Anestacia's Preschool Graduation

I have known Anestacia for years... I first met her in the baby orphanage back in 2011. She was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. She had eating & swallowing difficulties secondary to her condition thus having a hard time gaining weight & maintaining nutrition. When the baby orphanage was moved to the Mole Campus Anestacia moved into the Miriam Home until she was able to get the cleft palate and cleft lip surgery she needed. 

If you  have ever met Anestacia you know that she is a happy...joyful...strong willed...independent...playful...too cute & she knows it girl! Fast-forward 3 years & she has had 2 surgeries to correct her palate & lip...she loves to eat & is very healthy. She no longer lives at the Miriam Home but with a Haitian Family. She attended the nutrition programs preschool at the mission & loved it. 

At the end of June Anestacia had her preschool graduation. I was so thankful to go & finally experience a preschool graduation that so many have talked about (It being such a BIG event). In Haiti it is a HUGE deal...If you have a daughter you have to get her a wig...a fancy dress...stockings...shoes...etc. and if a boy a suit. I don't really understand this part of the culture...Why spend all this $ for 1 outfit and 1 day instead of feeding your family...All these families were in the nutrition program because they could not afford to feed their child/children. On the other hand it is a BIG deal their children are in school & graduating & other schools in Haiti make just as big of a deal...so they want the same. It is not just preschool graduation that does not make since to me but on a weekly basis look at church...people will not go to church if they do not have a "nice enough" outfit but many can't afford it. Or take marriage for example if you are not officially married (which costs $) you can't participate in a lot of things at the church or in the community. Sorry...sidetracked. Back to Anestacia's preschool graduation... Graduation was on a Sunday afternoon around 4:00. Her older sister brought her to the Miriam Center to get dressed & so all the weekend mom's (staff) could see her. While we waited we took lots of pictures :-)

Anestacia with her pretty dress...wig and EXCITED for graduation

Anestacia with her older sister

Stephanie & Anestacia

Me & Anestacia

Me & Anestacia's Sister

The Miriam Center Nurse, Anestacia, & her sister

The Miriam Center Nurse, Anestacia, & her sister

Anestacia's Sister

Ti-Carlos wanted in on the action

Mary-Julie & Anestacia's sister

Ti-Carlos playing with the nurse while waiting for graduation to start.
 He was rocking it following directions & copying & talking! So proud of him!

I got my hair done while we waited...

Love these weekend mom's so much!!!

Anestacia with her graduation gown on

I do not have any pictures from the actual ceremony as the church was packed & I sat in the back. It was a very nice church service followed by each child receiving a diploma and a bookbag full of goodies from Ashley Wingate (the missionary who started the preschool & has dedicated the last 2 years of her life to it). It is amazing to see the work that Ashley has done on behalf of the preschool. She has made it Haitian run by educating the natives to run the preschool & setting up the curriculum for them. The school is so different than any other I have seen in Haiti as it takes a hands on approach to learning (verses rote memory/repetition).  She has also been working with a group of about 14 of the mothers from the first year class pouring into them spiritually, emotionally and teaching them a trade of sewing & helping them make a living. Just had to brag on Ashley for a second. After the service I took lots more photos. Each child had a Mar and a Par (I don't know if I spelled that right...but basically a godmother & godfather.

Anestacia's mom & her

Anestacia's Sister, Presidue, Nurse, & her mom

One of the Miriam Center weekend staff was the godmother to this little boy who graduated. He was such a Cute

Then nurse & me

One of the weekend mom's & me

OVERALL WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY TO CELEBRATE ANESTACIA!!!!

7 Pool Parties in 2 days...FUN FUN FUN

We had 3 FUN FILLED days of pool fun at the beginning of July. We have not been able to fill the small blow up pools up for a few years secondary to water problems...The fact we were able to fill the pools is a testament to God's provision!!!  

Pool Party #1 & 5- Wednesday & Thursday Outreach Families. 

