Little Sunshine.

This little sunshine never ceases to make me smile.

The guys are in America!

Yesterday, James, Jocelyn and Alex went to the United States for the first time. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is that this actually Happened. The sweet couple that made this happen, Patrica and Tom Murphy, have been working at getting these three to the States for, I think, about over a year now. It was a crazy process, but the Lord did it!! He got all the Glory in the end and it was just amazing! The boys got their visas on Wednesday and left on the 12:15 flight on Friday.



I can't even explain to you how pumped they were. The were beaming with Joy- You can just see the excitement on their faces as they were getting prepared to enter into this new Adventure. We all said our goodbyes like 100 times and sent them on their way.



This picture was taken by Tom Murphy as they were getting ready to take off. I so wish I could have seen their faces when that plane took off! ahhh it must have been amazing.

The boys in New York City. :) When I saw this picture I seriously was like happiest person in the world! They will be living in Pennsylvania with the Murphys and going to school in New York city everyday, which starts in January. It's a three month program and, Lord willing, they will be coming back April 1st.

Please be praying for them as they start school next month, that they may be a light to the people of New York and Pennsylvania. Pray that that they will stay strong in the Lord always and keep their eyes fixed on Him.

We can't wait to see these smiley faces soon and hear all about their trip! God is sooo good!

Reflecting.

Lately I've been thinking about our first year that we were in Haiti.
It was such an amazing, hard, life changing year...a year that i will never be able to forget.

When I first walked off that plane, I knew I was home...but it all just felt so unreal. So many feelings went through my soul : fear, excitment, a long awaited happiness. I knew that Haiti was the place that the Lord wanted us and I was excited for this new adventure- but I was so terrified.

Our first night in Haiti, we were staying at our Pastor's house. We lost power in the middle of the night, the mosquitoes fell more and more in love with us, and it was too dark so we couldn't find the bug repelent. I remember stumbbling through the house with my mom, trying to find a flash light and the bug repelent. Now that I look back, it was one of the funniest nights ever! At the time, though- I was a mess, crying and wondering why we had ever moved to Haiti.

Our second day in Haiti, I went and met the boys for the first time. At the time, we only had 12 boys and they all were near my age. I was twelve and absolutely terrified of boys. They all tried to make me feel welcome though, like trying to teach me creole. The first thing they taught me was 'ou fou' which means, 'you're crazy.' I had no clue what it meant, so I went around calling everyone that. After a while, some people started giving me dirty looks...I finally figured out what it meant, and thanked the boys. aha

That same week, my mom's face blew up. She had a canep - a fruit that they grow down here. She had never had it before, so of course she didn't know if she was allergic or not. The next morning, her whole face blew up. My little brother woke up that morning and looked up at her asked, "Where did my mommy go?" And started crying. We all look back now and laugh, but at the time, it was pretty scary.

Learning creole seemed impossible. We all had our 'creole made easy' books and studied them every night. urgh, but it seemed hopeless. A month after I got to Haiti, my Creole Made Easy book was stolen, so I had no choice but to learn it on my own. I've realized that the best way to ever learn a language is to be exposed in it. I learned creole from just hanging out with the boys everyday- of course the first things I learned were funny jokes and ways to tease people in creole. But hey! Thats what you learn from 12 year old boys. :)

The first year in Haiti was the most beautiful year I've ever experienced. Each week just got better and better. My parents were learning how to raise 12 boys, which ofcourse had it's ups and downs - but the beautiful thing about it, though, is the Lord brought these 12 amazing boys and this little family from so-cal, and made a family. The family has grown so much since then-but I will never forget that first year with those 12 boys. Just watching how Jesus has grown them and grown us since that time, has been such a blessing. The Lord has brought more children and more people from all over...and the family just keeps on growing. I'm overcome with how much Jesus loves and how beautifully He always works everything out, when it's apart of His will.

I know that this post was totally random and all over the place, but it's been on my mind a lot lately. Reflecting and realizing all that the Lord has done is so refreshing.

Daphne quote of the day...

So today I was teaching Daphne about the letter "D". She got really excited at one point and started yelling, "Devil D! Devil D!" I was super shocked that she was saying that for 1- I had no clue where she learned that from and 2- I was surprised that she put together that D is for Devil!

