Immigration

Today I finally escorted two beautiful children to Florida. Jamie and I sat at the airport for almost 3 hours while we waited for the plane to come in. It was so hot and all of us were sweating. We got through Haitian immigrations with no problem. We flew out on a tiny 5 passenger plane. Since we weren’t on a jet, it took 4.5 hours instead of 2. We took a pit stop in Bahamas to get gas, which was gorgeous. I had one child on my lap and the other next to me. There was a lot of turbulence coming into Florida, which scared the little girl, so I put them both on my lap and they fell asleep. They are so cute and precious.

When I walked off the plane, the adoptive parents were there waiting for us, along with about 8 news stations all filming us. We have been sitting in immigrations for 5 hours trying to get cleared. The kids that came here yesterday ended up going to a group home and not their adoptive parents. Originally we were told that these two would be going to a group home as well, but now it looks like they will be released to their parents.

The person that I thought I was spending the night with is not here, so I will be staying the night with the adoptive parents in their hotel. I feel bad to crash their first night as a new family, but they are really nice and say it’s ok. They adopted another child from COTP a few months ago and he is doing really great. All three children are seeming to bond and I can tell that these kids will be loved and go far. They are all still wide awake and it’s already after 2 am here. We should be released soon, but we don’t know. There are about 10 staff members here that can’t leave until we get cleared. They all are looking tired but have to stay in case they have to take the kids. We have a shuttle to take us to our hotel room, but I think we are stopping at Wal-Mart first. I am so exhausted.

I talked to the president of Agape Airlines and he said that they have a plane going to Cap tomorrow but he’s not sure if there is room on it or not. I have to call him in the morning to see if I can get out. If not, I’m not sure what I will do. Probably come home, but I think I’ll be paying a lot for airfare. Nick is still in Haiti. I was nervous to leave him there because he was already talking about quitting his job early and staying down. I informed him that he could not do this because he pays the bills and without him I couldn’t afford to live! I don’t make much working 6 hours a week.

Before I left this morning, I had some one-on-one time with a little girl from the bato room (kids that are not quiet walking). Every time she would drop her toy she would say “uh-oh” which was so cute. We aren’t sure where she learned this because we don’t think they say it in Creole. Nick and I also spent some time trying to get another Bato to walk on her own. She took a few steps, but it was more of just falling into our arms than actually walking. She is Nicks favorite and he wants to bring her home!

I was already sad to leave and will miss the kids, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like after a year. I can’t wait to go back.