Our First Excursion Together

We went on our first excursion together and it was fun :) We took all of the kids who are 6 and older up to the Baptist Mission. I have been to the Baptist Mission several times but only to eat and shop for souvenirs and once to take one of our kids to the hospital there for x-rays. I didn't know they have a little zoo, that is where we took the kids. When I found out we were going to the zoo I was very curious what a "zoo" in Haiti would be like. Now, I do think there is an actual zoo here in Haiti but this zoo was a little...more like what I thought it would be. They had different kinds of birds, goats, rabbits and one monkey. Let me tell you about this RIDICULOUS monkey. I like monkey's but this guy was ugly! We were all standing around his cage and the kids were trying to take pictures but he wouldn't stay still. He came over to where I was standing and planted himself on the fence of his cage right in front of my face. All the kids gathered around and watched the funny monkey who was making faces at them, they laughed it was funny. I decided to move out of the way so some other kids could come look, well when I moved to another spot he followed me, the kids laughed and I was like, "Ha that's funny." Well I moved again and...he followed me again! So now EVERYONE thinks this is the funniest thing and they kept telling me to walk around his cage to see if he'd follow me, he did. I even sneaked away and hid behind the crowd then walked to the other side of his cage and HE FOUND ME!! Let me tell you what the children are calling me now, "Madam Makak" which is "Mrs. Monkey". I don't love that name but the kids are sure getting a kick out of it! 

After we walked around the zoo which took about 20 minutes, we went back to the truck to eat the sandwiches that the older kids made for us the night before, yum! Then we went to the little museum they have. I didn't actually get to see the museum because our little Edwar had an upset stomach and I held him in the truck. 
Now for my favorite part of the day, the drive home! I wasn't really looking forward to it because traffic was horrible that day and what normally takes us about 2 hours to get to the Baptist Mission took us 3. Anyway, we headed back and few minutes down the road one of the men with us who was helping with the kids started singing, the older kids joined in and soon the whole truck was in song. Misterline, one of our older girls, kept asking me to sing the English songs that I sing with them at night before bed. I thought the songs would die out but these kids sang praises to our Savior the WHOLE WAY HOME and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! For a while we had a couple trucks full of white people who were following extra close to listen and watch the kids sing and dance on the truck. I noticed they weren't the only people who were noticing this truck full of children from an orphanage singing and dancing, the people on the streets were pretty intrigued by the sight as well :) I just closed my eyes and listened to the kids and mama's praise the Lord. I thought, if I was enjoying that moment so much I could only imagine how blessed the Lord was by His children, these sweet orphans, praising His name! It was a fantastic end to our excursion! If you want to see more pictures or hear a little bit of the singing you can check them out on Facebook. These kids amaze me all the time, they have so much joy and I know it comes from their Father. I pray I get to continue watching them grow more and more in their joy for Him!