First Day and the Impact YOU Have Made

UPDATE: Haiti internet works better in the afternoon

Haiti. Truthfully, I didn’t love Haiti on my first trip four years ago. In fact, I feel there was a promise I made to myself to never leave U.S. soil again.  I LOVED my son and I wanted to love Haiti for his sake. I’ve grown to love Haiti as I’ve advocated for it on behalf of its children. And I’m so glad that I broke that promise to myself and that we are all here!

Children of the Promise (COTP) is an amazing place. Most of you reading might know of it because our adoption, but it does SOOOOO much more than adoption. And, I’m going to tell you all about that tomorrow and ask you to partner with me about a project.

Tonight, I want to give thanks for the first day here and what all of you have already done.Today we had a tour of the property. WOW! COTP does amazing things! We played with kids who have special needs and learned how to do therapy with them, the guys painted, we sorted supplies (for a long time), sang with the nannies, went to try and track down some of our luggage, and spent time with the staff.

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 Therapy Time with Kids with Special Needs

 

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Seriously, this child does not stop loving.

 

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A baby for both mom and daughter 

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Brigette loving some baby time too.

I feel like practically everyone that I know has supported COTP and some people that I don’t even know. How do I even begin to say thank you for the amazing community effort? 

~From the $250 gift card from an old high school friend 

~To friends dropping cash off at my house before I left

~To friends who served at a Pancake Breakfast at Applebees 

~To friends who offer their talent to raise money

~To friends who help me organize

~To friends who help kids raise money

~To people who give me gifts in the name of COTP 

~To people who sit with me selling Haitian jewelry 

~To people who pray

I hardly know what to say. Thank you doesn’t seem enough and there are so many of you, I could never list them in fear of forgetting someone.

The supplies we’ve gathered. WOW. I’ve been meaning to take a picture of all the supplies, but the truth is, I can’t get them all in one picture, there is so much. We brought fifteen 50 pound suitcases all donated from YOU. Here is where I was going to insert a pic of the medical supplies. This stuff is not cheap. At all. Thank you.

And, the Grace House… over a year’s time, our family and friends raised almost $20,000 for the building of the first baby house.

This was done in the name of Ayana Grace and Ayla Grace Alt, twin daughters of Mike and Annie Alt. This is a beautiful house that children live in like families until they go home with their adoptive parents. So much better than institutional care. So beautiful to see it in real life. You all would be proud!

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Tomorrow, I want to share with you what else COTP is up to. It’s A LOT! Please share this blog!

Disclaimer: Children of the Promise has given explicit permission for the posting of photos on this site. Photos taken of children in the care of Children of the Promise are not to be posted publicly without explicit permission given by Children of the Promise.