Thursday

The day started early as usual, the sun comes up around 5:30, by 6:30 the sun is so hot coming through the window, sleep is no longer an option...The morning started as usual, showers, breakfast and reading, everyone at their own pace. By 8am we are painting and out in the yard working. The morning went fast as we continued to prepare the grounds of the orphanage for grass, it has come so far! Look:


We worked hard until 11 and then had lunch with Shedna and her sisters and Mom.


After lunch we went downtown and did some shopping...no pictures of that, but we had a lot of fun!

Then back to the homestead for dinner, which the lovely Evelyn prepared for us!


While we were waiting for dinner, we were spending time playing with Melisa, Shedna, and Rosalonda, three sisters that Jared and Jalayne are helping take care of. Their Mom is 21 and has five kids, Rosalinda and Shedna are the youngest at 2.5 yrs old and 15 months. They are both about a year behind as far as physical and mental development. Shedna has just started walking on her own and Rosalonda barely has energy to cry, it takes everything she has to keep her head up most of the time, she is the size of about a three month old baby.

But they are so precious! Here is a picture of Melisa, the oldest...


And here is a shot of Shedna, the 2.5 year old that we have been able to spend the most time with...


And here is little Rosalonda...


We then spent the rest of our evening talking and playing Hand and Foot! This will probably be the last post until Saturday as we have an 8 hour layover in Ft. Lauderdale and will try to do a final post from the airport.

Here a couple great pictures of the faces of our team!

Kyle and Mindy Silveus

Andrew and Anna Conrad

Philip and Alyssa Wertz
Eric Coblentz

Dr. Randy Smith

And of course, Jared and Jalayne, with Shedna!

Tuesday and Wednesday

The girls and guys split up to continue the painting downstairs. It, of course, turned into a competition to see who could finish their rooms first. We won’t mention who won because it’s not important J (written by a girl). This took most of the morning.

After lunch, we toured a local market to get an idea of where people buy their clothes and groceries. We also went to the boys’ orphanage to spend time with them and see the facility. They gave us a tour of their rooms, taught us some of their favorite games, and walked down to the river with us. We had a blast spending time with them!

We came back in the evening to eat a meal prepared by a member of Jarad and Jalayne’s church- it was amazing! We ended the night by playing cards and resting from the eventful day.

Today, we divided into teams again for the day. The girls completed painting the downstairs rooms, while the guys continued the never ending task of cleaning up the yard. When the painting was finished, the girls took a break from the fumes and joined the efforts outside. The yard is covered with rocks and debris, which we realized this morning was home to 2 tarantulas. Jalayne is hoping they’re the same sex. ;)  

We worked to clear the rocks and trash in an attempt to get the yard ready for grass to be planted. The backyard has a beautiful mango tree that provides a lot of shade, which will someday be a wonderful place for the girls to play. In the meantime, our muscles were hard at work. We will sleep well tonight!

Monday

The mornings here are beginning to find a routine; a lazy wake up, a breakfast of champions (granola bars, fruit snacks, Crispex, or oatmeal and bible reading or various devotions. Then a plan is mapped out for the day.

Today, the girls were set to paint and the guys a total HG TV revamp of the yard.

There were four rooms that needed to be painted. The walls had severe cracks that had to be patched as a result of the earthquake.

The cleaned up the rubble in the yard from the earthquake. They stacked cement blocks ( remains of the walls that collapsed in the quake) that were salvageable and loaded the rest in the pickup truck to be moved. They also raked weeds, rotten mangos, and various other things into a pile and set them to fire.....nothing like a bon fire in 100 degree weather!

And of course, boys will be boys. They were so proud they killed a lizzard and a rat and caught a snake!

It was a physically exhausting, but most rewarding day....one we all agreed should be treated with pizza and french fries at the Visa Lodge!

Church, City Soleil, and Downtown Port Au Prince

We started out the day going to Jarad and Jalayne's church. It was great to worship with our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. We were warmly welcomed, and even heard an English rendition of "This is the Air I Breathe," which was the beginning and end of what we understood in the service!

After lunch, we gathered about half of the supplies we brought down, and loaded up the truck to distribute the items. We gave some of the tarps to a local Doctor who provides services to a tent community. The tarps will be used to cover the ground inside the tents which is now very muddy after every rain. We were able to walk around the community and meet some of the people living there. Many of those living in the community had lost their homes in the earthquake, but others are living there due to intense fear of staying indoors.




The other donations were brought to a church in City Soleil where they will be further distributed as needed. As soon as we pulled in front of the church we were swarmed by children giving us thumbs up and fist bumps. We spent time playing with the kids and holding them. Each person had at least three kids hanging on them or jumping on them at any given time! It was awesome to show love to these kids.




We were also able to drive through downtown Port Au Prince to see the worst of the devastation. This experience can not be put into words but this is a glimpse of what we saw:



The President's Palace:

Fly, Drive, Laugh

Alarm goes off at 5am.

Roll over, hit snooze, remember it is no ordinary day.

Gather our 600lbs of baggage onto the shuttle and off to the airport at 6am.

A little shuffling of luggage interiors to make sure the weight is spread properly, and we are on our way.


Layover in Miami, and then we landed in Port au Prince! Made our way out to the street to load our stuff and ourselves into the truck and off to the orphanage.


We spent the rest of the evening chatting with our new friends at the orphanage, have a great dinner! (Mesi Evelyn!) and just chatting with Jared and Jalayne and catching up.

Here are some pictures of what we were up to...






Tomorrow, Eric, Jared's little brother is coming in and then we are heading to church and City Soleil, and a few Tent Cities to hand stuff out! Full day!

Shopping and Packing Party!

After three trips to three stores, over 15,000 square feet of tarp, 50lbs of canned foods, 50 lbs of soaps and toothpaste, and lots of HEAVY bags, we are just about ready!

Here are some pictures from our evening:





There is our group! More later so stay posted!

Some More Details...

Well, we are getting close and I wanted to post some things that might be of interest to those who are interested in following what is happening in our group.

We will try to post at least once a day on here with pictures and news about the day's happenings. In addition to that that, if you want to follow us on Twitter, Andrew Conrad (Twitter Username - AGConrad) will be tweeting often as well!

We have amassed stockpiles of things to take down with us, tarps, toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, you name it, we have pounds and pounds of it! We are having a final shopping and packing party on Thursday night, the 6th to make sure that we can fit everything we want to take in our limited space of 100lbs per person (in two 50lb suitcases).

Then we will be driving up to Chicago Friday night the 7th and staying next to the airport to catch our flight at 09:00 Saturday morning. We will be arriving in Port Au Prince at 15:45 local time.

After speaking with Jared and Jalayne on Sunday, it looks like we will be doing a lot of painting, and unloading of containers and organizing and handing out. This along with plenty of time playing with the boys at the orphanage will certainly occupy the majority of our days.

Please be praying for us as we will certainly need the Lord's protection and blessing as we travel and while we are in Haiti. The only thing standing between the devil's plans for our failure, are your prayers, so pray fervently!

Thank you!