2011/2012

Hello, everyone!

Here's hoping everybody spent happy holidays, and is ready to face a new year! I personally can say I'm excited to see what this new year will bring. Yes, I have several plans. But continue to remember that God directs our lives and I want to walk in that plan.

Some of the things I hope to see happen this year are 1) finish my two children's adoptions 2) move to Canada 3) visit Costa Rica at some point with my babies. 3) find a place to live 4) find a way to support myself and kiddos

I think that's a lot of changes for a year, and though some of them a bit scary, they're also exciting.

I find a look at a new year very different than I used to. Now, my thoughts go to "I wonder if anything drastic, any 'act of God' will happen this year". I always remember 2010, and how shortly into the year, with the earthquake, all of a sudden my life looked SO different. So many changes happened in less than a minute, that affected so many people. Could something like that happen again? Praying nothing so fatal, but it is exciting to think life couldchange in an instant, or over the year,in a good way just as well.It is so wonderful to know our livesour in God's hands and and He has a plan. But I also remember, if I want something tohappen, I may have to be the one to take a step of faith. 4 years ago I did that, and it definitely changed my life drastically over the long term. To the point that now I am a motherand responsible for two precious little souls!

Looking back over the last year, it's hard to believe it really is a year. So many things happened, especially emotionally for me. As a quick recap, I went from living at Canaan with a 10 month old last January, relating to a group of missionaries as well as kids and Haitian staff, to a trip home in May, to moving to my apartment in June, to starting Caleb's adoption in July, to getting newborn-size 7 week old Chania in August, to having relatives (my mom and a cousin) come visit in Sept, to patiently and impatiently waiting for the adoptions to go through to where I am now. A great year!

One thing that stands out to me that God was teaching me this last year is RELATIONSHIPS! A lot of drama and testing in that area!!! I did learn a lot, and hopefully I can go on and apply that to my life in the coming years.

Using a ticket somebody had given me, I was able to join friends for a meal at Club Indigo for Christmas eve. It was lovely! They had the candlelight tables set up by the pool. Being close, I was able to put tired Caleb to bed after he ate and return to finish dinner.

Loves her little doll. It's soft, and also like a little rattle.

Caleb has learned matching. He can now match a puzzle like this of animals. Hasn't quite learned how to make them fit.

LOVES swings.

Christmas day we went over to the Creshe. I enjoyed their little service, and all the kids got a nice gift. They were so excited. That's an awesome place! After an early lunch there, Kris and I went over to other friends of ours, where those of us missionaries that meet regular that stayed here for the holidays got together for a wonderful Christmas dinner. Awesoeme!

Both babies were sick the week after Christmas. Caleb got sick with fever on Christmas day. Monday he was fine again, and Tuesday and Wed. fever again. Chania had been coughing again for quite awhile. So I found my way to the clinic, where a Doctor friend of mine was visiting for a week. Caleb had an ear infection - easy to get rid of, and it happened to take away his runny nose as well. What a relief! He was like a faucet. Chania's problem may be a little longer lasting. Bronchiolitis. Doctor said she could be getting this very frequently till she's two or more. Don't like that! She is so congested and can't get rid of it. I've been trying to Nebulize her, but don't think it really makes a huge difference. She got worse but today her choking coughing episodes were a little less I think, so maybe she's getting better.

Kris juggling feeding Clare and Cole at the same time.

Yesterday, My friend Kris came over to spend the weekend with her two kids (1 year old twins) she's adopting. Caleb loved having company, but doesn't quite know how to treat them. Kris brought food for soup and salad and we invited another couple over for supper last night. Man, she's a good cook! That baked potato soup was amazing!!!! Then this morning she made breakfast. I don't mind having someone else cook in my kitchen :), if it can be called that! I keep the food simple. The day went fast! Our friend Heather joined us before lunch and afterwards we did a movie and had great chats. Since we're all adopting, we have a lot in common!!! It was great to spend the weekend with friends.

