In Five Short Days....

....we will be in Haiti! Amazing to think that over a year ago a crazy idea that kept plaguing me would lead to a trip to the Real Hope For Haiti Rescue Center with 3 other women.

Artists For Hope was an idea that lead to a blog that lead to the first portrait that my amazing friend Alexis did of sweet little Deny. We wanted to help these hungry children in Haiti that we kept seeing on Licia's blog and our love for art seemed like a great way to start. It really doesn't seem like very long ago that we posted Deny's picture for sale, and now in five days...

....we will be meeting him in person and we will be able to give him one of the prints made of his portrait that started it all. Again, amazing.
I wonder what he will think? :)

We know we are in for quite a ride on this adventure. This isn't going to be easy. It isn't going to be all "fun". I'm sure it's going to be down-right difficult and horrible and awful to see children who are hungry and hurt, but we're ready and willing to do whatever we can to help and I hope we are able to do something to make their load a little lighter while we are there.

We're excited and grateful to have you (whoever you might be) experiencing this adventure with us. We would love to have your comments throughout our trip so we know people are out there and that you are thinking about us. I hope your passion for wanting to help the children in Haiti will grow right along with us as we get to meet these children in real life. Tell your friends and family about Artists For Hope and talk to those artists in your life so they know they can help a child through their artwork. What better reason to create.

Just so you know~ Our goals in Haiti are:
* to get lots and lots of pictures and video to share the Rescue Center and Artists For Hope with people around the world.
*to do some fun and simple art projects with some of the older and healthier children at the RC.
*to learn more about the RC and the children there and what we can do to continue to help them in the future.
*to do WHATEVER we can to help them throughout the week. Change diapers, hold babies, help in the clinic....whatever.
We are ready to work.

One of the things we did ahead of time were make Cupcake Crayons for the children. It's going to be so fun to draw pictures and see what the children create while we are there. You can read more about them on our Artists For Hope blog.

We will be posting from here whenever we can. If time allows and there is an internet connection~ we will post. I hope to share pictures and experiences nightly, but our main focus will be the children, so we'll see what time allows for.

Thanks to all of you for your excitement, support, and help in SO many ways as we've prepared for this trip. Our crates of supplies are FULL thanks to you. The money we are able to bring to the Rescue Center for medicine, formula, and their daily needs is thanks to you. I feel like we're bringing all of you with us and I hope you gain from this experience as much as we do.
Thank you!