I looked at Daphne in shock and said, "D is for devil?!" She looked at me like she was scared and started singing, "D is for Bible! D is for Bible!"

I couldn't stop laughing! What a stinker!

Everyday....

Everyday goes by and ask myself....'will it ever end?'


Will the suffering ever end?
With the hardship ever end?
Will the crying ever end?


My sweet friend Mary France gave me her life story a little over a month ago. She shared with me that she had been with her boyfriend two years, after two years she got pregnant and had a son. When Angelo, her son, was 5 years old, she got pregnant again and told her boyfriend. One day she saw him packing up his stuff...she thought he was just going to work...but then he never came back. He left her in his house to pay rent and never returned. She had no money to pay rent, so they kicked her out. She's now a single mom, with a brand new baby, and no place to live.


This is the story of many women here. I have heard stories like this so many times, it kills me. Why does it have to be this way? Why are these people suffering? Why couldn't these men stay with their families? Why did they have to leave? These questions have gone through my head almost everyday...

There is a generational curse upon this island. The women move in with men, apart from marriage, because that's what their mothers and grandmothers did. The men leave their wives and children, because their fathers, and grandfathers did.... it goes from generation to generation. These generational curses are everywhere...not only in Haiti. The bottom line is, the only way to break these generational curses is repentance. The Lord is shaking up this country and I have faith that one day, these curses are going to be broken. The key is getting down on our faces before the Lord, and repenting on behalf of our fathers before us. There is hope for this beautiful nation, and that Hope is Jesus Christ.

Haiti has HOPE! It's Jesus!


Everyday we need to be reminded of this hope. Sometimes it's just so hard to not become overwhelmed with the suffering that takes place here. The Lord is Sovereign. He is already doing a work now and I can't wait to see all that He is going to do! He knows all and I have hope that one day this nation is going to change!


One day....



Fathers will return to the children.

Husbands will return to their wives.

The Broken will be made whole!


The tears will turn into tears of Joy!

The bond in chains, will dance like Angels!


The hungry will no longer be hungry.

The Orphan will have a home....


Oh Lord Jesus, how we anxiously wait for this day! To God's name be the glory forever and ever!

Oh you toe!

So once upon a time, about 4 weeks ago, Ari was playing tag with Cendy. Like always, she didn't have any shoes on....so since being the clumsy person that she is, she tripped on her big toe and hacked off a huge peice of skin. Being Amazing, Erta came to the rescue and helped her clean up her pathetic toe....Patrick helped out too, and VIOLA! It was cleaned and bandaged! Happily ever after? So I thought...

Yesterday I went to the hospital because my toe was just not healing for some reason. I have always had toe issues, so I really didn't think much of it. After many nights of cleaning it and taking amoxicilin...my Mom finally looked at it and said we needed to go to a doctor. We went to a hospital about an hour from where we live. The doctor took one look at it and said I needed surgery. Ah! I have the wonderful ingrown toe nail....oh joy. So this saturday, they're putting me down, and cutting the toenail. gah!

They did a couple tests on me for the surgery, yesterday, and I don't know, but has anyone ever heard of doing tests from the ear?! After the guy had taken blood from my arm he told me he was going to peirce my ear. I just looked at him and started laughing. He told me to take my earring off and I just kept saying, "M' pa kwe! M' pa kwe!" Laughing hysterically. He wasn't kidding....he poked my ear like 8 times. I was still in a state of shock, while blood my dripping from my ear. Oh dear, He probably thought I was so dumb. baha.

So yeah! First time I'm getting surgery is in Haiti....shoot a prayer up, if you remember on Saturday! This should be interesting...

ABC's + Daphne = cutest.thing.ever.

Baby love.

He's finally here! My new sweet god son, Alehandro was born, September 13th at 4am. I wrote about his mom and his brother Angelo a couple blog posts ago. His mom is a really sweet friend of mine that I met a couple of months back. When we first met, it was like an instant connection. This little family has been such a blessing from God.

Little Alehandro has an infection at the moment, so if you could all be praying for him, that would be wonderful! The doctor that delivered him cut the chord totally wrong, so now his belly button is infected. We have been cleaning it and it seems to be healing well, but if it gets any worse it can be very dangerous for the baby. Please be keeping him in your prayers!