Oh, and last night, at midnight, I saw a new thing (probably common to a lot of you, but a first for me). Club Indigo put on a HUGE party, and gave everyone what I call a burning paper air balloon. I'm sure they have an official name but I don't know what it is. It's like a 3 ft or more paper? balloon, open at the bottom, connect to something that they lighted. That fire propelled the balloon into the air, all lighted up. They had hundreds of them, so they sky filled with floating, bright lights. SO beautiful!!!! Of course, I always enjoy the fireworks as well. Not so much their extremely loud music till 3 a.m. Didn't seem to mind the kiddos. All 4 slept right through it!!!

Excited for the coming 2012 year!!!

God bless and guide and protect you all!!!!

Elsie, Caleb, & Chania

Hospital visit

Monday, November 7, 2011

This morning as I packed up my kids and took a moto out to the Creshe, I realized how long it’s been since I left here. Over two weeks I think. About time!

I left my babies at the Creshe, and went with Heather to Saint Marc. Mondays is her day thatshe often goes to the St Marc Hospital to help. How this woman does everything is beyond me!She will go there and just do whatever she can. More often than not, it’s holding dying babies. The Haitians do not like holding their baby while it’s dying. They think there’ll be a curse of something.

Since she isa legal Creshe, they’ve called herseveral times already when they had abandoned babies there.

I had heard her stories, and wanted to see the situation for myself. I’ve been to this hospital before – lots of times, but not to thissection. They’vedone some building and remodeling.

We walked in, and Heather’s contacts, an American Pediatrician and his wife, told us we could continue bagging a 3 day old baby that had come in about half an hour before. Or we could just hold him, as he was going to die anyway. So we went to the bed in the hallway (thankfully this was a daythey had oxygen. Often they don’t have oxygen for the babies there). Here they had this little (I guess not more than 4 pounds) baby. They had stopped doing CPR.He had had a pulse of 40 when he came in (should have been 120) and then it stopped completely, so they had been bagginghim for like 20 minutes. As weapproached, a visiting pediatrician informed the doctor that he was actually breathing quite well on his own. The doctor’s like, “if this baby survives, it’ll be a miracle”, and the other one responded, “I think a miracle is happening”. He was still holding his own when we left an hour later. This baby had not been given anything but water for 3 days. Mom said she had no milk. And being smallanyway, that was too long!!!

It was kind of emotional being there. I went into the rooms – so many thin and malnourished kids!!!! They do have a malnourished program there, so that’s good. The PROBLEM is the babies under 6 months, that don’t qualify for peanut butter. And they have so many!!!! The parents are responsible to feed them, so if the mom doesn’t breastfeed, they’re in trouble. Lisa (the doctor’s wife) told me that she frequently finds a baby hasn’t had anything for a couple days. And these are often premature babies!!!! Can youimagine????

She said the hospital wouldn’t supply formula for them. Sometimes they have individual people giving, but not usually.

It was heartbreaking!! These little bitty babies, and nothing to feed them???

Another sad situation is theundependability of oxygen there. It causes a lot of deaths. They said over the weekend, 5 babies died.

The other difficult situation is the lack of staffing. I don’t know what the capacity there is (if there is such a thing in Haiti) but Lisa said they’ve sometimes had 1 nurse for 40 patients, though usually there’s 2 or 3. Usually they have one Haitian doctor and one American. They also do a lot of outpatients too. Can you imagine nursing like that? And we’re talking some are babies born at 6 months of gestation!! I saw no normal size baby – all were either too small or preemies, or other problems, like heart, etc. She said basically the only thing nurses can get done there is give meds.

What to do??? Yes, they have people trying to find solutions. But in the meantime……

If anybody would like to help donate money for milk, I would suggest going through Heather, whom they call sometimes if they have an abandoned child and she’ll give them stuff.

