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FULL OF SMILES |
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Estherline in her First Family Photo at the Orphanage |
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The Carlson Family adopted Estherline and brought her home the end of February 2008. Estherline's parents share how she is doing since she came into their home.
On February 20th we arrived in Haiti to pick up Estherline. We spent three days at the Crèche enjoying the good food and happy children. The Crèche really seems like an oasis of hope in a country where hope is sometimes hard to find. Estherline ran right up to Brian who she met for the first time three months earlier during his one day visit in November. Then she quickly warmed up to Rima and her new baby sister, Anya. She was always leading us to the car during our stay, as if to say 'ok, let's get going'. When we finally did really leave, she said her goodbyes to her friends and 'Aunties', her caregivers. The trip home went smoothly except that she did not enjoying sitting in the airplane seat with a seatbelt.
We have been at home with Estherline now for about three weeks, and she has adjusted to the change remarkably well - a testament to the great care she received at the Crèche. She and Anya get along great! Within the first day of our arrival at the Crèche, Estherline was helping us feed Anya, and offering Anya half of every cherrio that she was given. Since she arrived home she has filled the role of big sister by helping to wash Anya's hair each night and soothing her when she cries. Just as everyone had told us to expect, Estherline is very affectionate and full of smiles. She loves to sing her ABC's and imitate every sound her baby sister makes. She eats very well - we have been amazed at how much she eats. She cleans every last bit of food off of her plate at every meal. She is not fond of fresh vegetables yet, but she has devoured everything else we have put in front of her. Although she likes most foods, she seems especially fond of apples and applesauce - it is one of the many English words she loves to say. The only challenge we have faced regarding food is when we come to the end of a meal. She often does not want to hear that we are done eating, but she loves her bath so much that she can be easily enticed away from the dinner table to go wash up in the tub.
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Estherline Putting on Some New Shades |
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| The weather here has been a bit of an adjustment for her - with two feet of snow on the ground. She doesn't quite know what to make of the outdoors. She is starting to like being pulled in the sled and watching us make snowballs, but she is not quite ready to venture into the snow herself. We think she will be very relieved to see the green grass when it finally peeks through the snow sometime in the next month or two. Nearly everyday she does something new to always keeps us smiling - the first time was in the motel on the way home when she discovered on her own how to turn on the clock radio. If only we had a photo of the look of surprise on her face when the music came on! She loves to listen to music and dance. We now leave a clock radio within her reach so she can turn it on and off many times during the day and dance in circles. Of course the wait was long and difficult, but it certainly was worth it! We are so happy to have Estherline home, and it is so much fun to to see how she changes everyday! |
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VOLUNTEERS IN MEXICO |
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Volunteers Paint the Eaves at Rancho El Faro Orphanage |
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We had an excellent trip to Mexico this month. While we are still raising money to purchase land in Mexico to build our own adoption orphanage dedicated to caring for infants, we are grateful to be able to continue to benefit other orphanages in Baja California. This trip we had a truly remarkable group of volunteers. We had a family from Texas, a group of four from one of our corporate sponsors (Employer Solutions Group in Provo), and we also had the great fortune of working with 36 Students and Adults from Idaho Leadership Academy who helped us accomplish quite a considerable amount of work. Thanks to their hard work, and the fundraising efforts of the students and others who generously donated to these projects, we were able to accomplish the following on this trip:
Rancho El Faro Orphanage
- Built the exterior walls of a new Multi-purpose building (laying ~ 800 cinder blocks)
- Repaired leaks in their plumbing
- Re-routed plumbing in bath house, created new entrance
- Plastered stucco to exterior of main building
- Trenched and connected waste drainage from multi-purpose building to septic system
- Trenched and laid conduit for electrical to multi-purpose building
- Painted the eaves of main building
- Painted exterior of main building a bright lime green!
- Donated food and cash to Orphanage
Door of Faith Orphanage
- Laid and poured patios and sidewalks to connect buildings (including wheel chair ramp)
- Donated thousands of dollars worth of medical, infant, and other supplies
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Volunteers Stucco the Back of the Orphanage |
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Betty's home
Betty is a former caregiver at Door of Faith Orphanage and the directors of Door of Faith Orphanage asked us if we could help her family out as her husband had recently left her and her children. She had a horribly leaky roof and lacked adequate lighting at night (the bedrooms had no light at all).
- Created a brand new sloped roof (repairing her flat roof which had many leaks)
- Added many new light fixtures and electrical outlets as well as repairing some electrical problems
Rancho Milagro Orphanage
- Painted hand railings
- Gave toys out to the kids
Buena Vida Orphanage
- Donated school supplies, toys, medical supplies, baby supplies, and lots of food
- Donated cash towards the construction of a new building to double the capacity of the orphanage (we will lay the cinder block on upcoming trips and need masons to volunteer!)
Additionally, volunteers were able to provide lots of hugs and love to children at the orphanages and had a great time interacting and playing with them. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the students, and the fact that one of the projects we worked on already had funding, we have a surplus of donated funds which we will be able to apply to future projects in Mexico. Thank you so much Idaho Leadership Academy and thank you volunteers! |
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Hugs! |
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March 25 , 2008 |
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Upcoming Mexico Projects
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We have two volunteer work projects to Mexico scheduled so far in 2008.
April 15 - 19 (We still need skilled masons to lay cinder block)
June 11 - 15 (This trip is FULL)
Click here to learn more about volunteering to work in Mexico at an orphanage. |
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3 More Children Home!
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| We are happy to announce the successful arrival home of three more children from Haiti. They are Faroul & Marvelt Fabilus and Estherline Saint-Louis. |
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Faroul |
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| Faroul and Marvelt are siblings and were both adopted by the same family in February. |
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Marvelt |
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| Estherline's family brought her home about a month ago. See the story in this issue to learn how she is doing adjusting to family life. |
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Estherline |
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Forward this to a friend!
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Hope. Compassion. Love. With the help of volunteers and donations.
Get involved
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