Child - Sponsor Visit Day!

Saturday morning, there was a lot of excitement in the air!  Everyone was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the children!  

On these types of trips, all the children travel from wherever they live in the country, to one location to meet the sponsors.  Sometimes, it's at an amusement park, zoo, or similar type place, where the sponsors and kids can have fun together.  After I had signed up for the trip, I thought about this day, and hoped it wouldn't be to an amusement park, because I'm terrible at rides - I get dizzy on the Merry-Go-Round!  So I was very happy when I got the trip guide and it said we would be staying at our hotel for the Child-Sponsor Day.  (It was one of those "answer to prayers" that you hadn't actually prayed for, because it seemed selfish, but I was thankful!) I love the beach and thought playing in the pool and the ocean with Kimberlie sounded wonderful.

Our group all gathered in the open-air foyer of the hotel after breakfast to await the arrival of the children... who would be coming in one by one.  That is, except for Jason' boy, Loulou, and Kimberlie.  Jeannot had told me that morning that "it didn't look good" for them to be able to come. Becca was a little more upbeat about it, and said "they are still working on it".

The flooding in Cap Haitian was the worst they had in years.  A tropical storm had centered itself over the area and torrential rains were coming down.  I was praying hard... mostly for safety for the people there, including Kimberlie and her family, but also for wisdom for the Compassion staff to know what to do.  I prayed that Kimberlie would be safe and her home not damaged.  And that she would not be too disappointed.  I know I was.  

But I was determined to try to enjoy the day as best I could.  In just a few short days, I had come to feel close to the other people in our group, and I wanted to share in their joy when they met their kids.

Everyone was waiting and super excited as the children began to arrive.  

Hugs and smiles!!!

One by one the children came...and those still waiting took photos.

Letty hugged her Pastor's sponsored child who came to spend the day with her.

Lots of group photos were taken of the sponsors, kids, family member, and Compassion staff who had traveled with them, as well as photos of more candid moments like these:

Even Jason had two boys who came... his newly sponsored child, and his mother's sponsored child, who is in the photo below.

It really was amazing and fun to be there to watch.  But of course, it was also terribly sad not to have Kimberlie be arriving as well.  As each child arrived and went off with their sponsors to spend the day together, the group waiting got smaller and smaller til it was just me.  So, what was I going to do?  I decided I was in a tropical paradise, I should try to enjoy it.  More about that in my next post.