It is 8pm here. I’m exhausted. We all are. We had an extremely FULL day. Full of experiences that I’m having a hard time finding words for right now. Full of kids..of people..of beauty..of potholes..of new friends..of rocky rocky roads..of traffic..of patience..of beauty..of delicious food..Of picture taking and photo ops..And full of LOVE.
We woke up at 6:30 to the sounds of barking dogs and generators beeping. We had breakfast at 7- pancakes, sausage and bananas. We got picked up at 8:30 by Rock and headed to the orphanage!

My heart was beating a little extra hard when we pulled in. The kids were on a break from taking their final exams and most of them came running to the truck to give hugs to Sara and Breelynn. Stanley was there looking for Doreen and embraced her in a big hug! It was so sweet. I was scanning the crowd looking for Vinny and couldn’t find him… We started asking the kids where he was. They found him trying to hide on the side of the house and they dragged him down ( he was laughing) to say hello. We hugged and he was a bit shy at first. He has a sweet spirit and demeanor that was evident right away.

After some pics, he took off to play soccer with a few of the guys. Then, they had to go back to class to for about an hour and a half. We watched for a little bit. It was fun to see Davensly engaged in the math lesson and participating.

While they finished up, Rock took Sara, Doreen and I to meet the lawyer working on our adoptions. I am SO glad we did! He is a great guy! Classy, personable, professional, businesslike yet casual…couldn’t have asked for a better meeting. He was willing to meet with us with just a couple hours notice and we went to his home office where he interrupted a different mtg he was in to spend a good 20-25 min with us. I feel so confident in his work on our behalf! I am really grateful for that time and for him.

We got back and started some quality time with Vin. We sat and looked through the fsmily photobook we had sent down last Nov with our pastors. We looked at other pictures we had brought down. I showed him a video of Will doing the Harlem Shake and he laughed hard and wanted the other guys to watch it, too. We watched them play with their new Avengers guys (thanks to my nephew, Joseph!)- which he carried with him he rest of the day. Then, we headed out on a drive- 10 of us in a truck- to a nearby area where we took an awesome hike into the woods to find a beautiful waterfall! The boys were in heaven!

Davensly and I shared some sweet moments today that I will cherish. He called me Mom a few times. He changed into his Pearcy shirt after school all on his own. He knew Cali and Wills names in the pictures. He hopped on my lap without me prodding him to look at pics and take some, too. He wanted to wear my sunglasses. He always said ‘thank you’. When he was playing soccer he would look over at me shyly checking to see if I was watching him… He sidled up to me a few times and let me put my arm around him and we smiled at each other.
My favorite moment was on our drive back from the waterfall, he was on my lap in the backseat and I started to do what I always do to my kids when they sit in front of me..gave him a little massage. After a minute, he turned sideways and said, ‘bien’. That means ‘good’. I loved that. He let me do that the rest of the ride. I loved it!
We stayed about another hour or so and I played soccer with him. We high fived after goals scored. I loved that. I see him as a Pearcy boy. I know he and Will are going to be great pals.
I know Cali will take care of him like she does Will. I know Scott will adore him. He is an awesome kid.. He is conscientious, kind, tender hearted, thoughtful, fun, a bit camera shy, a good friend…just adorable!
That’s about all I have left in me to share tonight! My heart is FULL of love for our Haitian son, full of gratitude for those who take care of him, full of confidence in the men facilitating our adoption down here, full of thankfulness for the opportunity to come here with my friends and share this day with them.
Thanks, family and friends for being excited with us for this day! I only had access to a few pics so far that I could upload tonight…more to come as I get a chance.
Check out the other blogs from tonight for more insight..find the links on my last post.