Heather’s website should be up this weekend, but you can still go there; I believe it directs you. Just let her know if it’s specificallyfor that.www.GivingHopeHaiti.org

I just gave my baby her fifth bottle of the day. Can’t help but think of the little ones I saw today, who haven’t had any...

Experimenting play with the fork, post dinner

My cutie pie

My little family

Good morning,

A cousin reminded me that I haven’t posted since August. I went online and I guess it was true! I apologize to my faithful readers. Time has sped up I think, from what it used to be. I will blame it on that. J

I did however find a started blog from September, which I have just posted now. Sorry!

I feel very blessed of God. I LOVE my life. Having said that, of course it’s not perfect. I am definitelyin the waiting period. But sometimes I wonder why God gave me such a great place to recuperate. I say recuperate, because I feel like emotionally I am recuperating. I feel like I am being healed in a lot of areas; at the same time, I am learning lessons that I wonder if most people don’t learn about 20 years earlier in life; Namely, relationships with friends and fellow workers. Although, a lot of the relationship issues that I’m having probably wouldn’t come up quite that young in life; At least not my life. So I am trying to learn and be faithful to God as I go. I am grateful for the chance to learn these lessons.

Yesterday, a lady that lives here as well asked me if I don’t go stir crazy here. I told her ‘No’. I love it here. I think I get around a lot more than she does, despite my two babies. And also, I guess my focus is different. She’s waiting for a place to live to be done. I live here and am busy with my babies. I’ve always wanted to live somewhere on the ocean for awhile, by myself; me and God (and now my kids). It’s giving me a chance to get to know God better.

Having said that, yes, I do feel like I’m in a waiting period, and when you wait, you have to be strong not to get impatient. I find myself waiting anxiously for all the paperwork to be done. Not sure why, since I love it here (beside the expensiveness of it) but I think part of it is just wanting to have all the paperwork done and not worrying anymore, “what if”. In Haiti anything can happen, and I want to be free to take my little ones whenever, wherever. It’s not so much what I’m going to (although it will be good to see many of you again) since I don’t even know where I’m going, but just being able to close this chapter in my life.

OK, enough ramblings….. and down to logistics.

Caleb’s adoption is still just waiting on the judge to sign the adoption decree. This should have been done the about a month ago, but the Judge went out of the country, on vacation. And now, apparently because he was gone longer than he should have been, they have fired him and are replacing him with another next week. Our lawyer plans tomake friends with him (that’s her way of getting things done, making good relationships with key people) and hopefully get him to sign it next week. That will mean after that, he’s legally mine! YEA!!! I will celebrate somehow!! Of course, there’ll be more paperwork to do afterwards, like name changes, new birth certificate with me as mother, and of course a Haitian passport.

Chania’s paperwork has been held up more than I liked too because of the authentication of the mom’s death certificate. There's too much fraud - people making death certificates of people still alive. The dad finally did show up yesterday (He lives way up close to the northern border of Haiti) and he brought the death certificate, so now that is ready to go into IBESR, the Social Service that has to approve all adoptions. That can take awhile in there normally, but hopefully hers won’t, since I’vealready been approved for adoption.

I was happy to meet Chania’s dad (Eddy) and ask more questions about Chania. He seemed happy to see her doing so well, and that I’m adopting her but when I asked if he wanted to hold her, he said “no”. It’s gotten me thinking about emotions. What do the parents feel when they give up a child? I think not holding them is often a protective issue – they’re protecting their hearts from being attached to the child. I can see this dad can’t afford Chania, since he’s poor and has 8 other children (which is a whole different issue in my book - birth control L.) His other children are ages 4,6,8,10, 14,16X2, 18.

I don’t understand why the mom died. She had the baby in a hospital; everything was normal. She went home, ate and drank something, and then died. But God had a hand on Chania, and I’m grateful she ended up all the way over here with me. It really can only be God. Makes me realize more than ever that God intended her for me.

