Our dossier entered IBESR

Hello Angie and Phil,

We got news today that your dossier was submitted into IBESR*! Your IBESR number is 13480. Unfortunately, this number doesn't mean a whole lot. In our North American thinking, it would seem logical that dossiers would be looked at in numerical order, but not necessarily so in Haiti. Dossiers that come out of IBESR are not necessarily coming out in the order that they have been brought in. But, at least this number gives you something for reference.

Congratulations on moving to the next step!!!

LaDawn

*See Timeline for completing the legal process in Haiti

May Photos and Update from GLA

Hello Philip & Angia,

I hope all is going well there, and you are having a pleasant month of May.

Ronaldo is happy and healthy. He started showing signs of a scalp rash earlier this month and has now been on medication for a week, so it clearing up well. Many of our kids get it from time to time, and it is easily treatable so no major concern. It doesn’t bother him at all, only the fact that he has to take nasty tasting meds for it. The first few days a spoon of peanut butter covered up the flavor for him, but that wasn’t even good enough after a few days. So now he gets it with a spoon of pudding. He has been on no other medications, and apart from a few toe splitters on the soccer field he’s been doing very well.

Ronaldo has enjoyed some fun activities since I last emailed photos. It seems that we’ve had so many activities lately, the kids haven’t stopped talking about the last one, and a new one comes about!

Just after last writing you we had a fun morning of Easter Egg dying. Ronaldo was in one of the older groups (because of the number of children involved we spilt them into groups). He used crayons and markers to color his egg. After that he chose a color and dyed his egg, in shock he pulled it out of the cup and realized I wasn’t kidding when I said that the egg would not be white anymore. He blew on it to try to get it to dry faster. It was a great morning and I am very thankful that the kids had such a great time, it was nice to do something new with them, to teach them a completely different “craft”, as egg dying is not part of normal Haitian culture.

The end of April we were blessed to have a small team of volunteers come in from Florida to spend some extra time with our toddlers. Most of our volunteers come and because of the needs of the babies are most often working hard at the baby house, with a smaller amount of time allotted to the toddlers. However this team seemed to try and focus on our toddlers. For five days straight we had 7 sets of extra arms to hold, hug, and play with the toddlers! One event in particular that Ronaldo seemed to enjoy the most was a long hike to the nearby stream. We call it a waterfall. But just because the stream cascades down rocks about 7 feet. :) And it makes life a little more exciting. :) Ronaldo doesn’t get to go usually, because he is often in school at the time we go. LET ME TELL YOU IT WAS A BLAST!!!! Oh so much fun!! Ronaldo was lucky and found his way onto the shoulders of one of the guys on the team whom carried him pretty much the whole way down and back again! Once there it took him seconds to have stripped off his shirt and shoes and be playing in the water. Unfortunately we haven’t had much rain and there was not much water, BUT this didn’t bother your boy at all, he was quite pleased just to be there. He splashed around for a long time, the boys all had a splash fight and their lips quivered as the water droplets cooled them off. We wore him out and at supper he almost fell asleep. A very pleasant and memorable afternoon.

It’s been a pleasure to be able to share a little about your son with you!!

Have a wonderful day today!!!

AND A VERY HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY TOMORROW!!!!!

Blessings,
Molly