I did not announce that we were going to have a pool party...it was really a spur of the moment thing (meaning not planned a week ahead). So Wednesday morning Steve (one of the other missionaries) helped me get the pools blown up & filled with water. I pulled out some water toys, & set the area up around the pool with yoga mats for the families to sit on. I also dug out shaving cream & set up a shaving cream station for sensory play. I also got lotion, vibrating therapy brushes, and other therapy toys that the families could use when their child was not in the pool. At first the families were not sure what was going on when I led them to the roof but when they saw the pool they got excited for their kids. 2-3 at a time we undressed and 1:1 helped them play with the shaving cream, in the water and then dried them off & gave them a lotion massage & vibrating brush massage. The mothers enjoyed a relaxing afternoon talking. We ended by being able to bless them with some pictures of them & their children (THEY LOVE LOVE LOVE PICTURES...) and then had a snack together. It was such a fun afternoon! So thankful for the summer interns & Jennifer's (a visiting PT) help along with Carlos (my current Haitian Therapy student) and Nicholson (My assistant)...we could not have pulled these pool parties off without them. 

Pool Party #2..3..4...6...7- Miriam Home children

Thursday was just one pool party after another ;-) Instead of running the normal therapy schedule in the morning we split the sensory kiddos into group of 6 and had 3 groups come up for an hour each. They loved playing in the shaving cream...splashing in the water...watching the bubbles go with the bubble machine & then enjoyed their lotion/vibrating brush massage. I definitely could not have pulled the morning off without my great therapy team (Carlos, Nicholson, & Jennifer) as I got pulled away to minister to & pour into a family that came all the way from the Mole (5-6 hour tap-tap ride away) to try to drop a little boy with cerebral Palsy off. I spend 4 hours pouring into this family & empowering them to keep this little boy & raise him even though he is not theirs & even though he has special needs. My therapy team said that the morning kids had a BLAST!!!! In the afternoon after outreach We allowed the higher functioning kids to come up for the first hour and then brought some of the kiddos who needed a little bit more help and some of the itty-bits up for pool fun. We even pulled out some cornstarch & water play! So much fun was had by all!!!!

My New Room/Home

The last 2 months I have been in the processing of moving from my little closet room to what all the missionaries call the tree house. It is called the tree house because their used to be a tree that grew right up through the middle of the house and the ceiling is about 6 feet tall so very short. When I was first offered the move I debated...I weighed the odds and decided if I did a few renovations It would be a good step up especially because it has a bathroom & toilet. 

Below are pictures of the room I moved from.... 

The 2 renovations I wanted to do to the tree house before I moved in was re-paint and tile. So I went tile shopping in PdP (about an hours tap-tap ride from the mission) and picked out brown tile for the floor & beige tile for the counters...

One of my outreach dads (Ralph's dad) repainted my house for me. I really wanted yellow walls but we did not have any yellow paint left from Miriam Center renovations. So I went with orange. As soon as he started painting though I realized the orange was making my room look dark and small. I called Nicholson & luckily he had not picked up the tile yet. I switched & went with brown tile on the counters and beige on the floor. Then I painted 2 wall white and only had 2 orange. Below are the before & after shots of the house. It looks like a different space!!! Especially the shower!

After moving in I have found many pro's and cons to my new space

Pro's to my new house
-Tiled floor- I LOVE LOVE LOVE my tiled floor and how I can sweep it and bleach it and keep it clean and sit on my floor and work on my floor....
- Having my own shower and toilet...wow how nice is that especially when their are groups of 100 people here
- The ability to go to my room and not have people being able to see in on every side, mistaking my room as the girls bathroom
-Great countertops and working space for cooking and the ability to have my freezer in the same room as my stove and food!

Cons
- people walking into my house all the time because downstairs and not upstairs (mainly the Miriam Center kiddos. But now have a lock on my door so its better than it was. We are also working on learning to knock before you enter ;-)
- super loud outside my house because the stairs outside is where the kids from the big orphanage love to congregate at night. Sometimes I can't even make it to my house because 30 kids on my steps.
- Its a heat box...thought there would be more airflow than their is...it just gets pretty hot.

I could go on listing pro's and con's BUT all that matters is I love my new room and it is really feeling like HOME. My mom made me curtains for my birthday and Allyson my intern brought me in a fun shower curtain.

I am feeling very blessed by my new space!!!!