After just over two months of separation post-earthquake, the Clay family was reunited in Port Au Prince on the morning of the 24th of March. What a day.. After 26 hours of travel with four small children in tow, sleeping in the Ft Lauderdale airport ( or rather not sleeping because the babies refused to sleep), and arriving to reclaim 12 huge tubs for suitcases and 10 carry-ons (thank goodness Shelley’s mom Marilyn and friend Carrie were there the whole way to help with the travels), we arrived to no less than 10 men in red caps yelling at each other over who was going to help with our luggage. It was a struggle to keep our three carts of luggage in tact over the near brawl, but we made it to our car and couldn’t stop smiling that we were finally home and together. Zebedee’s eyes were full of tears at seeing Papa again and Jackson and Ember just stared and blinked blank expressions on their faces.
We arrived home and were greeted by children running alongside our car in the street celebrating the homecoming! Corrigan had arranged for a small homecoming party and we had a wonderful dinner on our rooftop where I got to meet many of our new artisans for the first time. Almost everyone brought a present for me and as I sat there getting handed small cans of evaporated milk, whole papayas and even two apples, I was moved by the generosity of these people when they really have NOTHING.. but will still bless me in whatever way they can. Unbelievable.
The next few days have been a blur… I have thoroughly enjoyed our new artisans. Our garage is humming with happy workers and their children running all over our yard. They are so diligent and such great craftsman! I see a lack in the fact that their children have nothing to do and the potential there is so great for them. Anybody want to come help us with a daycare/preschool for the artisans children?
We fed 50 street kids on Thursday which is always so much fun. They love sitting in our living room and watching cartoons together. They posture for who gets a spot in front of the fan and I have no less that 27 helpers to clean up afterwards. They never want to leave when it’s time to go.
We found out that the puppy that we just got is going to die. Her name is Beautiful. She has some kind of liver disorder and has had an extremely swollen abdomen and has been very uncomfortable the last few weeks. It really bummed Corrigan out who is very much in need of some R & R and is a bit emotionally overloaded after carrying the brunt of the earthquake aftermath on his shoulders alone. He will be heading to the states on the 8th to spend some time with family and hopefully connect with some people who are interested in what we are doing down here.
For now, I couldn’t be more content. I live in awe at the timing of our life down here, the timing of our artisans program, the timing of our adoptions, and know without any doubt that God is leading and guiding and that he has great things in store for us this year, for Haiti and for our brothers and sisters laboring alongside us in Haiti.
So happy and so curious to see what is next!
Shelley
