Hi,
I wanted to inform anyone who may be reading this that GLA survived the earthquake fine and all of the children are safe. For more information and more information on what you can do to help, please visit www.godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org.
Thank you. Please pray for Haiti, and give what you can.
Kristin
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Back Home
As I was driving around Hudsonville and Jenison yesterday and today, I wondered how many of our team members are experiencing some reverse culture shock.
Who was in awe of being able to put our toothbrush or our drinking glass under the running water from the faucet instead of having to use filtered water? Or did you take it for granted?
Who noticed the smooth roads with gradual hills? Who was amazed at being able to go over 35 mph on the roads? Did you appreciate our wide roads where there are obvious rules in place for safety? Or did you just go about your business as if it were no big deal?
How many of you were missing the chance to go and cuddle a baby or small child whenever they had the desire to? I know I was!
Who was thankful for our families and for our own individual situations no matter what they are? How many of us thanked God that we never had to make the decision to bring a family member to an orphanage or 'home' because we couldn't feed them? Or haven't you stopped to think about all of the kids who are waiting for their forever families?
How many of us came home and are thankful for our jobs when we have just returned from a country with a 60% unemployment rate? Or did you complain about having to get up early and go to work?
How many of us are thankful for our schools and educational system that 'works' the majority of the time? Or are we dreading the start of another school year?
How many of us came home grateful that we have a family doctor we can call when we don't feel well? Or are thankful we have modern medical facilities and hospitals we can trust when we are seriously ill? Or did we come home thinking we deserved what our health care system has to offer?
How many of us returned to our air-conditioned homes and vehicles without another thought about how the people elsewhere manage without this luxury?
These are just some of the things I have been thankful for since returning home early Tuesday morning. I am interested to hear what else you have noticed 'more' of since being home.
Cheryl
Who was in awe of being able to put our toothbrush or our drinking glass under the running water from the faucet instead of having to use filtered water? Or did you take it for granted?
Who noticed the smooth roads with gradual hills? Who was amazed at being able to go over 35 mph on the roads? Did you appreciate our wide roads where there are obvious rules in place for safety? Or did you just go about your business as if it were no big deal?
How many of you were missing the chance to go and cuddle a baby or small child whenever they had the desire to? I know I was!
Who was thankful for our families and for our own individual situations no matter what they are? How many of us thanked God that we never had to make the decision to bring a family member to an orphanage or 'home' because we couldn't feed them? Or haven't you stopped to think about all of the kids who are waiting for their forever families?
How many of us came home and are thankful for our jobs when we have just returned from a country with a 60% unemployment rate? Or did you complain about having to get up early and go to work?
How many of us are thankful for our schools and educational system that 'works' the majority of the time? Or are we dreading the start of another school year?
How many of us came home grateful that we have a family doctor we can call when we don't feel well? Or are thankful we have modern medical facilities and hospitals we can trust when we are seriously ill? Or did we come home thinking we deserved what our health care system has to offer?
How many of us returned to our air-conditioned homes and vehicles without another thought about how the people elsewhere manage without this luxury?
These are just some of the things I have been thankful for since returning home early Tuesday morning. I am interested to hear what else you have noticed 'more' of since being home.
Cheryl
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
We made it!
A very tired team pulled into Hillcrest at about 3:30 Tuesday morning. Praise the Lord, we were able to make our connection in Miami. It was very tight, and included a sprint through the airport for many of us (think Amazing Race-style traveling), but we made it. We only had one bag that made it through, but we decided that the luggage wasn't nearly as important as the people! We should hopefully be getting our bags today.
Our little traveling buddy did so well! As long as we were doing something and he could watch whatever was going on, he did fabulous- and with our interesting schedule, that was about all of the day except for 30 minutes, so he did great! Please pray for him as he meets his host family today, and prepares to have eye surgery within the next few weeks.
Thanks again for all of your prayers for traveling mercies!
Kristin
Our little traveling buddy did so well! As long as we were doing something and he could watch whatever was going on, he did fabulous- and with our interesting schedule, that was about all of the day except for 30 minutes, so he did great! Please pray for him as he meets his host family today, and prepares to have eye surgery within the next few weeks.
Thanks again for all of your prayers for traveling mercies!
Kristin
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bon Jou- our final day is here
Our final day in Haiti is here. One last day to spend time with our babies, precious children of God. Oh how it warms our hearts that nearly all the children are waiting for forever families! We pray that all the children will be going home soon.
One last day to forever store in our minds and hearts the many sights, sounds, smells, and faces of Haiti. We are thankful for the many photos we will have that will help us tell the story of our experience here.
Thank-you for all your prayers on our behalf. We felt them. May the Lord bless you as you worship Him today. We are looking forward to our time of worship at a home church of a local missionary. It will be good to worship in English:)
Linda
One last day to forever store in our minds and hearts the many sights, sounds, smells, and faces of Haiti. We are thankful for the many photos we will have that will help us tell the story of our experience here.
