What a trip!

Wow - so much time has gone by since I've last posted.  I'm sorry! 
Let me say, I had the best trip ever in September.  Many different things happened which allowed me to truly enjoy my time in Haiti, with my baby. 

First of all, I have to say thank you to my very good friend Bertony and his family for hosting me.  He's always allowing me to stay in his house and taking me to and from where I need to go.  I truly appreciate his friendship and what he has done for me. 

The orphanage has a strict policy that you can only take the child out of the orphanage and be at a certain hotel.  I have my opinions about that...but in any case, I continue to stay with my friend Bertony and just see Isnaika during the day.  When I came the last time, I stayed my entire time at the orphanage.  It was a very tiring trip because I couldnt have any real alone time with Isnaika.  100 other kids were constantly coming up to me.  Her toys seemed to have legs and walk away.  It was also very very hot and there was no really good place to sit.  All day long.  For a week.  This trip, I was fortunate enough to go when my adoption agency representative went.  He told me I could bring her to the hotel where the other parents are. 

So every day, I'd go to the orphanage, pick up Isnaika, and go to the hotel.  It was great because I could see the nannys every day, but also go and hang out with the other adoptive parents.  What a treat.  I really feel fortunate to be among those other parents.  There are some pretty wonderful people adopting from Haiti.  Jen, for example, went to adopt one.  Was asked by his birth mom to adopt his older brother.  She accepted.  She then also fell in love with baby V who, at the time, had a ton of medical issues.  Now Jen will be V's mom too!  So, every day, I would have Isnaika in one arm and V in the other...going through the bumpy streets of Port au prince.  What an experience!  I forgot to mention Jen already has other children and has taken it upon herself to make hundreds of dolls for all of the children being adopted and their siblings.  It's Isnaika's first doll.  It was great to meet Jen.  Jen also helped me get Isnaika's hand prints and footprints. 

I was also fortunate enough to meet the Scott and Melissa.  They are adopting Naika.  They have adopted others and have an amazing story of how they were led to Naika.  Naika is such a sweet girl who has special needs and it was clear that Scott and Melissa are the perfect parents for her. 

So, it was great getting to sit in the hotel courtyard on the nice, soft sofas...hanging out with the other parents.  Even better was to be able to celebrate the holidays with them.  They first had halloween and dressed the kids up.  We also had birthday parties which were fun.  I brought mix and frosting to make cupcakes, but when Melissa offered me one of her cupcakes, I couldn't resist.  We broke out and sang Happy Birthday to Isnaika!  I missed her birthday by a week.  What a celbration.  I'll post pics of Isnaika in her birthday crown, shirt, and tutu.  She was so cute.  She didn't take to the icing very well.  She must not have ever had sweets.  My mom says to keep her off sweets as long as possible! 

Another fun activity we were able to do was SWIM.  Wow, that was nice.  First of all, because it's so hot in Haiti.  Second of all because Isnaika had never experienced that before.  The first time we did, she was kicking and splashing everywhere...just loving it!  On another occasion, I took her in the pool and she fell asleep in my arms in the pool. 

All week long, I kept asking if I'd be able to meet Isnaika's birth mother.  They told me that she was too hard to reach and lived far away.  I'll post about this adventure next.