I know it has been a while since I last blogged, and I really wish that I could give you an awesome reason that would blow your mind, but I don’t have anything. Not even a good bluff! Truth is, I’ve been doing a lot of N-O-T-H-I-N-G!
But, I promised I would blog about the orphanage, so that is what I’m going to start out with. We went out to Thomazeau to Children of Hope Orphanage and Hospice. This was my third trip there since I’ve been here, and probably my favorite one that I’ve taken out there. As I blogged about HERE, last time I was there I fell in love with a little boy named Israel. If you remember, Israel is the first boy that I played volleyball with last time I went to the orphanage. As soon as we got there, I went and found him to see how he was doing. We had been told that a lot of the kids were running fever with a cough, so I wanted to make sure that he was feeling all right. I finally found him after 10 minutes of actively searching for him, and he was not sick at all! I was so thankful that he was feeling good and ready to play! He went and grabbed a soccer ball and we played soccer for at least an hour! During a break we were taking, Julie came and found me. Julie is a girl that I met in October, and instantly fell in love with. I have been looking for her every time we went to the orphanage and finally found her this time. She wanted to hold my hand and touch and hug and sit together all day. It was so hard trying to divide my attention between two kids who I absolutely loved, but we all sat together and took LOTS of pictures.
As much as I love the orphanage, but it is so hard for me to come and go. The looks on the faces of these kids when we leave absolutely break my heart. I told someone the other day that if I had a job, a house, and a husband, I would adopt Israel and Julie in an instant. I can only pray that someone loves these kids as much as I do and want to take them home. So if you need a couple of extra kids in your household, I definitely know these two deserve an amazing home!
However, I am REALLY happy that I get to go back as many times as I want between now and December to love on not only Israel and Julie, but the rest of the kids at the orphanage as well.
After we kicked the soccer ball for a while, the kids gathered around me and brought a book that had English words in it. We sat for about an hour and read the book. The kids were learning English and I was learning Creole. We went through body parts, colors, numbers, and other random words of objects we saw around the orphanage. I finally felt like I was doing something productive that would pay off in the long run. It was all around an awesome day, but leaving again was so so hard. My heart breaks each time we leave because I know that at the end of the day, I have two amazing parents and a ton of friends that I get to go home to. These kids don’t have that luxury, so I want them to feel like they are loved each and every time I see them. It’s heartbreaking, but I wish that everyone could experience the feeling that I feel when I leave this kids. It is gut wrenching, but it is also a beautiful thing to know that I’ve poured out love to them whenever they don’t have that luxury or receiving that same love from a parental figure.
So that was my trip to the orphanage. It was a wonderful wonderful trip and I can’t wait to go back and see Israel and Julie again.
So back to my laziness. I haven’t been TOTALLY lazy. I have worked out every day except Saturdays and Sundays! Michelle and I are trying to get toned and work off all the calories we eat! We usually get up and work out then get ready and go pick up the kids. I try to help them with their homework as much as I can, then get ready for dinner. We are finally in the groove of school. The reason for my laziness was basically trying to figure out where I could serve keeping with the schedules of the kids. And I will get to more of how I will be serving a little later in this post! (What? I’ve got to keep you interested)
One interesting thing that has happened to me since the last time I blogged is a little Haitian bug. This little bug decided to crawl up in my belly and make me feel terrible for two days. I must admit, I did not work out on these today, but only because my body physically would not let me. I couldn’t keep any food down and just felt absolutely horrible the entire time. I still have no clue exactly what happened, but it was terrible for those two days. I am fully recovered, and back in a good work out schedule once again.
So right now, the missionaries I live with are fundraising for a generator. Being the PR major I am, I have been trying to help them come up with ways to raise $6,000 to purchase a generator big enough to run the house and the guesthouse. I had not really seen the absolute NEED for one until a few days ago. We have three types of power here in Haiti: EDH, which is public power, the generator, and the inverter, which runs of batteries that charge when the generator or public power is on. EDH hardly ever comes on. We never know when we will have power or not. The inverter can only run for so long on battery power before the batteries die and have to be recharged. The generator often cuts itself off because it is having to work so hard to power all of the things that need to be powered, I.E. fans, fridge, electronics, things of that sort. So the other night, the kids were tucked in to bed ready to go to sleep when all of the sudden the power went out completely. EDH was not on, the inverter had no battery power, and the generator had stopped working completely. Greg quickly ran to the generator and had our guard, Zeke, help him try to fix it. An hour went by, and let me tell you, an hour with NO fans is misery. It was stinking hot, and all the kids were awake. After the hour, they finally got the generator to turn on, but I quickly realized that the generator was not big enough to run two houses! So here is my fundraising plea… we NEED a generator. If you would be so kind as to help us raise the money, I would love you forever. Just E-mail me, and I will definitely let you know what you can do to help! (My e-mail is kristinabirkhead@gmail.com)
In other news, a huge cockroach ran across my floor the other day. A cockroach the size of TEXAS! Luckily, Dustin, the 15 year-old missionary’s son came to my rescue and killed the cockroach. I am forever grateful!
But, now I am tired, so I am going to bed to rest my eyes for a bit before a new week starts. I’ll try to blog more tomorrow because I have some wonderful news that I want to share with all of you!
Grace and peace.
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