Today

I miss my girls today more tham ever. It seems as the days pass the more I miss them. We plan to go in May but that seems so far off. I need to see them, hear their sweet voices. To know they are ok. I miss Haiti, I miss my girls.

I-600

Today our I-600 went in the mail. One more thing signed, notorized, paid, and mailed.  I love when I get things done. It makes it feel like one more step closer to getting the girls.

Haiti 2010 Thank you

January 12th, 2010 changed the nation of Haiti forever. Chris’ life and mine were also forever changed. It is so hard for us to be here in America when our hearts are in Haiti. As I write this, we just got home from a month stay there. This was my fourth time and Chris's third trip to Haiti and all together we have spent over 2 ½ months there in the past year. We have had the opportunity to serve the people there in many ways. We have fed, clothed, bathed, wiped noses, played, danced, laughed, cried, supplied medical care, helped build, and helped tear down. On the last trip, we met & fell in love with a little girl named Leila who had AIDS, TB, and heart problems & then before we returned the third time to see her, we found out she had died. Thus, we found ourselves mourning the loss of a little girl we had only begun to get to know. Life is so fragile. We came upon an orphanage with over 40 children who had not eaten in four days. We immediately pooled our funds together to feed them. When we got there, two of the maybe 10-year-old boys were twelve feet down, digging a hole for a place to use the bathroom. Later, they used this by placing a board on top with a hole in it. At another place, I saw kids on the verge of death, so sick, with bodies nothing but bones. This place felt like a dungeon. It reminded us of a concentration camp for small children. They all had numbers written on their arms that matched the number on their crib. Some were five years old in the cribs. The pain in their eyes was more than one can bear. I will never forget how one little girl grabbed at me and clawed to hold on for dear life when I went to put a back in her crib. As I put her back, all I could think was how wrong this was. She is just a number, a baby girl waiting for death to take her, with no mother, father, or family to hold her close. To the workers she seemed to be only number 4. She was 7 months old I am guessing she weighed maybe 9 to 10 lbs. I thought of how she is a daughter of the most high, wonderfully made, of how she should be cherished, not hungry and dying. I want to change life for as many of these children as I can. I am back home now and seem out of place here in my easy, comfortable, boring American life.

The kids digging the hole for the new bathroom

When I first went to Haiti, God had even bigger plans for us than we could have ever imagined. We are in the process of adopting two beautiful Haitian girls. If all goes as planned, their adoption will be completed some time this year. We are praying for the fastest adoption in Haitian history. It’s so strange to think that on June 26th 1999 in a the city of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti in an area know as Delmas our 1st daughter was born.(Rosika) Then on December 16th 2004, we had another daughter (Daphnica) born in the mountains in Kenscoff, Haiti. I was not there for either birth, but God was and He knew that someday they would be orphans and need a family. We are so blessed that he has chosen us to be their parents. We were with Daphnica for her 6th birthday. We do not want to miss out on anymore of their lives. We miss them so much. They were so sad when we left, as were we. One day at breakfast, the little one said to me, “Manman I will never forget you” and we will never forget them. They are truly our girls. I cannot imagine life without them. I look forward to the day I am with them again. I am amazed at what God has done. My bible verse for last year was Isaiah 43: 18 -19 “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”

This has all been possible because of your support and prayers. If you would like to help the children of Haiti, we will be going back to Haiti 3-4 times this year. We hope to help build 2-3 classrooms and they will cost $1000.00 each. We are in the process of helping one Orphanage to get their van running & we have raised $700.00 so far, but we still need $1100.00. One orphanage needs a propane stove. We need funds to buy food and cooking coal for the orphanages when we return. We have seen so many children with no shoes and children wearing shoes that are too big, too small, or held together by wire or tape with their toes hanging out. Some of the little girls would roll up a piece of cloth and pretend it was their baby doll. So, we are also collecting shoes and baby dolls to take back with us. There is so much need when we go, but when I have seen the effects of hunger in the eyes of a child, I have to try to help.

My love and blessings to you, Holly Wood