25 days 'til we leave again.

I've been wondering a lot what the kids will be like. What will Jessica be able to say this trip? What have we missed in the last 5 months? Will Nathan be talking? Will he still want a hug every minute? Will they remember us?

This will also be our 2nd full trip with the same kids. Knock on wood and anything else you can find! Nathan came back to us the next to last day of the October trip last year. This will be our 5th trip and the 2nd time we'll have the same kids for two full trips in a row.

I dread the week before we go. It's like "until we're on the ground in Haiti and they're in my arms, anything could happen" (because everything has happened)

There are a bunch of people going on this trip. I actually kind of dread the large group. If you've ever seen how many people and their luggage they will force into one vehicle in Haiti, you'll understand. But the good news of so many people going is that we were able to order a 2nd pallet of FMSC rice. We have so many volunteers going that we needed more than a pallet to distribute out to everyone. Brent estimates that, if everyone packs what they're given, we'll get 1600 lbs of FMSC rice/soy mixture down there with this trip.

For those of you that aren't familiar with it - 1 serving of FMSC rice has all the vitamins, protein, minerals that a starving child needs for a full day's allotment of nutrients. It means that even if they only get to eat once per day, they'll be getting proper nutrition. It means that lives will be saved. It means that anything additional they're able to feed them will be "bonus" and not "basic survival". We've been very blessed that the wonderful angels over at Feed My Starving Children have been willing to provide us this product and that all the families and volunteers traveling have been so willing to pack it all.

I can't really explain what it's like to pack for Haiti - we take clothes for the kids. More than they'll need. Diapers. Snacks. Toys. We try to get everything we need for a week with two active, 2 year olds into one suitcase. It's our one shot to spoil them.

Then in another suitcase, we pack our clothes and start throwing in the FMSC rice. We tend to take a baggie of Tide down and wash clothes a couple of times because if we can wash some of our clothing to rewear it, then that means that much more space for rice for the babies. "Do I really need to do my hair while we're there? Oh... I can borrow Tia's blow dryer - one less thing to pack. Let's put rice where that would have fit. "

I'm also excited because we had some fabulous fundraisers this spring to help us get power to the Orphanage. We are doing a trial run this trip and we'll be hauling down a solar power unit. If we can get it to Haiti in one piece, and get it hooked up like we hope, then we can get some fans set up that they can move around to keep the kids cooler during the awful, hot and humid months. The kids get sick in the hot months and it's just miserable. Hopefully we'll be able to help a bit with that.