My brother.

I feel like this year I am creating posts that are dedicated to people or a feeling/emotion rather than making them diary-like.  I want to remember how exactly I am feeling and writing these posts is helping me do just that. Today/tonight I wanted to dedicate my post to my brother, Stevenson.  I wasn't sure what to expect coming back to Haiti.  I had these expectations that I would see everyone that  I met last year and that they would remember all of us, as we do them.  As the trip got closer, I realized that I might have to lower these expectations because a year had passed and who knows where all of these people could be located.  I was overjoyed to see 2 familiar faces on Sunday and thought, this is more than I expected.  Then we went to the work site from last year and reunited with Stevenson.  I can barely type these words without crying out of pure joy. He showed up to the guest house (where we're working) this morning and greeted me with a, "Hi sister!" Later when there was a lull in the work, he told another guy standing with us, "this is my daddy," and pointed to my dad.  My dad always jokes that Erin is the son he never had (because she is an avid sports watcher) but hearing that from Stevenson is completely different.  Pastor asked us at dinner tonight to share any "god moments" or "god things" to talk about.  This was my response: this afternoon we were hauling clay/dirt from the back of the guest house to the front to spread in a landscaping area.  Stevenson was breaking up the dirt and shoveling it into buckets, then Erin and I were carrying the buckets to the area.  I thought to myself as I walked back and forth, look at us, our family.  My sister, my brother, and I working together.  I can't explain the immense happiness that ran through me at that time and continues to fill me.  My dad, sister and I all recalled moments including Stevenson for our "god things" and I think that shows just how much he means to my family. 

We worked at the guest house, moving a lot of rocks and dirt, leveling out the open space.  We played with kids.  Erin, in her natural state, had a little boy, no more than 3, fall asleep on her lap for a good hour.  Beckie played with kids, talked extensively with new friends, she's soaking it all in and it makes me so happy to see her and my sister experiencing what I did and more.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and played a rousing game of Quiddler (which I won, just in case anyone wanted to know).  All is wonderful here.