Parental visitation

My mom and dad came to visit in mid-September! They stayed for 5 days, visiting with me and my friends, but mostly working on beautifying my little Teacup. We washed walls, polished couches and chairs, rearranged furniture, sewed and hung curtains, shopped for porch chairs and coffee tables, and added little "Mother" touches such as throw blankets and cushions, table lamps, baskets, and wall hangings.



The place looked absolutely spectacular by the time they were done!





And of course, in typical Haitian fashion, we didn't work alone. Edjour helped out, the neighborhood kids were around, and Christine and Obed were with us for almost every minute of it. It was a week that truly confirmed them as friends, not a patient or a beggar anymore, as they'd been when I first met them 1 1/2 years ago. It takes a long time here to get beyond color and social status barriers, but with the two of them, it has happened.


On my parents' last day, we all stayed home for a birthday party for Sendhie, my friend who worked for me at Angel Missions last year. Christine, Manezda and Christada helped me make cards, bake a cake and make Creole spaghetti for lunch. We completely surprised Sendhie with a little party, the highlights of which were braiding my hair Haitian style (painful!) and teaching all of them how to play BINGO.



All in all, it was a great visit. I really enjoyed having them around and sharing my life with them, not to mention having a positively adorable Teacup now. I would have cried saying good-bye at the airport, but fortunately, the annoying vendor who kept shoving ugly necklaces at me while I hugged them kept me from getting too sentimental. I'll be going to the States to visit in November, so I will see them again soon.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!