Vanessa, a missionary from Angel Missions who worked at getting medical visas for kids needing treatment in the US, was way up north visiting a friend for 20 days. Her car had trouble and Eddy (a mechanic) ended up working on it. He told her about his wife dying and his newborn baby. She offered to help but since she couldn’t keep her, she asked him to find a lady to take care of her, and she would provide the formula. After 15 days, she found out little of the formula actually went to Chania. The lady was giving it to other children as well. She was feeding Chania other foods too, gerber, etc.(Yea a newborn!) They said she almost died. Vanessa took her than and kept her for 5 days, and then returned to Port au Prince with her and put her in an orphanage. Again the formula she provided was given to other babies as well, and she wasn’t being taken care of well – dirty, no diapers, etc. When Vanessa met Heather (from my Creshe), she asked her to take her and give her a home, and Heather took her for me.

Yes, the first month was difficult – she was very anemic, and didn’t know how to suck, and was full of gas. But now… She is a different baby!!! So easy to take care of, and smiles so easy. (I must be the most beautiful person in the world to her, cause all it takes is seeing me, and she smiles J ) I guess that’s how that unconditional mother love gets developed, eh?

My first step in sponsoring them to Canada is done too. I just heard from Canadian immigration yesterday, that I’m eligible to sponsor them. I think now we have to wait to finish the adoption before I can do the next phase, although I can definitely get all the paperwork ready. Right now I feel a little lost of all that I need for that, but I’m hoping the Embassy will guide me in that. They get notified from the government of my eligibility, and tell me what I need, I believe. So that will be my job in the next few weeks.

So my prayer requests I guess are obvious: A quick Judge appointment to be able to finish Caleb’s adoption, fast proceedings in IBESR for Chania, and for me to know how to get ready for the application for Permanent Residency to Canada for them.

May God bless you, guide you and give you a good day today!!!!

Elsie, Caleb & Chania

Hi

Blessings from Haiti!’

Life continues busy here. My baby of 5 weeks ago is a darling, but does take up a lot of time. Although she is a LOT better now. She is taking her bottle like a normal baby, burps almost regularly, and sleeps better in between. Now I have to be very careful because Caleb also LOVES her, but lacks the wisdom in knowi ng how to care for her. His hugs are quick bumping her, seeing her in bed is a challenge to mount her and start “burping” her roughly, and when she cries, he knows the solution is the pacifier, so in it goes by force. So cute, but unsafe.

So I borrowed a play pen finally, thinking now she’d be safe. Would you know it, the first day, he found a way. He was like a cat, looking at a mouse. The screen keeping him out was strange. He’d put his nose or feet or hands to it, thinking it would give, but no. Then in a moment when I left the room (in all security thinking she was safe) he climbed my bed, and through himself in. Thankfully she was on the far end. We obviously have some training to do.

He’s also getting more bold outside. Today he headed to the ocean for the first time on his own, and actually entered it. OK, that scared me. Up until now, he wouldn’t go so far without me.

His will and reactions are also climbing, making me pray harder for wisdom and knowledge to train him. Hopefully his zest for life and energy can be channeled into proper activities.

Chania’s dad came to the Creshe on Sunday. He’s from very far away. FINALLY we were able to get some information about her. I didn’t get to meet him though and he didn’t see Chania. She is his 8^th child – there’s 4 girls and 4 boys. No wonder he gave her up! That’s a lot for here. She was born in a hospital. He said her mother ate and drank some after the delivery, then died. They don’t really know why, but figured she didn’t have enough blood (a common cause here if they don’t know. After all, so many women are anemic, and don’t eat right). He had a birth certificate already made, so legally her name is Love Naïca Jean. I’m still planning to change it to Chania Delea, so that’s what she is to me. She is a full month older than what I thought; born July 3^rd, 2011. Almost 3 months. Now that she’s gained weight and is more responsive I can believe it, but she sure didn’t seem like an almost 2 month old when she came. Makes me wonder what they were feeding her. 7 lbs at 7 weeks! She didn’t know how to suck, so they either spoon fed her or used a bottle that they cut such a big hole into that it was basically pouring in. That is, if they gave her formula. I personally doubt they did; At least not the first month, before she was at an orphanage. I have heard so many things that they feed babies here (less than a month olds) when the mom dies or is sick and they can’t afford to buy milk that nothing really would surprise me anymore. Some things they’ve told me in the past are: only tea, cookies, (these are soaked and water added to be able to drink it), flour water, rice water, etc.

