Going home!

Stephanie, Jude, and Lovenie Jeannis have finally reached the end of their adoption journey and they are headed home to California! Praise God.

Servants

News from Haiti - the first real news that I have had in over a month:

There is a team from the States visiting the orphanage and they wanted to do painting jobs. But instead of painting the interior of our orphanage, they decided to go paint at another orphanage. Better yet, they decided to take some of our kids along for the work!

So this week, Stephanie Q, Argentine, Mathurin, Jeanine, Jefthe, Evens and Bernadin are leading the kids in painting the walls of another orphanage in the Port-au-Prince area. They also have the opportunity to play with the kids and help in their daily care. Stephanie told me about a 2 year old boy named Wilkens that she fell in love with and took care of yesterday. The kids get to sleep at Dr. Bernard's guest house in Thomasin with the team every night so they are thrilled. And I am thrilled that they are getting a chance to serve outside of their home.

Beantown through new eyes

This week, I got to lead a group of 6 youth and one co-counselor from summer camp to a wonderful city for a 2 day visit.That's right - my very own Boston! I have lived in (or just outside) Boston for 19 of my 22 years, but since I am a local, there are things that I have rarely or never done. It was a real treat to be able to introduce them to my hometown and to experience it all for myself.
We were an eclectic group. Mario is from Portland, Maine. Nikolas and Lukas are from Austria. Baptiste is from France. Raelyn, the only girl, is from Virginia. Miles is from Nashville, Tennessee. My co-leader, Travis, is from North Carolina. People always regretted asking us where we were from because the answer took so long.

We rode the famous swan boats (a first for me!)

We re-enacted the Battle at Bunker Hill and we climbed the monument.

Not that way, Miles! Use the stairs!

We tried to visit Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, but we were there on a Monday and as you can see, the ship is closed on Mondays.

We made friends with the local fish.

And visited the New England Aquarium, another first for me. 560 pound sea turtles!

We imitated statues,

Posed with creepy cigar-holding men carved from wood in the North End,

Danced to Sound of Music songs through the park,

And bought very expensive t-shirts from Johnny Cupcakes which is supposedly very popular right now (who knew?).

We visited the fountain at the Christian Science Center,

And cooled off in it too!

Some of us had our first ever ride on the subway,

But most of all, we ate. Ice creams,

Hot dogs,

Canolis,

Quesedillas (with a fork and knife, so French!)

Chicken wraps,

And slices of American flag cake. Not to forget the Bertucci's, Ben and Jerry's, Wendy's, oreos, pizza, and innumerable Dr. Peppers.

It was a tired but happy crew that drove back into camp late last night.