Seriously...do they get much cuter than this?!

Meet Yvenel and Estaline!

Meet our new kids -Yvenel and Estaline!

Aren't they precious?!

Their mom passed away about two weeks ago. She was headed out to church with her family and she all of a sudden started having trouble breathing. She died in a matter of seconds...

Her mother, the kids grandmother, brought Yvenel and Estaline to us about 4 days after their mother had died. We really felt like the Lord wanted to take in these precious kids, and so far they have been doing great! Yvenel is such a sweetheart and Estaline is everyones little princess at the girls home. I thought that Daphne would probably have a hard time because she's no longer the baby of the house...but to my surprise, she adores Estaline!

As you can see ^^

Umm as for Estaline....I don't think she likes Daphne as much. ha. eh-one day they'll be the bestest of friends. :)

First day of preschool...Yes PA-lease.

Today was the first day of preschool for my Daphne and my first day as a teacher. Daphne did so well! I am so proud of her! She listened well in class and was just so wonderful.

So far, I absolutely LOVE being a teacher. Just being able to work with Daphne in these early stages of her life is just such a blessing and an honor for me. I love her so much.

Today we did finger pants and I have never seen a child so shocked in my life. I told her that she can paint with her hands and get dirty....she didn't know what to do with herself. She just looked at me like I was crazy. I even tried to put some paint on her face to show her that it was OK...but she just looked at me like I was insane and wiped it off. ha. So I had to kinda get in there and get myself dirty for her to be able to get the point. After that...she pretty much went crazy.

She finally got it. :)

We had SO much together just painting and reading and doing all the preschool thingys we do. I'm really looking forward to this year and the adventures we're going to have! I know it's going to be challenging at times...but great!

Kids that need Sponsors.

These three little munchkins are looking for sponsors for their schooling. Their father came to me, asking if we could take his kids into our orphanage. We weren't able to take his children, but I did tell him that I would do my best to get his children into school. He is such a nice man, and you can really see the love that he has for his little ones. If you guys know of anyone that would be interested in sponsoring these sweeties, or if you yourself are interested. You can contact me at : ariana.manassero@gmail.com.

Love and blessings!

Van Peter Kenelson

Kesner Oliver Rouzard

Antonella Kets

5 years!

Today is my family and I's 5 year anniversary living in Haiti! Time seriously flies by like a hot banana. I can't even believe it. 5 years ago today, we stepped off a plane and made this place our forever home. It was the most amazing day of my life. Here are some pictures from over the years. :) Enjoy!



Vienna, Saintamene and I

Alex, Semi and Patrick

Padre and Alex, Christmas 2004

The Gang

Francesca and Kenson 2006

Stephane and Saintamene

The Madre and Jocelyn 2004

13th day.

It is now my 13th day living at the girls home. I can't even believe how fast time flies! Things have been going great, challenging at times, but great. The Lord has been teaching so much just by living amongst my sisters in Christ and watching the way they live their lives. Seeing their differences and the way they use the gifts that God has given them is inspiring. Spending more time with the girls and getting to know them better has been amazing. They make me laugh so much througout the day, just by the silly things they do and the funny things they say. They've been teaching me more creole and they are in the process of teaching me 'Jago' which is a jibberish way of speaking creole. I don't even know how to explain how this language works....but apparently as soon as you learn it you're 'Haitian'. ha. They get a kick out of it whenever I try to speak it because the only thing I know how to say is 'don't say that.' So whenever they're speaking it I just break out and say 'pa-ga di-gi sa-ga' and they just give me these looks like 'ari...you're dumb.' ha.

I'll post some pictures and things on here, as soon as I get the chance, of some of the things have that been going on here lately. As of right now I gotta run, but I'll post more later!

Love you all!

Ohhh Daphne :)

One of the many Highlights of the week-

So the other day I was walking to my room, at the girls home, to go have my time with Jesus. Daphne and Cendy followed me, and Daphne asked me what I was going to be doing in my room. I told her that I was going to pray. She said, "You going to go pray for God?" I said yes because I thought she meant was I going to to go pray TO God. Then she looked up to me innocently and said, "Why? Is God sick?" haha urgh, I love her so much!

My home girls, Daphne and Erta.

