Hangin #2

Here is part two of yesterdays video, and yes to those of you wondering it was not a good idea to give them skittles and other candies before bed.

We made it home

We made it home last night around midnight PST, after a long day of travel. We woke up in Fort Lauderdale at 3:30 am EST to assemble our things and take the taxi to the airport for our 7:00 flight. We arrived in Salt Lake at 10:30 where Charitys Dad picked us up and then let Charity and I crash for a couple hours while he took the kids on a treasure hunt. We then had the opportunity to meet for an early dinner with Sarah, Miriam & Scott, Deborah & Vinny, and kids it was short but so nice to catch up with family. Our flight was delayed about an hour leaving SLC, but Jonathan and Ashley were there at SeaTac waiting patiently for us.

I wanted to share this last week but I could not get it to load. This is just some pre bedtime video of the Grace Case Bunch.

Thank you all for your support and prayers over the last two weeks, keep checking in with us as we will continue to post some more videos, pictures and plans. Thanks Tadd

Heading out tomorrow

It is with saddness and joy that we leave tomorrow morning. We leave Port-au-Prince at 11:00 local time. (Currently in the central time zone, as Haiti decided a couple years ago to not change their clocks, so yes it is the same time here as in Detroit!?!?!?) It was with much regret that we left the Ebenhacks, who were so so hospitable it would make you forget that you were in a third world country.

Our flight from Cap Haitien was okay except that we were actually "fish tailing", a first for me in a airplane. Tomorros we spend the night in Fort Lauderdale then off to home. See ya soon!

To market

Ok, for those of you who Tadd totally freaked out with the spider picturesyesterday. Just wanted to let you know that we researched them on the internet and found that contrary to popular rumors, they say a bee sting is actually more dangerous than if our kids would have been bitten by the spider. The bite would only numb the spot where you were bitten and after a couple of hours feeling would come back with no long term effects. Now that we have that out of the way.

Tadd went to the open market area in town with Jerod and took some random pictures. This is the area that all the merchants come and spread out thier food on a blanket (i.e. fruit, vegetables, bread etc.) Then because you are American Haitians expect you to buy something from each vender at the market. So If you need 10 limes and 6 mangos with 2 loafs of bread. You buy 3 limes from the first vender, 2 mangos from the next vender, 1 loaf of bread from the next vender and so on until your grocery list is complete. Almost every vender has the same things so you don't really have a lot of choices either. This is a nicer market as they have umbrellas to shade them. The one I went to with Jenn (and forgot the camera) had about 10 acres of venders covered above by a maze of intertwined ropes tied to shredded tarps or old clothes or blankets sewn together.

After that they went up to the huge Cathedral up on the hill here in Cap Haitien. It is so sad that this beautiful building is towering over starvation and people who bathe themselves in sewer water. Catholacism is very big here in Haiti. Which you would think gives you a little hope for the country. Tragically the catholic leaders are preists by day and witch doctors by night. Almost every religion here in Haiti is mixed with Voodoo ( the native religion brought over with the slaves from Africa).

Statistics say that 35% of Haitians confess to being Evangelical Christians, only 5% of that 35% do not practice voodoo along with their "chirstianity". In Haiti people usually say they are christian because they know that is what the Christian missionaries want to hear that and it will get them something if they profess to beleive. It is a lot like the people in the Old Testament too. They worshiped God at times, but then worshiped Idols also, just to make sure they were covered all their bases. Making sure whatever could work for them would. Since the african slaves that were brought here in captivity, aquired the Island of Haiti and their freedom, by dedicating the Island to Satan, they have realized that Satan worship or voodoo has worked for them, So don't want to totally give it up totally, therefore they just do both.

Anyway, probably more that you ever wanted to know, but it is hopefully helpful in understand the great need for mission work here. Lots of missionaries here are very helpful short term to bring in temporary help and money to the Haitian people, but have a hard time teaching them that they can change their living situation and poverty by making themselves self sufficiant. Like taking the money they get and buying seeds for a garden or investing their money to expand their buisness. Instead they spend what they have right away and spend it on food for today and a cell phone instead of saving it to have food for the whole week. This makes them rely so much on the help from the missionaries, then when the missionaries leave the people go right back into their starvation and poverty. We would like to work more on living in Haiti and living as an example of how you can take the support as you start out as a missionary and then use it to put self sustaining systems in place so you can eventually become self supporting. And in turn teach the Haitians that they to can do the same.