So I wonder what my baby had…. Thankfully her belly is becoming more normal again. She still has a harder time getting the gas out, but that’s coming too. She was very anemic when I got the blood test for adoption done, so I’m giving her vitamins with iron, and will need a blood check basically every month. It could take quite a few months to build up. But again, I hope it was from the lack of food, and not an internal problem, which will then be solved more quickly by good formula and vitamins.

I have had some great help this last month with my babies. My cousin Jessie from Manitoba came for a one week visit and we were able to get quite a few things done in preparation for the adoption. It’s easier taking two babies out on tap taps and motos when there’s two of us. J

Then a week after she left, my mom came from Costa Rica for a little over a week. She finally got to meet her two future grandchildren! She also did some baking in my little toaster oven (a 9x9 doesn’t fit in it). AND she did my laundry by hand!

Yesterday we walked to the clinic to get a medical certificate for Chania’s adoption. It is great to see the staff there. I miss them! But I’m really glad I can be a “stay at home” mom during this time. They change so fast!

My daughter

Well, this has been an interesting week! And life changing for me.

God gave me a daughter!!!

For some time now, I have been thinking and praying about another child. I felt Caleb needed a brother. I hated the idea of him growing up as a single child. I can’t imagine a life where you’re the only one. Of course, this is me, the 3^rd of 8 kids. But I just felt he needed one more, and a boy would be best so he’d have another male figure to rump around with.

So after I moved here, I have been waiting for God to send me a baby, “if it be His will.”

We plan, but hopefully we trust Him to direct. So it was with a struggle, that none of the ladies giving up their babies had boys, except one, who decided to keep her baby for 3 months “so she wouldn’t kill him”. Finally all women had delivered that would deliver before September, and I gave it up to God. Only Caleb. Well, I told myself, it’ll be easier when I leave. Settling in a new place with 2 babies would be a lot of work. I started wondering if I had made a mistake in saying I wanted only a boy. What if God had a girl for me? Was I open to that? And all of a sudden, it didn’t matter so much. Still, I didn’t know any baby girl available either. I also had a desire for one as young as possible. Living where I can take care of them right away, I wanted the bonding process to start as young as possible. I always loved it that I had Caleb from 2 weeks old.

I talked to the lawyer doing Caleb’s adoption and she said if I have another baby before his adoption is done, then she can almost tag it with his, at least a lot of the paperwork. Later would make it take a lot longer. Also, later in the year there is a chance that the law will change again, for single women. They will need to produce at least a boyfriend. (Hey, I guess one could always hire one for a few months J)

Also, there’s a law or something about newborns not being able to be adopted till they’re 2 months old.

So I gave it up to God, feeling like it would not happen. I had about a 2 week period max I figured. This is (hopefully) the last week, since I’m hoping Caleb’s adoption will get approved by IBESR this week. (fingers crossed)

Then on Tuesday I saw a note from Heather (in charge of the Creshe that does the adoptions) saying they have an almost one month old baby girl. I told her I want to see her and she brought her over.

And in came a beautiful, 3 week old baby girl. My first thought was “she’s beautiful”. (I’ll admit, I’m not one of those that think every baby is beautiful; Loveable, yes. Beautiful, let’s be honest. J) But my first impression was – beautiful!

