Delivery Day

The blog has been a bit quiet, my apologies. We actually have visitors in right now, some very special visitors. Peter and Sara Craig are here to check things out and for all of us to see if they would be a good fit for the mission. If so, they'll be joining our staff. We're excited to finally have them here and to be at this stage in the process. We've been enjoying them and enjoying sharing our lives here. 

Tuesday Peter, Sara and I had the opportunity to join our staff on a filter delivery day out in the Artibonite Valley. We try to send our visitors out on a delivery day when possible so they can see the end result of the filter process - the filters being put in the homes of people that desperately need clean water. Chris and I don't normally go on the delivery days because we can get in the way and make it difficult for our staff (people coming to ask us for things etc). It's better for our workers to be able to go and just do their jobs amongst their own people while Chris and I manage the day to day operations of the mission. Yesterday was actually my first time going on a delivery/installation day since we started working out in the Artibonite two years ago. I thought you might like to see where the filters are going and a bit of the process.

We pulled out of the yard at about 5:30 am with 34 filters. 34+ big bags of sand, 34+ small bags of sand, 34+ small bags of gravel (all of the materials for each filter are pre-measured and bagged), 3 filter barrows, a cooler with food and pop, a big Igloo of drinking water, 6 CWH workers, 2 visitors, me and a stereo speaker. 

Heading down the Route 1 Nationale.

After about an hour on the main highway we turned off onto a dirt road and drove down that for about another hour to get to our first delivery. The road runs right along the main canal. The canals are brown and are the main water source for people out in this area.

The Artibonite is where all of Haiti's rice is grown. It's very green and beautiful. The water table here is also very high. In places where wells have been drilled there is often so much water coming out they don't even need to put a pump on it, but rather just cap it and put a stand pipe on for people to use.

It took about 2 hours to arrive at our first delivery stop. When we arrived there our staff got right to work and I saw how the well oiled machine ran. There was no standing around getting organized, they just jumped off the truck and started unloading. Everyone knew what their job was and did it. We met Lexis, the community organizer on the road just before our first stop and he showed us where to go all day long as he checked out his list of recipients for the day.

The first delivery of the day. The filter barrows were designed by Chris and have made deliveries so much easier for our workers. They can carry everything on them and it saves their backs.

This man was really sweet and very happy to have his picture taken with his new filter, the first one installed of the day.

Our workers draw a small crowd as they do another installation.

Installation done. I don't know if this was an actual house or if it was a shed of sorts.

Transporting another filter for installation. Each filter weighs 165 lbs empty.

Julie doing the user education with the new filter owners.

Many people ask us how we sell the filters or decide which families get them. Our program has sort of grown with a ripple effect. When we first started working in the Artibonite it was because a student in a missionary friends school wanted to get filters in his community. We told him if he could sell 20 filters and collect the money ahead of time, we would bring a truck full. We threw an extra 5 on the truck and people basically fought over them when they arrived. From then on we kept getting more orders and the word spread. We started connecting with individuals in the communities that expressed interest in the filters and asked them to take care of signing people up and collecting the $40 Haitian (about $5 US) for the filters, and when they had enough orders to fill the truck we would go deliver. That was 2 years ago and we've just hit a new monthly record of 278 filters installed in one month! Until yesterday our highest was 171 and our goal has been 120/month. We're really excited about the progress. In June about 3000 people got access to clean water!

When the truck arrives, the community organizer hops on and spends the day going from house to house with our staff. As a thank you for their time and effort we give them $5 Haitian for each filter they sell. It takes a lot of time to do the promotion and as I saw Tuesday, the area covered can be huge. It's just a nice way for us to encourage people to help their own communities.

Our first 10 or so filters were all delivered along the road. We basically stopped, dropped off a filter or two and the right number of technicians (2 per filter), and Julie who takes care of the education. Then Jean would drive up and find a spot of shade for the truck to sit in while we waited for the installation to be done. We were able to go into several homes and I was reminded again of how hospitable people can be here. We were able to watch several installations and I got to sit with Julie several times as she did the user education. 

Jean, Richard and Fristner unloading another filter.

Jean takes a bit of a break.

Jean wanted to make sure I was in some of the pictures too. You can see how loaded the truck is when they first arrive.

Peter and Sara cross a small canal to go watch another installation.

Lexis and Jean chatting. I love how people hunker down here and often feel jealous because I'm just not that agile.

Moving to the next delivery.

