I went with Shara and another missionary who lives down the street, Beth, to the Tabarre market saturday morning. my favorite nanny, madame rosalinde (not sure thats how you spell it, just a guess) took us to get a new laundry basket for Shara. it was a pretty overwhelming experience. there are a lot of people and the stands are really close together so people are constantly touching or pushing each other to get by. everyone stared at us obviously because were the only white people for there. guys shouted at me in english telling me they loved me, blah blah blah. i wanted to by some rice and black beans to take home for my mom but i just didn't feel quite comfortable yet. maybe when i speak a little more kreyol i can go back and try again.

on saturdays the girls get their hair washed and braided. they take turns so there are always girls on the veranda or in the courtyard. other than that, they play all day. when we came back from the market i played for a little while. then i forced myself to clean up in the storage room a little bit. bouillon soup is lunch on saturdays and shara won't eat it so that just left more for me &paul. its a spicy soup with beef, potatoes, dumplings, plantains, onions, and carrots. the dumplings are shaped funny but its absolutely delicious!

after lunch we sat in shara's room and talked all afternoon with beth. the girls get up from their nap at 3 so i took some coloring books and crayons downstairs and we colored all night until dinner. other than ripping up the coloring books pretty bad it went well. i got all the crayons back minus two or three. they ripped up the coloring books but i tried to make each girl pick one page at a time and they had to finish coloring that page before they could have a new one. it didn't work out exactly like that but thats alright. they're just kids.

we haven't been to deli mart in a few days so the food in the kitchen is pretty weird and random. i had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on pumpernickel bread for dinner. yes, it tasted as bad as it sounds. but i was hungry so i ate it all. the girls had popcorn for dinner so they brought a big bowl up for us to share. haitian popcorn is so good. they cook it on the stove i think &whatever they cook it in must be what makes it so good. so paul &i sat on the roof for a while and ate popcorn until bed.

haitian church starts around 7 and lasts until whenever the preacher is done (yesterday it was about 10:15). it was cool the first couple times i sat through it because i was so interested in what their services look like. they are very simple. its in a tent, we sit in folding chairs, there are no instruments when we sing, and people come late &leave early if they feel like it. but now that I've done it, its impossible to sit and pay attention when i have no idea what anyone is saying. i asked shara and she said the man that spoke yesterday uses a lot of french words. not sure ill ever really understand whats going on but again, maybe once i learn some more kreyol it'll get better. paul started a bible lesson with kids in the bigger tent city yesterday. he said it didn't go well but those kids don't sit still and take directions very well haha but they're so cute.

everyone was so lazy yesterday. i took a nap after church for a while. i figured i would wake up and lunch would be ready but it wasn't. paul and i sat on the upstairs veranda just waiting for sunday lunch. yesterday we had chicken, rice and beans, that spicy stuff, macaroni, fried plantains, and some potato fries. so good. then i took another nap until the girls were done with theirs. we played all evening until they wanted to watch Matilda. at that point we came upstairs and sat on the roof all night until shara made tuna cakes out of canned tuna.

in church yesterday morning, Amalie's mom sat right in front of us. she kept turning around and reaching for her but Amelie had no idea who she was and wasn't interested in figuring it out. for anyone reading who doesn't know, Amelie was abandoned at church one morning a while back. I'm not for sure how old she was when her mom left her here but she was several months old and weighed 4 pounds she was so malnourished. when her mom showed up yesterday, she had on nice clothes and long, braided hair that had two different colors in it. she looks young, no older than 25. i think she just made bad decisions and just wasn't ready to take responsibility for her actions. as sad as it has to be to give up your child, i think she did the right thing. its not that she couldn't take care of her daughter, she just isn't ready to be an adult. shara and i were talking about what it will be like when she asks someday why her mother didn't want her or was never around? but shara made the point, and i think she is so right, it takes more than giving birth to be a real mother. Amelie has Shara, the nannies, and all the girls that love her and care for her as their family. although its not a biological parent, they love her all the same. but someday that will make her sad and it

on the last sunday of every month, the girls family members are allowed to come and visit for the afternoon. i have mixed emotions about this. the girls love it, i think, and thats what is really important. however, I'm sure it causes a lot of confusion at the same time. especially for the girls who don't have anyone come visit them for whatever reason. i guess as i sit here and write about it, i think its a good thing. even though most of the girls here have parents or families out there, they couldn't provide for their daughters so they gave up their rights as parents so that their children would be cared for. why shouldn't they visit? its not that they don't love the girls or don't want them. they just don't have the means.

paul has an english club that meets on sunday afternoons for an hour. they talk for 30 minutes about a topic paul choses and 30 minutes about whatever they want to talk about. yesterday, paul wanted to talk about how they treat women. women here are objectified by probably about 95% of the male population. of course there are the really great men who are exceptions but for the most part, women are here solely for pleasure. this is also a pretty sexually promiscuous country so its just kind of accepted as the norm. prostitution and rape are so real here. its such a danger that young girls have to watch out for. hopefully with this generation, we will be able to educate the children in our neighborhood that women are so much more than sexual objects and that girls should value themselves and guard their hearts. we won't change that about the culture, i know that. but if we can prevent just a handful of girls from falling into that, we will have changed someones life and that is so encouraging.

i have got to make coffee and get this storage room cleaned! I've had a lot of people tell me they have a lot of questions. comment and ask! i can't answer everything but i can try! orevwa!