Making Melodies in Haiti

First of all we have some really great news today...baby Josiah flew to Port au Prince this morning with Katie and Blake and will be in the States by the end of this week on his medical visa. He has been such a fighter and we are all so happy that he will be feeling so much better soon! He looked adorable this afternoon as he prepared to head to the airport. He was really alert and awake with his eyes looking around and checking things out. We can only imagine how much pain he has endured, but God obviously has special plans for him.
We have gotten 2 new babies. Ricardo came to us from a nearby village. His mom is very sick and can't care for him right now. Due to her conditions, it is better for Ricardo to be completely away from her so he is staying here for a while. He has tested negative for both TB and HIV which is great! He is about 7 months old, but already has a little mouth full of teeth. He has a gorgeous smile and the sweetest personality. He sits and plays and has the hugest grin when people will walk by and talk to him. COTP is helping Ricardo's mom so she can get better and care for her son again soon.
The other new baby came just yesterday. Her name is Jennifer, and like Ricardo, her mom is too sick to care for her. She is 1-year old and weighs only 11 pounds. She is tiny, especially because she is tall. She has the sweetest face but has yet to smile at us. She can only eat tiny amounts of food and doesn't suck from a bottle. Anyone who sees her would fall in love with her instantly though...she is so beautiful.
Daryl and Sarah arrived back at COTP today from their month visiting family and friends at home. It will be really great to have them back here, and all the kids were thrilled to see them.

The kids of course are still fabulous, and keeping us busy all the time. They love singing and really get into a new song we taught them, "making melodies." The song has lots of actions and even the youngest ones will do them with us now. This afternoon we had about 25 kids lined up in the yard singing "making melodies" with all the kids flapping their arms, turning in circles, and sticking their tongues out. After everytime we finish, one of them will shout out, "do it again!" They like some of the funniest songs...of course the old classics like "Old McDonald" and "Jesus Loves Me" but lately they have gotten into the "Johnny Appleseed" prayer song. They love to all shout "amen" at the end with us. They also love when we sing a song about piki pikis (which are motor scooters in Uganda) that we made up. We'll walk out and they'll say, "sing piki piki!" It's funny because in creole the word piki (I'm sure it's spelled differently) means vaccination so they will come give us little pinches or pretend shots while we are singing it.
Simon had his first birthday on Sunday. We made him a big piece of cake with frosting and let him dig into it just like at a proper one year old birthday party. He was so delicate about it and just picked the frosting off the top, little by little and put it in his mouth. He is the happiest little guy and is so close to walking. He has these explosive smiles and will come crawling over, cracking up, thrilled that he has made over to you. He is so cute!
This morning before lunch, the kids were playing with a long box that seemed to be floating around the hallway. Some were trying to get in it. Arielle had the great idea of putting the box on the kids heads so they can't see and then having them walk around in it. It was absolutly hilarious!!! The box went past their knees on most of them and made it so hard for them to walk. It just looked like a big box with little legs sticking out the bottom. Arielle put it on her head and even tried doing a little run in it. That had all of us cracking up, even the nannies who were feeding babies in the next room. Nadege was one of the cutest in the box. She is such a little peanut that it went all the way down to the ground. She tried to run, but she couldn't really move because the box was in the way...all you could hear was her little crack up from inside the box. All of the kids wanted a turn and it was a great way to pass time and have some laughs before lunch. For all you Friends fans out there, it was almost as funny as Chandler in the box.
Yesterday Arielle and I decided to go for walk during naptime just to clear our minds and relax a little bit without 65 kids around. Well the walk felt so great that we decided to just keep on going for a while. A while turned into about 2.5 hours and 7 miles. Keep in mind it was also super hot with no shade. We were exhausted by the time we made it back, but by that time all of the kids were up and ready for afternoon snack and playtime. We got to see a lot more of the area around us and ran into lots of cute kids in different colored school uniforms.

