Funny Things

Jayden was in a school musical and was Groucho Marx so we had to come up with his costume and everyone else wanted in on the action too!

We have resorted to bribery at our house actually it has been going on for quite some time but we just started with Destina, we told her we would give her a dollar if she slept in her bed all night long, she has been waking up at about 1 am and coming into our bed. The first night she agreed to do this but at 1 am she came quietly into our room, at 6 am when she heard Katie get up she quietly got up and went back to her bed until about 7. Then she came into our room and started acting like she had slept in her bed all night and wanted her money! She was mad when we told her that we knew she came into our bed and that she did not get the dollar. Then last night we offered her the same deal and she slept in her bed all night long, woke up happy and was even more happy to get her dollar! It was worth every penny not to have elbows and knees all over me all night long!

This morning I was doing her hair and then she started to do Avrie's hair, why is it that Avrie stood still for 30 minutes so Destina could do her hair but for me she is only good for about 5 minutes. Also Destina was putting in these tiny elastics that my fingers could not even get around. But, bribery must have been around at the O for a while too because Destina was bribing Avrie to hold still, she would tell her that we are going for a ride in the machine, and Avire would hold still!

Avrie loves to have her picture taken and then look at it! She wakes up every morning wanting to go in the machine, she has us put this huge purse thing of Kelsie's over her neck then she wants her jacket on and zipped and then she stands at the top of the stairs pointing and saying "go machine".

Meeting the Grandparents!

We have had a great week, the weather has been beautiful in the 60's and sunny, the kids are having fun and adjusting pretty good. We cleaned off the old bike trailer and the girls had fun going on a walk with me and Scott, Dad was a crazy driver and they loved it!

We went down to one of the parks by the bay and Avrie got into the play area and starting walking really funny, at first I thought it was because the ground was a little uneven but then she pointed to the ground, then looked up at me and said "CaCa? Yeah, she thought she was walking on poop, it did kinda look like it!

Destina loves the slides, what she doesn't like is being shocked by the slides!

She had fun out exploring on the rocks in the bay, but most of the time she wanted to be carried by dad. She was really funny the other day we were going through some flash cards and naming the objects, I would tell her what the "English" word was and then she would tell me the "Creole" word. We did this for awhile and I did not do very good she is so much smarter than I am, I could not learn a new language as fast as she is. But the funny thing was the next day we were looking at some pictures and there was a picture of one of the objects we were going through the other day, a basket, and I asked her what the Creole word for basket was, again, and she looked at me and shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't know!" Whenever someone tries to speak French to her she looks at them like "I don't know what you are talking about!" She is done with the Creole, unless she is on the phone with a friend then it is talking non-stop!


Grandma and Grandpa came up for the weekend and the girls were so excited. Destina saw their picture a couple of days before and asked who they were and when I told her it was Grandma and Grandpa she pointed to herself and said "mine grandma and grandpa" when I told her yes she was beaming she was so happy to have a grandma and grandpa. When they came both girls ran right up to them and gave them big hugs and wanted to spend as much time with them as they could. I even caught grandpa sitting on the floor playing a princess memory game with Destina. Destina also had fun visiting with grandma checking out all of her stuff and they loved the bears they brought over for them. They were so happy to have them visit!

Katie and Avrie at the CaCa park!

Dad carrying the girl without working legs!

Feburary in Bellingham!

We have had some really nice days this week so, Katie and I loaded up the girls and headed for the park! Avrie was not quite sure what to think of the slide and the swings, she was a little afraid but wanted to keep going down.

Destina loved the swings and the slide, she saw some boys going down head first and had to try that out too!

Then we went down to the water and there were some dogs off leash and the kids were a little scared but did pretty good as long as the dogs kept their distance.

Katie showed Destina how to pick up the sand and rocks and throw them into the water and listen to the cool sound they made as they hit the water.

Avrie didn't like having her hands dirty but was trying to keep up with big sister!

Opening Pandora's Box

I love the way Avrie is looking at Scott in this picture!

We did it, we took the girls swimming now they know that it is a possibility and that there is a pool that we can get to in the machine! They had a lot of fun Avrie and Scott played together the whole time and Destina played with the other kids. She insisted on wearing a life jacket she thought it was cool. It was fun right up until they called everyone out of the pool because someone threw up, perfect timing to leave!

