Our basic routine each day started by getting up and eating a breakfast made by our cook (yum!)...my favorite were her eggs with veggies fried up in it, fresh fruit (even the bananas that I don't normally care for were delicious), and the bacon. I don't know how she made that bacon, but it was ridiculously good.
After breakfast we headed over to the orphanage (around 9am) to see the girls. Usually the nannies were still getting babies ready...changing diapers, dressing them, putting on lotion, doing hair, and dumping baby powder down the front and back of them! On Tues-Thurs we would take the girls downstairs (along with the rest of the younger kids as the older kids were at school) and a Community Learning Partners group from the community did an hour or so of activities. Songs, rhymes, worked on colors, used a parachute, etc. What an amazing resource for these kiddos! And they love it.
(the picture above is Il)
(the picture below is El)
On days that the volunteers didn't come (as well as when they were done on the days they did come) we headed over to the guest house to play. For the first couple of days the girls weren't crazy about being put down much at the guesthouse. We mostly held them or sat on our bed with them and brought toys or activities over to the bed or to the couch in the main area. The girls even had their nap time on the bed together the first couple of days until El realized that she could fuss and dad would play with her (El doesn't go down for bed as easily across the board as Il does anyway).
I may have mentioned that from day 1 the girls showed strong preference for a specific parent. El preferred Mark and Il preferred me. Il was particularly clear about expressing that preference and Mark hardly held her the first week we were there. El would come to me ok, but was very comfortable with Mark and was very territorial if Mark interacted with other kids at the orphanage - in fact she would kind of pout and ignore him for a short time after he interacted with other kids.
I mentioned that Il was easier to put down for naps, but since I was certainly the only one that could get her to got down for a nap (at the guest house anyway), that put Mark on duty entertaining El until she got tired. I felt badly sometimes, but at that point switching duties wasn't an option with the parent preferences that there were. So, instead of feeling bad I tried to soak in the one-on-one time that I had with Il. I got to lay and cuddle with her. One day I clearly remember being inches away from each other and she softly explored my hair and face with her soft fingers. It was such a tender moment and a memory I treasure. In fact, I was glad that my phone was in my pocket because I was able to capture a photo of that moment. Without looking I snapped a picture of the two of us with our gazes locked...and then I took this one after that of me kissing her so you can't see her face and I can share it here! I will treasure these moments for ever and ever...
Sometimes by the time Il was done with her nap, El was finally relenting to take hers. So, occasionally El would nap while we played right by her (orphanages aren't exactly quiet so it didn't bother her), and now and then Mark was able to lay down next to El too for some cuddle time...
Something that was beautiful to watch was how quickly the girls learned to adapt and open up to us. What these girls have been through in their short 2 years of life has already taught them to be brave and resilient. They are strong little girls. It was such an meaningful experience to watch them begin to trust us, to show us their individual personalities, and to watch them feel comfortable around us and even eventually express affection to us.
It wasn't long before they began to understand our routine of picking them up at the orphanage, taking them to the guesthouse, bringing them back to the orphanage to feed them their main meal of the day, taking them back to the guesthouse, and then coming back to the orphanage for bedtime.
(Here Mark is feeding both of the twins. Sometimes we each had a plate to feed one of them, sometimes they shared a plate.)
It was only a few days of doing this before they were comfortable to be put down and run around the guesthouse where we were. They loved looking out the back window where women were washing laundry...
We enjoyed various activities in the main area of the guesthouse, like coloring (or jumping on the couches, which happened not terribly long after this photo was taken)...
They really loved playing with cars and trucks (didn't have a photo of that which didn't show faces), and the really loved taking things in and out of containers (contents of purses we brought, puff balls in and out of containers, etc), and sometimes they enjoyed books...
The girls are ridiculously sweet and did grow fond of letting us cuddle them...
(Il giving me some snuggles)
The girls are content to play things that are quiet, but they are also spunky and silly and crazy too. They are totally down with rough-housing and tickling and I think they will fit in just perfectly in our family!
