24 and Counting

Let's take it back a few days to Sunday. We woke up and headed to church like usual. We had a wonderful service and then headed to the market for some groceries. Then it was back up the hill to Wings. We arrived home and I had decided that I would open my Birthday part of the care package that night since my actual birthday was going to be a busy day. I was anticipating the night all week! After feeding the children dinner, I walked into the house and found KC and Katie in the kitchen baking something. After further investigation, I realized they were making a cake. "What are you making a cake for?" I asked. Katie just smirked with a guilty look on her face and KC responded sarcastically, "I don't know. Who could we possibly be making a cake for?" I had ruined their surprise, but it was still a surprise! They were making a cake to celebrate my birthday that night! So sweet of them! We were also planning on having a pizza party since Jess was coming up to Wings for the night. Jess is a friend of KC and Renee who works for USAID. She was staying the night so she could go with us to Jacmel in the morning. So not only did I get cake, but pizza too! Best birthday surprises! After we all ate our fair share of pizza, provided by Renee, it was on to cake decorating. Katie took the lead and made it a double layer marble cake with chocolate frosting in the middle and vanilla on top! They let me do the honors of dousing the cake with sprinkles, and I did! Then Renee made a smiley face out of the 12 candles they had and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me! The boys (Geoffrey and Stephen) did some great harmonizing! Now time to dig in! It was delicious! Thanks KC and Katie! After cake, we headed upstairs to open presents! I started with a card that Katie made me. It contained a Broncos painted ornament that she had made last week! It is awesome! The card was handmade and hand signed by all of the kids at Wings! It was so precious and still brings tears of joy to my eyes! I love it! Kerin gave me a razor. You might think that is a strange gift, but I forgot my razor at home and have been complaining about it since day one, so it was very thoughtful and witty of her to chose that gift for me! Not to mention very practical and much appreciated! Next it was on to the package from home! My mom did an excellent job wrapping the package with super sticky duct tape and I was so anxious trying to get the package open! After about 15 minutes, ok maybe 2, I opened the package to find it stuffed with all kinds of things! I got some hair bands from Budro and G-Unit (my dog and rabbit), a picture in a frame from my favorite sister along with a "sister" necklace, Heaven candies, a ring, and money from Mom and Dad, dolla bills from Chris, Shauna, and Travis, and even more money from Grandma and Grandpa! Renee then took some of the wrapping paper from my presents and disappeared into her room for a moment, only to return with one, final gift for me. It was a jar of my new found love, Nutella! So delicious! Thank you all so much for making my birthday so special from near and far away! It was a great night of celebration! After presents, it was time for bed since we had to be up at 4 am the next day to head to Jacmel. Well, 4 am came way to early, but nonetheless, we all dragged our butts out of bed and headed down to move everything into the truck. We were heading to Jacmel to pass out new school supplies to the children at Trinity House! After we loaded all the bins into the truck, we made our way to our van. On the way out, the luggage van got stuck in the ditch. About an hour later, the men decided to listen to the advice of the women, and they finally unstuck the truck. Typical males. So at about 5:45, we were on the road to Jacmel. Down the mountain we went. We headed through town, along the shoreline, up the mountain side, down the mountain side, back to ocean views, and into the city of Jacmel where we found Trinity House. The trek took about 3 hours once we were moving, but the views were amazing! I could not believe how beautiful the sights were! Think Colorado mountains mixed with tropical forest and add splashes of turquoise blue ocean. So amazing! When we finally arrived in Jacmel, it was time to unload the luggage truck and organize the items to pass out to the 160 children. We had new backpacks, water bottles, notebooks, folders, rulers, pens, pencils, art supplies, hygiene packets, candy, and new shoes! KC fitted each of the children with a uniform shirt and then passed them to Renee to take their pictures. Renee then handed off the children to us after she successfully got each of them to "suri", which means "smile" and we took them all around the room. They were very careful about selecting the items that were just right and when they were finished, they headed to get pants or skirts to match their uniforms. About 3 hours later, we had gone through all the children and Milche, the director of the house, had lunch waiting for us! We snapped a few pictures of the ocean from the roof and then headed down to our feast! We were greeted with COLD sodas and juice and had a spread of rice and beans with a wonderful beef sauce. We ate until our little hearts were content. Then it was time for the trek back home. It was just as beautiful and breathtaking as the way there! When we reached town, Renee took us by a Catholic Church that crumbled in the earthquake. We stopped to take a look and were swarmed by people begging us for money. Jess and Renee both warned us to be very careful and to watch our bags and DO NOT give any of them money. We obeyed, took some pictures, and headed back to the van. A man was asking us for money through the window and saying "Please help me, just a little" and when we refused and started to pull away, he got so angry that he punched the back of then van! We all jumped and were frightened by his behaviour, but now all understood why were weren't allowed to give anyone any money. I could see how a situation like that could turn sour very quickly. Once we were safely on the road again, Jess decided to inform us that about 30% of the prisoners who broke out during the earthquake live right around that area we were just in! Yikes! I'm glad I didn't know that before hand or I might have stayed put in the van! Luckily we all made it out safe and with all of our belongings. We then headed back up the hill to Wings, or so I thought. We made a turn and I thought to myself that we might be going the wrong way. Little did I know, we were going the exact right way. Renee had planned a surprise stop at the Epi D'or for an ice cream party for my birthday! The party continues! We all carefully selected our drinks and our favorite type of Blue Bunny Ice Cream and sat down to enjoy! I chose Strawberry Cheesecake! It was probably the best ice cream ever! Thanks Renee! We then took Jess home and headed back up the mountain for Wings. By this time, it was dark and everything looked so different! This was our first time out after dark! It was really neat to see Haiti after sunset! Once we got home, we had some dinner and a Prestige to top off the night. Gary decided to serenade us with birthday songs during dinner! Great music! After dinner, we headed to bed, exhausted from the long day and all of the traveling. I had such a great birthday! Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special! Today was another typical day at Wings. We woke, ate breakfast, fed the kinds and headed to class. While we were eating lunch, Renee announced that pictures were up from yesterday so I fired up the computer to check them out! They are amazing! Check out St. Joseph Family, Haiti on Facebook to see them all! While I was looking at the pictures, I was messaged by my brother. I decided to try to video chat with him over Facebook. I "called" him and sure enough, his face popped up on my screen! Yay! "Hi, Brother" Shoot he can't hear me, and I can't hear him. Bummer, but at least I got to see him, Shauna, my favorite nephew, and their collection of animals! It was so much fun! We then headed out for afternoon activities. We started a game of futbol with a giant tennis ball that was soon popped by the barbed wire. Since we no longer had a futbol/ over sized tennis ball, we resorted to American football, the one Nerf ball that we have that is barbed wire proof and Zel proof. After afternoon activities, we fed the children and headed in for a little Insanity work out. A little sweat and about 40 minutes later, it was time for dinner. KC offered us some of her rotisserie chicken before we left for Jacmel, so we took full advantage and had it with some green beans and dinner rolls! "Dinner of champions", Stephen called it! And I agree! It was fabulous! Such a great way to end the day!
P.S. Alcindor's cat had kittens!