We are going to be sad to leave in the next couple of days, but excited to be home and share what the Lord has been doing in our hearts. Tomorrow, (Tuesday) we fly back to Port au Prince from Cap Haitian, spend the night, fly back to Fort Lauderdale, spend the night, then on Thurday we fly into Utah for a 7 hour lay over with Charity's family and then fly home to seattle that evening. Please pray for smooth travels and calm kids, as they are warn out and ready for some normalness back in their lives. We will see you all soon and we want to thank you so much for your prayer covering while we were here.

Yesterdays excitement

A couple of days ago Kenya, Elijah and I went out looking for taranchulas and found several like this one.

Yesterday the kids went out with out me and found this guy!!!! After some enitial fear we caught it andthen they were pretty proud that they found it all by themselves.

Everybody needs a little time away

Our gracious hosts the Ebenhacks took us to a wonderful beach on the otherside side of the mountian. It was nice to see a glimpse of the more beautiful side of Haiti.

A view looking back at Cap Haitien

Getting ready to go fishing.

A little taste of Haiti

Wednesday we went to visit the director of Kids Alive here in Cap Haitian they are living on some newly purchased property, where they are in the process of building thier home. The next step will be to build multiple homes for all of the families that do "foster care " for the kids that go to the kids alive schools. Everything you build here in Haiti is built from cinder blocks and cement. Any cement you have to free pour you have to make your own rebar forms for with very limited tools so the process is very long. This is the upstairs of thier home that is not yet finished. When finished it will be to house mission teams that come.

This is a truck we came upon on the road, it is very common to have vehicles broken down in the middle of the road. As you can see Haitians are very hard on thier vehicles and the roads certainly don't help as these guys got stuck in a pothole.


Enjoying the effects of 6 day old sunburn.

Our friend Jarod returning home on his preferred mode of transportation.

The girls in one of the childrens homes working on puzzles.While hanging out at the directors house we decided to partake in the mangos that were falling off of a tree in their yard and could not understand why all the people who lived and worked there had not had any but they were delicious anyway.

There are 2 types of mangoes, One of them is really stringy and can stick in your teeth, Justin said he didn't have any of the problems Charity was experiencing.

Looking out

With all the kid pictures I've been posting I thought maybe a break would be nice. Here are a couple scenic photos.

This is my attempt to relive the best of the Sonics in Seattle.

Health and wellness report

I'm happy to report that spirits are up today!! Elijah is fine, Kenya is still a little lethargic. I have some neat videos, that I'm having trouble posting but mean while here are some more kids photos. Comfy bed time reading
Bubbles are always a hit.
Sun burns are somewhat of a novelty
Can't ever get enough!!!

Prayer request

As we have been spending some sweet time with Jarod and Jennifer this week trying to better understand what the Lords will for us in Haiti is, we have been under attack physically by the devil. Tadd and I experienced some stomach problems earlier this week in Port au Prince and we were glad the kids did not have to go through the same sickness. But last night they both woke up crying because their stomachs hurt and spent most of the night on the toilet. They have not mentioned anything about home since we have been in Haiti, But some how when you are sick the only thing they wanted last night was to go home. I'm sure those of you who are parents can imagine how hard it is to see your children sick and then feel like you can not go through the ussual channels you are familiar with to help them feel better. We are getting some great help from Jarod and Jennifer and we are praising God that this attack came while we were in Cap Haitian with them, instead of in Port au Prince. God is good to know what a mommy can handle, and to know when American kids are sick having lots of movies and a DVD player is the perfect antidote. He is also so good to put a wonderful psalm in your daily reading that is the perfect antidote for a worried mommy. We are continually amazed at how faithful the Lord is, even when we are not. For any of you who may be grandma's, grandpa's or auntie's to our blessed, but sick little kids, please know they are in no danger and this stomach bug is very common in Haiti and can be caught just from walking around. It passes quickly and after you have had it, it is unlikely that you will get it agian. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We are looking forward to seeing you all soon, in a cool, cloudy Washington. Tadd will try to post later with more pictures. Love you all.

Detailing our 1st Day etc...

