Our Trip to Haiti - as told by Megan

Dear Friends,

I wanted to write and give you a quick update about our trip to Haiti. There are not any words that can adequately describe the devastation in that country. I personally have never experienced or seen anything like it. What stuck out to me is that there is such resilience amongst the people. The Haitian people are beautiful, and both Jared and I fell in love with the country.

We also fell in love with someone else! We have attached pictures of John Diego, the little boy that stole both of our hearts. We are moving forward to adopt him and are just waiting to be a little further along in the process to see who our baby girl might be! The first day in Haiti Jared and I spent the day in the orphanage. We walked in and a mob of about 25 2 year olds smuggled us with hugs and smiles. All of them wanted to be held so we just plopped ourselves on the floor and held them and played with them for hours. At one point I couldn't even feel my legs they were so numb from sitting. While I was sitting on the floor I noticed one little boy who stood and just kept looking at me, taking everything in. I kept inviting him over to my lap and finally he walked up to me and nestled right in to my chest and threw his arms around me. This didn't make the others happy at all. All of the kids scream and cry and soon as you put them down.

There were a few times throughout the day I had to leave the creche ( orphanage) and go for a walk to just breathe and take everything in. I kept thinking to myself, "How could I even be drawn to one child when there are so many... the need is so great!" We went to Haiti to just serve and see this orphanage, not to "pick out" a child. Later in the day, Jared and I walked around to all the little metal double stacked cribs and read all of the kids names and birth dates. So many of the cribs had toys and pictures hanging off of them. (We found out that of the 78 children at the creche, only 15 of them didn't have adoptive families.) When we got to John Diego's crib, there were toys hanging on it so we both assumed he had already been spoken for.

That night we helped tuck in all of the kids for bed which was so hard for us as parents. These babies are put in a clean diaper, and a pair of pajamas and are placed in these little metal cribs that have a simple sheet. It was so hard to place them in there and tie the side rail up. Some would just scream and I would try to comfort them and do everything I could not to cry.

The second day there we went to a village to see another orphanage that is just getting started. When we returned that evening, we were exhausted but so excited to run back down to see all the little faces we had fallen in love with. Jared and I went back again and helped do the night time routine with a room full of boys. I happened to walk into the room that little John Diego was in and there he was looking at me through his little crib rails. My heart stopped. I went over to his crib with tears in my eyes and rubbed his tummy. I kept looking at the toys on his crib and thought, "some family is so lucky to have you!" I left his room with a lump in my throat.

I went to dinner and saw the director of the creche. I leaned over and asked Jared if we could just see if he really did have a family. She took us down to her office and got out the papers she had the day before. There on the very bottom line was John Diego - AVAILABLE. Jared and I both got teary eyed and knew this was the little boy we traveled to Haiti to meet. We were able to talk to the director that night and made arrangements to "hold" him for us. We got up the next morning at 6:30 and spent the 2 hours we had before we left with him and then had to say goodbye.

I told him his time in an orphanage would be a blink compared to what the rest of his life will be. I already look at him and think what a miracle... He has been rescued and set apart. As sad as the orphanage is, I really believe the kids there are the lucky ones of Haiti. Although their beds don't have blankets, they have a bed. They have food, they have clothing, they have people caring for them... much more then the ones you see when you are driving through the streets of Haiti... and now John Diego will have a family that loves him and a community of praying people that will pray for him and his little spirit.

I could go on and on... What God has done in us these past few months on this journey has forever changed our lives. We can't wait to go back and see John. In the next few months we will be getting our referral for our baby girl and then will travel back to visit both of them. Jared and I will take turns flying to Haiti every few months until we bring our babies home.

SOOO here is what we need prayer for... This process can be LONG... they say to plan on up to 2 years. I know with God He can make things move quicker then that, but in the waiting time we want to rely and trust that His timing is perfect! Please pray for the officials in Haiti that make decisions concerning adoption, especially President Martelly and Mme Jeanty Villedrouin the IBESR lady who signs off on adoptions. Pray for John Diego, his protection, that God would heal him from all that he has already experienced in his life already and pray for our family... that we would be able wait patiently upon the Lord.

So there you have it... the story! Much more to come...