Not Me Monday: and the ants go marching on

I do not come to my kitchen every morning and do battle with ants. Every. single. blessed. morning.

I do not say evil things under my breath as I watch a new trail of  them marching along my counter, table, wall, fridge...

I have not tried every single natural attempt at ridding them and then tried every single un-natural attempt. All attempts a great big epic fail.

My husband did not finally admonish me to give up the fight and just "accept them as a part of our family."

I did not actually heed his words and decide that in the interest of my mental state that perhaps it is best just to welcome them to the family.

Nah.

Sidenote: If anyone knows of any magic tricks for ridding our new family members, feel free to pass them along!

just a (satur)day

Saturday's are my favorite days at the mission.

Full of fun times, doing everything and nothing...

Ezra giving drawing lessons...dinosaurs and Sonic the hedgehog pictures now abound around here.

Baby loving.

Car fixing, always under the watchful eyes of our older boys.

Hair-do's getting done did =) 

Superhero sightings.

Just hanging. And reading.

And hanging some more.

Yep, Saturday's are my favorite.

photojournal: zoe @ two and a half

She's two and a half now. 

These pictures are the perfect personification of her personality...that gap toothed smile, hiding behind doors, and always with an animal (or five) held in her hand or tucked in her pockets...

Beyond the Face: Chivensky

His name is Chivensky, but we all call him KeeKee.

If you've ever spent time in Haiti and gotten discouraged, which is very easy to do when you see the overwhelming poverty and conditions...I challenge you to spend some time with this boy and not feel your hopefulness return.

I love this boy. He is truly exceptional and gives such a hopeful reflection on the potential held within this country. On the potential that Christ creates when you surrender your life, no matter your age or past circumstances.

He is at the top of his class in school. If you ask him what his favorite thing to do is, he will tell you school.

Soccer is a close second.

He is easy going and a great big brother to the little boys around here. He is a favorite of Zoe's, who has been very slow to be won over by anyone.

His favorite colors are yellow and orange. He loves to help out and is hard working at any task you assign him. He is a master at the bongo drums which he plays every night in our devotions. A master.

His story, like all of the others, is one of sadness and bad circumstances that while he didn't create, he lived in the consequences. But his story, unlike so many others, is not going to end there because this boy truly is growing in Christ.

On Christmas Day KeeKee was found sitting off by himself, crying. When prodded as to the reason for his tears he told that his brother was there and he was sad because he knew that his brother didn't know Jesus. His brother was called over and KeeKee proceeded to share Christ with him.

His biological brother is now his spiritual brother.

Pray for KeeKee, that he would continue living with his open and teachable spirit. That he would continue excelling in school and as an example to those around him. Pray that he is allowed opportunities to continue developing and growing. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to be allowed freedom to work in his life.

swiftly fly the years: Eli Cade turns seven!

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we...

Documenting our journey of bringing Eli into our family, 2009.

The first picture we saw of our Chala-Eli, Jan 2010.

One of the pictures we got of him while we were waiting to pass court, Spring 2010.

Home! Spring 2011

Spring 2012

Spring 2013

Spring 2014

My heart and my eyes fill as I think about the unimaginable blessing it is to mother this sweet little boy.

I love his crazy face making ability,
his gentleness,
his random questions,
his adventurous eating,
his laid back, easy going, and contented nature,
his bravery,
his sweet prayers,
and so so so much more!

Eli Cade,

Happy happy day to you! 

You are so incredibly loved by so many people...but no one (under God) loves you like your Daddy and I. We are so blessed that we get to be your parents. I look at you sometimes and my heart just turns to mush. Your life holds a big story and we love that we get to be a part of it. You are smart and sweet and so very brave. You are a rock star with all your friends at the mission and I love watching your friendships with them. I've said it before, and I'll say it again this year...you are my hero. I love you so very much. 

Happy Birthday!

To the moon and back,

Momma

look AND see

I learned a new creole world last week. Gade. (pronounced Ga-day)

It means look.

In my life I can look at something and not really see it. When my kids ask me to watch them do something for the 1,372, 539th time...I may look, but I don't really see. (Can I get an amen?!)

Because, lets face it...no matter what you do or where you live...a lot of our days can be filled with the seemingly mundane. Ordinary things. Ordinary interactions. It's easy to gloss over and not really see. 

I have been praying this week that God would give me his eyes to see.

Not just to see beyond the ordinary and the circumstances,

but to see the beauty and the lesson within them.

Open my eyes that I may see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Psalm 119:18

Service Opportunity! (New Life Week at Have Faith Haiti Mission)

**UPDATED 3/18 - ALL THE CHILDREN HAVE BEEN SPONSORED!!! Thank you so much for eveyones quick responses! I am so excited =) For those of you that emailed, I will be sending out details to you throughout the day today. **

Hello friends!

As I have written about many many many times in the past...Easter is my favorite holiday.
In the whole wide world favorite!

We have always deemed it Holy Week with our family and made it a week long event, full of fun and learning and remembering and celebrating. It seriously is my favorite week of the year.

We've decided that we would love to share all this excitement with our kiddo's at our mission and have started planning some similar activities...just on a bigger scale, ha!

Here's where you come in. If you'd like to, that is.

One the last day of Holy Week, Easter Sunday, we'd love to present new church dresses/outfits for all our kids as a visual reminder of the new life the Lord has provided us.

