Welcome the Blancs

The "day we left for Haiti" was actually just us traveling to Florida.  There was a delayed flight, but we hopped on the next flight.  That's about as exciting as it got.  Once we flew into West Palm, a shuttle driver took us 45 minutes away to Ft. Pierce, where our MFI (Missionary Flights International) flight was leaving the next morning.

With the delays and everything, we got to our hotel in Ft. Pierce around 1:00 am.  And we woke up at 4:45 am to leave for the MFI airport.  Very little sleep, but enough adrenaline and anticipation to get us through the day.

Our team in front of the MFI plane that would take us to Haiti!

The plane had been described to us as a "cargo plane" but was actually a lot nicer than what we were expecting!  It was definitely the most fun, laid-back flight I have ever been on.  I figured that out when 30 minutes into the flight, the co-pilot came back with a box of donuts and asked us if we wanted any.  

On our way down to Haiti we had to stop in the Bahamas for fuel (literally 15 minutes) and then in the Dominican Republic to drop off a missionary family who was moving there full-time.  Dogs included.  They were a pretty awesome family!  You can check out their blog here.  So yes, from the US to the Bahamas to the DR to Haiti = 4 countries in one day.

Once we got to Haiti, everything seemed to happen so fast!  Here are some highlights:  

• Seeing Julie and FanFan at the airport, so excited to see us! (newlyweds and leaders of our trip)
• That first ride in the back of the truck (there would be many more) from the airport to the ODH compound.  Julie had told us that the kids along the road would be so excited to see white people, and she was so right!  We waved to all the kids as we drove by and they waved and jumped up and down and yelled "Blanc! Blanc!"  (Creole for "White!")  We drove from Cap Hatien (where the airport is) to a small village called Limonade, where Open Door Haiti is located.  That's where we stayed all week.
• Walked from the ODH compound to the orphanage (which was very close, like a 3-minute walk).  Just that walk was so much fun....kids from the village came out to see the blancs and walk with us, hold our hands, etc. (this turned out to be one of our favorite things to do: just walk around the village with the kids)
• Once we got to the orphanage, the kids were so excited to see us!  One little girl in particular latched on to me, and I have to say I didn't mind.  She was pretty cute!  

Me and my new little friend, Keisha, on our first day in Haiti.

The kids loved playing with our hair and our watches and bracelets.  You don't think about the hair thing, but our hair is so different than theirs; they were fascinated by it.  

We walked back to ODH before it got dark (around 5:00).  We made sure we were back at the compound each night before dark, just for safety.  We ate dinner (YUM!) and hung out for a little bit.  We were all ready for bed pretty early.  Which was good, because we woke up at 5:00 am the next morning to go to Prayer Mountain.  

But I'll save that for another post.  :)