HaitiBabies: Back on Track.....Partly

Last Saturday I was back in Haiti, on the hill talking with the parents of Gladine and Fedeline. I was completely unsure as to why I was called in to meet with the Dad's but I was told they wanted to ask me some questions. The flight over was a little nerve racking, as the type of questions I was to be asked would determine if this process was to continue, or end. What I mean by that is questions such as "what will you do for us"? or "what is in it for me"? would mean the entire process was over. But real questions, questions about Kim and me, our home, family, resources, plans for the kids and their future, those questions would be welcomed.

So Saturday around noon, (high noon!), we drove up to the hill where Gladine's mom and dad were there waiting for me, as was Fedeline's dad. We picked a spot under a tree, where joined by about ten men from the village and our Q&A began.

Almost immediately I could tell Gladine's mom and dad were happy and I had a really good feeling about them. In fact at one point early on, Gladine's mom told her to come over to me and say "hello". She sheepishly did, and when she made her way over and was standing next to me, her mom told me to pick her up. I did and in about five minutes, Gladine was asleep on my lap. The mother would look over at us with a big smile and I really felt in my heart that Gladine was going to be going back to the orphanage and back on track to coming to us. I was correct and this weekend, Gladine will be going back to the Creche' orphanage!

Gladine

Fedeline's dad was a different story. He kind of is an angry looking guy and as he spoke, i was unable to get any read from him at all. My Creole is no where nearly good enough to follow the conversation so I had to sit there not knowing what was being said, waiting for that first question and first indication of where this guy, (Johnico) was coming from. then Frank our interpreter finally looked at me and asked that first question:
"How will he know you are really going to love his daughter and you just don't want her because you have no kids of your own"? Wow, I remember being relieved because I knew then he really just wanted what was best for his daughter, and he asked a really good, but more importantly, loving question. He then asked things like: "Will I ever see her again"? "Will you bring her back"? "Can we come to see her"?, "Can we talk to her". I explained the best I could and told them in my horrible Creole: "ou pral tojou, tojou, se Fedeline's Papa...Li ou pral toujou pou ou pitit fi"..Which means in what I am sure is very broken Creole, "You will always, always be Fedeline's dad, she will always be your daughter".

For about an hour he asked very good and important questions and left by taking a picture I had brought of Kim and I and said he wanted to send her back to the orphanage. I gave him a kind of awkward hug and a smile as we headed back to the truck. Gladine's mom was really sweet, she took a picture from me of Kim and me and one of the bedroom Gladine will be sleeping in....really an incredible moment imagining Gladine's mom looking at this picture from time to time imagining Gladine sleeping in bed.

So as I walked past the squalor and the dilapidated tents and dirt, I thought for about five minutes Fedeline and Gladine were headed back to the orphanage, then I ran into Fedeline's mom, who I had met before and she could not even look me in the eye.....my Spidy-sense was tingling.

I did find Fedeline looking pretty good, better than the last time I saw her, I said hello, kissed her on the head and had to go. When I got back to the truck I found Johnico, Fedeline's dad, irate. It seemed now Fedeline's mom did not want to adopt Fedeline to us! The same woman who two weeks earlier was crying when Johnico took Fedeline out of the orphanage and back to the hill, was now unwilling to adopt. I quickly came to understand that Fedeline's parents are not living together and it seemed for very good reason. I could see we were getting into the middle of some domestic power struggle thing which Kim and I do not have the time or inclination to enter. I asked Johnico to calm down, asked him to not make this a real ugly thing with Ketlove, Fedeline's mom, and simply said I had to go. It was sad though, explaining to Johnico what Fedeline's future was going to look like, pictures and all, then get his complete buy-in, only for him to be frustrated at the very end. The last thing I saw him do before we left was lightly slam his fists on the truck.

So I left with mixed emotions....VERY excited to call Kim and tell her Gladine was back on track, very bummed to think Fedeline was going to stay on the hill. But more than anything, trusting God...not wanting to do anything but trust God. He has been so good to us and He will work things out as he plans.

We are still not giving up on Fedeline but we are not going to actively pursue her. If there comes a day when her parents can both feel good about adopting her, they know where to find us.

One more good story, before I left, Gladine's mom brought her over to me and said something to me which ended in "papa". I think she was telling Gladine I was going to another Papa to her. I am pretty sure that is the first time I have ever been called "Papa"......hopefully not the last!

Gladine and "Papa"