake of letting some of the locals roll their bag for them. Once loaded up they then demanded money...opps. 

Leaving Minneapolis

Well all the bags are packed with Sheet, Towels, Pillow Pets and Cups. Thank you to Lucy Steffen that did a lot of run around and Sam Geyer who can pack like a champ! To Jamie Billings for the sponsor donations. A special thank you to Hailey Johnson and the Fourth grade in Ames, Iowa for hand decorating our cups.
Kirk, Doug, Keetah, Rick and I are ready for a wake up call at 4:00 am.  We were given wonderful tee shirts with spirit by First Congregational Church. We are so excited and also know there is a lot of adjustment in this trip for many. As I prepare I just think of the amount of love that has been given by so many. It is so humbling to have so many people work together caring for the least of us.
Follow our blog this week so you can journey with us and also the pictures on Facebook!  Walk on!
Grateful,  Barb