Thank-you for all your prayers on our behalf. We felt them. May the Lord bless you as you worship Him today. We are looking forward to our time of worship at a home church of a local missionary. It will be good to worship in English:)
Linda
Oh the wonders of bleach :)
We definitely got our clean on yesterday afternoon. Snapping on gloves, grabbing Ajex, and scrubbing with some scrubber things, we attacked the dirt, mold, and mildew that lined the walls and lurked in the corners. Was once a brown/orange room soon became a completely orange room thanks to bleach and Ajex. We befriended bleach yesterday and will forever hold a new respect for it as it killed all the bacteria and mildew that could hurt the children here. We found out, too, that the nannies are some pretty intense cleaners. We were going to clean the places that the kids could only reach but they insisted we clean from floor to ceiling and all the light fixtures. They helped us though! I'm pretty sure they were having a pretty good time themselves through their laughing and giving us fist and elbow bumps afterward. :)
-Sarah
-Sarah
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Shopping!!
Since it was my birthday, I was able to go shopping today. Cheryl and I went to the Baptist Mission to shop. We also went out onto the streets to the booths that are set up on the road and bartered with the locals. They were great salesman and really very friendly, but persistent. We dutch women did pretty well when we compared our prices with those of the other volunteers. It was fun -- I did learn that even if you are not going to buy from a particular local vendor you need to look at all their wares, otherwise they get upset. It was a good experience and I am glad I was able to get out and enjoy the views of the mountains on the way to the mission. The countyside is really very beautiful. The hibiscus was growing wild along the streets in the mission - Ou Bel!!
Kim V.
Kim V.
I Love Bleach!
We've had a good Saturday around GLA so far! We had a pretty relaxing morning- slept in, hung around, played with a few of our favorite babies. Around lunchtime, my mom and Kim V headed off for the afternoon to do some shopping. We sent them off with a list from several of us of other things they wanted. It's Kim's birthday today- Happy Birthday Kim!!!- so she got to get out for a little bit, which was nice.
In the afternoon, once all of the bigger babies were done eating lunch on the balcony, the Hillcrest team moved in with our bleach, Ajax and brushes. There tends to be a lot of mildew that accumulates with the high humidity down here, and having so many kids in such a small space makes it difficult to keep it clean. It helps a lot to do some deep scrubbing every once in a while, and we were glad to help out! We cleaned their outside balcony, where the kids spend a lot of their time. We scrubbed the railings, the high chairs and the feeding tables really well! We finished the balcony in about an hour, and were willing to do more yet, so we moved into one of the rooms of the nursery. They crammed all of the kids in one room, which was quite crazy- there were about 60 kids in an approx. 12 by 25 foot room. The nannies who are in the room we cleaned helped us wipe down all of the mattress, scrub the cribs, scrub the walls, mop the floor, clean the fan, wipe the lights, etc. They made us laugh, because they were having so much fun with the cleaning, and they wanted to get absolutely everything. It was a great attitude to have- if they were going to clean, they were going to clean it all! We got all of the dirt possible out of that room. When we were done, the nannies were so excited! It was great! They all had to go around and pound all of our fists, shouting bravo! The room smelled so nice afterwards, leading me to say- I love bleach! It's definitely more fun to clean when you can see an immediate difference!
We've been hanging around for the rest of the afternoon, playing some cards while we wait for supper. I'm sure we'll get more kid cuddling in before the day is done.
It's so hard to believe that it's almost time for us to think about packing up! I'm sure that our last day will go very, very fast, which I'm not excited about. We've all fallen in love with the kids here. They've touched our lives, and we pray that we have been able to touch their lives with Christ's love.
Kristin
In the afternoon, once all of the bigger babies were done eating lunch on the balcony, the Hillcrest team moved in with our bleach, Ajax and brushes. There tends to be a lot of mildew that accumulates with the high humidity down here, and having so many kids in such a small space makes it difficult to keep it clean. It helps a lot to do some deep scrubbing every once in a while, and we were glad to help out! We cleaned their outside balcony, where the kids spend a lot of their time. We scrubbed the railings, the high chairs and the feeding tables really well! We finished the balcony in about an hour, and were willing to do more yet, so we moved into one of the rooms of the nursery. They crammed all of the kids in one room, which was quite crazy- there were about 60 kids in an approx. 12 by 25 foot room. The nannies who are in the room we cleaned helped us wipe down all of the mattress, scrub the cribs, scrub the walls, mop the floor, clean the fan, wipe the lights, etc. They made us laugh, because they were having so much fun with the cleaning, and they wanted to get absolutely everything. It was a great attitude to have- if they were going to clean, they were going to clean it all! We got all of the dirt possible out of that room. When we were done, the nannies were so excited! It was great! They all had to go around and pound all of our fists, shouting bravo! The room smelled so nice afterwards, leading me to say- I love bleach! It's definitely more fun to clean when you can see an immediate difference!
We've been hanging around for the rest of the afternoon, playing some cards while we wait for supper. I'm sure we'll get more kid cuddling in before the day is done.
It's so hard to believe that it's almost time for us to think about packing up! I'm sure that our last day will go very, very fast, which I'm not excited about. We've all fallen in love with the kids here. They've touched our lives, and we pray that we have been able to touch their lives with Christ's love.
Kristin
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