The stereo speak got hooked up to a wire that was run from the trucks electronics, hooking it up to the radio. The guys do this every time they go out and Jean keeps the music playing all day long. Most people out in these areas don't have electricity and only get to hear the radio or music if they have a battery powered radio. The music is a nice treat for them and a bit of a drawing point. I think because of that Peter, Sara and I got to spend a lot of time talking to people. Well, mostly I did because I speak Creole and they're just in the beginning stages of learning. It was fun to be able to have full conversations about all sorts of things with people, and to realize that I did in fact have the Creole to do it. We spent a lot of time talking to kids because they're naturally curious and will talk to you about all sorts of stuff. We stayed in one community for about 3 hours and spent a good part of that time repeating our names, to the point where everyone there knew that we were Peter, Sara and Leslie (or whatever variation of my name they came up with), that Peter and Sara were married and had two little boys and that I was married and had a little girl... it was pretty funny. 

Many of the homes out in this area were made by weaving sticks around posts, then covering them with a mud and grass mortar. There were some cement houses, but not many.

Some of the kids that we spent a lot of time talking to.

More kids in the area.

We delivered a filter to a house right next to a voo doo temple. It was my first time being at one. You can always tell where a boko (witch doctor) lives because there are flags flying on really long poles from the site. This particular temple had several houses right around it, which is where we were delivering the filter, sort of like a little compound. The temple was brightly painted and had a ceiling full of flags hanging inside. It was probably the biggest and most elaborate one I've seen yet. As we were walking back to the truck I noticed another smaller temple off to the side and Julie said, "Gen anpil boko isit" - there are lots of witch doctors here. Throughout the day I noticed several women in traditional dress - bright dresses, with bright satiny head scarves and big hoop earrings - often associated with voo doo. It was interesting to be in an area where it was so prevalent because I don't really see that around Pierre Payen. 

One of the deliveries in that same area took our workers over an hour to do. They took two filters and just headed off into the distance while the three of us stayed with the truck. When they were told where the delivery was Lexis said, "li lwen" -  it's far. How far? Lwen. When they got back I asked Richard how long they had to walk to get there and all he could say was, "I don't know, it was far."

The last delivery was finished as the sun was setting. The guys threw the last empty sacks in the truck, they hopped in and we were on our way. When the truck is empty it's much easier to stand on the bumpy dirt roads so there were six of us all holding on to the steel rack and catching bugs with our faces. We hit the main highway as it got dark. At one point we passed a big cow on the road. It's head was so close that if I would have reached my hand out the side of the box I would have hit it in the head. Good thing Jean is a good driver and we had good lights on the truck! We arrived home just around 8 pm. If you're keeping track, that's a 15 hour + day for our workers, and they usually do this twice a week. 

This is why your parents love it when you become parents

So, I've been promising you a good story for a week now. I would hate to leave you dangling like that, so here we go. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

It was last Saturday, the day we were going to Bobi's party. That morning Chris had taken off with Peter and Isabel for a morning hike up to Kay Pyiat and the water source that's there. That left me and Little Miss on our own for about 4 hours. Things were going well, that is until I ran down to get a couple of things from the other house.

I thought it out ahead of time so I could do a very fast cruise through the building and just grab what I needed. I grabbed my keys and headed out. I was literally gone less than 4 minutes. Apparently, when you're a toddler, 4 minutes is all it takes to wreak havoc. 

I came back up the stairs to the apartment and went to open the door only to have it not budge. Not one ounce. I almost started crying because I knew what had happened. I knew right away. 

When we were looking at doors for the apartment Chris found nice metal security doors with 4 deadbolts on them - 3 open with the key and the last is a "quick lock" that you can turn from the inside. The person who invented these doors was obviously trying to think about keeping thieves out and never once considered how much fun a toddler can have with them because you can't open the quick lock from the outside with the key. Yes, I know, ridiculous.

So yes, you guessed it. In the less than four minutes that I had taken to run down to the other house I had been locked out. With the quick lock. Did I mention that we also have security windows that you can't break into??!?

As I tried to process what was going on and think rationally Little Miss didn't care one bit that Mommy was in fact, locked out. I tried asking her to go down to unlock the door, because I had seen her do it before. She went down and would bang on the door. Or play with the door handle. Did she once think to touch the quick lock? No. Not once. 

