38 things that make me happy (By Teagan)

1. Reading a new book
2. Adorable babies
3. Playing with little kids
4. When there is a torrential downpour in the middle of the day
5. Awesome coloured nail polish
6. Homechurch
7. Having people to talk to
8. ATV rides
9. Sunsets
10. Being so over tired that everything seems hilarious
11. Sweaters and jeans
12. Seeing people's reactions to the insane driving in Haiti
13. Friends
14. People not treating me like a kid
15. Actually hitting what I was aiming at with a bb-gun
16. Making someone smile
17. Birthdays
18. Watching a movie at the Hope House with kids and babies falling asleep on me
19. Toddlers that faces burst into smiles when they see me
20. Watching a movie that I love with someone who has never seen it
21. Accomplishing something
22. Helping people push someone in a pool, only to have them turn on me and push me in
23. Winning at Chubby Bunny
24. Skittles
25. When people ask me if I am a year or two older than I actually am
26. Sarcasm
27. People trying to be sarcastic but it doesn't really work
28. Camp Kahquah
29. Listening to lame songs when no one is around
30. Seeing people I haven't seen in 3 years
31. Forgetting the English words to the songs at church because I only remember them in Creole
32. Fitting 11 people and a dog in a 7 seater car on the way back from the beach
33. The surprise on people's faces when they see all of us in that car
34. Taking people aback by speaking creole to them
35. Trees
36. Finding out that the reason I sound so bad when I play the trombone is because it has a crack in it, not because I suck
37. Getting to skip school to go somewhere
38. Living in Haiti

Waterfall (Grayden)

Hey everybody! 
Today I went to a waterfall called Saut D'Eau, 2 hours from where I live in Haiti. 
I wasn't really excited until we got there.  My sister(Teagan) told us it was free but when we got there it was actually 1 dollar.  Luckily we got 1 dollar from somebody else.  There were big smooth rocks that the waterfall landed on.  Some of them were really slippery and I slipped and collided into a few people.  There were small pools the water would go into so I swam in them.
There was a few rocks that were really slippery and they made sort of a slide, and the water from the waterfall pushed you so you went pretty fast.
Here are some pictures of me and the waterfall.

P.S  The answer to the riddle is you pour the 500 ml bucket into the 300 ml bucket so you have 200 ml left in the 500 ml bucket.  Then you dump the 300 ml bucket out and pour the 200 ml from the 500 ml bucket in the 300 ml bucket.  Then you fill the 500 ml bucket back up and you fill the 300 ml and you have 400 ml in the 500 ml bucket.

Field Trips (by Teagan)

You know how you always look forward to field trip when you are in school. You might go to the museum, or the art gallery, or the zoo... well here we do field trips Haiti style!

Where better to go for a field trip in Haiti than the Beach! You might think that since we live on a tropical island we must go to the beach alot. Well that is not the case, my parents work very hard, and so does everyone else who lives on the mission, so going to the beach is a treat! We went there a few months ago. You can bask in the sun, play in the waves, and (of course) push people in the pool! We lured Diana (our teacher) close to the pool, and we pushed her in (ok maybe she was very suspicious, and knew what was going to happen, but whatever) Going to the beach also gives you a little hint of what Haiti used to look like a long time ago.

Next we have the Haiti Baptist Mission. I guess this is a bit more like a typical North American field trip, but in a way it is not even close! The Baptist Mission is about 2 hours away, and up in the mountains. It is so pretty there and also quite cold! Its about 20 degrees C (68 F)! Yes that is cold! Anyways at the Baptist Mission they have a museum all about the history of Haiti, it's really cool. They have a souvenir shop with all different handmade objects. They have the best bakery EVER, and a restaurant with North American food (quite rare in Haiti!). And finally my personal favourite a zoo... ok so it is kind of pitiful, but hey it is a zoo, with a real live crocodile, peacocks, goats, bunnies, and a monkey named Fifi, that loves hair with bobbles and barrettes in it (AKA Ana and Mina's hair [my sisters]). Also nearby there is the "lookout". you can see pretty much everything from up there, it is awesome! I haven't been there since a year ago, so I will have to visit there again soon!

