BIRTHDAY!

i feel like i say the same thing at the beginning of every post- it goes something like this, i have been waiting & waiting to post this & i am so excited to share this with you guys.

i know not very creative BUT its true every post i am excited to share a little more about the work we do in haiti & about all of these incredible kids, & partnerships we are continuing to make.

GOD IS SO GOOD.

this post was strictly fun. so i knew going on this trip that it was going to be wilderson's birthday on june 21. i was so EXCITED to be there for his birthday. YOU HAVE NO IDEA. so for his special one on one time he got to go to pizza. dd & chamy tagged along as well. we went to pizza amor which is SO GOOD. we ordered a pepperoni pizza & a lobster pizza. wilderson had 4 pieces! i was like whoa whoa whoa. the boy can eat. we had so much fun just being together & taking him somewhere to make him feel special.

he is always trying to take photos of me.

alix. 

wa-wa

chamy.

love this. 

so sweet. 

of course i brought some back for robenson too. he was waiting as soon as we pulled up bc i told him i would bring him one. so i snuck him into our room & gave him some.

now the "birthday day" i made sure to embarrass him all day long. we made biscuits & gravy & apple sauce for breakfast. when he walked in i had alix tell everyone to start singing happy birthday to him. he was trying not to smile so big but it was so fun. it was just like what happened to me when i was a kid. my mom always made us feel so special on our birthdays & i so badly want that for all the kids there. i have it on video & it's so cute i watch it like everyday. we had projects & everything going on & i decided to leave a little early with wilderson & robenson to go get cake. it was just us & wa-wa. it was the BEST day ever, well one of them. we headed to delmas to the fancy cake shop. i told wilderson he could pick out whatever cake he wanted & he chose a rectangle one. i asked him what he wanted on it & we put HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILDERSON, he wanted it to be in black but they had blue so that is what we went with. we picked out a cake for viviane bc she told us it was her birthday the next day. we got her the cutest little cake with pretty colors all over it & it said HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIVIANE. as we are doing this robenson tells me that no one has done anything special for his birthday which they celebrated in october. so i asked him if he would like a cake & he says yes, he then asks me if i am buying it & i said yes so he picks out the smallest little cake & i asked him what he wanted to put on his cake & he said i want to put "thank you evanda for this cake".... you guys ON HIS BIRTHDAY CAKE, he wanted to thank me. i almost cried. he is just so sweet & so sincere & his love is so genuine & it literally makes me cry thinking about it. we talked him into putting "thank you" in red. we get our cakes & head on our way.

we made a few stops to get some drinks, to get some sweet potatoes, & a few others things. then we head to get something to eat bc this baby was hungry. we stop at this little place that i have been too many times. it has like haitian food & american food & we settle on sandwiches. i get something real plain, wilderson is picky like me so he picks out what he wants on it, & robenson literally gets everything on his. we get in the car & head back for the party. we start eating our food in the back seat & robenson had onions on his & i told him i hated them. he then told me that everything is good for my body & i should eat them. this kid. 

we get back to CAD & start blowing up balloons to hang up. we use a mosquito net to put them all in & grab some yarn to string them up with. we had the common room full of balloons. it was so fun & so pretty & i was like a kid. we get the cakes & put them on the table. we get our candles on the cakes & i had got wilderson magic candles bc i knew it would embarrass him & be SO FUNNY. we start singing happy birthday & then robenson, wilderson, & viviane blew their candles out. wildersons candles kept coming back & he would blow them out again & then they would come back & we all were laughing so hard including him. it was SO FUN. we then let them get their piece first & of course they wanted huge pieces. well instead of eating their cake right away they helped serve everyone else before they even took a bite. how different we are in the states? so quick to serve ourselves. so quick to want things before anyone else. lord, help me to raise my kids to not be selfish & put others before themselves.

sometime during all of this wilderson finds his way to me & with tears in his eyes, hugs me & says "thank you mom" this is completely unusual for him bc he is REALLY SHY & even when i am going to leave he hides from me to cry. i didn't need a thank you from him bc his smile was all i needed. gosh the love i have for him is crazy. crazy crazy & i know he is on my path for a reason.