The guard saw me standing in front of the window begging my child to "help let Mommy in the house." And then it sounded more like, "Olivia! Mommy is locked out. You locked Mommy out. Mommy can't get in until you unlock the door. Mommy is stuck out here and you're stuck in there." Normally  a toddler will start picking up on stress from their parents at this point and start responding, you know, with crying and getting frantic themselves. Olivia is apparently not normal in this sense. I say that because while I was trying to keep myself calm she was having a ball inside. I popped the screen out at one point to see if that would help. All it did was give Olivia window bars to climb up. And then she would get off the couch and run around giggling. So NOT helpful at all. 

Eventually the guard and I figured out how to get in and free the child that didn't know she was in a bind. I wish I had a recorder for when I talked to Chris on the phone and he asked how things were going. All I heard was dead silence on the other end when I told him that our daughter had locked me out. I could hear the cogs in his head going through the mental list of all the ways that a person couldn't break in. Because we had built the place like that. And then we had a toddler.

The best part about sharing this is that I know it's the kind of thing that leaves our parents feeling a sense of payback. Payback for the times where we tortured them as children. Times like when I was about 3 and my mom got upset with me for not listening to her and I very calmly turned to her and said, "I heard you Mom, I just didn't like what you said." I now understand why parents love it when their kids become parents - they get to watch the whole cycle repeat itself, and I believe they are doing so and secretly hoping that your kids will give you twice as much grief as you gave them, just because they can. 

And, in case you think that these are isolated incidents let me tell you what happened this morning...

I started feeling sick last night and as of this afternoon have managed to lose 6 pounds. Needless to say I wasn't getting up much this morning. That left Chris in charge of Olivia. Mondays are also one of the days when Yonese comes in, which we love because Olivia loves her and loves to follow her around as she works and it gives us a bit of a reprieve. Well, this morning Chris went down to the other house to take care of some mission work, and left Olivia with Yonese, but I don't know that Yonese realized she was supposed to be watching Olivia and she went out to take the compost out. I was in bed with the door closed. As I lay there I started to smell something familiar, but not common. It took me a few minutes to pin point the scent and boy, when I did I went flying out of bed. 

Nail polish.

I flung the door open to find a very cute little girl standing there with one closed bottle in her hand, BUT completely covered in another color. I followed my nose and found a nice big puddle of white iridescent polish on the floor. Not to mention the foot prints on the end table. I didn't even have the energy to get mad. I calmly took the nail polish away. Then I found the jug of paint thinner we had in the storage room and mopped up the mess on the floor, and then the mess on Olivia. The stupid thing is that last night as I set the case (which has a zipper on it, for the record) on the end table I mentally reminded myself that I had to grab it first thing in the morning or I would be in trouble. 

So yes, parents, you just go on laughing. Did we mention that next time you come to visit we're going away so you can have some "quality time" with your granddaughter? 

And then there was the time I lit myself on fire

On Tuesday I turned 31. Yes, I'm officially in my 30's. So far so good. Chris had to take Peter and Isabel to the airport that day so it was just me and Little Miss I Can Get Into All Sorts of Trouble (I still have a good one to share), but everyone sang me Happy Birthday at breakfast which was nice of them.

I decided to take the day off and not do anything I didn't want to. It worked out well for me :) I did some gardening. Olivia did some playing in the mud. I slipped down three stairs on my butt and crunched my back, which wasn't so fun, but I survived and get to see my chiropractor on Saturday. Chris came home at an early afternoon hour and made me supper (yummy curried chicken with raisins and apples) while I had a nice cool soak in the tub, which I'm discovering is one of the best things you can do when it's too humid to think. We had a huge rain that night which cooled everything off. That's always nice for sleeping sanity.

Yesterday we had plans to go to our friend Lauren's place for dinner. Lauren is the assistant general manager at Club Indigo and lives right on site. As a treat she made arrangements for us to use the pool for free for a couple of hours while she finished up her shift which was so fun since it's been so hot. The three of us spent the entire time sitting in the wading pool. Olivia realized she could stand up and it just covered her shoulders so she had a ton of fun just walking and running around. I was so proud of her and how comfortable she is in the water. When Lauren's shift finished we headed over to her place along with Elsie, Bobi and Bobi's mom. Lauren got to work on cooking us and amazing dinner. 

Lauren literally had to bring in a stove as she eats most of her meals in the dining room.