I ran into a friend on Sat and she works at Meridian High School and told me her class checks my blog regularly, during class! I hope she is making it an assignment such as "lets see how many spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors we can find today class!" Anyway, Hi to all the kids in Mrs. Wood's class you should leave me a comment that would be a fun assignment!

Bedtime and other random things

This morning getting ready for church was a little off, Destina did not get enough sleep woke up a little grumpy, breakfast didn't quite go her way and she was still grumpy, she cheered up for her bath, both girls love to take a bath every morning after breakfast they love to be clean and are always washing their hands and they scrub themselves in the tub everyday. After her bath she went to get dressed and the grumpiness increased. Last week I had her wear tights, she didn't want to but she did. This week I had a cute skirt with leggings and she was mad because she wasn't wearing the tights and the dress she wore last week. Then the dreaded turtle neck came out and she did not like that one bit but I let her wear one of my necklaces and that seemed to cheer her up a bit. Then it came time to go and shoes, with the leggings I told her to wear her little flats without socks and she did not like that but did it anyway so getting to church today was a little bit if a challenge, I know some of you are thinking "why didn't you jut let her wear what she wanted?" I do most days but on Sunday for church it is my pick.
Anyway I think most of the problem was because she was tired that is where most of our issues start from. When we got to church she was still a little grumpy but doing ok, she is really shy around all the attention that people give her coming up to her and touching her, I don't think she is quite ready for all of that yet, but she did ok.
After church she was happy and Ryan and Destina played all afternoon, it got a little wild and noisy but they were having fun and there was a lot of laughing going on!
We had their first birthday party to go to tonight and it was a major sugar overload they had fun and Avrie sat and played with the stuff in her goody bag for a long time totally entertained.
Avrie is so funny she likes to go to the potty but she tells me "mama pee pee caca" I have to come with her and sit on the edge of the tub I have to give her toilet paper to hold then we make faces at each other, play peek a boo, and blow kisses, and talk about going pee pee caca! It is so cute one of my favorite things!
I did get chewed out today by a 2 year old she gave me what for in Creole then threw her banana on the floor, again quite funny but she did get a little time out for throwing food on the floor. It is hard to get mad when she is so cute.
Bedtime is getting easier most nights. Destina has a routine down pretty well she does not like to go to bed but she wants me to lay next to her until she falls asleep so she will go willingly because if she throws a fit I won't lay down by her. Tonight she wanted Avire to come to bed at the same time so I had both girls in bed Avrie was making funny noises and Destina was asking me about all of her friends and if they were going to sleep. She said "Papa going to sleep?" and went through our whole family then she started with Sheree, Darlene and JT are they going to sleep, then it was Fabrice, Nerlange, and Younlson, then she asked about Papa Brent, Jean Peter, and Jessica, then Abie, Joe, and Betuel, and Oliver and, Djevena otherwise known as Z, she wanted to know that all her friends are going to sleep too, it was very sweet.
Earlier today she was talking about her friends and I asked her "Destina do you love Darlene and JT, and she said yes, then she said "and Fabrice"! Again it was so cute.
Ok that about sums up our day, there are so many things they do that make me laugh, yes there are tough moments but the funny, good moments far outweigh anything tough, we are still having so much fun!

We are the World!

The Girls Have a New Look!

I know they look really cute in their PJ's all ready for bed. But we decided that they needed a new look, I was getting tired of doing their hair I don't think I signed up for this... so we decided to make things easier and we gave the girls a new look....




Don't you think Destina looks great as a red head? And the flowers just give that extra "pop" to Avrie's hair!

We did have fun playing dress up and taking pictures!

Scott and Ryan went snow caving with the scouts, Jayden was at a friends house so it was a girls night at our house, we started off by going to Target for more hangers, but somehow I came home with Candyland, 2 big bouncy balls and a baby doll that cries and talks. (note to self don't take Destina to the store I can't tell her no)! We came home made cookies played Candyland, I won the first 2 games then Destina won the third poor Kelsie never won, we played a Memory game, that was given to us by someone we don't even know, if you are reading this thank you for the games and books that was really sweet of you!! Then it was time for some dress up fun! Good thing we kept all the old dance costumes.
The girls are sleeping in their room it is about 70% done, hopefully we will get it all done in the next couple of weeks. We need to paint a dresser that a friend gave us and get a few more things for the room.
I can't believe it has been a month since the earthquake, please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers they will need them for a long time, there is still so much that we would like to do to help our friends in Haiti!

