Catching Up with Witlene and What I Love Today

This is Witlene. I met her in Indiana while she was out on a medical visa getting a tumor removed from her head, and I was there watching 1/2 of Rebekah's kids while she was at make-a-wish Disney World with her older kids. Witlene is hilarious and adorable and I had fun getting to speak Creole with her while in Indiana while I was feeling so homesick for Haiti last year. She's very educated and so is her family; they all live in Port-au-Prince. Their house fell in the earthquake but fortunately none of her immediate family died. She was attending college and her whole school collapsed burying almost all her teachers and classmates. She is waiting for an opportunity to go back to school but can't find anywhere yet- she is 27 years old. She wants 2 kids - twins (boy & girl) and wants to get pregnant after she gets married to her boyfriend when she's 29 so she has her kids when she's 30. Today she came to pick up meds that Rebekah gave to me to bring back for her when I was picking up Denel on my way back to Haiti on this last trip back. She spent half the day here and we got to talk and I showed her around... she had never heard of Cazale before! It was fun catching up with her and getting to know her better.

She was showing me pictures that Rebekah had taken and posted on facebook- she told me how much she loved the black and white photos. So we took this pic and I opened my editing program and let her go at it- this is the end result :)

I love the fact that I know enough Creole now to be able to get to know someone more than how they are and their name and the simple conversations needed to take care of kids. I'm just getting to the point where I can go and sit with the patients at Lori's house, or the staff in the RC and just talk, joke, and be friends rather than being the white girl who visits once and a while. I'm nowhere near completely fluent but I get by :) They teach me words and are always patient explaining stuff to me if I don't understand. They tease me and I tease them. The longer I'm here the more I understand about the people, and the more they open up and treat me as an equal. I love that.

I love that people no longer move out of the way when they see me coming.

I love that, while I still am the white girl, most people in the community know me as my name now instead of "blan" (white), even if I've never met them.

I love that when I go hang out with the patients at Lori's house they no longer all ask me how my day is and rather they ask me how long I can hang out.

I love that kids that used to be scared of me are finally coming around and wanting to sit with me and take walks.

I love where I'm at and I love the fact that God put me here.

I love that I have bad/sick days because the next day everything seems 10 times more beautiful.

I love my family.

I love that my sister and I are starting to grow as sisters and become good friends.

I love that I have NEVER felt alone because I was raised knowing Jesus is always there, no matter what.

I love knowing I have so much to learn about life and God.

I love the fact that I have such amazing friends who support my (weird) life-style, and are there for me after months of not hearing from me.

I love that I feel like my life can go in whatever direction I choose, and I hate that other people don't have that luxury. I love that I have the option of helping others gain that luxury... I hate that I don't daily take advantage of the stuff I have been blessed with by blessing others. I love that God is giving me direction and showing me what I need to do to better help others...

What do you love today?