At one point I was helping her finish up some stuff and was dealing with things in the frying pan while she did some mixing. My stomach started feeling hot so I backed away from the stove and looked down to see that my shirt was on fire. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I lit myself on fire. My shirt was a bit loose in front and it got too close to the gas burner. By now you're probably freaking out because I LIT MYSELF ON FIRE but don't worry, I'm totally fine. In fact, after dinner Lauren and I were almost peeing our pants as we talked about the whole thing. I should set the stage by telling you that Lauren had a stove brought over and put in the abandoned room next to her apartment. Think cement block room with nothing in it. It was getting dark so she had someone bring over a construction light. To say "make shift" would be an understatement. As Lauren mixed batter for the shrimp I was dealing with a few that were already in the pan. As my stomach got hot I just naturally backed away, like I do in my own kitchen. Then I looked down and very calmly said, "I'm on fire."

Lauren looked at me. Then she realized that I was in fact, on fire.

We both started blowing and patting my shirt. I did flap it around a bit too. It took seconds to get it out. The funniest thing was how calm both of us were, like I light myself on fire everyday. Oh, here I go again, lighting myself on fire. La la la. 

I went back to the apartment and iced my stomach while Lauren finished up dinner. We then sat down to a HUGE pan of Pad Thai, one of my all time favorite meals (and Lauren didn't even know), and tempura shrimp. It was SO GOOD. We ate and visited and it was wonderful. Then Lauren casually says, "There's lobster too," and a few minutes later a guy brings in a platter of lobster. PLATTER. And you know what? By the time we were done with that lobster it looked like a pack of scavengers had been through the room. 

It was a great birthday, probably one of my favorites so far. It was casual and fun and while there was no cake or candles, I did get to blow out myself and I figure that has to count for something in the whole wish making world. 

Adoption Thoughts

I haven't written a post about adoption thoughts in a very long time. I like to update about Olivia and what she's been up to (and oh, is she up to a lot these days), but not much about my feelings around the whole subject or updates about where things are at. I think the biggest reason for that is that we just get into the rhythm of our days and before I know it another month has gone by and Olivia is another month along in life. Would you believe that on Friday she'll be 17 months old?!? I wonder where those days have gone?

Before we brought Olivia home, actually before there ever was an Olivia, I would spend time sitting in what would eventually be her room. There was a chair in the room and I would just sit and get lost in my thoughts. I would find myself thinking so many of the things that adoptive parents think about. Things like whether I would love her enough. I had no idea what it was like to love a child of my own. Would it be different that she didn't come from my womb? Then again, I had nothing to compare it to. I wondered what it would be like for her to grow up in our family. I wondered what attachment would be like and if we would struggle with that.

Then we got the call and life turned upside down and now here we are almost a year and a half later and I marvel at how far we've come. I'm guessing most first time parents have those moments. You know, the ones where you realize that you've managed to keep your kid alive for the last x number of months. And not just alive, but they seem to be alright. 

We brought Olivia home when she was 15 days old. We've felt so blessed that we get to have her living with us during our adoption process. There are so many adoptive parents out there that don't have that and seeing what we have makes my heart ache for them. I know how much you're missing out on and I wish you didn't have to. It sucks. I wish adoption would go fast because that truly is in the best interest of the child.

Before we adopted I got some parenting books, but nothing really specific about adoption. I did borrow a few from friends, but I'll be honest, I really only got through a couple all the way. The others just totally turned me off. I realize they have probable been really great resources for many people, but for me they just rubbed me the wrong way. As I read and we talked we realized that it would be very easy for us to label our child just because a very high percentage of adoptive families have had these struggles. We didn't want to do that, but rather feel it out as we went. I put the books away and instead we just focused on loving Olivia and chose to deal with any issues as they arose. When I look back at how we've grown as parents I am very grateful for that one decision. It really was a big one for us I think. We have always kept in mind that we were very fortunate to be able to bring Olivia home when she was so newborn and that it isn't the case for so many families.

Over the last 16.5 months of watching Olivia grow we've been so blessed to see how attached she is to us. This girl knows we are her Mommy and Daddy and there is no denying that. She is turning into an incredibly loving girl who smothers us with hugs and kisses and just today returned an "I love you" in her own way (we just taught her how to say it yesterday) along with a hug. She needs lots of cuddles and smooches, but also needs to give a lot of them. Many times throughout the day she'll come up to me and hug me tight, or climb up on my lap and wrap her arms around my neck and give me a smooch and a hug. It makes me melt. I think the biggest thing that we've seen in regards to attachment is when we discipline. Almost always when Olivia has been disciplined she'll turn to the disciplining parent for comfort. Seeing that has giving Chris and I confidence that we're making good decisions and balancing love and boundaries well. Olivia is naturally more needy of Mommy, but because of all the involvement that Chris has had she has a very special bond with her Daddy too. She will go to both of us for fun, comfort and nurturing. 