Haiti Returning to Church after the Quake

Photography by Scot Facer Proctor

Maurine and Scot Proctor are currently in Haiti with 125 LDS medical, construction and translation volunteers .

Much of Haiti lies in rubble. Collapsed roofs lie at angles, smashed against the floor below them. Cinder blocks slant in heaps along the roads. Some streets in Port-au-Prince look like old pictures of bombed-out Berlin after World War II. It's a horror, an apocalypse.

Yet, amidst a shoddy neighborhood stands a jewel, the Croix-des-Missions LDS church and sounding through the air is a hymn: How Firm a Foundation.

It is a particularly well-chosen song in a land whose physical foundations could not stand the earth's tremors, but whose Latter-day Saints have proven to be remarkably resilient. They know that though all but a handful have lost their homes, their foundation is in the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is firm.

Attending the 3-hour church block on Sunday felt remarkably normal to us. There were the Saints dressed well, many in crisp, white shirts that looked newly ironed. The deacons wore their white shirts and ties as they reverently passed the sacrament.

How can this be? Without homes, they are living on the street in hastily-assembled, makeshift shelters on any flat land that is available. Their walls may be sheets hung over ropes or pieces of cardboard. Their beds are concrete or hard earth. Everything they owned-and that already wasn't much-has been stripped from them by an initial quake that lasted about 45 seconds and after shocks that continued for days.

Haiti, right now and for the foreseeable future, is a land sleeping out. People fill the church's courtyards at night-and instead of woe, they laugh and talk. They have shanties on the median strip between two lanes of riotous traffic.

We asked member after member, how can you be so beautifully groomed on Sunday, given your conditions? They answered that because most everyone is now living in the street, they are indeed dirty during the week, plagued by all the ills that befalls a newly-made street person, but, they added that though they had no water to drink, they had water good enough to wash their clothes.

So there they were singing about what really is their firm foundation and looking like any other LDS congregation across the world-except they are homeless.
Their Lessons and Talks

That is not all. Their lessons and talks were sophisticated and scripturally based, as if they had a library and computer at their fingertips to prepare instead of the side of the road.

The sacrament meeting began with strains of "Come, come ye Saints, no toil, nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way." For most of us who come from other nations, we would be hard-pressed to find joy in impoverished and broken Haiti before the earthquake, let alone now, but they sang like they meant it, "Happy day, all is well."

They prayed, "We are all thankful to be counted among the living. We are grateful to know of thy truth. There are many outside the walls of this church who do not have this truth to sustain them through the trials. We know we were kept alive because we have a mission to complete. Bless us all that we can be strong and take care of each other."

We listened tearfully. The sacrament was passed and each of the seven children sitting on the row next to us took not a single piece of bread but a scoop each. They are hungry.

Then we heard a talk, a surprising, enriching talk from France Nathalie Desir-so beautifully done.
She told the audience:
"For some of the adversity we face, we can place the weight on our own shoulders because we are not obeying God's laws. That adversity we can control, but there are some kinds of adversity we can't control like the earthquake. We didn't do anything to attract it. We all had friends and families who were killed. A lot of people are discouraged and have lost faith, but we as members of the Church now have a mission.

"We know why we have adversities. They are to make us stronger. We have the freedom to either let them overcome us or to make us strong. Just as we send little children to school, the Lord has sent us here for a school.

"Our big enemy is our pride that keeps us from loving our neighbour and obeying the commandments.Since January 12, we all have experienced sleeping outside. As I was lying in the courtyard looking up at the stars, I knew this was the time to manifest charity and mourn with those who mourn, give food to those who need food.

"We have a certain joy, and the joy is knowing these things are temporary. The trials we are given on earth are for us, and the Lord knows everything we are going through and they are to augment our faith and bring us to God."

Primary and Youth

The primary children at the ward were as happy, giggly and bright as any children in the world-maybe more so.

Their lesson was on the plan of salvation and the teacher talked to them-just as you'd think-about the premortal, mortal world, paradise and resurrection, complete with the traditional hand in the glove to describe what happens when we are born and when we die. You can see them here.

The lessons for the youth were very much like those for the adults.

