Hello Everyone!  First of all thank you for all the emails of concern and encouragement that we have received in the last couple of weeks.  We're sorry that we have not been able to get back to you individually but things have been a little...um...unpredictable!

We are writing you from Benjamin's parents' house in Bangor, Maine.  We went from the tropics to mid-winter in less than four hours...a shorter amount of time than it usually takes us to travel to Port au Prince by car...so needless to say our heads are still trying to catch up with our bodies.

We can't remember what has happened since the last time we wrote, but basically things have continued to heat up in Haiti and closer to our city of Hinche, as I'm sure many of you have seen in the news.  We decided to return to the U.S. because of the concern of the Xaverian Brothers and our parents for our safety, and our growing discomfort with the unknowns of the situation.  It was a very difficult decision for us as we felt relatively safe and were still able to continue with most of our work.  We feel like we have abandoned the people we have grown to love in Haiti...they are stuck in this difficult situation and we, because of our wealth and citizenship, are able to glide out of there...what does it mean to serve others but leave as soon as things get rough?  We are still wrestling with these questions.  The plan right now is to stay in Maine for a few weeks and monitor the situation in hopes that we can return. 

Please keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers...that the violence will stop...that the peace, stability and opportunities that we take for granted and count as rights can be realized by our Haitian neighbors as well...that the U.S. government would think less about its own interests and more about the unnecessary suffering of millions of our neighbors.    

Because we do not have many winter clothes and we are a little out of it, we probably will not be traveling out and about as we usually do when we are visiting Maine.  But if you are close by, you are more than welcome to come by.  Emails and phone calls are also welcome...

Those of you who have told us you are about to send books...thank you...but hang on a little while longer until we know what we'll be doing.  We did receive one box of books and the boys at the orphanage LOVED them.  It was one of the biggest highlights of our time there so far.  We'll try to post some pics of that soon.

Thanks again for all your support...

Jana and Benjamin