Valentine's Party

We had a Valentine's Party for the kids last week. They decorated Valentines with glitter, stickers, and crayons, and each frosted and sprinkled their own heart shaped cookie. All the kids were so excited to decorate their valentines and were really interested in all the new supplies they got to use, especially the glitter glue. We split the older kids into 2 groups so we could spend more time helping each child, and less time yelling. With the alligator kids, we brought them over 2 at a time because they needed one on one supervision with their crafts. They too, loved the glitter glue and stickers. Everyone enjoyed a valentine sucker while they worked which was nice because it got everything sticky. Their finished valentines will go in their files so their adoptive families will recieve them when their child comes home.
All the kids got so excited about the cookies! They all sat nicely around their little table and we set the plain cookies in front of them. Many of them were thrilled with just this and tried to eat it immediately. We had to tell them over and over again to wait so they could put frosting and sprinkles on their cookie. With the younger alligator and elephant kids we would pretty much just frost their cookie while holding their hand to the knife. They loved spooning the sprinkles on even though sometimes they would fly all over the table before even making it to the cookie. At home, children would have cried about that...here it was hilarious to them. Seeing the sprinkles on the spoon, Caleb immediately brought the spoon to his mouth and ate them! With the help of the nannies, we were able to have them all wait until everyone was finished and pray before they started eating their cookies. That is really impressive considering some of these kids are less than 2 years old. When it was time to eat, the kids mostly picked the sprinkles off one by one and ate them, or licked the frosting off. None of them really understood that you were supposed to take a big bite. We gave the youngest kids pre-frosted cookies which they loved! Everyone got good and messy and it was lots of fun. The nannies got almost as excited as the kids and were eager to see what was going on and really helped get the kids to wait until everyone was finished before eating. When we went outside to decorate cookies with the older kids, they were able to do most of it themselves. They really loaded on the frosting and covered their cookies in sprinkles. We kept saying, "well, I hope you like frosting and I hope you like sprinkles!" Jesse called out to his friends, "scrub on the frosting!" Everyone thought their cookie was beautiful and they loved them too.

Milot

Wheats and treats!

Today at snack time, Magalie, who is 3, got to pass out the snack to her Alligator friends. She walked over so proudly with her giant box of Frosted Mini Wheats and popped up when we asked her to give some to each child. So then she pulls out one bite sized frosted mini wheat and places it on the table in front of the first kid. She then proceeds to shout out "Mesi" because she had heard us telling the other kids to tell HER thank-you when she handed them their snack. She starts moving around the table continuing to give each child only one, when she accidently drops the box. A few squares fall out and Robert hurried over to help pick them up but Maga was not having it. She was afraid he was trying to eat some, and so looked at him and gave him a stern, "Robert, NO!". Then, flustered from her spill, she goes back to sit down at her spot so she can eat her own singular wheat, when her nannies remind her that she has forgotten to hand out snack to at least 3/4 of the kids sitting patiently at the table. As if it had just casually slipped her mind, she pops back up with an "Oh!" and then a little giggle and hurries over to finish her way around the table, but this time decides to start handing out 2 wheats each, first to Thania. Thania, who is always concerned about others and fairness, looked up in surprise when she realized she had received an extra wheat and so started shouting "Kagalie" at the top of her lungs (Kagalie is the way all of the kids, including Maga, try to say her name) and jumped out of her seat. She fumbled around the pushed out chairs to catch up with Maga and put her extra wheat back in the box. Meanwhile, the three of us (ourselves and Maria) stood watching this whole situation trying not to laugh too loud and having to continuously look at one another with that face you make when kids are doing something so cute you can't even stand it. The whole situation was so adorable. The best part of the whole thing was that none of the other kids were upset that they were only getting one wheat, they just sat patiently, waiting to pray before eating it. They were overjoyed when we intervened, thanking Maga for her help, and then going back around the table to give each child a handful of wheats.
Today was Rachel's 23rd birthday! Being the good mom that I am, I had caramel pull-aparts in the oven when Rachel woke up! We brought TiKendy, Jodelyn, and Obenson over to help celebrate. We all wore party hats and when I went out to get the boys in my party hat, one of the nannies, Rosemon, asked if it was my birthday. I told her that it was actually Rachel's birthday, that she was 23, and Rosemon got so excited and had to yell to a number of the other nannies, informing them of the important news. A few minutes later she came to the door of the volunteer house and sang Happy Birthday in her best english. The boys loved the treat, and ate at least as much as we did! All of the big kids, who were out on the toddler pavilion, also were very curious to know why I was wearing a party hat, asking "Happy Birthday to me?". They are always hoping it is their birthday everytime they see a cakepan come out! They were all very excited to wish Rachel a happy birthday. Rachel picked tortillas for her birthday lunch, and Katie made a dang good pan of Special K Bars! Yum, yum, double up yum!!!!!!
We both just got the exciting news that we have an opportunity to go to town tomorrow to pick up supplies and mail with Blake. Hip hip horray! We truly love every moment with the kids, but there comes a time every few weeks when you need to step outside the gate for a few hours! We may even get to go to the market and buy plungers and toilet bowl scrubbers!!!! That should be quite the experience!