Angelo

A couple of weeks ago or so, I met this lady named Mary Fance and her son, Angelo. Mary France is a 26 years old, single mother who is 8 months pregnant with her second child. When she found out that she was pregnant again, her husband left her and she hasn't seen him since. She has been living with her grandmother, but she's not sure how long she'll be there for.

When I first met Mary I thought she was at the most, 18 years old. She looks really young for her age, and pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. She and I chatted for a while, and I seriously haven't met a woman so sweet in my life. When she shared with me her concern about her 6 year old son's schooling, and how she would love for him to have an education, I told her I'll do the best I can to get the word out there.

Angelo is a super sweet boy, and we're hoping and praying that we'll find a sponsor for him, for school. If you know anyone that is interested in being his sponsor, or if the Lord has put it upon your heart, you can contact me at -
ariana.manassero@gmail.com Also, if you can pass the word on, that would be wonderful! (:

Love and blessings to you all!

A New Season :)

Today is a dream come true. Today is the day that I finally, OFFICIALLY moved into the girls home! THANK YOU JESUS! I feel like I have dreamed about this day to happen for such a long time, and now it's actually become a reality. I have all my things moved in and the girls were just so loving and amazing, and welcomed me with open arms. Earlier on today, after I had all the things moved in, some of the little girls came and sat in my room with me for a bit just to hang out. At one point, I just laid on my bed, just overwhelmed with joy and unbelief that I was actually living in the girls home now. I can't even express how happy and blessed I feel at this moment that the Lord has called me to work with his beautiful princesses. I cannot WAIT to see what the Lord has in store for this year and what He's going to do through these wonderful girls lives.

I got to run! I'll try and update this as much as I can. :)

Love and Blessings from Haiti,
Ari

Heading home!

Heading back home to Haiti tomorrow! I can't believe how fast time has flew by...wow. I'll try and give a little update on everything that has been going on as soon as I get a chance. I'm in the process of packing everything up, so things are pretty busy around here. I'll update as soon as I can. :)

love.

So Cal.

Well it's been quite a while since I've updated this. no bueno.
So many things have happened! Hmm where to begin...

Well, June 1st my family and I flew to California, primarily for my graduation but also to spend time with our and friends and family here. We've been here for almost a month and it's been amazing! My graduation through South Bay Faith Academy, which was the 6th of June was incredible. Everything went by smoothly and it was just such a blessing to be able to graduate with such wonderful people! The Lord is SO good. It was also such a blessing to have so many friends and family there to support me that day. I don't even have to words to describe how much I appreciate and love all of you...you guys are incredible.

The Lord has just been blessing our family left and right since we've been in CA. We've been staying with a sweet family here in Palos Verdes and we've been loving it! It's been a treat too because here in PV, peacocks are allowed to run wild here. So every morning, instead of the sound of roosters, I hear peacocks right outside my window yapping away! ha! I love it.

Most of what we've been doing in CA has just been spending time with family and friends and occasionally visiting Churches. I have been having such a good time, and it's been great to see my little neices and nephew after so long. They are so precious. My parents are leaving for Haiti next week and I'll be staying in the States for another month or so. I admit, I'm jealous that they'll be going back and seeing my little ones before I do...but I'm really excited to be staying here a little longer with my brother and his family. They are so amazing!

This next upcoming month is mostly going to consist of just spending time with my family and getting stuff prepared for going back to Haiti. My brother, Jordan and I are also going to record a demo CD at my Uncle's recording studio in the next couple of weeks or so. I'm so stoked! We're going to be recording a couple songs I've written and we also might record the song that my brother and I sang for my graduation. I am so excited to have this opportunity to be able to sing and record with Jordan. He's my role model and just absolutely adore him. I'll be sure to post a video on here, one of these days, of the song 'Captivated' that we're recording. :)

Well! I'm going to try my hardest to keep updating this as frequently has I can. Maybe I'll post some fun stories next time :) Here are some pictures from our trip so far....hope you enjoy them! xo

Graduation Day :)

My sister Jasmine and neice, Soliel

My nephew Levi-Joseph.

One year older...

