Trying to love the children up!

Yesterday we did not have the internet for too long so I was not able to update the blog.  We again had a very busy morning.  I finally had them on time to eat and then they had to switch all their shoes and socks because it was Friday and on Friday they can wear any shoes and tennis shoes they want.  Not the best time to find this out, but they always keep you on your toes!

I am getting more comfortable with the children and their routine.  I drive the cabota in the morning with the children who are anemic and small and then the other children walk with Guilliume.  I also learned on Fridays they get done with school earlier! 

It is amazing how they have no toys, but are always playing games and have things to do!  You never hear that they are bored.  I feel that in America you hear that all the time and the children have so many toys.

The hardest part for me right now is trying to balance everything.  I wish I could just be a mother to each individual child.  I wish I could give each one of them all my attention and time.  I would love to just lay in bed with them and read to them.  I want to just be able to sit and talk one on one with them and hear all they have to say about the day.  I unfortunately cannot right now due to the language barrier and that there are 40 children.  They all deserve the best and sometimes I do not feel that they get that because they were robbed of a mom and dad.  I think back to my childhood and how different it is from theirs.  I got more attention than I could ask for and I had people in my life to spoil me rotten!  They are amazing children and I just want to give them more!

The exciting part of the day was when the Healing Haiti team to visit the children.  They taught them all about China which was so cool.  They dressed in outfits, spoke the language, discussed their culture.  They brought chopsticks and had them eat popcorn with them and gave them fortune cookies.  It was a blast!

I tried pite tonight for the first time.  It was so good!  The children loved it so I shared some of mine with them so they could have more.

Tomorrow is Saturday and not really sure of the routine?  I guess I will figure it out then. 

Sorry for such a short update.  The interent will be down soon and I have to kiss the children goodnight!

Much love, Gretchen

Creating a "new" home

This is my second day at Grace Village.  The fist day was a little overwhelming, but good.  I was immediately greeted by the cutest children and they were very excited to show me everything at the place.  They sang songs for me and showed me their new place!

Jean (a man who works for GV) got me all settled and then left for the day.  He speaks English and is very good at his job. This meant when he left I had to try to communicate with my very little creole.  FanFan arrived around 0900 back from school.  He is going to school to be a youth pastor and does a fabulous job with the children.  He speaks English and was very helpful when he got back.  He helped me figure out some things and got me hooked up on the internet.  Unfortunately the internet only worked for little while so I was not able to do anything on the computer.  I am also waiting to get a phone from my friend Shirley this weekend, so then hopefully communication will be better!

The place here is truly beautiful.  The facilities are incredible and the view is breathtaking.  I will post some pictures of what it looks like where I am staying. 

I started my day today by waking up at 500am!  I could not believe how early it was.  To my surprise I started smiling right away because I could hear the children and FanFan worshiping and signing in the feeding center.  It was so amazing to hear them sing so early and have that be the start of their day.

I got up, got ready and then started getting the children ready for school.  It is amazing that they are up at 0430am, but still have trouble to be ready for breakfast at 0700am!  I was hurrying all of the up and looking under beds to find missing shoes.  I got to take them to school today and it was great to see where go to school.  One girl Chrisaline, had a really swollen and pussy eye.  I put some ointment on it the night before, but in the morning she had trouble opening it.   I was able to take her to the clinic and get some medication for it.  It was fun taking her out!  We had fun taking pictures of everything and trying to teach each other creole and English. 

The children are done with school around 0100.  I went with Andy, another Haitian to pick the children up.  I had spaghetti for breakfast with the children and rice and beans for lunch!  I am really trying to eat what they do to see a little more with what they eat and what they get for nutrition.

After lunch we had tutor time for the children and then play time. I ran until I could not move my legs anymore!  And I thought I would not get a workout in here!  I also taught the children how to do spiders on the swings. They got a really big kick out of it!

I am starting to get to know the names of the children, girls are a lot easier then the boys. 

I ate dinner with them which was chocolate which is boiled, sort of like hot chocolate, but Haitian style and bread.  The children had so much fun teaching me how to eat it.  I think I was just amusing them, they laughed so hard!

I am not going to have electricity much longer so goodnight!

I have updated my prayer request so please look at them and keep the prayers coming!

My room!  I love it! 

Outside where I stay with the girls!

Chrisaline and I at the clinic

The amazing view, too bad my camera cannot capture its beauty.

I Have Arrived!

My flight went very smooth and I arrived safely in Haiti.  Our flight on the way to Haiti was a little delayed, but really it was no big deal. I was very lucky to go with a Healing Haiti team.  Shelly the team lead was absolutely amazing and very helpful to me. 

We arrived to the guesthouse and ate dinner, Tacos!  I was pleasantly surprised.  It was a great dinner and now I am just catching up with some blogging!  I will be heading up to Grace Village in the morning to meet the children and begin my day.  I will have a lot more to tell you then.

On a wonderful note…..the area around the airport is really clean!  It looks great and a lot of the tents have been moved. Hopefully the Haitians that moved have a place to stay, but progress is being made which is awesome!

I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels to be in Haiti!  I am so happy to be here and feel so incredibly blessed at what God has given me.  I am overjoyed with this opportunity and am so excited to see all the things God has in store for me and the special people of Haiti.  