School Next Door

Sunday news

Hey,
Just some random info and stories today...
"Stop it okay guys, ok?" That is the new catch phrase around here with the big kids. They get really serious and point their little fingers at us, but can never keep a straight face. They think they are so clever to be scolding us.
We have successfully completed haircuts for all of the boys here at COTP. Their hair was really getting long and some of the older ones had even started asking for a haircut. Well, we sat out on the steps and each took a clippers and shaved their heads for several hours. Of course they all thought they looked "belle" afterwards when they looked in the little mirror. Most of them sat really nicely during it, but hated to have their hair combed out first. They all look so cute now with their almost bald little heads.
Ruthie has hit 7 pounds! She is officially a fatty and is getting cuter by the day. We have been trying to get her used to hanging out a little on her own when she is awake. She hates when she isn't being held and loves to yell at us to pick her up. She has been doing better in a swing though, and likes the motion of it.
There is a 21 month old little girl here named Yousline who is tiny for her age and developmentally behind due to some medical issues. She lives with the director, Sarah, in her appartment upstairs most of the time, but since Sarah has been away this month Yousline lives with us in the guest house. She is a true joy and we have all gotten to know her so well since she has become our roomie, especially Maria since she sleeps in a room with her. Yousline absolutly loves this butterfly play mat. She can play happily on it for literally hours a day, talking to herself and squeeling with excitement. She loves to grab at the toys and shake them, and rolls all over, reaching for new hanging toys. She has the greatest huge smile that comes in big bursts, completely lighting up her face. She is such a princess and wears special pretty clothes and only eats baby cereal if it's mixed with juice. We all adore her and get lots of laughs from her. She hates having her diaper changed, getting a bath, or changing clothes. She has the loudest cry, and such a sassy attitude. We love her sooo much. Just today, Jack age 2, was here in the guest house playing and when we turned back he was down by Yousline's mat playing with her. He was putting little cars in her hands and moving her arms up and down for her, talking away to her in Creole. After she wasn't sitting up or following him as he was pushing his cars away, he started telling her "vini, vini!" (come, come!) He pulled her arm and tried to get her to move, and she just looked up and grinned at him. It was so cute!
The big kids love to go around the yard hunting for guava in the little guave trees around the property. They will often go out in the afternoons and climb up on the little trees, reaching for guava that is completely not ripe. They are thrilled when they get one down and will immediately bite in. We always tell them, "no yucky! it's not ripe yet!" but they disagree and eat them anyways, with big smiles on their faces. After we try to explain to them to stop picking the guava and wait til they are ready, they will sat, "stop it okay guys, ok!" and pop another tiny unripe guave in. They are so funny!
So yeah...things are still going great here. These kids are amazing!

