In exactly one week we will be in Haiti, visiting Christina for the first time. I can hardly stand the wait! We have been collecting little toys, balls, puzzles and games over the last month to play with all the kids at the orphanage. (Do you know how hard it is to find books with anything other than white kids in the pictures?) We are also collecting toddler and little kid sandals and dress shoes -- that is what the orphanage needs right now.
It is interesting heading to a foreign country without much knowledge of what our trip will look like. Normally we would have our itinerary planned, knowing what each day should look like and have all the contact information for where we are staying. We have been assured by our agency that the Guest House and Orphanage knows we are coming, and transportation has been arranged, but there is no way to double check. We have to trust someone will be at the airport waiting for us. Or at least will show up eventually. They should recognize us -- we will be the two Americans looking lost, fending off the men at the airport trying to carry our bags. (I have heard they are pretty aggressive. Can you say "I have no money to give you" in Haitian?) We don't know how far the guest house is from the orphanage or what our days will look like once we get there. Do we spend all day with Christina? Do we go back and forth? Will we have a chance to visit an open market? We have been told the drivers usually have Sundays off, so we don't know if we will even be able to leave the Guest House that day.
Even with all of the uncertainty of the logistics of our stay, I am not worried. We will get where we need to be when we need to be there. I have to believe our agency and the orphanage have done this enough that everything will happen like it is supposed to.
I am so looking forward to getting to play with a bunch of toddlers and preschoolers for a couple of days. Even though we won't understand each other, I am excited about teaching simple games and songs, and letting them teach me too!
We got an update on Christina last week -- she is doing very well despite all she has gone through. She has a smile on her face in most of her pictures. We even got a short video to see how she interacts with the other kids. I can't tell you how many times I have watched that video, it warms my heart to see her play and smile. Seeing how well she is doing has made some of my fears about meeting her subside. Somehow I feel like I know her just a little bit and I am not afraid to meet her face to face. I think we are going to have a lot of fun getting to know each other. But I am afraid it will be extremely hard to leave her.
Our agency told us that the president of Haiti has appointed a new director of IBESR (the Haitian social services department in charge of our adoption file). It sounds like that is a good thing and perhaps, just perhaps it will mean the wait times will shorten a bit. When the new president took office a few months ago, adoption paperwork stalled as he appointed new directors in all the areas of government. But now that everyone is in place I hope they get aggressive about getting those cases off of their desks and through the system. That is what I am praying for, that the 18 months shortens to 12 months. Christmas 2012. I pray every day that she is home by next Christmas. That would truly be a miracle.
I have a lot to do to prepare for our trip -- menus to plan, laundry to fold, grocery shopping to do. Grandma is coming to stay with our other three kids, so they will have a fun time while we are gone. And with our IPad, we should be able to talk to them every night before bed, so they shouldn't miss us too much, I hope.
I can't wait to share our experiences when we return.
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