I wanted to clear up some of the details upon or arrival in Haiti. We arrived at the PAP airport and paid a "taxi" driver to take us to the Visa Lodge where I had made reservations online from home before we left. When the "taxi" driver finished unloading our luggage, I made my way upstairs to the front desk, where I learned that there were no reservations and "no room in the inn". Of course by this time our "taxi" driver had already left. The front desk called another "taxi" for us, which arrived about 20 minutes later. The kids were some what passified when the Hotel security guards which were in fatigues and fully armed began to talk to us, I use the phrase "some what" very liberaly as we were all trying to adjust to the heat and humidity. We then decided to go to the orphanage first to see the kids and ask there for a second opinion on lodging. Finding the orphanage was somewhat of a challenge for our "taxi" driver as street signs are scarce to nonexistant. We arrived none the less and being at the Orphanage was great. The kids had so much fun and all were excited to get reacquainted with their siblings, there we were told that El Rancho would be a good comparible option. (for you Lyndenites it's not El Ranchito) We went to El Rancho and found out that a room with 2 beds was $170/night! not really an option for us. Exasperated I asked our driver to take us to the Auberge du' Quebec in Carrefour a "Suburb" of Port-au-Prince near the orphanage where we first started. The driver charged us an absurd price of $100. (4.5 years ago I paid $20 for almost the same route) Needless to say we were happy to be all together for the 1st time and settled into our room.

Some fun hang time with the Grace Case Bunch. I also wanted to let you know that you an drop me an e-mail if the comment thing is a little to public for ya.

Pool pics!!!!

Bon Jour!!

We should be free and clear with our internet connection for the next week, as we are here with our friends the Ebenhacks in Cap Haitien. I hope to post several times today, with lots of pictures. I may even get Charity to post!! These are pictures from our arrival at the Orphanage.

Back on Line!!!

I don't have a lot of time right now to go into great detail about our adventures upon our arrival in Haiti, except to say it has been very Haitian. Kids are great, they seem to be bonding seamlessly! Annecy is very Kenya-ish. For those who know and understand Kenya, this creates much work for Dad and Mom. Isaiah is great, very, very respectful and believes everything must be orderly. I left my opened suitcase on the bed while he had stepped out, upon his return he flatly declared "Who did thees?" with his Creole acsent.
Charity and I are most taken back by their great grasp of English.
We are currently at the Auberge du Quebec hotel in Carrefour, which is nice because of our familiarity with it but it is quite a ways away from Delmas #75 where the Orphanage is located.
I can not post pictures at this time as I have to use the hotels pay computer, but should be able to within a few days. Thanks again for all your support and prayers. Love Tadd.

A room with a view?

For any of you who have 5 & 6 yearolds, know 5 & 6 yearolds or have been 5 & 6 yearolds you understand that travel can be adventurous if not down right hairpulling. Well we got into Ft. Lauderdale last night at 12:25 am local time and got a taxi to our "America's Best" hotel. When it was all said and done I had to shake my head and ask... WHOS KIDS ARE THESE!!!! They were great. I was fine. Mom was so-so, :-) Gotta get out of here now as we need to get back to the airport (yea). Thought I might share the view I got to experience while writing this.

Don't you know I would love your comments!!

Greetings, many of you are here for the first time and I would love to hear from you so pop in a comment or two if ya have the time. God bless ya, Tadd

Some facts on Haiti for ya

• The government is not able to provide the resources to educate the nation's next generation.
  


• The unemployment rate is over 80%.
  


• More than half of Haitians live on less than a dollar a day.
  


• There are few paved roads, an inadequate supply of potable water, minimal utilities, and depleted forests.
  


• About 60% of the population lives in abject poverty.
  


• Less than 20% of Haitians age 15 and over can read and write.
  


• Fewer than 75% of children attend school.
  


• 40% of the Haitian population does not have access to primary health care.
  


• The United Nations estimates 6% of Haitians are infected with HIV/AIDS. The highest rate in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 30,000 people die of AIDS every year.
  


• One in twenty Haitians is infected with HIV/AIDS and there are over 150,000 AIDS orphans.


• 10% of the child population in Haiti will die before the age of 4.


• 7% (300,000) of the children in Haiti are enslaved. They are as young as 3 years old. They often suffer sexual, emotional, physical abuse and possibly death.

Our Tots

Here are some more pictures of our tots for your enjoyment.