The people on the bus

Hey everyone,
Another week has passed which means we are about half done with our 3 months here. It has gone so fast, yet we feel like we have been here forever!
Ruth has ballooned into a huge baby! Her face is so fat, she even has a double chin when her head is tilted all the way back. She is completely over her little sickness and can eat 5 ounces at a time now. She is almost 7 pounds and is not our little tiny peanut anymore. We used to be able to carry her all over the house while we were getting things done because she was so light and little...now we find we have to put her down more for certain jobs. She is getting too big for her preemie bathtub and is just about busting out of her preemie sleepers. She is really cute and is getting really close to smiling at us!
We received a huge supply of diapers last wednesday. Amani was gracious enough to donate about 200 fuzzi bunz cloth diapers to COTP. These diapers are amazing and seem to stay dry longer than anything we have ever seen. They come in really bright colors and the kids look so cute running around in them. We've tried many times the past week to teach the nannies how to use them properly, and they are finally getting the hang of it. Thank you so much Danyne and Amani!
We are just about done taking the February photos of all the kids who are waiting to go home to their adoptive families. It has taken us several days to get through them again, but we think we got some really adorable ones for all the parents to see. These ones don't go on the website and are only sent out to the waiting families. We did a Valentine's theme with bright colored hearts and cute bright outfits.
Arielle went to a nearby town called Milot to visit the hospital with an HIV pos baby, Samuel. He needed a med check for his ARV's. After lots of waiting around and lots of tests, they found out poor Samuel also has meningitis. We were all really surprised because he has been a smiley 1-year old baby all week. He is staying at the hospital now until he gets better and can come home. Please pray that the medication works and that he can come home as soon as possible.
Baby Josiah is still fighting away! He is going strong, eating lots and getting a chubby face even. He is kept pretty comfortable with lots of pain meds, and gets lots of love from the people who care for him. Hopefully he will be able to get to the states soon. Some doctors in Maine have agreed to perform the surgery he needs for his hydrocephalus for free, which is so great. We are just waiting on his passport and Visa. Pray that things can go quickly so he can feel better and grow strong soon.
One of the founders of COTP, Bud, is here visiting this week. He has been working outside making sure all of the equipment is maintained properly and spending some time with the kids. It has been fun for us to meet the person who started this whole place, and learn a little more about the beginnings of starting an orphanage. He leaves on Sunday.

Even the though bigger kids have known our names since the first week we have been here, they still have a really hard time telling us apart. When they see us walk by, or come up to them, they will give us a big hearty greeting with just a guess between one of our names. When we don't respond or tell them it's not our name, they simply switch names, maintaining the same amount of enthusiam as before. The nannies have a similar problem. Most of them know our names and can tell us apart when we are together, but get unsure when it is just one of us. They often have to refer to us as, "the visitor" when asking the children to tell us something. It's pretty hilarious.
Yesterday was a big day here at COTP. There were some old bus seats that were donated from someone that had just been sitting around. Yesterday they were cleaned up and placed in the hallway and a few on the outside toddler pavillion. You should have seen the excitement! All the kids and nannies saw them coming and started jumping up and down and screaming and chanting, "yay, yay, yay!" While Bud and another worker carried them over, Kendy climbed on one, and rode it in like Roman Emperor. He had the hugest smile on his face and was laughing like crazy. Everyone wanted a chance to sit on them, so there was about 6 kids on each seat. When we told them they were bus seats, it didn't take long before they started singing, "the wheels on the bus." The first verse they sang was, "the people on the bus go up and down." The kids all had fun on them again today and then nannies are getting great use out of them while feeding the kids or doing their hair.
We are looking forward to having a late Valentine's party next week after some supplies come in the mail. We will let you know how that goes.
It's too bad everyone can't see how cute the kids are everyday and how much the babies grow and change through the weeks. Especially baby Ruth!
Tara! Email us about your Valentine's Day present. We can email you pics too! Talk to you soon!