Heather said I could keep her overnight, and pray about it, and get a feel, whether I want to keep her. And I hope she’ll never go out of my life again.

When deciding such a monumental thing, it’s hard to be objective when you have one day to decide. How do I know I don’t make my will God’s will?

But as I watched Caleb’s reaction to the baby, I just felt that I would be depriving him of something special if I did not take her. He already loves her; is thrilled with her. Of course, I still have to watch how he expresses that. His first instinct is to grab at her face; Then, her feet. But he already watches what she does sometimes like a big brother making sure she’s ok. He loves stroking her downy soft hair. (Haitian babies’ hair is incredibly soft).

He can imitate her cry as well. Sounded just like a little baby. And he’s been pretty good at not claiming my lap if I hold her; instead he’ll lay his head against my legs, and make me feel a little guilty, he’s so sweet about it.

So I feel peace about it, and have decided to adopt her.

I went to the clinic to weigh her today. OK, that’s not as easy as before, but I did it. You can pretty well do what ever you want if you want it badly enough. (Did you know that?) Any way, she’s 3.46 kg (about 7 1/2 lbs). Measures 19 ½ inches.

She was born the first week this month. I don’t have the exact birth date yet. But she’s 3-4weeks now.

I also don’t know her name yet. I think they had done a birth certificate, but if it hasn’t been ‘archived’ yet, we can do another and I can name her.

I don’t know her story very well yet but this is what I was told:

Her mother died. (I don’t know when or why)

She was left at a dirty orphanage in Port au Prince. She was there about 2 ½ weeks.

Vanessa from Angel of Mercy Mission rescued her and she was kept at their clinic till now, while they looked for a family. They thought they had one but it fell through.

They are associated with the Comfort Ship (They do the consults there). Heather had to take one of her babies there and when they found out she has a Creshe, they begged her to take her and find a family for her.

I think God picks your family, whether by birth or otherwise. He picked a couple beautiful kids for mine.

So my prayer requests:

1TThat the adoption will go smoothly and quickly as I start this. Most of my documents are good for this one too, and will make it easier. Her age is good too. Since she’s already almost a month, we only have to wait about a month, and hopefully that’s all the time it’ll require to finish it up.

2) That we will adjust as a family – Caleb since he doesn’t have mami all to himself any more and me to being busy and not getting full nights of sleep, and it being harder to get out for grocery shopping, etc But God provides friends to help, and I’m grateful!

Happily,

The Haitian Kornelsens

Elsie, Caleb, & “baby girl”

Enjoy the pics!

Paperwork

Hi,

So this is really today's update. The last couple ones, I had written off line, and then either forgot they weren't posted, or was waiting on pictures.

I've been really busy getting all the last minute paperwork in Haiti. Being the first "Haitian" adoption for this lawyer I think, and the first for the Cresh, it's one of those things: "Oh, I need another 4 pictures". "Oh, I need a statement from a Haitian bank with 'so and so much' money so yesterday I went and opened a dollar account. Had to return today for the statement. This done going to St Marc with a taptap. Thankfully I already had a Gourde account so it wasn't too complicated, only time consuming.

Early this morning we took 2 pregnant moms to Pierre Payen to do ultrasounds. I am open to adopting another baby boy, so wanted to see if these were boys. :) The earliest one is a girl, the other a boy but not due till Nov., so I guess not for me. God knows if there is another for me. Right now I don't know of any.

Heather is in charge of the Creshe, and becoming a dear friend here. I am SO thankful for her, and all she does for me.

After the U/S, I went to the Creshe, where a psychologist was waiting for me. He did Caleb and my Psych evaluations. I could've done that myself and saved myself all that money!!! Basically it was a matter of recording my data (name, education, etc) and all my family's names, my hobbies, personality, etc.

Anyway, I am now DONE with all the requirements for the adoption, and I think the lawyer's hoping to have it done this month yet. That would be such a miracle!!! But such an answer to prayer. I need to get on the ball with the Canadian Sponsorship paperwork!!!

