Wednesday, August 15, 2007

My Babies in Jamaica

This is Dean. He's five years old. I spent a lot of time playing with him. Dean is so full of joy and loves to sing and dance.


This is Shammoy, he is 9 months old. He is a very content baby.




Enoch is 1 1/2 years old. He loves attention, and, of course, I didn't mind giving it to him.




This is Ian. He is also five years old. Ian is eating a Guava in this picture. His twin sister and 3 year old sister are also at the nest. Ian has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the terrible things his young eyes have witnessed.

These are just four of the sweet, beautiful Jamaican children at the nest.

A few of my highlights were:

1) Meeting precious Tamara whom I have been praying for since February.

2) Listening to 8 year old Gabriel sing. I have never heard a more pure and beautiful voice!

3) Rocking 3 babies to sleep on Thursday morning.

4) Seeing the love these children have for each other.

5) Experiencing the joy all of the children have, demonstrated by dancing and singing to Jesus.

6) Walking into the room, and seeing Ion (who has CP) light up with the most beautiful and contagious smile.

7) Playing spoons with the team.

8) Riding the bus up to the nest, at the very top of a Jamaican mountain, everyday.

9) Swimming at Glistening Waters.

A few of the harder things on the trip were:

1) Getting used to the heat and humidity

2) Having to do concrete work most of Tuesday and Wednesday.

3) Being completely worn out by 1:00, and then working your tail off until 7:00.

4) By far the hardest part of the trip was leaving the kids on Thursday afternoon, and knowing that I was going back to America, and that some of them would never know a real family.

A huge blessing on this trip was that everyone got along perfectly. There were no conflicts, whatsoever.

After leaving the nest on Thursday afternoon, our bus driver, Chris, gave us a tour of the "real" Jamaica. While riding through the slums, Courtney commented that all of this injustice will one day be made right. That tour is one of the things I will remember most vividly about Jamaica.

5 comments:

Courtney Reissig said...

Thank you Whitney. I love you and miss you a lot.

Here is a quote for your day:

"Miss Michelle, dat boy got some gnyps (spelling?)!"

Talk to you soon.

Whitney said...

Oh, Courtney! I'm so happy you commented! We quote that all the time and I think of you every time! I miss you so much! I've almost cried a few times. Keep posting on your blog, ok. Love you, friend!

Whitney

Hannah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hannah said...

Hey whit! Sorry i haven't commented like I said I would=) Every single one of your kids in Jamaica are Precious!! I am so glad that you got to go and take care of them and show them the love of JESUS!! Can't wait until thursday(or friday=)
PS=look at the other posts too=) I actually commented!

Hannah said...

School starts in .........( hold on, I'm HOMESCHOOLED, these things take me a while)....................................................................exactly..............................10......DAYS!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH!!!(haha)