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.