From Happy Birthday to me to... "shelter in place"

The last 2 days have been amazing!  Yesterday was cut short (we only got to spend not quite 2 hours at the orphanage with R) because of security concerns due to the upcoming election and today we are required to "shelter in place" due to the embassy's concern for safety. Here in Haiti the last election was very violent and unsafe due to rioting and protests. The last election (Jan 2016 I believe it was) ended in no outcome due to the violence and groups rejecting the outcome. As our agency Haiti director said in an email this morning, in 5.5 years this is only the 2nd time our agency has required a family(ies) to stay at their hotel or guesthouse and not go visit their children.  We, however, feel very safe where are. Our hotel is surrounded by walls with barbed wire (like most of Haiti is) and armed guards. We appreciate prayers but also strongly feel this is only precaution due to past events not the current conditions is Haiti.

Friday... was day 2 at Foyer for us...  Friday was Vertieres Day here in Haiti so the children did not have school.  We had a wonderful time, and lots of time, spending the day with R. R was very reserved the first day and also the beginning of Friday. He wasn't quite sure what to think of these 2 Americans in his face wanting to love on him, hold him etc... it didn't take long though of playing with him for him to start opening up.  On Friday we discovered that he is PERFECT for our family!  He is totally Ethan's child in the sense that he is a "neat freak".  He LOVES to clean up.  I dumped out the crayons and he insisted on putting them all back in the box and then taking one out at a time, coloring with it, and putting it away before getting out the next color!  I also dumped out a box of memory game cards and rather than play with them, he wanted them cleaned up! We would dump them out, he would clean them up... he could do that for hours! He is perfect for me because although I don't have to have things clean all the time, I do love straight and symmetrical.  While stacking blocks R wants them perfectly lined up and straight before stacking the next one on it... I LOVE IT!! A little man after my heart! 💗

About half way through the day on Friday we really felt that R started warming up to us.  He started to give us little smirks (still no laughing or smiling) while we played and appeared to be having fun (after Thursday we didn't leave thinking "he had fun with us").

On Friday all the kids got vaccinations.  Due to the language barrier we are not completely sure what one of them was for.  We do, however,  know that one of them was for cholera.  Cholera has been a huge concern here in Haiti since the hurricane. They had a large outbreak after the earthquake in 2010 that killed thousands and hundreds have died from it since the hurricane. It is not as much of a concern in the area where Foyer is compared to southern Haiti (that was hit harder by Hurricane Matthew) but it was nice to see the kids getting vaccinations for it.  Leaving R here after this trip and waiting to be able to bring him home will be tough, VERY TOUGH but seeing the way he is cared for helps.  It is NOTHING like life at home will be, especially when it comes to meals, love, attention, opportunity, etc...  but the kids at Foyer do get taken care, as much as they can in Haiti, when it comes to medication, school, etc...

Friday was a long day and the poor little guy was so tired, at about 1:30p I got R to fall sleep in my arms!  I haven't had one of my kiddos fall asleep in my arms in 3+ years, brought tears to my eyes to have him not fight it and just relax with me. Although he was asleep the amount of bonding I felt happening was incredible.

Saturday... yes, was my birthday (thank you to everybody who sent birthday wishes my way).  I couldn't have been happier to spend my birthday with my son!  Missed my little girls dearly but we have been waiting and praying for 3.5 years to meet and hold this little guy! Adrianna was so sweet yesterday telling me we would do cake and birthday stuff when I get home!  Love and miss my little ladies!

Yesterday was hard for us... because of traffic and logistics we ended up being in the car for almost 5 hours total and only got to spend 1.75 hours at Foyer.  Yesterday was also a bit overwhelming for us. There were so many kids (maybe 25 total) upstairs on the balcony (the size of an average bedroom basically) that it was hard for the 3 of us to get any time together. It was either R playing with Ethan while I distracted other kiddos or vice versa. The other 2 families here on their bonding trips felt the same way that eventually we "kicked off" some of the kids and asked that they leave.  It hurts my heart to do that.  All those kids want is attention and love but it also was overwhelming and hard to spend time with R. Some of the older kids stayed up on the balcony with us and Ethan entertained and distracted them with his phone! These kids (I guess all kids) love phones! They love listening to music and figuring out the games.

Just before we had to leave Ethan started to play peek-a-boo with R.  We had tried with our hands but he never has seemed amused.  Yesterday Ethan was covering him up with box and the smiles and laughs we got from him melted both of us! It was the first real smile (not smirk) we really got from him. I wish I could show you pictures (I cannot because they show his face) but he is SO CUTE!! It was hard to leave him!

The last 2 days we have also come to the conclusion that R is very caring and shares pretty well.  Here are the orphanage, as you can possibly image, children become possessive. When they finally get something in their hands, it is theirs.  This happens at home too but here the children have very little and so when they are handed a toy or anything (even an empty water bottle) to play with they, it is hard for them to let that go.  That is until a larger child comes by and grabs it from them, there is usually yelling, hitting, etc... however, R just has an attitude of "oh well" and seems to move on.  I am not sure if this is because he has figured out that we have a large "bag of tricks" that he gets (which I think he is to young to have figured out in just a couple days) or if its truly his personality to just not care much.  He seems like a very easy going little boy.

More to come as our journey continues.... 10 more days we get at the orphanage.