My Girls ?

Finally here is the promised blog with photos of my girls.

I presently have seven girls, ages ranging from 1 to 10. This number will increase when we get the new Kid’s home finished later on. I will start with TiFi who is the oldest and go down to the youngest, Karena Mariah, who is one. I will give a little info on each of them.

Ti Fi means little girl. She is ten. We do not know from which area she came. Ti Fi was abandoned at our school on opening day three years ago. Someone put her into one of our school uniforms, took her to the school and left her there. We did not know her name so we called her Ti Fi. We did choose a name, Orphena, and a birthdate for her later, but the name Ti Fi has stuck. Ti Fi is a ‘special’ child. Ti Fi does not attend school. She is, however, continuing to develop slowly and is steadily learning to say new words.

Mirlande is nine. She was born in the mountains but spent a great deal of time in the hospital in Deschapelles from age four to seven months. Mirlande came to me through the hospital when she was seven months and weighed only 7 1/2 lbs. Mirlande is in grade four this year and is a very bright girl. She loves to read and has been doing it quite well for two years. Mirlande is blind in one eye. We are hoping to be able to find a medical team coming to Haiti who might be able to do eye surgery and give her a crystal eye.

Leica is five. She came to me from a town called LaChapelle, when she was four. Leica has a sweet disposition. She loves to laugh and play. She is understanding and helpful with the younger children. She adores Ti Luc and he feels the same about her so they spend a lot of time together. Leica is in Prescolaire 3 this year.

Karma is five. She came from the town where we are located, Deschapelles. She is our newest addition to the family. Karma quickly fit into the family and enjoys being part of a big family. She too has a lovely disposition and thoroughly enjoys spending time with Leica and Ti Luc. She too is in Prescolaire 3 this year.

Josie is four. She came from the town of Ti Riviere. Josie became a part of our family when less than two months old. Her father, in desperation and tears, brought her to the compound to ask me to take her and give her a chance to have a life. He had three other children. His wife had died 18 days after giving birth to Josie. He had no one to help him, no extended family, and wanted his baby girl to be taken care of. Josie is in Prescolaire 2 this year. She loves having Ismyis as her playmate and mischief maker friend.

Ismyis joined our family in February. She is almost four. She too is from Deschapelles. She is a lovable and energetic little girl who enjoys getting into mischief with Josie. Ismyis is in Prescolaire 2 this year too.

Karena Mariah is one. She is indeed a cutie pitutie. She quickly became a part of the family, thanks to my precious granddaughter, Mariah, who was in Haiti helping me when she came to join us. Mariah put a lot of love and time into helping Karena Mariah adjust to her new family. Karena enjoys trying to do whatever the others do. Hopefully I can keep her from following my two mischief makers, Josie and Ismyis, too closely.

It is indeed a pleasure to share my girls with you on this blog. I will include a couple of other photos of them that I think you may enjoy seeing: Karma & Leica and Mirlande & Karena.

Thank you one and all for your continued support. My children know that I am their “mama”. They also know that mama could not do anything for them without the rest of the HATS team in Canada and the US. They know that without your help they would be living a very different life on the outside of the mission compound.

God bless you all.

~Love from Karen and family