hAiTi

The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart. - Helen Keller

I just spent an amazing week in Haiti and wanted to share a few things that I felt with my heart...
To start off; I have A huge amount of love for adoptive parents who love unconditionally, they take their little Haitian children that they meet for the first time without reservation, most sick with some sort of parasite inflicted upon them by the conditions of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere! I leave the country in love with the adoptive parents and their children and feel it a privilege to share in their adoptive journey's. I have Gratitude! gratitude for more things than I can name, but here are just a few; A sweet man named Harry Mardy, who worked tirelessly to arrange our trip, provide us with vehicles and drivers and be our translator; Nannies at orphanages that work hard to love and care for the children in trusted in their care, with little compensation and sometimes going without food themselves so that the children can be fed; Orphanage directors who take children off the streets, sometimes when they absolutely do not have the room, money or goods to care for them, but they cannot bear to hear of another child dying on the streets; Volunteers who go to places like Haiti, using their own funds, dedicating their own time, leaving families behind, sitting in hot orphanages, (or on the ground in the parking lot of an LDS church) feeding and playing with children without any regard for the conditions in which they find themselves! Gratitude for people willing to raise money for food for the orphanages and/or so that children in a program called Haitian Roots can go to school; I feel grateful for the opportunity to be part of such organizations and to have gone to Haiti to be with all of the these children, parents and volunteers. I felt overwhelmed at the feeling of the Spirit when attending church in Petionville Haiti, walking into the chapel having it so full there was hardly room for us to sit! There are no words to describe the feeling in my heart at hearing the hymns sung so loud, a literal praise to the Lord, in French! (and no accompaniment) Knowing and feeling that we are ALL God's children where ever we may live in this world!
I left the country of Haiti a better person, with so much love in my heart, with so much gratitude for those that touched my life, and for the eternal friendships made along the way. And for the miracles that I was privileged to witness!