Little Helpers

Hi!
It's been lots of craziness around here, as usual, and we have been busy busy busy with babies. Ruth is still battling her little bug and is slowly gaining weight, but is still having a little trouble with her tummy. Even after just 2 days though, she is looking better and more alert. Her dad came to see her yesterday and she slept like an angel the whole time he held her...sometimes it's a different story at night.
Reggie is doing great and gaining a little weight already. He pretty much sleeps through the night, and has learned to drink his bottles really well. He is so beautiful and has the greatest smile and we are all loving him lots. He has been living with us in the volunteer house, and was sleeping with Maria, but will move into the giraffe room tomorrow.
Since it was hot and sunny yesterday, we got pools out for the big kids. It took about 45 minutes to blow them up, especially with 15 four-year olds running around us, jumping inside them and getting into everything on the patio! It was almost impossible for them to wait to swim until after their nap, but they did manage, and when it was time they all came charging over and barrelled into the pool as one big heap of kids. They splashed, screamed, jumped and laughed for a while and then we started swinging and tossing them in which they loved! Their English is getting so good, so they were all calling out, "Rachel, Arielle look at me!" and would dunk their faces in or kick their legs. It was maddness, but so much fun!

It seems like their are so many similarities between kids no matter where they come from. Anyone who has spent time with toddlers knows they absolutly LOVE to help! They will help with anything and despite the fact that they aren't doing a whole lot, they are so proud of their efforts. We are fortunate enough to work with over 50 helpers everyday, and these are just some of the ways they help us...
Chrislande is almost 2 years old and lives in the boat room. Almost everyday while we are feeding the babies in her room, she finishes her meal and toddles on over to help me feed another baby. She puts her little sticky hand around my arm and will guide it from the bowl to the baby's mouth. She will stand there, doing it over and over again, opening her mouth with the baby as the spoon goes in. She is so proud of herself!

Magalie lives in the aligator room. She is a great listener and loves to be in charge. At night when the kids are brushing their teeth, Magalie will walk around the room to each child with a little green bucket and collect the used toothbrushes. She takes her job so seriously and will say, "mesi!" after each child puts his or her toothbrush in the bucket.

The aligator kids are always looking out for each other- especially when food is involved. The kids all get a morning and afternoon snack which is handed out by the nannies in the morning and by us in the afternoon. When snack time rolls around and the food is being passed out, there are sometimes a few kids who are too busy playing to notice. Ti Kendy, Pierre and Magalie are usually on top of things and will run around gathering their friends and shouting their names. If they can't get their busy friends' attention, they will let us know, and we'll bring their snack right to them. It really makes us laugh that they are so concerned that one of their friends may miss out on a snack...so sweet!

Many times a day we will take off our shoes outside a door so that we don't track mud and dirt into the baby rooms. We can usually expect that in about 15 minutes, Jeffrey, Nelson or another little helper will be walking in with them, and will deliver them right to us with this huge grin on their faces. When we don't put them on, they will of course wear them all around them room.

The biggest kids can't get enough of helping! The ones who speak the most English often like to ask to help us as a way of getting into the volunteer house to play with some special toys. They are always willing to "help" get snack ready, "help" collect books to read or "help" pick out activities for everyone. In all honesty though, these kids love being praised for their help and can be excellent helpers when they aren't too busy with the toys!

Going to the Chapel

Hi guys!
It has been a little while since we have updated, but are still doing great! We have removed all of the pictures of COTP and will no longer be posting any because there have been problems in the past with their pictures getting into the wrong hands. You can always check out their website to see all the kids though.