We must be strong in this time of adversity. We must reach out with love to those who are discouraged.
Home Teaching

Francy Saint-Preux, the High Priest group leader for the ward, said doing home teaching is ten times harder than it used to be because people are no longer in their homes and sleeping somewhere on the street, but after the quake they made every effort to assure that everyone was safe. Temporal needs are difficult to meet because they are so overwhelming and every priesthood leader is inundated. They'll do anything to help, but there are some things they just can't do.
Francy said, "The island is in disarray from top to bottom."
He noted, "One of the first things I had to do as a leader in the high priests is to restore confidence in the members. I remind them that the important things are still intact. Your kids are safe. You have the gospel. I encourage people to focus on staying close to God.
"What we teach the members is the gospel," he said. Our gospel is simple--pray, read your scriptures, pay your tithing and work. Do everything you can to work. Even the solution to a temporal problem is a spiritual one. Get back to the basics."

Meet the Members

We are here in Haiti with 70 Haitian-speaking missionaries who are assisting in translating for medical teams and food delivery. At the airport before we left, we asked several of them why their loyalty and love for the Haitian people was so intense. Richard Clawson, a former missionary summed it up: "I met so many people in Haiti who are friendly and wonderful, but I also met a number of people in Haiti who I would aspire to be if I can. I met people who were role models to me."
Watching them deal with this devastating crisis, you can see what he means. Meet some of the members:
Guerby Pierre

Guerby Pierre is one of those exceptional people in Haiti who actually has a job. He is well-educated and has a job as an accountant with a billboard company. He tells what happened to him when the earthquake hit:
"The things I saw during the earthquake are forever engraved on my memory. You see things in disaster movies, but it is nothing like when it happens in real life, and I cannot ever forget it.

"I was inside at my work, working at my computer, at what seemed like a normal day. Then, all of a sudden with a roaring noise, it seemed like a giant beast had taken the building in his arms and was twisting and shaking it back and forth. My screen fell off my desk; bookshelves started falling, and I ran for the door, but could hardly keep my footing with the shaking. As I stood at the door, the wall I had been leaning against before completely collapsed.
"It is so different when you experience this in real life. People think of the great earthquakes in 3rd Nephi. People outside thought it was the Second Coming.

"My work is destroyed. That was my livelihood. I went to my house and it is completely gone, but I was able to go in and get the things that really mattered to me-my temple recommend, my passport, some clothes and my scriptures."
He held up his battered scriptures at that moment, the gilt-edged pages long ago worn away, and we asked him, "Did that happen to your scriptures during the earthquake?"
He just smiled back and said, "No, I really love my scriptures and I use them all the time."
The day before the earthquake a tune started wafting through Guerby's mind. Again and again it came and stayed with him through the day. He realized that the words were "The Lord my pasture will prepare, and guard me with a shepherd's care."
He was so impressed with the message that returned again and again to him, that he wrote down the words to the hymn and sent them in a note to his sweetheart. The next day the meaning was still in his soul as his world was hurled apart, and he knew that no matter what happened, the Lord had already sent him a message of comfort.
Now, Guerby is sleeping outside in a tent every night. The way he looks at it is his first job is to take care of his friends and other members of the Church. Even if he doesn't have a lot of money he can strengthen them. His second job as an accountant is gone, so he has more time for his first job.
Some things are really hard. It is hard to think that after working hard to become college-educated that he might be back to shining shoes to get enough money to live on. And it's hard not to have a home. He misses the feeling of something comfortable and recognizable to come back to at night.
He's holding on. He had saved a little money. He got some food and shoes from the bishop.

Each night as he lays under the stars, it reminds him of what is really important in life. He said, "In one sense I have nothing, but in another, I have everything because I have the gospel, and this earthquake has only augmented my testimony. My life is changed. The earthquake simplified it. Since the earthquake, I could all of a suddenly think clearly."
Gone are certain things he thought were really important. Instead, he is hoping to find a way to take his best friend and sweetheart to the temple to be married.
"Life can be hard sometimes," he says, "but it will be OK."
Charles Marie Murielle
"When the earthquake happened, I was inside my house. I had just come from school because I am studying to be a nurse. There was a professor who was absent, so I came home early.
"I was just taking off my uniform when the earthquake started. I heard the noise and felt the earthquake and thought to myself, this is an earthquake.

