I’m feeling a little emotional today. Our adoption coordinator and 21 adoptive parents and volunteers left for Haiti today. I was supposed to go on this trip, but a few weeks ago I suddenly decided that I should not go. Since I am feeling wistful for my daughters, I decided I would share the travelogue from our second trip to Haiti last September. We visited longer on this trip, but I hardly wrote anything in my journal. We were dealing with some issues with our older daughter, Georgia, and a part of me was not quite up for writing about it.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale at midnight last night, and got checked into the hotel and went to sleep around 1:30 am. We were up around 5 am, but not down in the lobby in time to meet the 6 am shuttle. We grabbed a little complimentary breakfast just in time for the 6:30 am shuttle. We crammed into the flamingo covered (literally) shuttle and made our way to the airport. Everyone was excited. We checked in without any troubles and went to the gate to wait. Ryland's presence adds a whole new perspective. He gets smiles from people everywhere. It is fun to hear his thoughts on everything that is happening. He and I played some games, such as tic-tac-toe & hangman. He is very anxious to go and when they start boarding the plane, he worries we will be left behind.

Our flight to Haiti was uneventful. It was so hot when we de-boarded the plane and headed across the tarmac to the airport itself. I loved watching Ryland take it all in! It felt good to be back and I felt so excited to hold my girls again. We made it through the airport just fine. It was much less crowded than last time. It must be because it is a Sunday. We loaded up two pick-up trucks with luggage, and then we squeezed in the cabs of trucks, and into a van. It was snug. I think we had between 17 and 19 people in that mini van! Crazy!

The drive was bouncy, hot, dusty, smoggy, and fascinating. Ryland was in awe of the poverty. He commented that, "everything looks like it was from a way long time ago." Haitians smiled at Ry and waved at him. He was definitely an attraction. I doubt they see many Asian children in Haiti. We saw pigs all over this time, eating the piles of garbage. There seemed to be more trash this time, but maybe I had just forgotten how bad it is. The poverty is still a shock for me, even though I recently witnessed it. I don't think it is something a privileged person can ever get used to. I again felt so grateful for my extremely blessed life in America, and was reminded yet again that I need to do more to help those less fortunate. I was glad that Ryland could see how others live, too.

We passed by the Presidential Palace this time, and wow--what a contrast! It was majestic and super clean. I told Ryland that the Haitian government does not treat the people fairly and how wrong it was to have such richness in the face of poverty. I wish I could've read his thoughts as we drove around. I did ask him if Haiti was the way he had imagined it would be, and he said, "It's way worse."

We thought we were going directly to the orphanage like last time. However, we pulled into the Auberege du Quebec driveway (the van was bouncing all over and bottomed out!). We started checking-in right away. They had assigned rooms this time, so it went a lot smoother. Our room also happens to be quite a bit nicer than the one we stayed in last time.

We loaded our luggage in our room, used the bathroom, ate some beef jerky, grabbed a bottle for Talley and a sippy cup for Georgia, ordered our dinner for later on, and went to wait in the lobby. We were all dying to get to the orphanage and hold our babies. Once everyone was settled into their rooms, we left. Oh boy was there excitement in the air!

Continued...