haiti trip three...

Well, where do I begin? Oh yes, me puking again. For a self-proclaimed never-gets-car-sick-er, I sure seem to a lot in Haiti. It has given me a whole new sense of sympathy for those cursed with motion sickness (whom I used to ridicule, if not out loud, then in my mind - karma). Anyways, the 3-plus hour car ride from the airport through Port-au-Prince and up into the mountains to Kenscoff was well worth it. About two steps after exiting the car, I saw Mickenson.

He was smiling and wearing a yellow shirt. One of the nannies had brought him out when we arrived and he walked up to me and said, mama. Well. This could just as well be the end of this blog post right here (although I suppose I shall continue for records’ sake). I snatched him up and spun him around and looked him in the face and said, Mickenson. It was magical.

We floated into the orphanage and down the hall to the toddler room, where I searched for Ashley. He was wearing an orange sweatshirt and smiled with his cute, adorable, squishy-licious cheeks. I can’t remember if I picked him up first or if Micah did, but one of us did. We all just sat there on the floor in the toddler room with all of the other little toddlers around us and just held the kids. I couldn’t stop looking at their faces. They looked just like they did in their photos, except Mickenson looked smaller in person and Ashley looked bigger. Oh my gosh, if I could post a 3D photo of Ashley’s feet on here, you would all die laughing. They are huge. Like, not just long, but massive all around. That kid is designed to be a linebacker. He is also perfectly designed for snuggling.

We had about two hours to obsess over the boys before we had to leave them to go up to Gina and Lucien’s house for dinner. Gina and Lucien (I have previously mentioned them in my posts) are the couple who run the orphanage. They live about five seconds away from the orphanage and have the adoptive parents up to their home every night for dinner while they are visiting the children. They are an amazing couple who have done and are doing many wonderful things down in Haiti, including starting and running women’s clinics, adolescent programs, schools, and so on. The orphans they take care of are just a small part of what they have undertaken. Anyways, the dinner was delicious and the conversation riveting. I think we got back to the orphanage around 9:30, but it seriously felt like it was 3:00 in the morning. We were beat, hit our pillows and crashed.

Tuesday morning, around the crack of dawn (or just before). Little footsteps running outside our door... knock, knock, knock. Cute Mickenson greeted us this way each morning we were there. We played and ate breakfast and showed both boys the photo book I had brought for them of our family. Mickenson loved it. He wanted to look at it over and over again and said everyone’s names while pointing at each picture. He LOVED London’s pictures especially. He knew she was his sister from the photos and letters we had sent before, and he showed the pictures of her to all his friends. So cute. We had to leave the boys early to drive back into Port-au-Prince for my I-600 appointment at the Embassy. A lengthy six minute interview took us about nine hours total until we were back up at Kenscoff. Waiting is an art in Haiti. I must say though, the drives up the mountains are stunning. It was raining and the trees were so green, it was just beautiful. (and I didn’t throw up this time).

 Finally, back with the boys. It was a relief each time we could go back and let them know we were still there. The times that we had to leave the boys - for dinner, or Port-au-Prince, or their class times, etc. - Mickenson just looked heartbroken and he and Ashley would both start crying. It was horrible. So re-joining them at the orphanage was comforting, for all of us. That night, we sat with them in the toddler room again, and they just completely relaxed sitting on Micah’s and my laps. Ashley actually fell asleep on me, pure heaven.

Wednesday we had the whole entire day to play with the boys and all of the kids at the creche. We brought them bouncy balloons, suckers, stickers, and some toys to share. They went crazy. Mickenson and London are going to give me a run for my money. Seriously. Those two are kindred spirits. Mickenson is just like a mini London, he is super energetic, happy, outgoing, and charming as can be. Ashley is a very calm, happy baby. He was delighted just to drop toys and laugh at himself. Maybe he will be my mellow child. All of the kids loved Micah, no surprise. He played soccer with them and let them climb all over him. By the end of the day we were ex-haus-ted. The kids were too. Saying goodnight to them was extra difficult. They were tired and we knew we were leaving in the morning, and it was just sad, they were both crying.

On Thursday morning, I got up and ready as early as I could so that I would have as much time as possible to spend with the boys before we had to leave. I beat Mickenson to our morning greeting and walked into the older kids’ room. He looked so happy to see me. The nannies know when the parents are coming and when they are leaving to help prepare the kids, so Mickenson knew I was leaving soon. The night before, Gina and Lucien had taught me how to say I would be back to get him in Creole. So I sat next to Mickenson, put his face in my hands and said something to the effect of, “mwap toonai shayshay ou, ok?” - “I will be back to pick you up, ok?” (if you speak Creole, sorry for that slaughtering of your language) He miraculously looked like he understood completely and said, ok. Micah and I played with him and the older kids for a while and Micah brought Ashley down too. When the car pulled up and it was time to leave, I felt a huge pit form in my stomach. I think it's still there. We kissed and hugged the boys each like 20 times. We brought out the photo book for Mickenson to look at, and left him sitting with his friends around him, all looking at our pictures. I held onto Ashley as we walked up to the car until I finally had to pass him over to one of the nannies. I kissed and waived to him until we got into the car.  Contrary to what I had imagined, none of us was crying. It felt oddly relaxed and peaceful. I think we all felt very assured at that moment that we would be together as a family sooner than we thought. Until the orphanage gate closed. Then I cried for about 10 minutes.

The drive to the airport pretty much sucked. I was devastated to be leaving not knowing when I would be back to bring the boys home. We got to the airport and waited for our flights and I had such a strange mixture of emotions - so sad to leave my boys, and so excited to see my London. I am so grateful that Micah was there. He was a complete rock through the whole trip.  36 hours later and we were finally home in SLC.  I busted it into work (delirious at that point), finished my work day and raced home to see London.  I miss her so unbelievably much when I am away from her (which, luckily, isn't all that often).  She was so excited to see all of the pictures and hear about the boys.

So, what is the next step, you ask? To wait. Of course.  All of our documents have been filed and we are hopeful that they will be approved by the government in the next 2 to 3 months.  After that, there are a few more steps before we will be able to bring the boys home.  I have my fingers crossed that it will be before the end of the year???  But who knows. Wish us luck... we will need it. :)

Ashley l-o-v-e-d my hat.  He was either wearing it or holding it the whole last day we were there. Squishy cheeks!!!