Final Details

I leave on Monday February 6^th for Haiti!  And I am so incredibly excited.  I am going to be very sad to leave my husband at home, but know God has a purpose for what we are doing right now.  I have been meeting with some amazing people from Healing Haiti who have made this transition very smooth.  Julie Sexson has been the biggest blessing and a true example of someone who lives their lives for others and for God.  I cannot imagine going through all of this without her by my side! 

I am currently trying to pack my bags and get things organized for Monday morning.  I am also making sure things at work and home are in place for departure!  My last day of work is tomorrow and I am very excited about it!  My boss and coworkers have been so supportive of me and I cannot thank them enough for allowing me to embark on this journey. 

Please continue to pray for my time in Haiti.  Pray for wisdom for me and to let God use me in any way possible.  Pray for the children and all the Haitians that I will be working with.  Please pray for things home in the states to go well while I am away.  

Thanks for all your support and love!  I am planning to update frequently, but will see how the intranet is there!

Love, Gretchen 

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. –Isaiah 12:2

Following God with my heart

As you may know I have a huge heart for the people of Haiti and feel that I have been called by God to serve in that country.  

The church I attend called Eaglebrook sends mission teams to Haiti through an organization called Healing Haiti.  I went with a group in October and fell in love with what God was doing through this organization.  They have just built a place called Grace Village which includes two dormitories for orphaned children and a feeding center for the children and people in the community. They moved the orphans into their new home at the end of December. They have big plans for the future which include building a church, clinic, and home for children who have been abused.

I was presented with the opportunity to help the organization Healing Haiti and I am amazed that I get to be a part of this!  I will be leaving in February and coming home in June.  I will live in Grace Village with the children.   I will be there to make sure things are running smooth with the children's care and oversee that they are getting everything that they need.  I will be a contact person for the people in the states and communicate with them how Grace Village is doing.

Since I will be away for four months I will be taking a personal leave from my work.  My husband will stay in the states and continue to work and visit me periodically.  I will be returning to my former job when I get back from Haiti.  Because I will not be working for four months I am in need of financial support while I spend my time in Haiti.  I will not be paid, since this is a volunteer position.

I am hoping that you will help me on my journey for supporting these orphaned children.  I am asking that you lift me and my husband up in prayer and if able support us financially.  I still need to continue paying my loans and insurance while I am gone, as well as have finances in Haiti.  
Please view my side tab to look at Healing Haiti's website.  Also check out the tab Grace Village to see the children I will be working with and where I will be staying.

I will be posting updates on this blog ansd also be blogging at www.healinghaiti-host.blogspot.com

I would love to meet up with you and discuss more about this trip, email me if you are interested!

Reach me on facebook or email me at gretcholson5@gmail.com

Through the week

We spent the week between the nursing school and the orphanage.  When we went to the orphanage we spent time playing games and activities with them.  We brought them candy and treats and it was so great to see all of them again.  It was so much fun to see how far along they all have come.  They were speaking English and it was such a joy to see!  Most of the children are in the process of being adopted and it is so wonderful to see how great the orphanage is doing. 

At the nursing school we spent time with the students.  We spent time teaching them English and helping them raise funds for the school by selling food.  We also went to clinicals with the students.  We helped them with calculations and tried our best to teach them how nursing should be done.

When we went to clinicals we spent most of the time in the pediatric ward.  We played with the children, gave them candy, and had stickers and coloring activities for them.  I always thought that when people got to a hospital in Haiti, they got cared for.  After spending several days in the hospital I found that this was not true.  Every time something is done they need to have the money first.  There were several children that we just waiting for antibiotics, IV placement, or a blood test to be done.  They were laying in the beds very sick and nothing was being done until the family could pay for it.  It was very sad to see and I felt helpless there.  One kid in particular is still on my heart.  He was HIV positive and you could clearly see it.  No one was paying any attention to him.  When we picked him up many people ran to tell us not to touch him because he had AIDS.  It took a lot of time to tell the people that you can still hold and love a child with HIV.  The mom of the child was 14 years old and also had HIV.  She did not care about the child and did not seem to care about life.  There was a very bad plan in place for the child and it was very frustrating to watch.  Lisa provided the child with a bath, food, and water every day we saw him.  There were many other stories like this that just broke my heart that I still cannot wrap my head around.

First few days in Haiti!

We did many thing while we were in Haiti and it was such a great experience! 

The first weekend we were there we spent time at Shirley's home town.  We put on a health fair at Shirley's church.  Lisa and I presented an education piece which included topics such as cholera and nutrition.  Then the children that were sick were seen by Kern and the ones who were not we provided games and activities for them.  Then Shirley talked with all the people and gave them additional education on topics that they had questions about.  We provided all the people with breakfast and lunch which was such an amazing thing.  At the end of the day we took time to talk and pray with all the people that wanted it.  Their prayers and life stories were all different.  Each person had a unique journey and their own personal struggles, but they all shared one similarity and that was the prayer to survive.  All were struggling for food, shelter, money, and their health.  It was incredible to hear and so sad that so many people are having issues with basic needs. 

We spent a couple of nights with our friend Shelia in her home.  She had requested that we bring some clothes and toys for her next door neighbors children.  Lisa had meet the boys before so we had an idea of their size.  While in the United States we bought them clothes and some toys.  When we were at Shelia's house we gave the three little boys baths, dressed them and gave them some toys.  We had so much fun and the kids went crazy with the candy, toys and all the new clothes!