Koen's 3rd birthday!

I love my family. I feel grateful that we have the blessing of having two beautiful "grandchildren" and their mother's in our lives. They bring so much joy and love into our family. I hope it's just the beginning of more people to love!

Happy Birthday, Koen! It was fun to celebrate with you and make s'mores with you and laugh with you.

Tyler and Calli are Getting Married!

Calli and Tyler

Two weeks until the wedding! 

We are excited to see these two (and Cleo) become a family!

I don't know what we were laughing at!

Kelli, Calli, Tyler, Mario

Calli's family and us

Sleepy Heads!

Puppy Love

Amos LOVES it when his mama comes to visit him. 

They snuggle and sleep and she lets him lick her face.

Haiti....it's all I think about these days (and nights)

I'm cross posting from my other blog. It's what's on my mind today.

Wow!

Four days and I will be on my way.

I have begun packing my personal belongings and I'm proud to say that I think everything is going to fit in my small carry on suitcase. Packing the supplies that have been donated is another story. My office has been taken over and I don't know where to begin. Susan and Nancy are coming over Tuesday night and we will figure it all out.

I am so proud to say that I have raised $1165 in donations. I feel so grateful that my friends and family have shown so much support for a cause that I believe in. I do not have adequate words to express my feelings. So thank you!

I have been having some crazy dreams. They usually involve missing a flight or a bus, figuring out language or travel barriers, being late...the usual stress dream. Last night's was the best...I forgot to bring my camera so I was driving around Haiti trying to find a store that would likely speak English and sell cameras for a decent price. I found a camera but it cost $116 dollars and I thought that was way too much money. I was trying to figure out if the price was in US dollars or Haitian dollars. I then decided to try another store to compare prices (oh, my! This is sooo me.). I was then thinking about how ridiculous it was that I was even considering not buying a camera because of the cost, because how could I be in Haiti without a camera?

These dreams explain my extreme fatigue today! Melatonin tonight and hopefully a good night's rest. This week it is on to last minute details and crossing things off of my to-do list.

I've become overwhelmed by the Haitian Creole language tapes and have taken a break. I'm trying to decide if I should carry on, or just start over and get the basics down again. Any suggestions?

Thanks again my dear friends! I feel your love!

I've been sewing to take my mind off of things.

It's working.

Here's a sneak peak of the new quilt. I love this color.

 

 Someone thinks the quilt is cozy!

In spite of kicking butt on my to-do list, I am feeling very anxious today. I found out this morning that the group of naturopathic students I was planning to meet up with in the Dominican Republic are NOT flying into the same city as me, so I will be alone getting from Santiago, DR to Cap Haitien, Haiti. This has me completely freaked out.

I have the website for the bus line I need to take, but of course it's all in spanish. Lucky for me I have a native spanish speaking person living with me. But even he could not figure out if/where/when there is a bus from Santiago to Cap Haitien like I was told. I don't think I will be able to breath from now until then unless I know for sure. There is no way I can fly into a foreign country without a step by step plan of what I'm going to do and how.

I confirmed my flight last night. I will fly from here to New York on the red eye Thursday the 24th. Then from NY to Santiago Friday morning. I am flying standby with a family pass on Jet Blue. At this point there are plenty of seats available on both flights, so unless something changes in the next 10 days I should arrive on schedule. I will probably stay at a nice hotel that I was told about. Again, I need my husband to look at the web site and help me make a reservation.

But I seriously need to get this bus thing figured out or I think I might have a little break down!

Regan Visits

Playing with toys

Laughing with G

Reading books

Playing with the little people

 

Snuggle time

"I sleepy"

Gathering eggs.

Chai Cream of Rice Cereal

I have a crockpot recipe that I have loved to use. Roughly it's about 2parts apple juice to one part steel cut oats in the crock pot, add cinnamon and chopped apples if you'd like. Bake on low overnight and in the morning not only does your house smell wonderful, you have a hot and hearty breakfast waiting for you. You could substitute your favorite grain for the steel cut oats. And I usually substitute water for some of the apple juice (or just dilute the apple juice) because it's too sweet for me.

I've been wanting to share this accidental breakfast recipe, based on the above recipe, that I tried recently.

This isn't the cereal I made. I found this picture online. But it looks just like it!

A couple weeks ago I had a container of liquid chai tea mix that needed to be used up. I had this idea to make my crockpot cereal with it. I threw in the chai and about half as much creamy rice farina and it was wonderful. Less sweet than the apple juice recipe and more spice.

New Haiti Blog Post

Please see my Haiti blog 

for a list of needed items. 

I will be gathering what I can fit into my suitcase 

and any money left over 

will be donated to

MamaBaby Haiti.