Some Sweetness

A couple of things have just gotten me so excited and have blessed my heart this week. First of all, the school has hired a Haitian Principal. He has been so awesome. Today he worked with a new boy, Emmanuel, who is staying temorarily at the home and helped him learn the color red. They colored and drew things that were red. He took the boy on a tour of the school and had the boy point out things in red. Then he took him to our porch to overlook the neighborhod and had the child point out things outside our gates that were red. Mr. Ivans explained later that this was a vision test and so now he knew this little boy could see close and far. I was so impressed. I am so stoked for the school to have a Haitian Principal who is very capable, intelligent, and has such a love and passion for what's best for the kids, especially in helping them grow to be successful citizens in Haiti. He's going to be such a great role model for our kiddos.This new little boy, Emmanuel, has been such a joy to have. I don't know much but he has his arm stitched up from a recent gunshot wound and is staying at our boys' home for a bit. He has such a sweet spirit about him. He's never been to school before, so on his first day at the school, he was amazed by everything. He was mesmerized by the computers and inappropriately stuck his face in front of one of the teacher's screens as she was showing a video to her class. He had no idea how to stand in line or to look for a trash can when he was done with something he ate. But Emmanuel was so eager to learn and comply. When he left school, he pulled me down to give me a kiss on the cheek. I'm not a super affectionate person normally, but these kids are teaching me to give and receive love with such sweet affection. Many of these kiddos don't have mommies that will hold them and love them and it's crazy how a hug and a kiss can mean so much to them (and me!).

Another thing that brought me such joy today was my student, MarcKendy. He asked if I would come over to the boys home and he would teach me Creole. Of course I said yes, but I told him that I would do it after I helped at the feeding program, which is held right next to his house. So he, so sweetly, sat on the steps of the feeding program facilities, patiently waiting for me to finish so he could teach me. When I finally got around to the boys' home, he brought me to their room that had a chalkboard and he already had numbers 1-10 written in Creole for me! So sweet! Then he wrote down a few phrases for me to learn. The first phrase was "An ale nanfete," (which I'm not sure is spelled right) This meant, "Let's got to the party!" Haha, one of the "essential" phrases I need to learn to survive here right?! He ended by pulling out his personal library of Creole books and said I could pick one to borrow and read. :) Afterwards, Davidson, a boy I had been tutoring started practicing writing his numbers on the board. First he wrote 1-30 and counted in English. Then he cutely stood there and taught me the numbers in Creole. I called him "Mr. Davidson" and he was so excited that he could teach me something. Sooooo precious!!!