after everyone is served ziko starts blasting music & next thing you know we have a dance circle going on. wilderson took a bunch of blurry photos & they are awesome. we all got in the middle & danced & celebrated all these kids amazing birthdays. then we took the party outside to dance until like midnight. all of the teachers were so happy. it makes me happy to see them happy bc i know they have so much on their plate all the time & they are not paid near enough what they should be getting paid.

we took wilderson to our room & the whole team was there. we had a birthday bag full of gifts for him & let him open each one just like we do in the states. he got some shirts, some shorts, & tractor supply hat & some really cool sandals. i also gave him a photo of cory & i when we were by ourselves. he took the photo & just put it on his face for a long minute & then hugged me. we went to his room & i helped him fold all of his clothing in his little suitcase which holds everything he owns. in this tiny little suitcase. he had a few clothes, & photos & letters i have given him in the past. my mama heart so badly wants to just bring him here & make everything different for him. patience & proper steps i have to tell myself. one day sweet boy. i cannot wait for that day.

i also had robenson a few shirts & some shorts & a photo of cory & i. he was so excited. i didn't want him to feel left out considering i was not there for his birthday.

now i am on a mission to figure out all of their birthdays. bc it is important to me.

we danced & danced & danced. it was so fun & the kids were literally putting themselves to bed bc they were so tired. i taught robenson country dances & he had them down before the night was over. i sat there watching everything just feeling incredibly blessed to be alive & able to go & serve such amazing kids, such an amazing country. lord, help me to never question your direction. when you say go help me to say ok. when you say do help me say ok. give me strength for whatever is ahead of me. help me to always serve you 110%. help my faith to not waiver & help me to always put YOU first in everything i do.

this whole day was magical & an answered prayer & so many feelings. i am sitting here crying right now thinking about all of it. i feel so blessed to live this life. now bringing a new life into this world that will get to share in all of these crazy adventures makes my heart all warm & fuzzy.

-e

library/art room for CAD.

i have been waiting to post this. this room has taken a minute to be completed but now it is & it looks so good.

this has been a dream of mine for some time now. for the kids to have a space to create art & use their imagination & thanks to everyone that sponsored this last trip & the trip in january it is finished!

you might remember that we painted this room on my last trip in march.  it is a bright blue vibrant color that invites you to be artsy. thank you tia, grace, wa-wa, my mom, diana & jerry for making this room so colorful & clean.

this last trip wendy donated the wood for the shelves & bought some of the books for the library which was amazing bc it allowed us to use money we had set aside for shelves for extra water & propane for the kids.

we had an amazing day-care, my sweet neighbors, & other friends donate so many books & we are so thankful. let me tell you these kids LOVE to have me sit down & read these books with them. they love practicing too. we also had cortland partners donate so many art supplies for this beautiful room. i could not be more thankful to all of you that made this room happen. hard work, time, money & a lot of love made this room into what it is.

so matthew, alix, wa-wa, & billy worked SO HARD getting these shelves up. seriously guys without you what would we have done?!

laura & i collected tin cans they could not burn & we bought spray paint to bring them back to life to put things like crayons, pastel paint, markers, pencils, pens & every other fun thing you could find. we painted them red, yellow, silver & a few gold. we spent a day organizing the room & making the shelves come to life. we hung posters & photos. maps & posters & the room is going to be a HIT. we took robenson up there to see what the room looked like & to help us hang photos & when he walked in he said, "wow, this is beautiful" he then asked me if it was for them & i said YES! i cannot wait for them to use this space to make beautiful things. it also makes me excited to have one of these rooms at our new place.

all their little aprons hung up!

laura & i made this ribbon holder using an old paint extender & zip ties. 

i love how cute it looks. we found this colorful curtain in another room & alix hung it up to block out some of the sun. 

we will eventually have some chairs so they can work at this table. 

robenson wanted his photo taken in this chair in this new room. 

we hung up all these photos of us & the kids so when they are in here they can remember all these memories. 

they had all these amazing posters sitting in a pile so we brought some adhesive & put them up. that space is from the table that was there :)

laura & brandi after organizing. 

me taking a photo of robenson taking a photo of all the photos. 

more photos from past trips. 

all in all this room turned out amazing. thank you to matthew, elana, brandi, courtney, dd, laura, & raegan for making this room into something special. thank you to everyone that donated for this trip & everyone that prayed. i cannot wait to post photos of them creating special things in this room. 