One thing that we've been sensitive to right from the beginning is letting Olivia set the pace for building relationships with others. If she felt comfortable then we let others hold her, love on her, play with her etc. Right from the start. Olivia never went through a phase of "stranger anxiety" which actually surprised me because I had read about it being part of natural development and was anticipating it. In fact, I think it was just the opposite. In most cases she is a very social child that will wander around a room making friends with people of all ages. I have noticed that in some situations she'll be more cautious and needs time to just observe, but when she feels ready she's off and running. She has some very close attachments to certain friends here and we're grateful for that. In the end though she knows Mommy and Daddy are her "home base".

I know that as Olivia gets older and understands her adoption more there will probably be things that come up that we'll need to deal with, but until then we want to just experience her one day at a time. Taking that approach, for us, has allowed Chris and I to be "all in" all the time. Not a day goes by where we're not saying to each other, "Did you see her do such and such?" or "Okay, when did she learn that word?" We're having so much fun with her, even though there are plenty of trying moments. 

Speaking of developmental issues, I feel like we're on a high speed ride right now. I have no idea if all parents feel this way, especially first time parents? I can only assume so. Isn't it crazy to watch your kid learn so much every single day? When I think of just recently these are the things that come to mind...

• Olivia was able to say "1, 2, 3," after she heard me count the clothes pins as I was putting them back in the bucket. She was counting, just like Mommy, as she put them back in. I know it was more of repetition than cognitive understanding, but WOW. Counting!
• Yesterday we taught her how to say "I love you". When she says it it sounds like "I lul lu" but she gets that it's a way of expressing affection. 
• There were a whole slew of new words. We always laugh because she'll pick out the funniest words in a sentence to repeat, like "pants" but she's repeating all of it and storing it away.
• She has an Old MacDonald's Farm book. The book goes through all the parts of the farm, like the barn, the pasture etc and talks about the animals that live in those areas and that Old MacDonald looks after them. Olivia now knows all the sounds of the animals. You can ask her, in any order, what sound x animal makes and she can tell you. 
• She knows most of her body parts if you say, "Where is your..." 
• I see her motor skills improve every day and I see her challenging herself with things like using small items and trying to do it correctly.
• She loves to dance. Any kind of music and she's moving somehow. I love to see how she moves her body to try and find the rhythm. 

There's so much! It's such a fun stage. 

As far as where we are in the adoption process, our file is still in IBESR, but it's only been there for about 6 months. There are a lot of families that have been there for much longer. I like that we're able to go about our days and get distracted by life. It would be great to take a family holiday and we're very much looking forward to the day when that can happen, but we're trying to keep moving forward until it does because it might be a very long ride.

A really good day

Yesterday was one of those great days. The kind where everything is just easy and lovely, and all of the right elements just sort of come together at the same time and everything clicks. We all got together in Montrouis to celebrate Bobi's birthday and to visit with Diane and her crew from the US. We got to hang out at a beautiful place and enjoy a wonderful afternoon with friends.

I haven't been able to sit and soak in the ocean, or any body of water, for long enough to get a good sunburn in a while. It's so great when everyone loves  your kid and wants to take her off your hands :o)

Chris and Peter, one of our visitors this week.

Our friend Elsie, and our other guest, Isabel.

Peter chatting it up with Bobi's mom.

Me, Bobi and Elsie. God has really blessed us with some great friends here. We love these ladies.

Olivia did her job of charming everyone there, as usual.

Olivia also got to help Bobi open all the birthday presents sent from home. She was a very good helper.

The birthday girl and her mom. Bobi's mom had made arrangements for Bobi to spend the weekend at the house with Diane and the team so she could get a bit of a break from Canaan. The big surprise for Bobi though was when her mom walked out of the airport on Thursday just after the other people Bobi had gone to pick up. What a fun birthday gift:)

The following are my all time favorite pictures of the day, SOC (straight out of camera). I love having a wonderful day with friends, and I love it even more when I have fabulous pictures to remember the day by, which is mostly about me remembering to actually get the camera out and using it.