Haiti

I've started to write this post several times and have not been successful. It's a hard one to write. I want to tell you that Haiti was amazing and that seeing Manno was the best thing that has ever happened to me but it wasn't. Haiti was hard. Leaving the boys here was harder than I imagined it would be and I cried the whole day before I left.  I'm not usually afraid but this trip was full of fears for me.  There was even one point while standing outside the Cap Haitien airport when I seriously considered getting back on the little plane and going home.  People prayed for me the whole time I was gone and I could feel it.  I can't even put my finger on one specific reason as to why it was such a hard trip except maybe that I knew I was briefly meeting Manno and then leaving him without ever getting to tell him who I was. That part still brings me to tears. Or maybe it was 6 flights in 5 days. Or never staying in one place for more than one night. By the time I got home, I was exhausted: mentally, physically and definitely emotionally. 
But, I'm so glad I went. Meeting Manno WAS amazing and I love that I now 'know' him in a way I didn't before. I loved hearing his sweet, gravely voice and seeing the love he has for his nurse and her boyfriend. I loved seeing where he lives and being able to picture his day now that I'm home. Leaving him was very difficult and waiting for him to join our family is now harder than it was before. He will come home and this part will be a memory, but for now, it is our life and it is hard. Just as hard is knowing that when he does come home, he will be leaving the only country he has known and other people will then miss him as much as we miss him now. That part is difficult--knowing that our happiness will cause other people pain--will even cause him pain for a while. Adoption is beautiful but it's also hard. It is born of loss and that doesn't stop when a child joins a family. 
See why I've had a hard time writing this post? 
Having said all that...Manno is worth every minute of pain and waiting. I know he will be home. I know that God has planned for Manno to join our family and that He will bring him home when it is time. 
I didn't take a lot of pictures in Haiti. It seemed wrong to drive around taking pictures of some of the things I saw there. I do want Manno to have some pictures of his country, though, so I tried to take some that would not be too intrusive on the people who live there. 

Flying into Port-au-Prince:

The plane to Cap Haitien.

The gate to Children of the Promise where Manno lives.

The baby house.

Under the mango tree.

The road outside of the care center.

The Citadel is at the top of this mountain.

The kids play in this field. 

We got to see a lot of these:

Several of these:

And, of course, a few of these:

I didn't get to ride in one of these blue planes but I wanted to. They were so pretty. 

The Citadel from our plane:

This was one of the streets to the guest house in Port-au-Prince.

Anytime I see one of my children's names written on a wall, I have to take a picture of it.

These men were selling shoes.

A tap-tap.

Beautiful Haitian artwork.