YOU GUYS! it is FINISHED. 

-e

BEACH DAY & saying goodbye.

this day was SO FUN. the day before laura had the kids make tye dye t-shirts during her lesson on purpose & it was incredible. i will write about that soon, promise.

so that morning we had the CAD bus & pastor jeanty drove the van. all the kids wore there tye dye t-shirts & we started on our 2 hour ride to the beach. in the van it was of course smaller but we were the ones that had to make all the stops to pick up all the cold drinks for the kids & bread for sandwiches.

well we are at our first stop. cold drinks. we get all the kids in the van a frozen drink. if you have gone to haiti you know how amazing those frozen cokes are. i open wilderson's for him & then before i know it he turns his upside down. i give him a baby wipe to wipe off the lid & when he removes his hand the coke EXPLODED everywhere. it was on the ceiling, it was in my hair, on my clothes, EVERYWHERE. i just laughed bc it was so funny but his face was priceless. he was staring at me like he thought he was in trouble but when i started laughing he just smiled the biggest smile & helped me clean it all up.

next we have a guy that comes up trying to sell some dried plantains. i try to avoid eye contact bc if you make eye contact they will insists that you want their food. now the baby was telling me yes i needed them but i was like nah. i thought he was gone & looked that way and eye contact was made. instead of trying to sell the plantains he insisted on blowing me kisses and winking. i turn my head away quickly but everyone saw it including robenson & wilderson. they thought it was the funniest thing. they kept trying to fix my hair & put sunglasses on me & then tried so hard to turn my head towards the guy. they kept laughing & everyone just had a real good time with it.

we are making our way to the store to get bread when we hear what sounds like another coke explosion, except it was not. i look down at my arm & there was rice. then i hear the sound again. i look at wilderson & its all over his clothes, his hat, & then i look at robenson & it is all over him too. they both look at me like they are about to lose their breakfast. they rest their heads on the seat in front of them while i get baby wipes & start cleaning them up. i look back & poor viviane is just completely car sick. laura is sitting beside her & even she will tell you she was happy she was there. if these kids had thrown up & we were not there the loving care a parents gives a child when they are sick would not be given. laura was a pro, cleaning the windows, helping viviane & doing whatever she could to make her feel better. dd hands a bag of baby wipes back but viviane threw up in the bag. so i am cleaning wilderson & robensons shirts,  & wildersons hat & after i am done i hand them back & they did not want to put them back on. we were insisting they were fine. we pull up at the store & take the kids in to use the bathroom & wash up. i hunted down garbage bags, & more baby wipes while dd got the bread & everything else we needed. we go back outside & laura has cleaned up everything. i still had crunchy rice all over my dress & was trying to avoid it. laura was a boss & THANK god. i think mommy mode kicked in & it was this sweet little girl is car sick & just couldn't help it. we made sure she was ok & headed on our way.

