how I got to spend my morning

I went to (local orphanage) this morning with my friend "H".  We left our kids with sitters.  I had a MARVELOUS time with two darling little Haitian boys.  "J.W." is about 3, I think, and "M"  is probably about 1.5.  They are the last two of a group of about 60 Haitian orphans that arrived into South Florida earlier this week.  The rest were already in the adoption process before the earthquake and are currently spread around the country with their new, loving families.  The workers did not know the situation with these two.  I cried like a baby when we had to leave them.. The younger followed me and it was all I could do to not toss him into our minivan and bring him home with me. 

The orphanage is anticipating more child refugees very soon.  The director was beaming with excitement (although totally exhausted) over the opportunity to show some practical love to all these precious children who have had such a difficult few weeks (and even longer for most of them).  I do not know if the next wave of children are also already adopted or if they will need foster or adoptive families.  (Local orphanage) is working tirelessly to find out what the process will be for these children.

After playing with the boys for a while, we decided to actually pitch in and get dirty helping, too.  We helped to sort part of the mountain of donations that have poured in in the last weeks for all the new children.  It was insane.  A mountain of miscellaneous bags of who-knows-what.  Brand new name brand clothes, clean but used pajamas, children's books, stuffed animals, baby food, and of course plenty of junk.  "Isn't this a perfect time to get rid of that giant light up front yard manger scene?  I bet (orphanage) wants it with all they have going on... this will be perfect!"  Needless to say, we are sorting into piles labeled "storage", "immediate need", or "goodwill".

We made very little progress on the donation mountain and decided to rally up some more workers and head back tomorrow to finish the job.  If you are reading this and you are local- contact me and I'll give you more info.  When the kids get here they will need a bath, some clean pajamas, food, and a nice clean place to sleep.  It may seem like a lame-o effort considering the amount of work that needs to be done, but as a stay-at-home mom of little ones, it was not only a tremendous blessing to give outside the normal daily grind of giving but to pitch in a little extra where I saw a need.  I hope you find something that you can pitch in a little bit of whatever you've got.  There's enough work for everyone!  Find something you can do locally... or start something!

Miami Herald story on the first wave of kids that came through, here and another story, here.