More about Houses For Haiti

To see more about our fun night making houses....

go HERE!!!

Yummy

Rotten Unicef

I already have a VERY unhappy view of UNICEF~ thanks to what they have done in Guatemala. Now they have decided to use there "power" to prevent children who have loving homes waiting for them in the US from coming here. Little Ronel who we met in Haiti has been trying to get home to his family for almost 2 weeks. One of the families who was able to get their son home wrote about this on their blog.
Rotten Unicef.

More houses

My Haitian Inspired House

What a fun night. 12 houses were made and they are all wonderful! So
fun to see how unique they all were. We will go back and paint them
next week after they dry and then they'll be fired in the kiln and
ready to sell.

I decided to make mine based on the things I loved about the houses in
Haiti. Thatched roofs, patterned iron windows, and chickens running
around. :)

Wow it's cold!

I KNOW it's cold when the baby only wants to stand in front of the fire too. ;)

She sees me do this all the time, cuz I'm always cold , and I laughed when I found Charlotte backed up to the fire place to keep toasty warm. It's BRUTAL cold today!

Items Needed For Haiti

Several people have asked me what items they could use in Haiti. A friend of Licia is collecting things at a warehouse in Minnesota and they will be shipping these items to Haiti in the near future.

You can go HERE to see what they need
if you want to help!

Morning Visitors

Great Info about RHFH

I know a lot of you have had questions about the Rescue Center we visited and all they do there. Licia's younger brother wrote THIS that I think will help answer some of your questions.

(the cutie at the bottom of his post is the same one I'm smooching in this picture)

Cool Things Helping Artists For Hope...

.....To Help the Resuce Center!

A lady in Omaha who owns The Art Mill contacted me to ask if she could do a fundraiser for the kids in Haiti. The event will be called Houses For Haiti and 10 artists will be making these adorable house shaped vases and we will be selling them on Artists For Hope when they are finished. I love the fact that Jane at The Art Mill was willing to do this and I'm excited to have different artists come together for the kids. You can read a bit more about it on the AFH blog and if you are interested in creating a vase you will find the contact info there.

My wonderful Mom is also doing a fundraiser where she works near Chicago. She works at a large retirement home as the Activities Director and they are going to be selling Hearts For Haiti Pins to raise money for the Rescue Center. Thank you MOM! :)

It truly has been amazing to see people do so much to help our friends in Haiti. I know they are feeling the love and it means a ton to us!
Thank you!

Just Because She's Cute

Even when she's drooling.
When will the teething end???

Amos Story Video

Tissue Warning! Get some. now.
The little boy on the left of the bottom picture is Amos. We played with him and Ronel (top photo) a ton while in Haiti. They are both in the process of being adopted here in the states. Their parents are obviously trying to do everything they can right now to get them home and it seems like there is actually a strong possibility that it will happen.

Amos's daddy is a very talented musician named Aaron Ivey. They finished the video to the song he wrote about Amos and his daughter Story (who came home a few months ago) just a couple days ago. It's wonderful and I know all they want is for him to be HOME.

Serioulsy, grab the tissues.

Blog Connections

Blogs are kind of weird in the sense that you feel like you kind of know people even though you really don't. Having read several people's blogs before going to Haiti, it was great and odd all at the same time to meet some people that we had been reading about for so long.

One of those is the Livesays. I know many of you have read their blog in the past, but if you haven't you can read a lot about what is going on for real in Haiti right now. This is their blog and
Troy's twitter page.

When we went to church our first Sunday in Port Au Prince (I started crying in church this morning thinking about them worshiping in Haiti today. I'm sure that was a very powerful service!)we met a man who was visiting his son at Heartline Orphanage. I knew he looked "familiar" and then when he told me the names of his children I realized that I had seen his family's blog before. Kind of a weird moment.