on the way we asked the kids if they had ever been to the beach before & ALL the kids in the van said no. so we pull up at this little beach that alix found for us. we were the only ones there for the whole day! it was so nice. they had music, a little dance area, a place for us to prepare lunch, easy access to the beach & a POOL. the kids excitement could not be hidden. my excitement could not be hidden. we organized all of our stuff & told the kids they could go swim. they were all in that pool quicker than you could blink. dd & i hunted down our floats, blew those up & then i hunted down my sweet son that i knew would go to the beach bc he is an excellent swimmer. robenson without hesitation jumped into the ocean with us & then got onto the float & insisted i pulled him around. i was like geez i am the pregnant one. it was so fun. then we decided to go to the pool to hang out with the other kids & it was like a mad house in there. after a few hours of playing the team started preparing lunch for the kids. we made peanut butter sandwiches, pringles, these little cookies, water & we saved their bottled drink for the way home. you could tell they were all hungry so most of them got 2 sandwiches. we all sat around & ate together. we took some photos & videos. some of the girls danced. i just sat around so thankful for everyone that donated to make this fun day for them possible. the moments like those i will never forget. their sweet faces smiling so big, their little bellies full from the donations to buy food, their little hearts so full of love from everyone that raised money to  spend their time with these amazing kids. all of those moments & thoughts were on my mind all day long. i just feel incredibly blessed to fight for these kids to have a better life. i feel honored that the lord opened this door, the best part is it can only get better from here.

the kids were tired so we left around 3:30 and headed back to CAD. this was our last day with them so we knew we were going to have to say goodbye. we stop by our favorite little gas station to get some treats. we got some ice cream cones, & drinks, & we got some apples. robenson told me he had an apple only one other time. those kids threw down on the ice cream cone. banaelle gave her ice cream to sammy & she kept the apple. we all packed back into the car & arrived back at CAD. we started organizing our stuff & going through things we were leaving. then we all went outside to say our goodbyes which are never ever ever fun. i had written robenson & wilderson a letter & had alix read it to them. as alix was reading robensons letter he was just in tears & it broke my heart. he is such a tender hearted kid & i love that he can be himself with me. i just hugged him up & then gave him a bunch of stuff we had like bug spray & this essential oil stuff i had, he even got my coconut water body spray bc he said it was good for boys & girls. he even wanted a few of my t-shirts which i was happy to give to him. we walked outside & sat down together & he just laid in my lap & cried. i told him not to cry that i would be back & he could talk to me every week like we normally do. at this point wilderson is hiding from me like he always does before i go. i see dd walking with him to our room & she gave him some sea shells & then he is crying again so she comes & gets me. i sit down beside him & he won't even look at me. he just turns his head & cries. so i just hold him. then i am crying & we are all a mess. he walks over & sits in a chair & starts writing his bio for me for the magazine he is going to be in. i just laid there organizing stuff & trying to take my mind of saying goodbye to my sweet sons  & i just feel like its not fair. i HATE leaving them. i HATE worrying about them & hoping they feel special & loved every single day. it is really really really hard. alix reads wilderson his letter & then it is all time for bed. we are saying goodbye to everyone & then i go & tuck them into bed. i put wilderson in the bed & gave him a kiss & told him i would miss him & that i love him very much. then i do the same with robenson. we go to bed & i just laid there looking out the window at their window thinking about them. thinking about all of them. i laid there praying for them. praying that they slept good & that they went to bed knowing how much they are loved & cared for. those kids have my heart so much.

wilderson was prepared for another throw up episode. 

we get up to leave & robenson told me to come to his window & say his name. we do this every time. so i did. i hear melita (who is the cook) saying robenson robenson get up evanda is here. he comes to the window & i say goodbye & ask him if he wants my water bottle. i do the same with wilderson & he says goodbye mama, i love you so much. ah. seriously. so robenson comes to the door & i give him the water bottle. i look over at wildersons bed & he is crying again. so i sat with him & said no crying. i will be back soon. i hug him & give him 1000 kisses. i do the same with robenson. then sweet johnny is crying so hard melita comes over to hold him & says don't cry evanda will come back, evanda will come back. i hug him too & give him kisses.

my sweet boys. they are like brothers & love each other so much. 

i don't tell you all of this to make you sad, i tell you all of this bc its love. genuine love these kids have for me & i have for them. its time i have spent with them. hours of writing letters to each one letting them know they are cared for by the father & by me. telling them that anytime they are lonely or feel sad to pray. i go see them whenever i can. i pray with them. i love them & they know that i do. these kids make my world a better place & i try so hard to do the same for them.

this beach day was incredible & even through all the tears that night i would say it was one of the most special days for me.


we are trying to take $2500 with us for the land in july you can help us reach that goal HERE