Today started with church. The congregation consists of mostly children and they do a lot of singing, clapping and keeping rhythm with tambourines. Even though the kids were singing songs I was familiar with, I couldn’t think of the english words because the singing was so beautifully loud. I didn’t do so badly with the clapping. For those who are thinking of coming in the future, Karen will put you on the spot and make you sing. I told Karen I would throw up if she made me sing and she told me she would bring me a bucket. She has no time for nonsense! We ended up sing “Jesus loves the little children” with the kids joining in. Apparently that wasn’t good enough so we brought Mariah up and the 3 of us sang “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart”. The message of the morning was to love one another. Oh, and I never threw up but I felt my lip quivering a little….
Mariah’s birth dad Jean Pierre joined us at church and then came back to Karen’s for a visit. He brought a bunch of fruit and vegetables as a gift, as he often does.
I got my hair done again. I think they have pulled half of it out. And of course it looks beautiful as always.
Later in the afternoon Liette, Mariah, Vladimy and I went to visit Liette’s friend Rigaud and his family. We took a mototaxi half the way there. I didn’t know you could fit three people on a motorbike comfortably. I was in the middle so I have no idea if the back person is comfortable. Our driver had the craziest braided hair that stuck straight up like spikes. We sat outside Rigaud’s home and chatted. We were treated to fresh coconut. We watch a guy walk up the palm tree, throw a dozen coconuts down and then slide down the tree like it was a fire pole. Very cool.
When we walked back we took all the kids to the field beside the church for a little game of soccer. It was amazing to see dozens of neighbor kids come out of the woodwork just because a soccer ball was there. Later Vladimy took on Liette and I and of course us girls won. But not by much.
In the evening we went through some items that had been donated. It’s a lot like opening presents that aren’t for you personally. We had fun picking out outfits that each of the kids will get for Christmas this year.
Finally, there is a photo of Sandra and a photo of Jonathan that we have to add because they’re so incredibly adorable.
Until next time….adios!
~Yvette, for Karen, Liette and the whole HATS gang