We have had another busy week. First, Daryl and Sarah who are the directors right now have gone home to the states and Canada for a month. They work so hard here, and deserve this break!! We are sure they are having some good food and seeing lots of family and friends. With them gone, Katie and Blake who have been in charge in the past are taking over for the month. Along with the 2 of them, it's just us and Maria who are here now. Daryl and Sarah were actually able to go with Jina, who was hoping to get a medical visa granted from Port au Prince last week, to the US where she will receive surgery that she needs to make her life easier. Jina is able to stay with her adoptive family while she's there and will get lots of love! We were all really excited for her.

This afternoon COTP got another new baby. He is about 2 months old and absolutly beautiful. His name is Reggie and he is healthy and smiley. He has already been cooing and kicking his legs. He is learning to suck from a bottle better with each feeding and is sleeping peacefully in the other room right now. We are excited to have him and love that he is such a happy boy!

On Friday we were able to go to a Haitian wedding. One of the nannies here, Johanne, got married to Chris who is from Canada. The two of them met a few years ago while Chris was in Haiti volunteering. Chris' mom, dad and sister came down for the occasion. Katie was the maid of honor and had to work really hard at keeping the Johanne's dress white. The wedding was next door at the school and had about 60 guests. All of the little girls looked so cute in their fancy dresses and lots of hair ribbons and bows. The school was decorated with thsoe wedding bells that fold open and toilet paper as streamers. There was even a stuffed bear that was dressed in a wedding dress and sang, "Goin to the chapel." We all sat in school desks, and the ceremony was actually pretty short. Food was served to each guest at their seat immediately after the wedding. They had chicken legs, rice and beans, fried plantain, and some other things. We got to help Johanne get ready and be in charge of taking all of the wedding photos. Haitians never really smile for pictures so it was quite a task to try to get the family and friends to look pleasant, especially when they don't speak English. People, especially the kids, always love when we say "Smile!" though and think it's hilarious to repeat us. We ate the special food which is for the wedding party or in some cases the white guests. I know that sounds horrible! There was music and some dancing after. It was quite an experience and was really a nice wedding. It ended when it got too dark to see anything. We really like Johanne and knew her from last year too and were so excited to be at her wedding and to be able to see her looking so beautiful and happy.

Poor Ruthie has had a little bug. She started to not drink very much and wanted to sleep all the time, but last night it turned into lots of throwing up and diarreah. Today she has been able to keep a little formula down, but we have been focusing on rehydrating her as well. She had hit 6 pounds earlier this week, but stopped gaining when she was getting sick. She has slept a lot today and will hopefully get better everyday now and keep getting chubbier. Ruth received her first pedicure yesterday. We painted her toes purple, but it was really hard because her feet are so small and she wanted to curl her toes. It does look cute though. There has also been a little bug going around with some of the kids. It's nothing bad, but pray that it doesn't pass around to too many of them. It's nice when the kids are as healthy as possible!

We had another birthday party for 2 more children this week. Totalte turned 6, and Ruebens turned 3. They loved wearing party hats and of course all the kids were thrilled about more cake. The kids are all doing great and continue to have fun everyday. They love playing on their little playset and swings and doing special activities like crafts and playdoh. They all love singing songs and hearing music and get better at learning new songs in English all the time. The big kids love to repeat everything we say in English and lots of them have learned, "knock it off!" They also love to say, "come on!" and "thank you, you're welcome!" We are down to only 3 baby Belles as the other 3 have gone to their new homes. They are not as big of a hit now because they are getting bigger, but the littler toddlers still love to stand at the gate and yell, "baby belle!" Another highlight of the kids' days is snack time. They are always hoping for peaunut butter and expect it everyday after we have it once. They would eat peanut butter on anything. We made them jello the other day which they loved and now have been asking for that lots too. We usually get a chance to listen to their prayers before snack time and today, Sammy who is 4, thanked God for the racecar that Woosben's mom sent Woosben for Christmas. This evening at dinner he prayed for "the people who made frogs." He has also prayed for "people who ride on tap taps" and the tap taps themselves. He's so adorable!
These kids are so cute and we love them soooooo much!