We love our curtains!

One BIG happy family

MotherBiggest son

Middle son

Big(ish) daughter

Littlest son

Little daughter

Sunrise over Port-au-Prince

Artwork by Emmanuel Deronvil

Emmanuel told me at Christmas that he was not drawing anymore. I was disappointed because he is a very talented artist and I think he is very proud of his work, but I didn't push it. I pressure him a lot about his attitude, his school work, his relationships, and I didn't think his hobby ought to be added to the list.

I am proud to say that I misread him yet again. Telling me that he wasn't drawing anymore was a way to try to elicit encouragement from me to start again. I didn't take the bait. Fortunately, Kim came to visit the kids in early April and she asked to see his drawings. He had done a few in anticipation of her coming, but after she spoke with him, he started drawing again in earnest. A few days before my departure, he asked me to take photos of his drawings and send them to his best friend, Paulkenson, who is in the States. I was thrilled to see the pile and I prodded him to keep working on them, especially during vacation.



This last one is my favorite. I wish you could see the original because the details are more noticeable. I just love how he captured the shadows, the musculature, the emotion.
One of the coolest things about Emmanuel's artwork is how proud the other boys are of it. When he pulls out his binder to show me something, the other boys all crowd around and ooh and aah at his pictures. They will bring him a magazine photo of a favorite player or a DVD cover from a favorite movie and beg him to draw it for them. And he does as much as time permits him to do. I am told that Paulkenson was the artist of the pension, but since his departure, Emmanuel has very capably filled the role.

Hmmm...

"When I go to college, I'm going to have a mohawk right down the middle of my head and I'm going to dye it blue!"

- Jefthe Damelus, May 1, 2008

Queen Kattia

Every evening, I make the rounds through the girls' room to kiss them all good night. I can't forget anyone. Even if it looks like they are sleep, I still bend down and kiss them really gently on the check because they may be pretending, or their sisters may tell them in the morning that Keziah didn't kiss them last night. Then they will come running to me, demanding extra good morning kisses to make up for the ones that got overlooked the previous night.

One time last year, I missed Kattia. The next morning, she came marching downstairs to where I was lining the girls up to go to church. She stamped up to me, her courtiers all around her. "Keziah," she declared loudly and fiercely. "You did not kiss me good night yesterday." I had an excuse (I think the lights went out before I got to her) but something in her regal face told me that she would not be satisfied. So I did the only thing I could think of that would buy her pardon.

I dropped down on both knees in front of her and clasped her hand in mine. "Madame," I implored. "I humbly beg you to forgive me of my crime." She burst into laughter and let me stand and kiss her on the cheek.

Kattia is also the queen of curiosity. All last week, every time I did my good night kiss rounds, I would reach her room last and she would insist that I stay to answer questions. I would stand beside her bed in the dark while she pummeled me with one medical query after another.

"Why do people get headaches?"
"What makes your stomach hurt?"
"Why do we get acid reflux?"
"What causes someone to have a heart attack?"
"What makes you get breast cancer?"
"Why do your knuckles crack?"

Why do your knuckles crack? I wasn't sure how to answer that one. I told her I'd have to look it up and get back to her. She reminded me of that as I hugged her good-bye on Thursday. Man, do these kids have good memories!

She had me going for a whole hour one evening until I finally begged for permission to take a shower and go to bed. She let me go, but only if I promised to come back the next night. "Of course, Your Majesty."

Pa bay manti!

Duckhein is gullible. I can tell him almost anything and he will believe it.

(NOTE: This is a hypothetical conversation - if I like it, I will have it with him next time I talk to him.)

Me: "Duck, I went to the zoo last week with Kim. They have 40 elephants there."
Duck (believing every word and not pausing to reflect on the fact that there are no zoos in Haiti): "Wow, that's cool."
Me: "Yep, and the funny thing was the elephants were all purple."
Duck (getting a tiny bit suspicious): "Purple elephants?"
Me: "They get this weird kind of skin fungus that makes them turn purple."
Duck (a believer again): "Oh."
Me: "So the elephants were just hanging around when Kim fell over the fence into their cage."
Duck (looking shocked): "Is she OK?"
Me: "Well, yeah, because I jumped over the fence, picked her up, climbed onto one of the elephants and rode away."
Duck (thinking that is just a little too much for even someone as amazing as Super-Kez): "Did you really ride an elephant?"
Me: "Of course. I rode him all the way to the orphanage and he's up on the soccer field now. Do you want to go meet him?"
Duck (realizing that this could not possibly be true): "Hihihihi, Keziah, you're lying. You didn't see any elephants, did you?"
Me: "HAHAHAHAHA. No."

It's just so much fun because when he realizes that he's had his leg pulled, he breaks into hysterics of Duck-giggles. Priceless. But I occasionally feel a little guilty so I decided to give him a warning.

Me: "Duck, 50% of what I say is not true."
Duck (looking skeptical): "Really? 50%?"
Me: "Yeah. In fact, what I just said isn't true."
Duck (looking confused): "What?"
Me: "Hahaha, I joke, all the time. Half of what I tell you is a joke."
Duck (finally getting it): "Oh."

When I hugged Duck good-bye on Thursday evening, I gave him a big squeeze and whispered, "I love you" into his ear.

Duck (very seriously looking at me) "Keziah, stop telling lies."
Me: "But I'm serious. I do love you."
Duck (confused again): "I know you love me."
Me: "Then why did you tell me to stop telling lies?"
Duck (shaking his head at my ignorance): "Because you said that 50% of what you say is not true. I'm just giving you advice so you can improve before you next visit."
Me: "Oh, so you do believe that I love you?"
Duck (with a big smile): "Of course I do. And I love you too."