dancin in the guesthouse

This is Tiyou and he is going to be in the dance Kel and I are choreographing for the Christmas Pageant. We're doing a hip hop version of jingle bells... what could be cuter than that? AND we have all of the 5 & 6 year olds so it's bound to be an awesome performance. We had our first practice last night and although we only got through the introduction before they all had to go to the bathroom and started begging for chocolate, it was a really good start. And we are so excited for Whitney, Anna, Courtney and Liz to visit this week! God is so good!

beauty.

hi friends!

sorry it has been so long since we last posted or blogged or whatever you call this. It has been busy around maison d'lumiere this past month and the next two weeks are about to get crazier. But we promise to try to update this thing at least a few more times because we only have a little over two weeks left! We can't believe it! But one thing we are sure of is that we are in love.....

-We are in love with Jesus
-We are in love with the kids at this orphanage
-We are in love with the people in this country
-We are in love with the wonderful staff we get to work with each day (that one sounds kind of weird)
-We are in love with Mariah Carey christmas songs
-We are in love with riding in the back of trucks and flying over pot holes
-We are in love with ice cold showers and haitian spaghetti

Maybe we like the last 3 more than love them... but haitian spaghetti is really good.
 

 This picture is of our little english class we do twice a week with the neighborhood boys 

hiking in haiti..

Today, Kel, Jack and I decided to take a few of our little boys on a "hike"

But, first they all had to check under some random house's gate because Kenny saw a big dog...

After that we started our little adventure, but not all of the boys felt like walking, so Kel and I ended up with Wilson and Stanley on our backs the entire time...

It was a long trek, through the neighborhood and then down the ravine and back up. We had to watch out for thorn bushes because each time we'd run into them Wilson and Stanley would scream "Owww, prickees!" 

We timed it perfectly so that we reached the top of our hike at sunset! Jack tried to sit the boys down and tell them about the story of King Saul in the Old Testament, but they were all much too worried about everybody having to go to the bathroom

This was the closest we got to getting a picture of the whole group. Turns out taking eight little boys, all under nine years old, on a hike through a random part of Port Au Prince, is quite the adventure.

P.S. Happy birthday Kevin Weiner! (man, he gets more shout outs on this blog than anybody)

"Let the little children come to me"

 This is Tiyou. He's got to be one of the cutest kids I've ever seen. I've told him many times, "I just wanna eat you Tiyou" which probably doesn't sound quite right to a kid who doesn't really know our English idioms. Tiyou can often be found skateboarding around the Bens with little jean overalls on (or a giant Hawaiian shirt that he likes to keep completely unbuttoned, his choice on the outfit depending on the day) or flying his kite (a plastic bag tied to a string) with his brothers Wilson and Stanley.  Today he grabbed Taylor's chapstick out of her purse, smashed it all over his lips, and then attempted to put some on his brother's face. He just looked at us with a huge smile. Taylor didn't ask for it back.

 Us with the boys. We miss you Whitney.

 Daphne, Davidson, and Lukey braiding Taylor's hair. Each time they've finished a braid, Taylor has unbraided one more. She wasn't quite ready for the Tami hair-do

 Estaline loving her new potty chair that our friend Angelo built for her. She started kindergarten this year so the diapers need to go, and she agrees. She's just a chubby love with a whole lot of sass for a girl her size.

Nahom and Angelo, two of our neighborhood boys that go to MDL school. I chased them down and snuck up behind them to take this picture because i thought this was the cutest thing. It's so sweet to see that now some of the kids that live in the tent city nearby are able to go to school, thanks to sponsors back in the states. It's amazing to me how stoked these kids are to learn. For them, school means moving up in life. One of our feeding program kids, Eddie, asked Taylor last week in his sweet broken English if she could meet with him and teach him English. Eddie can't afford to go to school but wants so badly to learn; he carries around his old tattered English phrase book with him everywhere, and now Taylor has had a few teaching sessions with him. The more we're here, the more I'm realizing that getting an education is CENTRAL in allowing people to lift themselves from the never-ending cycle of poverty. If you would ever consider sponsoring a tent-city kid to go to school, please let us know because we can talk to the principal and work out a sponsor system. That's one investment that will not burn up in the end : )  Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me." Matt. 19:14

I whip my hair back & forth...

Tami

This is Tami, she's the house mom for our little girls and she is awesome. She is awesome for a number of reasons, one of them being that she lets the girls braid her hair and put in extensions. Just in case you are confused, that's not her real hair.

Kelly had the genius idea to record Tami throwing her hair around to Willow Smith's, "I whip my hair back & forth." So that's how we spent Saturday afternoon, trying to bribe Tami into letting us make a music video of her and we succeeded. This is a picture of Kel & I jumping in on the action. Our connection is too weak or slow or something to upload videos, but don't worry, we'll continue to try! 

lazy sunday

Kelly is sick... with a fever.
And she has been in bed all day, so, being the supportive friend that I am, I have decided to be honorary sick with her. This includes laying in bed all day and taking naps. And updating the blog. And drinking the diet coke that Brit bribes me with when I babysit her kids (I secretly don't need to be bribed because they are the two cutest little boys ever, but don't tell her that) and listening to the Reality podcast. Sundays in Haiti are usually pretty busy because we have church, lunch at the Manassero's and then soccer at Quisqueya Chapel.  But, the change of pace today has been so nice. I picked a few of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks, so here they are:

Wilson

this little guy loves to skateboard

Kel, Emmanuel & Richard  

 isn't this the sweetest picture?!

Junior & Keso

Two of our boys, watching soccer at the bins

 A day at the beach

We drove for two and a half hours up the coast and got to spend a day at the beach! And that is baby Isaiah, i'm not sure i've ever met a more precious babe.

 Hangin at the bins with Emmanuel

 I hope you guys can tell that we have fallen in love with these kids. Yep. Head over heels.

P.S. Kel is feeling a lot better now! :)

One more reason we love it here:

lookin goooood

this kid.

yes, in case you are wondering, he is wearing snakeskin, adult size 10 cowboy boots. and I think we can all agree, those are some sweet boots.