Bummer

Friday's excitement of the girls arriving at the orphanage was sadly eclipsed by the disappointment of the father's coming on Sunday and taking the girls back home to their tent city on the hill.  This is so sad on many fronts as the girls were adjusting well, they were eating, sleeping well, they were running around and having fun.  Fedeline still had a fever and she was set to see a doctor yesterday.  Also, Gladine's dad came on Friday and when he toured the home, he seemed very excited Gladine was going to have a bed and shower, things he said "he never had".  But unexpectedly and so far inexplicably, they came yesterday and took them away.

What we do know is that this is not a case of the mothers missing the kids asking the dad's to retrieve them as Fedeline's mom told us last night, this is why she wanted to pretend the father wasn't around, because she knew he would "mess this up".  We also do not feel the father's were heartbroken as this was not the case in the interviews and the one father wanted us to take all of 4 of his kids.  We simply have no idea what happened or why and we may never know. There are cultural issues and issues of need and expectation which may play a part, but we simply do not know.

While this is very sad for us, we are grateful if this was going to happen that it is happening now.  Today, these girls were ours mostly in our imaginations, imagining them at our house in their beds interacting with our family.  We allowed ourselves to discuss what the weekend mornings would be like with them running around.  And because the plan was to have them before Christmas, we of course imagined that as well. However six months from now, a lot of the "imagination" would have been replaced with real experiences with the girls as we planned many visits to be with them before they came home.  We would have known so much more about these two girls and our love would have been much deeper and far more intricate.  If then the father's would have shown up and taken them, that would have been rough!

So we may be back at zero, and sadly, the title of the first blog, "and so it begins", may be more appropriate now then Friday.  It also is tough thinking about these two beautiful, precious girls back on the hill, in the dirt with bad food and water, a fever and hurricane season on the way.....it is hard to imagine much of a future for them, but there is always the possibility there is an explanation or the father's minds and hearts may change.  The allure of a better life for your children remains strong for most Haitians.  But if not, our trust in God's plan for our lives is not diminished or questioned even a little. We remain open and committed to His plan, whatever that plan is.  He has proven Himself faithful to us in everything and if that means these kids, other kids or no kids, we are sold out to His plan.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PAST AND CONTINUING PRAYERS!!!