(Mark tickling El)
They really loved playing with the baby dolls that we brought, especially feeding them their bottles. At first they were really confused when they tried to drink the little bottles themselves (they still get bottles to drink from at the orphanage). They were also baffled for a minute when they watched the liquid disappear that they babies drank and then reappear when putting the bottle upright. It was darling.
(Il is in picture above, El is in picture below)
We had extra beds in our room at the guesthouse so we spread lots of our toys, activities and supplies across one of them and once the girls were comfortable walking around the place on their own they really LOVED to go over to that bed and pick out what to play with. Seriously though...how adorable are they???
So, I do believe it's important for them to have their own identities and I won't insist on them always having to wear matching outfits or anything...but they are twins and it really is fun sometimes too! One day I was able to put these matching striped outfits on them with a mirror image of a rainbow on it. So, when they stand side by side it completes the rainbow. It was too cute! Someday I would post an overload of pictures where you can see their adorable faces, but for now this one will have to do...
We did spend some down time over at the orphanage just letting the girls run around and play and so we could interact with other kids at the orphanage too. We just spent most of our time focusing on our bonding particularly and then necessitated more one-on-one time. It was a lot of fun to see them interact and play at the orphanage though, and we were caught off guard how much we fell in love with the other kids at the orphanage too. That may sound silly to say that, but we knew we would fall in love with our girls and were focused on that before going to Haiti...so when we grew so fond of the other kids there too it caught us a bit off guard. We pray that each one of those kids find their way into a loving family that will provide what each one of them needs to be healthy and happy.
This picture is one we snapped of the girls looking out of the orphanage door...
(El is on the left, Il is on the right)
Here is El chasing the chickens that roam the grounds of the orphanage. We were careful to not let her get too close to that mama chicken, but they really loved seeing and listening to the chickens...
This is just a random snapshot of the kids lined up to head in to eat. There are 26 kids total at the orphanage right now, so it's like the girls have 24 siblings. Sometimes they argue, but they also really look out for one another...right down to sharing suckers.
Seriously, I love these kids. I'm excited to get to see them the next time I go visit our girls too!!...although I'm realizing that a couple of them may already go home to their families before I get to go next. That is wonderful for them, sad for me to not get to see them. I'm grateful that with modern technology I've been able to connect with the other families matched to kids at our orphanage though, so we can keep tabs on one another over the years...
I have to mention how grateful that I am for our girls to be at such a great orphanage. No, it's not the same as a home and family...but since they are in an orphanage until we can bring them home I'm grateful that it's here. The staff do their very best to keep the orphanage clean and to take good care of the kids. The girls always have clean clothes, their hair and skin cared for, and food in their bellies. They have a nurse on-site that cares for the kids (and they love her), and access to a medical clinic right across the street. They have nannies that are affectionate to them, and administrative staff that do so much to coordinate the needs of these kids. I am so, so grateful. Even the armed security at the orphanage is wonderful. We watched on many occasions as the guards played with the kids and watched us attentively as we walked from the orphanage over to the guesthouse.
I wrote earlier in the post about our general routine each day. The only thing I didn't mention was that we were supposed to bring them back to the orphanage at 5pm each evening. We were so grateful that after we had to leave them that we only had to walk just down the street to our guesthouse for the night, and that we would get to see the girls first thing the next morning!
Once we were back at the guesthouse we ate dinner that our cook prepared for us (we always looked forward to it)! One night we even got to eat soup Joumou- which is Haiti's traditional soup which they eat on their Independence Day to remember their successful slave revolt over the French. It was such a treat to be able to eat traditional Haitian meals for those two weeks.
The rest of the evenings were spent loading photos to a shared album, communicating with my mom about diabetes if necessary, sometimes a FaceTime with the boys, a shower (sometimes hot), and often we streamed something on Mark's laptop to just unwind. It was strange how early we were utterly exhausted and even with the time change we found that we were in bed pretty early. I'll talk more about the guesthouse and some of the quirks of being in Haiti for 2 weeks in another post, but I am so grateful for the special memories we have of this time visiting our girls, their orphanage, and Haiti.
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