Here are some pictures from my Birthday on the 2nd. Everyone was SO sweet and kinda surprised me and put together a little party. My mom, Lisa and Saintamene made a fabulous Cuban Dinner and Brittany, Beth Mchoul and my new sweet friend Rachel, made some amazing deserts. My Mom invited some friends of ours from Church over and they also invited some of my close buddies from the orphanage. I felt so incredibly blessed and loved. It was a day that I will never forget...ever.

To my sweet friends : You all are so amazing!! Thanks for making my Birthday so special! I don't even deserve such amazing friends! I love you all with all my heart!

Wake up.

Sunday morning I woke up in terrible mood. It was just one of those 'woke up on the wrong side of the bed' mornings. I found myself feeling pretty down and went to Church feeling terrible. I didn't really have a reason to feel the way I felt, so like most people do, I tried to find out what was my problem was. In my heart I started to complain about things that were going on in my life and how "hard" life can be. I was pretty much throwing myself a pity party for no apparent reason.

While I was sitting on my seat, feeling this way, a little girl came and sat next to me. Worship began and I just began to pray. While I was praying the Lord opened my eyes to the little girl that was sitting next to me. I had known her for quite sometime now. Ted and Lisa Hojara have been helping out her family for about a year now...the little girls mother was diagnosed with AIDS about 7 months back.

It was then and there that it hit me. This little girl, only about 5 years old, is going through SO much right now. Her mom, the only parent she has in her life, is dying from AIDS and there is nothing anyone can do about it. When her mom dies...she's going to be an orphan. It just killed me and I was struck with conviction. I had been complaining about how "hard" my life was when this little girl, that was sitting RIGHT next to me, is losing her mother at the age of five. Who am I to be complaining? Who am I to feel down when I have everything that I could ever need and want? The Lord has blessed me with an amazing family and a mom that is a walking miracle. I have absolutely NOTHING in the world to complain about.

I was overcome with a emotion when the Lord opened my eyes to reality. I grabbed the litttle girl, whose name is Norvely, and hugged her as tight as I can. I held her in my arms for the rest of Worship and just prayed that Jesus would do a work in her life.

It's these moments that I will never forget. I've realized that when you pray to the Lord to open your eyes, it's like He's waiting for you to ask that. He wants to open our eyes to the things around us, it just comes to getting past ourselves and asking the Lord to show us the needy through HIS eyes. We just have to be prepared to be shaken up, though.

Psalm 119:32

I will run the course of Your commandments, For you shall enlarge my heart. Psalm 119:32

This verse has been one of my all time favorites for years now...and every time I read it, I just feel so refreshed and renewed. I feel like it just says it all. If we run in HIS paths and obey Him, He will enlarge our heart. If we follow in His ways, He will give us a bigger heart for others and everything else will fall along with that. We won't quarrel amongst each other, we won't get offended by each other; we won't operate in the flesh, because we are following the Lord's commandments. In following the Lord commandments, we are being obedient to Him and in obeying Him, He blesses us and gives us a heart like His. Isn't that amazing?! The Lord is SO good!

After reading that this morning, I just had to write my thoughts down. But as to life in Haiti...:) Things have been going really well here! At the moment we have a team from YWAM ( Youth With A Misson ) staying with us. They did a program for our kids two days ago and the kids loved it! They did dances, skits and at the end they brought forth the Gospel message. It was a wonderful program and it was fun to watch the kids be so energetic, dancing around, and being so crazy. Those kids are just too cute!

Well, I was planning on writing so much more, but in order for me to graduate this year...I have to get some school work done! I'll update you all on everything that has been going on down here very soon!

Love and blessing!!





Pictures Taken By : Charmaine Hojara

We are now entering into a new year. Wow! I can’t even believe how fast time flew! 2008 was here...and now is gone. The Lord has just done SO much this past year. He has has taught me so many things about Himself and allowed me to see some amazing miracles first hand. Right now I’m just going to take a moment and cover briefly some of the things that have happened in 2008.

This time last year, My mom was diagnosed with cancer. Her, my dad and Elijah headed out this same week last year, to California. The Lord called Ted and Lisa Hojara and their two children, Caleb and Charmaine, to Haiti to fill in for my parents while they were gone. WHAT A BLESSING!!!! Vienna and I stayed with them for two months while we went to a Christian school here, in Haiti. After two months of being here...my parents wanted us to join them in California. We were uncertain of when we would all be back together in Haiti again, so my parents decided that it was best for Vienna and I to be with them.

