Pictures and a 1000 Words...

Last Friday Vicki was visiting the girls’ school. On her way out she stopped to visit with their art teacher, Jill. Our girls are prolific artists. We have countless pictures, paintings and sculptures thanks in no small part to their art teacher. Jill commented on how much she enjoyed teaching them. She asked Vic if she had seen Sophi’s picture of the earthquake and then Jill got choked up. We hadn’t seen it. It was buried in a stack of pictures that come home on almost a daily basis. Jill said that she’d never seen anything like it from a 4 year old, that our girls were extraordinarily connected with a more global perspective. We weren’t sure what to make of it but anxiously searched for this piece of art once we got home. We found it. We’ll let Sophi explain it to you in her own words in just a minute.

Just a little more first by way of introduction… Our daughters are very aware of what’s going on in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They’ve been to the DR with us at least 6 times. They have a sense that their mom and dad work to try and be a help to those that need it. Before the quake in Haiti they were already familiar with the reality of hunger there and the unfortunate novelty of dirt cookies. They thought about it; they prayed about it.

When the quake hit while I was in the DR Vicki was glued to the TV. Not because she was concerned about me, she knew I was ok. She, like me, understood the enormous tragedy that this was. The girls saw the footage as she watched. Vic told them that I was in the DR helping the people in Haiti. When I came home the relief efforts state side were in full swing. We worked around the clock in the office and at home. The poor little ladies were almost neglected. Friends from our community group prepared us meals for about a week so that we could devote some time to the girls without the distraction of having to prepare and clean up a meal. Soph and Rae knew we were up to something and that it had to do with Haiti. From this the following was born.


Just so you know, Tio Mano is our friend Romano, a dear Haitian brother. Tio is Spanish for “uncle” which is what our daughters call him. It will make sense in a minute. The girls have known him their entire life.


I'll post Romano's story after this:

I was fortunate enough to shoot this quick video of Romano before he left for Port-au-Prince.