It is that time again. A time that we begin to prepare to return to Haiti. It is especially exciting this time because we are able to combine a mission trip with Mission Haiti along with a "bonding" trip with the twins. It is truly the best of both worlds. We will be leaving on February 27th and will be spending the first portion of our trip in the southern peninsula of Haiti at Ti Rivier. We will be going with 6 other people from our congregation. It will be a vision trip to see how our congregation can partner more with Mission Haiti. What a blessing it is to be a part of this meaningful trip.
We have been preparing at church by doing a drive for the supplies that are needed in Haiti. It will be so exciting to see how many donations we receive and to be a part of bringing those supplies to Haiti. In the Wednesday night youth gatherings, we have been doing some activities allowing the children to get involved in missions with Haiti as well. I was able to give a presentation about how Haiti has touched my life and then we discussed how the kids can make a difference even now. They have already helped to fund raise money to build a home for a widowed father and his four children. We hope to take photos of the home when we are there at the end of the month. The youth girls were also able to donate books from home to the orphanage at Mission Haiti. These same girls also prepared hair ties and bracelets for the girls at Maison where our twins live in Port au Prince. They are also hosting a bake sale to raise money to fund taking additional suitcases filled with crib sheets for the babies at Maison. The young boys are collecting Hot Wheels and Match Box cars to send for the little boys there as well. What a blessing to be a part of this and to be able to capture giving these items to the children there so the youth at our church can see the difference they have made in the lives of these children so very far away.
At home we have been preparing for this trip as well. (Well, I have, anyway. Craig is a last minute packer.) We are gathering snacks and appropriate clothing, pictures, getting a journal ready, getting the prescriptions, arranging a stay at a guest house in Port au Prince, preparing devotions, purchasing gifts for our own sponsored children there, packing clothing for our children, gathering up crib sheets to take to Maison....and that is probably just the beginning of the list! The more I think about it, the happier I am that I am getting started on that list already...because the next 16 days will go very fast and we will be on a plane before we know it. I just hope that we will be able to get all of our ducks in a row before that.
In the meantime, between bouts of packing, I am NESTING!! I am so ready for the twins to come home. Just like a pregnant mama, I am busy making their beds, finding decorations for their walls and thinking about finding hand-me-downs and other clothing to fill their closet. I have been printing photos of the boys and the family and putting them into frames throughout the house. We have a family photo package purchased for a photo shoot when the boys come home as well! I am so excited about that. I got tearful when Craig gave me that gift! Next on the list of to-dos in regards to the boys is to finish a couple of things with my personal scrapbooking photo album so I can begin to put together their baby books! I would love to start to gather the information to put them together somewhat before they come home and I probably won't have time to work on them until they are 10! We'll see how much progress I make. It does help to pass the time in the evenings when the big kiddos are in bed.
We received some information last week that clarified that CAN will be able to continue to process our adoption until it is final and the twins are home. We are very thankful about this. It has been an emotional journey and it will be nice to be able to finish the process with the same team in place and without worries of additional fees.
Thank you once again for all of your prayers. We really see and feel God at work here and are so very excited to see how He is working in our lives. We are humbled by His faithfulness. We know that in the last couple of weeks prior to our departure, the devil will be hard at work trying to create worry, fears and stress surrounding this trip. Please pray for us, our children (here and in Haiti), the rest of the team members and all of the staff and children at Maison and Mission Haiti. Pray that God will do a wonderful work through each of us and that the time spent in Haiti would bring glory to Him. He is the most amazing God. We cannot even fathom the amazing works He will accomplish through willing servants!
Heart filled with excitement,
Rebecca
