We are so happy to be HOME!
Thursday we drove to Indianapolis. Friday we were supposed to fly to Miami. We arrived at the airport around 4pm with 18 tubs (4 were coolers of frozen food) & 5 carry-ons. Our flight was supposed to board at 8pm. At 6pm they began to delay the flight. Every hour it seemed to be delayed another hour until at MIDNIGHT they cancelled the flight. 🙁
After 8 hours of waiting around at the airport – we had to RECLAIM all 18 tubs and find new flights out the next day. Of course the only flights available for 9 people was the same 8pm flight we were supposed to be on Friday. So we arrived at the hotel around 2am. We had to be out by noon. So there again on Saturday – we spent 1pm to 8pm in the Indy airport – rechecking in tubs and hanging out at the gate.
We landed in Miami at midnight. We slept at the gate until our 7am flight Sunday morning.
We were SO BLESSED by MAF for making a special flight for our family to make it on to Mole after 2 exhausting days in the airport. We are also happy to report our frozen food was still frozen…we were worried with delayed travel that it might go bad.
That gives you the run down on how long our two days were but I forgot to mention Asher & Levi had ear infections & bad colds. Levi cried most of the two days of traveling and Asher couldn’t stop coughing.
Every trip is an adventure but this was definitely a stretch for our sanity. We did make friends with everyone in Indy as we wore our NEON GREEN Haiti shirts. The gate agents told us it was so nice to work with Christians as everyone else was always yelling at them. It was a reminder to me that I needed to be the Face of Jesus even if I felt like the Devil was in my head.
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So on the way back to Haiti the kids were talking about the things they wanted to buy the orphans with their Dollar Club Money. They were afraid that no one would send any more cards. The girls really want to collect a 1000.00 and buy them something big and put it on the boat in August when we ship things over.
The boys went from wanting to take everyone to Disney World to now very simple things……such as:
Levi: I was thinking. Since the orphans love rocks – we should buy them some rocks.
Asher: Yeah like a big pile of rocks and a dump truck.
Gabriel: We could buy those colored rocks and then they could make patterns.
Levi: Yeah. Colored rocks. That would be so cool. Mom do we have enough money to buy the orphans colored rocks? That would be so much fun.
Gabriel: Well we could also paint rocks if we can’t buy the colored ones.
Isebelle just wants to buy them candy and ice cream and chocolate and cake….and of course be with them when they do!
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So when we arrived in the Mole we had a stack of cards on my desk!! The kids were jumping up and down – literally – and so thankful they weren’t forgotten. We got 120 cards – 15 cards for each one!
Malaya: Wow! That’s a lot of envelopes.
Asher: There’s a lot of love on that table!
Rosie: See I told you they would still remember us!
So we sorted out the cards this afternoon & the kids had a blast opening them – looking at all the stickers that were on the cards and in them. They really feel so special when they open them up.
There were A LOT of cards from Indiana – from people the children didn’t recognize. They kept saying…..I can’t believe people just love us even if they don’t know us.
The girls were reading their cards out loud and the boys were pretending to read theirs…
Malaya: I was going to write I miss you all over this card but I ran out of oink (pig on card)
Mikela: Where thoughts of you are planted smiles always bloom.
Asher: Asher is such a good boy. You need buy him a soccer ball. (Then he would laugh).
Levi: You should give Levi ice cream and Kathie’s tea. (Then he would laugh).
Later we took the cards over to Gigi. Gigi is fun to watch. She doesn’t know what money is but she knows that it’s in every card. She makes a point to open each card and pull the money out! Then she chews a little on the card! 🙂
Thanks to everyone for loving on our kiddos and helping us teach them how to be good stewards of the funds they’ve been given. I love hearing all the discussions and sometimes arguments about how to best help their friends.
Mail in Haiti is like rain on a hot day… Leaves you feeling refreshed – and for a moment forget it’s so hot outside!
If you would like to join the Dollar Club and send a card to Gigi, Mikela, Rosie, Malaya, Gabriel, Levi, Asher, or Isebelle – you can mail it to:
Jose Castillo (and the name of the child
3170 Airmans Dr #2189 NWHCM
Ft Pierce, FL 34946
Just a reminder… The mail goes to Florida and then is flown over to Haiti. We check the mailbox in Port-au-Prince about every 10 days or so. So if you sent a letter and it’s not in the photos there is a delay from the time you send it until we get it in the Mole. Keep the cards coming!!! Together we can do a lot!
