Settling In

[A Wednesday post of Tuesday's blog because the power went out right when I was about to publish it last night.]

To the best of my recollection, today is Tuesday. :) The past two days have been a mix of busy, busy, busy and fun, fun, fun!

Yesterday (Monday) morning, Katy and I went to the Ravine with the baby feeders to weigh the babies in the feeding program. When Ms. Sherrie started the school here, she soon figured out that some of the children were at a serious learning deficit because of the malnutrition they had suffered when they were little. So, one aspect of Christian Light is the Baby Feeding Program in which school staff prepare and deliver nutritious meals to young children in the Ravine, the slum that borders the neighborhood around the school and the home of many CLS stidents. On today's menu was mixture of peanut butter and infant formula, along with a piece of bread, half of a hard-boiled egg and a piece of fruit. Babies must be officially enrolled in the program and are weighed regularly to make sure that they are in fact the beneificiaries of the food they receive. Enrollment and ongoing participation in the program are indicators that the parents will be reliable about getting them to school - because when these babies are three years old, they will be enrolled in the Littlest Angels class here at CLS! It was a revelation to stop and think that the baby in my arms will be a student in uniform, just a few short years from now. By being enrolled in this program as babies, they will be given every opportunity to succeed in their school years - which will open doors that might literally be unimaginable, otherwise!

Katy graciously agreed to record the weights on the charts - which meant I got to hold all the babies as we weighed them! From the tee-niny to the toddlers, some were content cuddlers and some were less than thrilled when mama handed them over. It occurred to me after the first few that my big ol' sunglasses weren't helping the situtation for the ones who were worried to begin with, so I went ahead & took those off. Can't really blame them for that, though - I imagine I looked like a giant bug!

A particular blessing of our time in the Ravine was that I got to see three of the students who were new to the afternoon Late Bloomers class when we were here in December! This class (two classes now, actually) is made up of children who attend CLS for two hours every afternoon through the Restavek Freedom Foundation - www. restavekfreedom.org. Restavek, considered a modern form of slavery by the United Nations, is a system here in Haiti in which children live with families as unpaid laborers under generally harsh - somtimes horrific - circumstances. I fell in love with these kids on my first trip last March and came back last summer so I could be their summer school teacher for two weeks. A number of students were added last fall, so they were divided into two classes. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was outmanned by the size of the combined classes when we were here in December! We had a lot of fun together, but they don't speak enough English (and I certainly don't speak enough Creole!) for us to accomplish very much in the classroom on our own.

I always send back letters and photos after I've been with them, so they know that God loves them, that I love them and that I don't forget them when I'm gone. So, to encounter some of these new friends - who I only just met in December - on the street was such a sweet surprise! I had a few minutes to talk to Sadrac and Shannon (Sadrac actually tailed us for awhile, which was fun) while we were with the babies. The third student was a girl named Loudine who I passed as she was pushing a wheelbarrow through the crowded market. The moment of recognition when our eyes met was so special because her sweet smile lit up her whole face when she saw me. 

{Now, I have to interject here that my inclination is to edit or delete that last sentence because it sounds like it's too much about me - which is certainly not my intention. Our friend Mr. Richard is giving the teacher devotionals this week from the book of Daniel. This morning he said something to the effect that when God is using you, the glory is never yours - it belongs to God. I loved the way he phrased that, and it's what I hope to express in blogging about this trip. So I guess I have to figure out how to talk about what I'm doing without feeling like I'm talking a lot about myself? Sure. Makes perfect sense! I just feel the need to state my desire to always point to God in the things I share - because He is the only reason they are worth sharing.}

One of the reasons I scheduled this trip when I did was because I wanted to be here while school was still in session so I could see the Late Bloomers ("LB") students while they were here during the school year, with the structure of their regular classroom teachers. So, as I said: to get to see them outside the school setting was a particular blessing, as well as a reminder of the value in investing as much time as we - both the Middleton family and our AUMC family - do here. Of their two teachers yesterday, Mr. Elionel was completing the report cards for both classes, so Mr. Brucely combined the classes and let me work with them on English for a little while. The students range in age from about 9 - 17 years old, but are only now learning to read and write (hence the term, "Late Bloomers"). The amount of English they know now compared to what they knew last year is just astonishing and is a testament to the dedication of their teachers here at CLS. They were able to read basic words in English from the cards I held up and many knew what the words meant as soon as they read them! These are such smart, sassy, funny kids - but they never get the chance to be kids because of their living situations. To see them thrive in the classroom is a blessing that is hard to overstate. They deserve every chance in the world, and it is my ongoing prayer that they will each see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Jean Wilson's selfie :)

The rest of my day yesterday had a lot to do with trying to make sure that Miseléne was okay as she fought off the chikengunya fever and loving on Jean Wilson since Micah and Rachel had just headed home to Maine. Miseléne's fever was up to 104 at one point and the Advil I gave her barely touched it. The girls' nanny Madame Nonot (no idea how to spell that properly!) gave her a cool bath which finally brought her temperature down, but it climbed back up toward 103 again last night. It was such a relief to see Miseléne up and around today, and her temperature was almost back to normal this evening. Thank you for your prayers for her! One of the older girls came down with a fever this morning, so please continue to pray for quick healing and that the effects of this virus will be minimal here.

Jovenel and puppy Sam, who barely survived the illness that killed his sister & is only now beginning to thrive. Thankfully, God has called a Tuskegee vet school alum to serve here in Haiti & she took excellent care of Sam until he was well enough to return to CLS. 

I had planned to write about both yesterday and today - but it's almost 11 o'clock here now, so I think I'll go to bed instead. I'm so grateful to have so much that I want to share! "Showers of blessing, indeed."