I decided to see if I could find their blog again yesterday to see if they had heard anything about how the kids were doing at Heartline (this is the orphanage we visited our last day in Port Au Prince) and was shocked to see that his wife was IN Haiti with their new baby daughter visiting their Haitian son when the earthquake occured. They are now hoping to get their son home by declaring him a refugee. You can read about their incredible journey here. Another family that is hoping to get their son home in the same way is the Ivey Family. We played with their son Amos at the Rescue Center.
Such a great kid!

I hope and pray for these families that this is a possibility. These kids have families that love them and want them home. It's too difficult for them in Haiti right now. Haiti has enough to take care of. These kids should come home.
Please say a prayer that they can.

Encaustic Artist

I was totally enthralled with the idea of learning how to paint with encaustics (hot wax) when we visited The Art Mill last week. Such a cool medium to work in. SO~ I was super excited to be contacted by an artist this morning from Chicago who wanted to donate some work from a studio here that she had some pieces in. She donated 5 pieces and they are amazing. I will post more about them when I pick them up. I'm hoping to sell them locally because they seem like they would be difficult to ship...so if you need some cool new artwork for your home or office, let me know and I'll keep you posted. You can check her out HERE.

There is also going to be an event at The Art Mill called "Houses For Haiti." They are asking for artists to come in and create house shaped vases and they all will be donated to Artists For Hope to sell to help the Rescue Center. The lady who owns The Art Mill is donating all of the supplies and her studio to help us. I've been so touched by all the people who have donated money, time, artwork, and purchased items to help over the last few days. Shows what giving hearts people have and it's really REALLY good to see that right now.

Etsy Sales

(I made this collage a few days before the earthquake)

It has been a very active day on our Etsy site today. Many new things listed and many things selling almost as quickly as I'm listing them. I'm very thankful for people's generosity during this tragic time. I've had artists that I've never met contact me and ask if they could donate something to help the kids at the RC. That has been amazing.

I've gotten to the point where I can't look at CNN. I can't look at the blogs of the people we met for too long. It's just too heart wrenching. So I'll go and start packaging up Etsy stuff to send out tomorrow and pray some more for those sweet kids that are probably sleeping outside again tonight.

Wishing I Could Hug

I'm wishing I could somehow get to Haiti and give these kids a big hug tonight. Not possible. I know. But I still wish I could.
I keep thinking of them all sleeping outside.
They've sent as many kids home as possible so they don't feel so overwhelmed right now, but I'm guessing the kids below are still there. Their stories are all different, but from what I know I think they are still at the RC.

The stories I've been reading on blogs of people we met while we were in Haiti are so heart wrenching. So much pain and death. They have begun to bury the bodies of the people that have been laying in the streets. I can't imagine witnessing that. I couldn't help but think of the kids that are out in Port au prince experiencing this and how this is going to effect them for the rest of their lives.

I know you are all praying and I thank you for that.
I was able to list a few things on Etsy tonight but then the site started to have issues and I had to give up. I'll post more tomorrow. If anyone buys things in our area, I will deliver them to you somehow. That would be great actually cuz we'd save on shipping. ;)

Kids I'm hugging in my mind tonight....

Winter Strings Concert Tonight

Help Haiti

I've had several people ask about ways to help.
Here are a few~

Caroline was at the Rescue Center the two weeks after Christmas and has also been there in the past working as a nurse. Instead of rewriting what she has already written so well, I'll just send you HERE so you can read about some great ways to help.

One of the things she has listed are these great T-shirts. All the proceeds go directly to the Rescue Center and I just ordered mine.

We also have had some wonderful things come in from my friend Joey who is a great artist and an awesome person! They will be for sale very soon on our Artists For Hope Etsy site. Do you have a gift you need to buy or do you just want to treat yourself? NOW is the time. The kids at the RC need 3 meals a day and there are 70 of them there right now. You get cool art and the kids get what they really need right now. Win-Win, right?

The Kids

This picture is from Licia's blog of all the kids sleeping outside again tonight. Really wish I was there to give them all a big hug.