"After it stopped, I found myself, I was yelling, but I had a strong feeling I shouldn't leave my house. I should just stay there. I went to open my door to go out, and my door was blocked, I couldn't open it.
"I said a sincere prayer. I told the Lord that I was not ready to die. I don't have a family, yet, and I haven't been to the temple. With a lot of strategy I was able to open the door by myself.

"Outside, everyone was crying and screaming out to God, 'What is going on?' The farther I got out, I saw that churches had fallen and people had been killed.
"My school which is four stories tall had collapsed and all the students and teachers had been killed. I would have been there if my teacher had not shown up.
"All communications were cut off. No radio. No telephone. No one knew what was going on. We were all trying to find an open space. We kept hearing instructions, "Don't go inside. Don't go inside."
"From time to time the earth would shake again. I was continually scared. I was the only member of the Church nearby, and I felt like I was alone. People from other religions were making a lot of noise and were screaming. I found myself in silence because the Spirit told me exactly what to do. I knew it was not the end of the world.

"I prayed, 'Give me strength so that I can hold on.' I found the strength to help a few people who were injured. I found a lot of people who were in shock. The next day I met a brother from the church who came to my house to see if I was OK. He told me I needed to come to the church that all of the members were meeting there. That gave me strength.
We asked her what the future holds for her without money or a house or a school. She said she is determined to find a way to finish her nursing, but for now, she lives at the church and she's scared to go back to her house. Maybe she will make cookies to sell.

Erick Goimbert
Erick had just picked his son up from school and gone home when the house started hurling back and forth with roaring, pounding, confusing noises. A dresser hit the wall and whipped around and hit him in the eye. Then pieces of the roof began crashing down, and he ran into the other room to get his son.

They didn't try to get out, as it was hard to stand, impossible to walk. They just started praying. He did not know it was an earthquake as he had never experienced anything so overwhelming before.
When they finally made their lurching way out of the house, he saw that all the houses around him were completely destroyed and his neighbors had been killed.

Now, he and his family are sleeping wherever they can find a spot at night, mostly in the road by their house. He'd like to come and sleep at the church, but his home is too far away.
He has no tent, but sleeps under some corrugated tin cover. Every morning he doesn't know where to get food. He just waits day to day for help. Like most Haitians, he doesn't have a job, and his wife just sells things in the street.
Among his slim possessions are a few Tylenol pills for when his back, hit by the dresser in the quake, hurts too much.

He says with some good cheer, "Everybody is praying. There is definitely a feeling of unity and my testimony has been strengthened. You drive through my neighbourhood and mine was the only house that is not completely destroyed.
What for the future? He sees no possibilities to rebuild a house. He has no money and can't see where he could possibly get any.
Polycarpe Macking
The day of the earthquake, two of his children had just come home from school and were watching television. He was out in the front yard feeding the chickens, their main source of livelihood.

About 4:45, he started to feel the shaking movement. Immediately his children ran outside as the roaring, pitching earth got worse. As soon as they ran outside, the house collapsed.
They knelt down and, crying, said a prayer for his wife and other daughter, asking that they would be safe. They found her quickly for which he was grateful.

Now, he doesn't know what he's going to do. "God must have a plan for me," he said, "and I'm just going to have to see what it is."

The scriptures are his life and he loves to read.
A vibrant young man, he still hasn't had a job for seven years, and the few chickens they had were crushed or scattered in the earthquake. For now, they are sleeping in their yard. They have no money to rebuild.
Group Photograph

We couldn't help ourselves in wanting to show the amazing light and joy in the faces of the Haitian Saints here in the Croix-des-Missions Ward in Port-au-Prince .

The bishop announced in the meeting that we would all gather after their sacrament meeting (sacrament was last) and have a group picture of the ward. He said he wanted all the children and youth and everyone to come. Some of the investigators who were there on this day asked if they should be a part of this picture. We said, "Of course you are a part of this!"

We then told our translators to instruct them to do something we learned from then President David Bednar at BYU-Idaho. We told them to hold up their scriptures high and let us see them.

We saw every variety of scriptures, manuals and hymnbooks go up into the air.

Many of the children wanted to gather for their own group picture.Their faces captured it all.

This is a glimpse of the members of the Croix-des-Missions ward after the earthquake. It's good they can sing "Happy day, all is well," because like the handcart pioneers of old they have nothing but God's help and the help of his children to see them through.

John D. Longaker