Back in the US of A!

Tuesday was an incredibly difficult day: saying goodbye to my kids.  In the morning, we walked four of the kids to school for a tearful goodbye.  When I hugged Rosa and told her that I loved her, she responded, "I love you, Miss Katie." (something that she only recently started saying).  Before leaving, we prayed over all the nannies and a lot of the children.  The kids (especially the boys) were very upset about us leaving.  Chacha cried when it was time for us to load up the truck and head to the airport.  It broke my heart.  Before we left he came in my room and said, "Miss Katie, when you leave, who is going to play with us?"  Ugh, talk about hard.  At 10AM we drove to the airport in Port-au-Prince with my Haitian puppy (Jake), five carry on bags, and six suitcases.  

At 1:30PM we took off and said farewell to the beautiful, broken country of Haiti.  I don't think any of us were ready to say goodbye.  I admit that I was fighting tears for most of the flight.  When we landed in NYC around 7PM, Jake was VERY happy to see us at the baggage claim.  We had a slight bit of trouble getting him through customs.  He has had all his vaccinations by a veterinarian in Haiti, but because they were only given three days before traveling, he must now be quarantined in our house for the next three weeks.  The drive home was long and dreary.  We accidentally drove in the wrong direction for about 20 minutes before our driver realized it.  Between that and the bad weather it was almost 2AM until we finally got home.

It has been great being home with my family and in my town, but it has been hard, too.  I miss hearing/speaking Creole, I miss the noises, I miss the kids, I miss the warmth, I miss the simplicity of life, and I miss my friends.  Although Jake, my puppy, is still a handful (he's only 5 months old), he is helping me adjust to being back home.  He's been keeping my mind off of everything.  I do not know when I will return to Haiti.  I know I will go back, but for now I am home.  I know that Higher Hope (my church) is already starting to formulate plans for how we are going to help Haiti.  We cannot and will not sit and do nothing when there is a country so close to us in such desperate need.