More Earthquake Info.

Licia has some pictures posted on her blog. I'm worried about them having enough food to feed the kids, but reminded that God always provides. I've had to turn off CNN several times this afternoon because it was too much to take in. I was thankful to have Mom's Group this morning so I could be with friends and talk about everything.

I was able to talk with someone at the Omaha World Herald this afternoon about Haiti and Artists For Hope. Really hoping some people will be interested in donating so we can send them money really soon. They said things are already costing twice as much and they only have a few days worth of food left.

The lady who taught our art class last week is actually going to donate some clay to make some artwork to sell on Etsy. People are doing what they can to help and that's wonderful to see.

Hoping and praying it won't be long until we have good news about our Compassion Child, Darline.

Wow

Wow. I really don't know what to think of all this. My mind has been racing. I'm SO thankful to know now that the kids and everyone is OK at the RC. The kids are sleeping outside under a shelter with the Nannies. They are still experiencing aftershocks. Licia wrote that they have cracks in their walls, but everyone is ok. All I could think was about the 2 story cement homes that the kids live on the first floor of....and what if they would have collapsed. Thank you GOD for keeping them all safe.

The devestation is really hard to see on CNN. We spent our last full day and night in the areas they are showing on TV. Haiti has no preperation for stuff like this. I keep hoping and praying that people can get in there soon to help. The picture posted above is of the palace that is now collapsed (taken from Radio Tele Ginen). Wow. I know you all are praying and I thank you for that. This is going to be really hard on Haiti. I know all we can do is pray that God causes a lot of good to come out of this somehow.

To see pictures of one of the places we visited and how they were affected by the earthquake- click here. We walked right through these buildings. They have an orphanage full of children and they are all ok. Wow.

Earthquake In Haiti

There was a really bad earthquake in Haiti. The hospital near Port Au Prince was said to have collapsed. The Livesay family is OK and they are trying to get a hold of people in Cazale to see if the kids are OK. I'm a bit of a wreck right now. Please pray for everyone at the Rescue Center and for all of Haiti! Thanks.

Karen New Year/Idol

With a new season of American Idol starting so soon, I wanted to introduce you all to the KAREN IDOL 2010! The night before the Karen New Year Celebration they had a Karen Idol Competition at the High School. The winner was well deserved. Great voice and quite charming. Plus he won $1000.00, so he was a happy guy.

Five of the six girls from the family we sponsored danced this year. I again felt like a proud Mom watching them. They are all growing up and they are beautiful. I'm thankful that their Dad keeps close tabs on them. He needs to!

Their oldest daughter (in the middle) sang...

...and the other three danced.

Their Mom made their dancing outfits and they were beautiful. I got to see them before all the lace and sparkles were added. She's a great seamstress!

They also sang a song called "We are one."
Very sweet and smiley song about everyone coming together.
"Our" 2 girls are on each end and the girl in the blue dress is their cousin. The second girl is wearing a traditional Karen dress and the other 3 have more modern designs on. They were in a fashion show later in the day, but we weren't able to stay that long. I like the new designs, don't you?

This guy is there EVERY year and is very famous in Thailand and in the Karen community. One of these years I should buy his CD and see what he is really all about.

Grandma was honored along with the other elders during the celebration.

They had kids come up and give the elders gifts. This little guy was so cute! I couldn't help buy take a picture.

They had representatives come to encourage people to be a part of the 2010 Census. Since most of the Karen people have arrived here in the last 10 years, it's a big deal for them to be counted and then hopefully receive the funds they need for English language classes, etc. It was a fun day and I was happy to see our friends again.

Careful What You Wish For

This was our fortune tonight after our yummy take-out Chinese dinner.

Honestly, I really don't wish for
any others to do anything onto me.

