Click for link, or scan

My sister’s announcement they were considering “sponsoring” 7 Haitians through humanitarian parole was met with uncharacteristic silence on my end. I tried to process.  SEVEN people. What did sponsoring mean? Who were they? Why? At what cost – financially, of course, but mentally and emotionally. I had shared the joys...

Twenty-six years ago our second daughter, Gabrielle, was born. Twenty-five years ago she came to live with us after her Haitian mother was killed. Her father, unable to feed an infant, made the agonizing decision to deliver her to an orphanage so she would have a chance at life. (I...

  Unbeknownst to us, Gabrielle reached out to her orphanage in Haiti today. She decided it was time to find out her father’s story or if he was still alive. (The lifespan of a Haitian male is around 61 years.) Dr. Bernard (the director of her orphanage) answered her email...

Port au Prince has become too crowded and dangerous to continue the attempt for passports there. After two months of waiting in line daily, Gabrielle’s family has decided to trek north, back home to Mirebalais, in hopes of finding shorter lines and less violence as they attempt to apply for...

May 13, 2023 Just over a month in Mirebalais and passports have been obtained! Now we need to begin applying for all 7 to be admitted to the USA through the humanitarian parole program. When the program first began, Dr. Bernard recounts that it was taking a few weeks for...

June 6, 2023  Haiti suffered 4.9 magnitude earthquake, just days after severe flooding has killed dozens. Estimates are that more than 50% of the people of Haiti are facing starvation and gangs now control almost half of the country. It is surprising to me, but if I didn’t go looking...

June 20, 2023  Dr. Bernard called today to ask how applications are going.  CONFESSION: We are struggling with the idea of applying for humanitarian parole for 7 Haitian family members. I know it sounds selfish. They are there grappling for food and basic survival in all the violence, and we...

June 25, 2023 If you’ve ever heard the phrase “for such a time as this”, it comes from the book of Esther in the bible. Esther was chosen to be the queen of Persia, and a man named Haman had a plot to exterminate the Jewish people. As queen, Esther...

It took us some time, prayer, and consultation with friends & mentors, to decide to apply for Humanitarian Parole for the family. Once we came to that decision, applications were entered on October 9th, and against all odds, on November 22nd, all applications had moved forward from USCIC (U.S. Citizenship...

Flight for 7 - February 27th from Port-au-Prince to Miami - CHECK!✅ It is surprising to me that it has been over a year on this journey......she says as she types from the safety of her nice warm home, electricity humming, eating her 3 meals a day, complaining about her first world...

Nothing is a given in Haiti. When they were ready to travel from their home in Mirebalais, the gangs attacked on the only route south to Port-au-Prince, murdering civilians on a “bus” headed to the capital. Two days later when it happened again, the route was closed as bandits are...

The family will begin making their way north instead, to try and get to Cap Haitien. (They will need to travel light, so if they do make it to the US, it will be with not much more than the clothes on their backs.) If they make it to Cap...

Literally the day after I typed the last blog entry, the airport in Port-au-Prince was attacked and all flights cancelled. The family is back in their town of Mirebalais with yet another delay. I don’t know how you could grow accustomed to that much uncertainty and violence in daily life, let...