The story of Daphne (Ti bebe 'm)

( Top:Daphne 2 years old June 2007! Bottom: Daphne and I October 2007 Daphne 22 months.)

So I decided to post a blog about how little Daphne became "My baby". I first went to Haiti October 7th 2007. Two weeks before I got there the girls orphanage at Maison de Lumiere got a tiny one year old baby named Daphne. Daphne did not look as old as she "was (if that even was her correct age!)" but acted way older than she "was". She was mature, you could tell she had been through a lot in her short little life. When we first got to the orphange the first morning Daphne just cried, and cried when Ms. Susette left. Dadoon put Daphne asleep and she didn't wake up until later that day. The next day only my friend Laura, her mom, and myself only came to teach pre-school. She immediately came to me, called my man-man (mommy),and held on not letting me put her down. The rest of the week it was the same thing right when I walked in the day she would come up to me and cry until I would pick her up. I would stay for hours and she still wouldn't let me put her down. She never called me Gracie like all the others but man-man. Every night late at night I would be the last one up crying because I knew I had to leave her later that week. When it was finally time to say goodbye she cried hard and through her whining and said "No man-man!!!!". Her screaming when I put her down just made it worse for me and I couldn't stop crying until I landed in Miami. Yes, about 4 hours counting waiting in the Pap airport, sobbing. In June I had an AMAZING opportunity to go to Haiti again but WITHOUT my parents. Right when I walked in Daphne stopped right in her tracks she didn't run up to me like the others she just stood VERY still staring at me. She looked mad like why did you leave me?!?! It broke my heart!The first two days all she did was stare at me like that. She didn't do that to the rest of the team just me. She finally got over it a little and would ask me to hold her and sit in my lap. I am praying since I will be coming back this October (39 days until I am in Haiti!!!) she will feel more comfortable and know I am coming back. And I will ALWAYS come back. Daphne, Mwen renmen ou!

Missing this beautiful, beautiful girl sooooooo much today!

Today I have been missing Katrina too much! She is SUCH a sweet little girl and it amazes me how happy she is after all shes been through! Just one year ago, when she was 5 a group of gangstas came in to her house and raped and murdered her 18 year old sister a little while later her 3 year old little brother was kid-napped from her yard! She has been through SO much but is so happy, sweet, and loving! I got the closest to this little girl in my last visit. We really clicked. Everytime I walked in she dropped whatever she was doing and ran up to be screaming GRACIE and gave me a huge hug!!!!! She would randomly run up to me and just hug me and say "Gracie I love you soooo much!!!". One night while we where having a party she sat in my lap and kept whispering in my ear "Gracie I love you soooooooooooooooo much!" and then I would tell her I loved her soooooooooooooooooooo much and it would keep on going for about 30 minutes! And oh how I love her! I can't wait to see her when I go to Haiti on October 7th (41 days!!!)! Katrina, Gracie renmen ou anpil!

What I miss about Haiti

So here's some of the many things I miss about Haiti!

-Walking into the orphanage and having the kids run up to me shouting "Gracie!!!!!!!!"

-Playing "m'ap pa la (I'm not here!!)" which is like hide-and-seek but whenever the seeker comes to find you, you yell "M'ap pa la!!!". Then they giggle soooo hard they fall on the floor and laugh for such a long time! I played this game alot with the younger ones!

-Getting my hair corn-rowed which I though was IMPOSSIBLE!

-Daphne screaming GRACIEEEEEEEEEEEE while we play tag!

-Talking to Ari at night for a long time (This was actually in October because I only saw Ari for a day when I was there last :( She had just gotten back from Cali!)

-All of the kids jumping on my back for piggy-back rides at the bins (I didn't mind at all)!

-ALWAYS having a kid holding my hand wherever I went!

-Katrina sitting on my lap at night getting sleepy and saying about a milion times "I love you sooo much, Gracie!"

-Talking to the older girls!

-Hanging out with the boys!

-The look on the kids faces when Laura and I brought out a suitcase full of toys!

-Holding the teeny tiny babies at the Women's Program!

-Taking care of Fa Fan at church!

-Baby-sitting baby Jeerzie!

-Eating the amazing Haitian food made by the AMAZING Saintamene!

-Dancing with Frankie, Oline, and Katrina!

-Talking to funny little Kenny!

-Worshiping with the kids!

-Looking at videos of Daphne with Daphne on my camera!

and SOOOOOO much more!!!!