Great idea, right?!
Right.

However, I am not in America to go shopping and gather everything.

Bummer.

However, I do have a dear friend traveling to Haiti the week before Easter who has generously offered to help coordinate things for me, and donate suitcase space to bring everything down!

We need volunteers to choose a child (or multiple children if you'd like!) and go shopping for them and either bring them to my friend (she is a local Durham, NC friend) or have them shipped to her.

If you are interested, please email me at: jennifer @ jenniferhambrick.com (no spaces) and I will match you with a child (or children) and their sizes and give you all the specifics.

We will need the dresses/outfits delivered by APRIL 9TH!! That's not a lot of time, so we need to get hopping!

lullaby (and goodnight)

We tuck in all 30 kids every night.

A process that started out simple enough: A kiss on the cheek or a quick rub of the back and a "goodnight sweetheart."

Rinse and repeat.
30 times.

Slowly over the months this process has turned into something not so simple: Someone has a heart question, someone has tears and needs an extra few minutes, someone had a rough day listening to teachers and needs a stern but loving talking to...

Rinse and repeat.
30 times.

But now, I am afraid I have created a monster.

They all want a lullaby.
Not just the littlest girls but even the big 13 year old boy.

All. of. them.

Lullabies are special to me. I feel as though I have poured out my love to each of my own babies as I sung these quiet little tunes to them in those precious moments right before sleep. Even with Eli coming home as a three year old, I'd rock and sing to him and came to cherish that special time with him when he actually would relax in my arms.

Last week I was singing to Chika at bedtime. At the end of "Taura-Laura" she burst into quiet tears and she hugged me tight.

I realized the power of a lullaby in that moment.

They may be quiet comforting tunes, but they convey strong messages of love and care and evoke even stronger emotions. And for an orphan, emotions are a very good thing. The cycle of abandonment and broken attachments is so harmful to the development of their feelings that they slowly stuff away or disengage from all feelings as a protective mechanism.

Our sweet Chika.

And so for now, I may have created a monster that makes bedtime routines stretch into a not so perfunctory time slot. But it is a beautiful monster. And I'll keep on singing.

the land of two seasons and carseats till college

It's been almost two weeks now since we've returned to the land of two seasons. (Hot and hotter)

We are settled back in, I think. And I can't believe how much easier the transition has been this time around.

So. much. gloriously. easier.

The kids and I were riding in the open air of a flat bed truck to take a visiting dental team back to their guest house and it hit me how crazy it is that...riding in the open air of a flat bed truck over crazy bumpy roads and seeing sights such as pigs eating trash on the side of the road...feels normal.

Ezra was standing up holding onto the railing with the wind in his face and he yelled to me, "We don't get to do this in America!" 

No, buddy...we don't. America is the land of car seats until you go off to college.

It's been extra busy ever since we got back. Like, way more than normal busy with a lot of visitors, a dental clinic, and preparations for TODAY'S big beach trip. Taking 30+ kiddo's to the beach is no joke, people.

No. Joke.

I went earlier in the week to scope out the beach as it is a privately owned place and we needed to know what/how to prepare for it. It is unlike any other beach we've been to here as you veer off the main road down a long drive on a dirt road lined with banana groves on either side...

And then...your're there...

So beautiful.

I'm so bummed that I'm not actually going though. Three of our kiddo's at the mission have been struggling with behavioral problems in school. Rather major ones. We have been teaching ever since we got here that good choices equal good consequences and bad choices equal bad consequences. Therefore, they are not getting the privilege of a beach trip. And guess who gets to stay behind and supervise the cleaning of the showers by toothbrush?

You guessed it...me.

I am choosing a good attitude today. And not thinking about all the sun and fun and memories being made.

Ok, maybe I am thinking about it a little.

I am sending Jeremiah off with strict instructions to make sure that:

#1 - All kiddo's be brought back.
#2 - He takes lots of pictures.

Pretty easy instructions, eh.

Happy Sunday everyone!

reunited (and it feels so good!)

This will be (unfortunately) a pictureless post. A sure sign that we are really back in Haiti as our internet stinks here and takes days, hours,  way too long to upload pictures.

Wow.
Three weeks can really fly by.
Especially when you are having fun.

Fun was had.
And great memories were made.

But, I am very very happy to be back "home" and out of a suitcase.
Living out of a suitcase gets really old, fast.

I wasn't expecting to feel such a sense of home returning here to Haiti. I am realizing that whatever our future holds down the road we will forever feel a divided sense of home...with family and dear friends in both countries now.

Reuniting with our kids at the mission was awesome. They really know how to make a person feel missed, ha! I was so happy to see them all looking so healthy and happy. And my kids are over the moon (Ella and Eli especially) to be reunited with their friends here.

We hit the ground running with a lot of visitors coming to the mission and preparing for a dental clinic team coming in this weekend. And of course, Jeremiah has had to work on numerous plumbing issues that came up in our absence and fix the mission van already =)

Happy weekend!

joys of boys

My boys love my parents big long flat driveway. 

(and pretty much everything else about my parents house!)

Just perfect for so many things...

this trip the thing was skateboarding.

I love my boys.
All three of them.

**Side note: Tomorrow we head back to Haiti! These last few weeks have flown by and we have made some precious memories. That said, we are ready to get back. Pray for patience for all as we go about the circus adventure known as traveling with four children, ha! **