it's a LOVE HAITI relationship.

"what you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
build anyway."

*warning- this post is quite image heavy...

around this time last year, i had the pleasure of going to fonds-parisen, haiti.

 panoramic photo i took while on the roof of our hotel in fonds-parisien.

now, this was in no way my first visit to la pearle des antilles - both of my parents were born there and many a family vacations were spent in haiti.

my sisters and i at 'kaliko beach club' 

what made this particular trip so special was the fact that we went down there on a mission - to build a church and an orphanage.

our first day in haiti (my dad is in the yellow shirt - 'sup JL)

although we found out very quickly that erecting two buildings in two weeks time was a rather ambitious feat. 

but through a lot of team work and prayer, we were able to build the church building from the ground up.

church sign which is now hanging on the new church building :)

the building they used to worship at was deemed unsafe after the 2010 earthquake.

they would meet under this makeshift "building" instead.

trying to figure out where would be best to build both the church and the orphanage.

completed foundation.

we had many locals come and help us lay the cement.

team work makes the dream work.

our littlest helpers :)

after much confusion, we got first section of the building erected!

by the time we finished getting the building up in it's entirety, it was pitch black out.

but that didn't stop the preacher from testing out the new building.

impromptu church service.

i left before the church was completely finished.

but it looks something like this :)

myself and the other ladies would spend the day sorting through the donated items.

we had a party later on in the week with food and gifts :)

another little helper :)

earlier this week, a group of 15 more brethren (including my lovely parents) traveled back to haiti to work on the orphanage.
i'm sad that i'm not able to attend this time due to my exam schedule but i wish them all the best down there.
i can't wait to see the photos of the finished orphanage!

:)
vanessa

ps. some random photos of the children i would have brought back with me were it not illegal...

looooved me some lobens.

"everyone smiles in the same language."

pps. we found one soccer ball in the box of donations.
i couldn't believe how much joy something as simple as a soccer ball could bring to these children.
after they finished their homework, these two boys would come and play soccer with me.
you're looking at the future haitian national soccer team, y'all.