Apparently there's a chance that the laws will change, so that single people can't adopt. Or at least, they have to have boyfriends.

Has started LOVING books. ALSO loves the camera. He started smiling like this as soon as he saw me with the camera.

He's also learning to smell - loves scented tissues, but even likes smelling his diapers. The other day I told him to smile, and he started sniffing like he was smelling. Guess it does sound similar.

The shower water drains so slowly, it gives him time to play.

Well, I guess you're not reading this just to hear and see pictures of Caleb. But he pretty well is my life right now. It is really nice to have the time to dedicate to him.

It is a strange feeling to still be here in Haiti, and not be actively involved in Mission work. Time is flying, and it seems there is always something to do. Of course, since I don't have a vehicle, everything takes longer if I need to go out.

I feel very blessed at this moment, it's like a "pause in time", only things don't pause. But emotionally speaking, I'm starting to relax, which I realized I needed a lot. I don't know for sure what I'll do after this stage, but God is faithful to guide me. He always has in the past, I don't doubt he will continue.

God bless you all!!!

Elsie

Here's a few site about the American attorney, Time Rowe, for those interested in possibly adopting from Haiti.

http://www.theindianalawyer.com/indianapolis-attorney-creates-rescue-mission-for-displaced-children/PARAMS/article/26763

http://goodnessofgodministries.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/voice-of-the-orphan-in-haiti/

Home.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Greetings from beautiful Haiti!

Yea, I’m still alive! I trust many of you that read this have Facebook, and so keep up a little with what I’m doing. For those that don’t, I’ll recap a little what has been happening with me.

Life has changed drastically for me. Both for the good, and also for the sad.

For awhile now, I have felt that my time at Canaanwas drawing to a close. It continually astounds me how God doesthis: I’mat a place without a timeframe – just till God leads me away, and somehow, when the time comes, I go. Sometimes (often) it is negativethings that let me know “you’re getting too comfortable”, or “too settled”, or anything else…. And God says it’s time. It does not always happen suddenly, and in my case it has basically been adding up since almost the beginning of the year. And neither is it always a pleasant thing. For me it’s been a great struggle. The end??? Now what??? I think that is the biggest fear – now what?

Quite awhile ago, I started looking around for another place to live. One of the reasons was that with adopting Caleb, I really needed myown home, where they could come do a “home study”. I am able to do the adoption as a Haitian Resident, which is really nice. Secure and safe residences are hard to find around here, especially for a single woman and child, so I decided to go ahead and rent a small apartmentat Club Indigo. It’s close to Canaan (1 mile) and of course a beautiful place to live (though very expensive for someonenot working).

Love the Sunsets!

It is now 4 weeks since I moved in,and the time has flown!!!! I just love it here. I don’t even mind doing my own cooking so far! It comes with housekeeping included, and I just LOVE that! After living in a house that was dirty ALL the time, it is wonderful to live in a place that is clean ALL the time (except when it’s not temporarily :)

Bones are so fun - this T-bone kept him busy quite awhile

Caleb also just loves this place.

He is such a happy fellow.

He enjoys seeing his friends at Canaan, but if I put him down, he screams.

He has started saying “bye bye”accompanied by waving. Hello and bye are the same waving. He is such a peopleperson. He will walk along and someone passes and he starts waving at them, or pointing to them to draw their attention. Everybody here loves him. His biggest joy is playing with the neighbor boy, and all their toys outside. That’s when I take my computer or other work outside and let him be.

"In front of our house, playing with neighbor boy, Judah Reeves"

I was thinking today, this is my transition time – not quite sodrastic going from Canaan to Canada to live. Honestly, I’m not very excited about going back to the North American life style. There are parts I really dread. Of course many things are easier, but I’m not sure if I won’t feel a little guilty living like that. I think the thing I fear most is that I will enjoy it too much and get too comfortable.