Um. Yeah. Any thoughts? :0)

Artsy Therapy

Knowing that I had yet another day in the house tomorrow lingering before me, my friend Joey and I decided to venture out for the art class we signed up for even though it was SO cold out that we really shouldn't have been outside and everyone else in the class had canceled. We were thankful that the instructor and her Mom were willing to still let us come.

It was a torn paper and resin canvas class. The teacher realized we were both somewhat artsy people and gave us free reign of all of her fun paper and old books and even let me use some of her special glass glitter from Germany. I was in creative heaven and it was JUST what I needed tonight. I've needed some inspiration lately and left with all kinds of ideas and the "bug" to create. I'm hoping our day stuck in the house tomorrow will involve more artsy therapy together.

We weren't able to bring our canvases home tonight because the resin needed to dry flat, so we'll pick them up next week sometime. Mine ended up looking kinda Christmas-y. I'm not sure how/why that happened but I was very happy with the result and it was so fun to just create and not really think too much about it. It was fun. Fun is good.

Joey's was beautiful and fancy. Mine was bold and graphic. The lady teaching made one too and her's was sweet and pretty. I love that 3 different people can start with the same concept and make completely different final pieces. Artsy therapy is a good thing. Especially after being cooped up in the house for what feels like weeks. ;)

Museum Fun

Lincoln Childrens Museum Today

Sad

I haven't wanted to write about this since I got back from Haiti because it's too hard. Today the third child that we had met and spent the week with in Haiti died. Maybe because I feel better sometimes after blogging (free therapy?), I decided to write about them. I truly cannot imagine how Lori and Licia and the nannies at the RC go through this day after day. We were "protected" while we were in Haiti and our hearts did not have to endure burying a child. One of the babies died the first morning we were there, but none of us had held her so it was a little bit easier for us. We never saw her after she died. I'm thankful for this.
That's totally selfish, but I'm still thankful.

For some reason I went downstairs to the RC the first night we were in Haiti. I was just so excited to see these kids and I couldn't go to sleep. I held 2 toddler boys for awhile until they fell asleep and then I held this little sweetie for a long time. Her name is Chriseline. I could tell from holding her that she was in tough shape. Her breathing was labored and she was SO thin. I did have a strange revelation while I was holding her (well strange for me anyways)~ I thought that heaven would be a MUCH better place for her than the suffering she was obviously going through. Not that I ever thought heaven would be a bad place, but I always think alive is better than dead. For this little one, as I was watching her struggling to breath, I though heaven would be a blessing for her and I really wasn't even sad. I know that all sounds kinda crazy, but it was how my mind was working at the time. I think God was giving me a peace about these kids going to be with HIM and not having to suffer anymore.

Her little legs were so little. I don't even know how old she was, but guessing that like so many other kids there she was probably much older than I thought.

Remember little Nickenson that the homeschool teacher took care of? He died Christmas morning. Anna had wrote on her blog that he was not looking good at all when she left to come back to the states for the holidays. I was so sad for her that he died while she was away.

I'm sure he would have had a long, hard road in this life, being HIV positive in a country with limited resources for his disease, but it's so hard to think he's gone after we saw him improving even over the week we were there. He was so smiley and sweet. ugh.

Today I was really sad to learn that Marlene had died. I'm sure many of you remember her picture from our blog in Haiti also. She had one of the worst cases of kwashiorkor that they had ever seen. She was in so much pain just from moving around, but was getting to the point where she could almost walk when we left at the end of the week.

She was living there with her mother, who was the SWEETEST woman, and she was continuing to improve. Licia wrote that the past week Marlene started to get sicker and she died last night around Midnight. They are asking for donations to help with the funeral costs and to help her mom who is now all alone. You can go to their blog to help.

2 of the 5 people in this picture are no longer here. They are in Heaven and I'm sure they are happy beyond our wildest dreams. That is what I need to concentrate on, but it still makes me so sad. Please say a prayer for Lori and Licia and for all the times they go through this. I think sometimes prayer is the only thing getting them through.