A Precious Gift

 After a "good" breakfast of spaghetti and eggs, we set out on another journey to meet one of our World Vision boys.

We decided to sponsor two children from Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
We teach our children to pray for different nations around the world as well as our own nation daily. After the devastating earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people, we struggled to find a way to give our kids more of a heart for others.
By sponsoring two boys in Haiti, we could give them a face and a name to Haiti. They pray for these boys every morning and night. They tell their friends they have two Haitian brothers.
As you can imagine, our kids were dying to finally meet these boys in person.

As many things in Haiti require waiting and random, ever-changing schedules, we had to wait until after lunch to meet out first boy.
The World Vision chaperones were headed to our mountain town from Port Au Prince to pick us up. Did I mention that is a six-hour drive?!
Our two chaperones arrived just as we were sitting down to lunch, so they joined us for a quick bite to eat. Tanner hit it off instantly with our translator, Jocelyn, who is also a big weight-lifter. They are now Facebook buddies chatting daily.

Jocelyn and his driver, Matthew, drove us in the World Vision Land Rover to the next town, Hench, about an hour or so away. The road is rocky dirt. Similar to driving in a rough dried out river bed. Not much pavement in Haiti.

The kids squealed with delight with each huge bump we hit. Finally, we began to approach Hench. Everyone became quiet, waiting and knowing that soon we would meet our first boy, Garisson.

We pulled into the complex and walked into the building. There greeting us was Garisson and his mom. They both greeted us with a kiss on each cheek and a warm hug. Claire squeezed Garisson so tight! Garisson is nine and about the same size as Gabe.

We took a moment to get acquainted, then started the gift-giving. When we mail packages to Garisson, they have to be small, so we took this opportunity to go big.

Gabe and Claire loved helping him build an amazing Lego set! We brought clothes, a brand new soccer ball, DVDs, and gifts for mom, too. I love giving gifts!

The kids worked on the Lego, while we chatted it up with mom. Isn't she stunning?! I really believe Haiti has the most beautiful people. They could all be super models!

The Lego jet!

Garisson's dad died, so his mom raises him on her own. She has no family around for support. We asked her if she had any business ideas. She said she would love to open a small clothing boutique one day. We are praying about how we can help her get started...the cost is only $230 a year for small space to rent.
 

I can not even begin to tell you how much we love this boy. We feel he is part of our family. Meeting him was a dream come true. It meant so much for us to meet him, but it meant the world to him and his mom that we would travel so far just to spend an afternoon with them. 
We can send all the money and gifts in the world, but what meant the most, was that we came in person.
We eventually had to part ways. Claire hugged and would not let go. It began to rain. The rain drops mixed with my tears as I cried for my boy. We all cried inside. This boy is our family.

If you want to support a child through World Vision, please do it now! It is only $35 a month. A small sacrifice for so much joy!