But meanwhile, I’m still here, and I’m going to enjoy my time here. As of end of this month, I don’t plan to work at the clinic anymore. That gives me a really sad feeling sometimes. I loved that work. I’m sad it came to an end. It doesn’t feel real yet. I am really still in Haiti, and not working there??? I have some projects to finish and someone to train, but otherwise, I’ve already stepped aside a lot.

I know a lot of people are probably asking “Why?” There are many reasons that I cannot write about. But the ones I can – Adopting Caleb is definitely one. The adoption is going very well. In fact, the lawyer said the Haitian part of it should be done next month. That would be incredible!!! 2 months or less! It’s not a done deal yet though, so we’ll see. I love the chance I’m having of staying home more and taking care of him – being a stay-at-home mom.

The Canadian side of it is a bit more complicated than I expected. Because I was not born in Canada myself, I cannot make him a Canadian citizen right away. I have to go the ‘Sponsoring him to Canada’ route, and getting him a Permanent Residency card first. Which means that we have to live in Canada as well. So I’m working hard trying to get that started, figuring what forms to fill out, etc.

Today the lawyer asked for more photos of Caleb, and I also need a bunch for the Sponsor application, so I packed up Caleb, walked to the road (10 min), and took a TapTap to St Marc. Caleb is a true Haitian!!! It did not take him 2 minutes to figure out you tap to stop. All he lacked was the coin to make noise (I couldn’t do that to the driver; he’d have had him stopping constantly J.) The truck would slow down to pick someone up and instantly he’d pretend to tap. So funny. He was oohing and trying to talk constantly. Haitians aren’t really used to that in babies I think – at least not in public. Anyway, he had the time of his life, sitting on the last seat in a crowded pickup truck. Arriving, I took a moto taxi to the photo place. That too was a novelty to him and he loved it. Taking the photos presented a new challenge for the photographer. I think he seldom had a toddler that he couldn’t get to stop smiling (the photos were suppose to be without smiling). Caleb is so photogenic. He’d be all serious looking around and then when we had him look at the camera, he’d sit and grin. He held still nicely but grinning. It was so funny.

We then walked to the grocery store, and I tried to gage how much would fit into my backpack.

Haven’t quite figured out how to do grocery shopping without a vehicle. There were so many things I needed. I finally got all my meats and things into the backpack and carried the eggs and bread. The mototaxi was not as fun this time. Holding Caleb in one arm and the eggs in the other, my backpack was top heavy, enough to lift my feet from the pedals at times; and of course I couldn’t hold on to the driver. I was so happy at the end that I hadn’t tumbled over backwards J Don’t think I’ll do that again. For some reason, at the end, the driver took off with out accepting payment. Still can’t quite figure out why. It wasn’t like he was flirting or anything like that. I’m wondering if he really was a taxi or if he just happened to be waiting outside the grocery store for someone and I just took him for one. I did kind of ask if he was a taxi… Anyway, an empty taptap was loading up, and as luck would have it, being the first, and having a baby, they let me ride in the front. Whew! My eggs were saved! Had a moment of confusion though when a well-dressed lady wanted to ride up front too. How she thought she would fit in the single seat with me and Caleb, I’m still not sure. She wanted me to move into the console area). No way possible. It was a kind of double cab (not nice back seats) and she ended up going there. Guess for her that was better than in the back. I would have preferred the back. I had left Caleb’s stroller at the guard house close to the road, so was able to use that for my heavy groceries. Caleb loves walking that stretch anyway. He got to see a rooster (first time??) and honestly got scared of it’s crowing.

Hey, I just thought you might like a glimpse into how people go grocery shopping in other countries. J Enjoy your grocery carts to your vehicles!

Last leg of my grocery shopping trip.

Though life is much more relaxed now, there are still alway issues to deal with. Please pray for me during this time of transition, and Caleb's adoption.

Sincerely,

Elsie