Day Two

Introductions were crazy ~ to say the least. As everyone who has walked into Angel House after first arriving with a mission team knows, the kids get so excited. We did enter during snack time and the children were a bit quieter than usual, but it was still crazy!

My first thought as we entered the orphanage was *MY WORD! OUR KIDS ARE HUGE!* I turned to Mike and repeated my thought. “Our kids look so huge!” And, of course Mike has a worldly, highly intelligent and most thoughtful response, “What do ya expect?” The Angel House children seemed so teeny tiny next to my American, beef-eating brood! I figured as much before we arrived; it was just surprising to see first-hand.

Daniel came up to us right away. He remembered me and asked for “chocolate” when he saw me. In May, I brought down protein drinks and protein bars for him ~ “chocolate” as he called it. J Funny how they remember the food. Ha! Our kids were a bit shy and standoffish at first. They understood Daniel was not aware that we were adopting him. They were afraid they would spill the beans or something. Megan broke the ice, however, by immediately picking him up. She has longed to carry around a younger sibling and her wish had been fulfilled. After that, it seemed as if my kids threw off their shoes, made themselves at home and fit right in. It was a wonderful feeling for my heart and made me so at ease about the week-long visit that was underway.
…Last year, we told the kids we were considering adopting a little boy from Haiti and we wanted to know how the girls felt about having another brother. Megan’s only response was, “As long as he is small enough so I can carry him around, I am fine with a brother.” She really had no preference to a boy or a girl, how old they were or what their name would be. All she wanted to be able to do was hold her sibling and carry them around all over the place….

As we took some time saying hello to Daniel, many of the other children came over to get a hug. Tim and Kate loved all the attention from the get-go! Soon, introductions we underway and many of the boys were waiting to play with Tim. Reece and Jonas were right there ready for some action and Tim could not wait to get to know them. He had heard many stories, read several blog entries about them and was so thrilled to have finally met them. He introduced himself to Reece as “Chicago Tim” and it was the start to a wonderful friendship.
….When I first met Reece in November, he was going up to each team member asking where they live. More specifically, he was asking us, “Are you from Evansville,” the town where he would be living with his forever family. I told him I was from Chicago and that became my name for the rest of the week. So now, whenever I first see Reece, I give him a big hug and say, “Hello, Evansville,” and he replies with, “Hello, Chicago…”

While the kids were all getting to know each other, I noticed someone very special coming down the stairs with Mama Michelle. My first thought was how sweet and generous of Michelle to get Jonathan dressed and ready for our arrival! She has so many other things going on and two girls of her own to care for, and she took the time with our sweetie.
...This was the first time I was meeting Michelle. Even before we spoke, I knew what a wonderful, loving and kind person she was. ***Thank you, again, Michelle, for such a loving gesture and help with our family’s introduction!***

Michelle handed Jonathan over to me as we exchanged hellos. It felt so good to have my little boy in my arms again! Immediately, all three kids ran over to meet him, hold him and love on him. However, he was going to have no of it! If getting to know these people meant Mama was going to put him down, he did not care to know them. The kids were a bit disappointed at first that they could not share him; however, they got over it as all the others were around ready to be picked up at any time.

Soon it was onto St. Joseph’s Guest House. The team had already unloaded the Tap-Tap and were anxious to get grab dinner. So, we quickly said our goodbyes and headed back with Jonathan in tow. What a night this was going to be ~ four kids and a hungry husband in Haiti for the very first time….

There are so many smiles and hugs wating for the team as they arrive at Three Angels! Reaching up for hugs... The kids are so excited when teams arrive!