My family started our adventure on Friday, February 5th at 6:30am. We got on the bus and headed to Port-de-Paix. We loaded Tortuga Air at 8am and flew to Cap Haitian. We then loaded another plane to Turks and Caicos at 3pm. We spent the night there. The hotel was nice. Some of the medical team went to the beach. We were too beat to do much but hang out in the hotel room.

Saturday at 5:30am we were in the hotel lobby. We decided to go stand-by on an earlier flight. One of the benefits of being a travel agent on top of everything else is I get to see “exactly” how many seats are open on the planes. I encouraged all of the medical team to go stand-by because there were nearly 100 seats open. Finally – at 10:00am we were in Miami!

While we were on the plane getting ready to land in Miami – the girls kept saying “Look at all the buildings. Look – the buildings are all standing.” They honestly believed that EVERY PLACE was effected by the earthquake.

Now that might seem like a crazy way to come to the states – but right now – it’s the only way to come out. The kids were so good. We were all tired of flying and waiting around for flights – but God’s favor was definitely on my family. It was relatively smooth.

We rented a 12-passenger van from Miami to Daytona Beach. Our little Partridge bus has been sitting at Melonnie Kelly’s house since September. So we picked up our little bus and started our two-day drive home. When we drove by Orlando – the girls saw all the signs for Disney World. It was proof that Cinderella was really okay.

Janeil was in Savannah, GA so we swung by and picked him up. Wished we would have known about the rockslide on 1-40. We lost a good 1.5 hours there! I couldn’t get Janeil to stop and ask for directions. He was going to figure out a detour all on his own! LOL!

We got to my parent’s house Sunday night at 7pm – just in time to finish watching the superbowl. I really can’t complain. It was 3 very long days with 6 very good kids.

When we got to my mom’s house it was floor to ceiling with boxes full of relief supplies. We couldn’t get our suitcases past the door. A mystery person had left snacks, chips, milk, Fruit Loops, Pop tarts, a princess game, and all kinds of goodies. What a GREAT SURPRISE! There was no food in the house because my mom had been gone the last 6 weeks. THANK YOU TO WHOEVER BROUGHT ALL OF THAT!

My family has gone from talking about earthquakes to snow storms. The girls were out playing in the snow today. It was so good to see them laughing and talking about something “new”.

They still pray for people under concrete. We were watching TV today and the news came on and said that someone was still alive and pulled from the rubble yesterday. This has only spurred on the girls. Mikela said that he lived because she was praying for him. Malaya told Rosie and Mikela – “We have to keep praying for all the dead people – so they can be alive”. I know God understands what her heart is saying – even if her words don’t quite express it.

Jose and I are meeting with a psychologist on Friday who deals with post-stress situations. We look forward to him helping our family as well as teaching us how to help others in Haiti – both Haitian and American.

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. We are looking forward to having a week where we can just breathe…..