It was a difficult time for all us...watching my mom go through Chemo Therapy. She lost all of her hair and there were times when she so sick she wouldn’t get out of bed for days. The Lord just did SO much during that time, though. He showed us his faithfulness and continually showed his beautiful love for us through the people who prayed for us and encouraged us during that time. They were such an amazing blessing to my mom and to the rest of us! I love you guys so much!!

While we were in California , the Hojaras held down the fort in Haiti. They took such great care of the kidders at the orphanage and have done so much more. They have been such an amazing BLESSING and I am so happy to say that they have decided to join us in the ministry here! Praise Jesus! I can’t even express how happy I am that Jesus has called them here. The Lord is so good!




While we were in the States, I had the the opportunity to go on a one week missions trip to Mexico, for a week with a church youth group. It was an awesome experience being an MK and going on a missions trip to somewhere else that I wasn’t familiar of. I learned so much and got to know some amazing people that I will cherish in my heart for always. I’ll never forget my time there and the life lessons that I learned from it.





Vienna and I also had the opportunity to come back to Haiti for two weeks in June. A team put on a camp for our MDL kids and we got to be on staff. It was SO much fun and it was great to be able to be a part the kids first camp experience. The kids absolutely LOVED it and can’t wait for next year! The Lord just blessed us so much to be able to come back to Haiti and be the kids for that short time...definitely made us more anxious to get back home....but the Lord timing was perfect. :)



During our time in the states the Lord just did so much in our hearts. Everyday was just day of refining and drawing closer to Him. We had to learn to really TRUST Him and His PRFECT will during that time. It was so hard at times, especially being away from my brother and sister Kenny and Franchesca who weren’t able to come with us. They’re adoption papers aren’t quite done yet so they weren’t able to join us. It was a really tough time..but the Lord brought us through! He is so faithful!

After two Chemo treatments, my mom was tested CANCER FREE! Wow...talk about the power of prayer, huh? The doctors still insisted that she go through the 6 months of Chemo Therapy, though...so she did. After the 6 months of Chemo, they wanted her to go through Radiation, just to kind of clear out the cancer just in case it wasn’t all gone. Thats when it got rough. The radiation just did a toll on her body and she ended up in the hospital for over a week. She couldn’t eat or drink, so they decided to hook up a feeding tube to her stomach.

On July 31st, the day that my mom was admitted into the hospital, my niece Soleil was born. :) What a beautiful BLESSING during such a tough time. The Lord,again just showed us his faithfulness and beauty, through one of His precious children.
Our Family was planning on moving back to Haiti August 10th...but because of my mom’s critical condition....we knew that it wasn’t God’s timing. As soon as we made the decision to not go back to Haiti that day, my mom slowly started to get better. Isn’t it amazing how God works when you just give up? As soon as you let go of your plans, desires, dreams....He gives back to you. We serve an amazing God!

My mom slowly started eating again and was released from the Hospital. After some time, my parents felt that it was time to send Vienna and I back to Haiti so that Vienna could start school. We left for Haiti August 15th and my parents and Elijah joined us in late September.

Our family reunion in Haiti was amazing! The kids at our orphanage and everyone else, were so happy to see my mom HEALED! They had been praying for her unceasingly, and to see the result of their prayers, just really boosted up their faith! It was such a beautiful day...I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget it.






So many other amazing things have happened - those were just some of the highlights of the year. :) Since I mentioned in my last entry about our Christmas program that was coming up, I’d like to say that it went wonderfully! Our MDL kids did SUCH and amazing job and definitely made the program a special treat. The Nativity skit was great....and hilarious. :) So we had live animals and all and lets just say that some of them just didn’t want to cooperate. lol Mary almost fell off the donkey and our “sheep” AKA goat, had to be dragged across the stage by one of the little boys. Must of thought it was being brought to be eaten or something. hahaha Anyways! We had well over 200 children come from the neighborhood to see the program. About 25 of them came up for the alter call and accepted Jesus as their Savior. Praise Jesus!! It was such a memorable night and we all can’t wait for next years program!



Well...I think it’s time for me to wrap this up. I love you all and hope that the Lord blesses you in the New Year!!


Love,
Ari