March 5th 2010. The day I met My Haitian Girl

If you would have asked me two years ago if I would be living in Haiti. I would have said no way. That is crazy talk. Well here I am two years later living in Haiti. I must be crazy or in love. I will never forget March 5th 2010. That was the day my life was forever changed. The way I saw Haiti from the sky will be forever etched in my mind. It seemed as if our plane would land on one of the houses. I had so many feelings and thoughts as we landed. I was scared, nervous and excited for the unknown. As we landed the song Time Of My Life stared playing. I had never heard it before. I remember the tears that streamed down my face for the people that I had never meet. As we came down the escalator at the airport Haitian men were playing instruments and singing. Some days I can still here that tune in my head. The airport was so crazy and very scary. The luggage pick up was in a building that looked like a pole barn with luggage and people everywhere. Once outside the airport we met up with the lady picking us up. I think we all were happy to see her. The streets and roads were as crazy as the airport was. So many building had been crushed from the earthquake and most Haitians were still trying to figure out what to do. Within a few hours of landing in Port Au Prince we were bumping down the roads playing chicken with the cars on our way to a orphanage. When we pulled in many children ran to the truck to greet us. We were given lots of hugs and kisses. I felt as if heaven had opened and swept me up. The place was so very poor and had very little. The kids were sleeping in tents. Almost all of them were underweight for their age. But we all fell in love with this place. This was the day that I saw My Haitian Girl for the first time. I will never forget seeing her. She was so small we guessed her to be 3 (she was 5). She was wearing a red silk dress with white polka dots on it. It was too big for her, they had it tied at the shoulders but the straps still kept falling down. It had a small tears on the front of the dress. I loved her that very first night that I laid my eyes on her. Over the past 2 years I have been to Haiti 7 times. I have seen so much change in Haiti, myself, and in My Haitian Girl. I have seen her grow and change so much. I hate that my family has missed this time with her. The two photos show the change two years have made. I will post more this week on the first time that I met Daphnica.