Scrambled emotions

The last four days have been a tornado of emotions for me. Worry. Elation. Sentiment. Frustration. Longing. Giddyness. Adoration. Appreciation. Sadness.

Yep. Throw those all in the frying pan and eat them for breakfast piping hot.

Mark left with his mom on Wednesday night to go visit our girls. The worry started early with protests and blockades being a concern for a big, scheduled protest the day they arrived. Luckily their red-eye flight arrived early so they got out of Port au Prince early before things got too heated. They did hit one road block where they put rocks under the tires, but the driver was experienced and knew how to negotiate and they let them through.

My first sight of the girls in over 10 weeks was on a Marco Polo at the orphanage. The girls were in pajamas and sitting on a couch eating a snack with Mark and Mary. My heart sang. Soon after that we did a FaceTime call...first of several attempts to record these electronic interactions. They were usually pixelated, broken connectivity, and frustrating. It was exciting to have brief moments of interaction, but they ended up leaving me feeling really sad about the inability to just be able to interact with our little girls when I had the opportunity.

Mark was so good about taking lots of pictures and videos though, so I absolutely loved being able to look at those and live vicariously through his and his mom's interactions with the girls. I was really happy to see the girls with their daddy and getting to know one of the Grandmas though! That was really sweet. You can tell they already feel connected to their Granmè.

It was fun to see Il interact so easily with Mark (since I wasn't there for her to show favoritism to) and to watch El open up a bit more with her expressing herself.

They were both significantly more verbal and they loved times that we would use a bit of Haitian Creole when we spoke to them. I loved watching the way they enjoyed Mary signing to them (I'll have to try more of that), and it was so fun to hear about El being so squealing and giddy about one of her outfits (that's usually Il's role)...right to the point of strutting around to each member of the staff at the orphanage to elicit compliments. Funny girl. El also had a scab on her forehead from hitting her head, poor thing.

They each still chose the same color of sunglasses and nail polish though...El pink and Il blue.

And the first thing they asked for as soon as they walked into the guest house was where the baby dolls were! Mark asked Alison to get them out of storage for them to play with at the guest house while they were there, which was really nice because they really (I mean REALLY) love those baby dolls.

Mark wasn't able to follow up on some lab work with the doctor since the clinic was closed the whole time they were there due to the protests. He was able to deliver a package from another family with kids at the crèche, facilitate a FaceTime call for sisters there who are coming home soon, and take pictures for each of the families that have children there at the crèche.

The girls really do feel most comfortable on their turf at the orphanage, especially in their room. They love their nannies and nurse and are very outgoing and confident when they are in their element.

They still didn't seem to understand or be upset by the concept of goodbye, but that didn't mean it wasn't hard for the rest of us...even me here in another country. I will miss my daily updates, photos and videos. In the meantime I will continue praying for them, praying that their paperwork picks up speed (since it's been stuck in the same place for 12+ weeks now), and praying for the country of Haiti with her heartache and turmoil that is peaking again right now.

Now to get my husband and MIL home safely tomorrow...