April 8, 2011 in Jeremie/Last Day at the Orphanage

Florkencia was the girl that "chose" me on day one. She was the one who didn't smile much - she was quiet and hard to read, but each day we sought each other out. I called her by name and smiled at her. I wanted her to know that I had "chosen" her too. On the last day at the orphanage, I hadn't seen her around too much, a few moments here and there. She was taking care of the 2 yr. old baby girl that had come from Port au Prince. The older girls were "assigned" one of the babies each day, so she was busy. I took a picture of her that makes me smile - it was the first real smile I had seen directed toward me - unprompted. I had gotten her to smile a little during the week, but in this one, she looks beautiful and happy. It captures her cautious way, but shows something special there.


It was a busy day - a "tying things up" kind of day and we all knew it. The kids seemed somewhat moody and unsettled, but also, incredibly loving and tender.




Then rain began to fall - swift and heavy. We all ran under the metal roof that covered the area where the kids ate and watched as the yard, where we played basketball and soccer, filled with water. Jen Hudnall took out some finger nail polish and we painted their nails for awhile - then they started to paint ours. It was very touching - Peter, one of the older boys, painted mine and it was so tenderly done, that it brought tears to my eyes. As I looked around the porch, I could see that all of the "blancs" were humbled and moved by the kids, once again, turning something that we wanted to do for them, into something they did for us.



Gene, Mark, and Marvin were finishing up water filtration systems and bunk beds and then several of us went to see the lady who had the five children (and one on the way) to say good bye.



She was so grateful for all that had been done on her behalf. It was a fitting finish to what would soon be the end of our day and our time at the orphanage.

We were all sad at the thought of leaving because the kids were sad. I took this picture of Peter - an amazing young man, and it captures how we all felt.


Haiti feels hard, it can feel hopeless, but . . . . . . it has wonderful children of God there. It has children that have been purposed by Him. We can't see how it will all work out, but God has given us something to see there - something He wanted to share, first to us and now to you. I will write more about that soon and about other things I have seen there, but I want to leave this post with a picture of a young man staying at Yvrose's - an orphan boy who's name I can't remember. I affectionately call him "photo me" because he said that all of the time. :) He constantly asked to have his photo taken. I love what I see in this picture of him (as he did to when I showed him). For me, the picture represents some of the hope of Haiti - something bright and shiny in what can appear a dark place. I also want to say that I will finish the story of Florkencia in my next post, but I am too broken up write now to do so.