And then we have the Sugar Cane Museum. Now this one is more like a field trip where you actually learn about stuff (sucks right! just kidding) We learned all about how sugar cane was made, and they had really old sugar cane making tools which was awesome! It was really cool to learn about how Haiti used to export a ton of the sugar for North American a long time ago. We went there last year for our last-day-before-christmas-break field trip.

These are all just examples of all the wonderful places in Haiti that make living here even more amazing than just everyday life, which if I may say so myself, is pretty fun!

Lyrics (by Teagan)

So you probably listen to alot of songs, and know all the words, and sing them whenever you hear the song. But how many times do you really pay attention to what the song is saying, or actually mean what you are singing. I've spend some time finding lyrics to some of the songs I love, and I've really listened and thought about what the songs are saying. I highly recommend these songs, and I hope the lyrics really make you think.


Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see,
everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken hearted,
the ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

~Give Me Your Eyes~ by Brandon Heath


Why you try to be like the rest of them
When you know there's so much more within
There's only one you

~Headphones~ by Britt Nicole


I look back to the cross
Back to the One
To the love that held Him there for us
Back to the place, I was set free
Where His arms are wide enough for me
Everything I want
For all I'll ever need
I look back to cross

~Back to the Cross~ by Our Heart's Hero


I could play the background.
I could play the background.
'Cause I know sometimes I get in the way.
So won't You take lead, lead, lead.
So won't You take lead, lead, lead.
And I can play the background, background
and You can take lead.

~Background~ by Lecrae


It's time for healing,
time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time to make right,
what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos,
but somehow there's peace
And it's hard to surrender to what I can't see
But I'm giving in, to something heavenly

~Something Heavenly~ by Sanctus Real


I have not much to offer You
Not near what you deserve
But still I come because Your cross
Has placed in me my worth

I can't explain this kind of love
I'm humble and amazed,
That You'd come down from heaven's heights
And greet me face to face

~Unashamed~ Starfield

Babies!!! (By Teagan)

I love little kids. Especially babies! Here at Mission of Hope there is the Hope Village Orphanage and there are around 60 awesome kids (well alot of them are older than me, so i guess not all of them are kids), but the 5 babies are my all time favourite (shhh don't tell anyone :])

First there is Pierre, the oldest. Pierre has mental and physical difficulties, but that doesn't stop him from smiling! He was abandoned at the Clinic of Hope in the summer of 2010. Pierre is around 3 years old, but he can’t move that good, or talk, despite that he is the happiest baby I have ever seen! He just lays in his bed and laughs his head off for no apparent reason! He has the most adorable smile ever!

Next comes Angelie. Angelie is around 2 and a half. She has some mental difficulties as well, and she used to not be able to walk up until a couple of months ago. Before that she would just scoot around on the floor. It was super cute! She also has a really funny laugh. Angelie loves to make noise, screaming, babbling, and clapping, but once and a while she will be quiet and fall asleep on you (but that is pretty rare!). Like Pierre, Angelie was abandoned at the Clinic, after the earthquake. 

Then there is Matthew. Matthew just turned 2 in January. He loves to play with toys, and is starting to talk in an understandable way. Sometimes he will look at me in a certain way, and I swear he looks like he is 10 years old! He loves to watch cars, motorbikes and ATVs drive by. Matthew was found at another orphanage in Cabaret called Good Samaritan. He was malnourished and couldn’t hold him self up, and now he is a healthy little boy running around all the time. Today when I went to see them he started laughing when I came in, it was really unexpected and cute!

Finally there is Hannah and Jeremiah. They are twins who are 1 and a half years old. Hannah is very quiet and loves to be held, but she will get some crazy moments and run around and yell and play. Jeremiah, like his sister, likes to be held, but then he will jump down and start running around trying to play with whatever someone else is playing with. He also loves to sit and watch cars drive by. Hannah and Jeremiah were abandoned when they were 6 days old. They were premature, and Hannah weighed 2.8 pounds and Jeremiah was 3.5. Now they are big, chunky, healthy, adorable babies!

So i hope that after reading this you see why i love these babies so much, but if you don't then i guess you will just have to come down here and see them for yourselves :)