Toledo's Wedding Photographer; Toledo's Children's Photographer; Modern Photographer, Haiti

Because of being tired and needing some sleep...

This post will be very short on words and heavy on imagery.

(which some of you may not mind!)

**warning - this post will take a while to load there are so many images**

To start... we traveled Thursday morning

from Cap Haitien to Dessalines...

A few shots from out the car window for you ...

Driving through the mountains was just absolutely amazing.

The mountains are so incredibly green.

I heard another teammate describe the views as 'billion dollar'

I can only say I agree...

I know these only give you a glimpse, but picture this -

and then imagine almost 4hours of this...

absolutely breathtaking.

On a side note - we rented a 'tap tap' (cab of sorts)

to help transport bags of rice from Cap Hatien to Dessalines.

Eric & Dave got to ride in the back

which was quite an adventure for them.

Almost to Dessalines... Love the bridge.

We arrived in Dessalines safely

and began some unpacking and preparing.

Today was mostly spent at the hospital.

I helped at the intake station for Dr. Dave (our eye doctor)

I had a wonderful translator - Fritznell -

who spent most of the day

laughing at my pathetic creole attempts,

trying to teach me more creole...

and telling me about his dreams to one day come to America...

(Fritznell and I are pictured here -

Thanks Dr. Dave for taking the pic.)

Tomorrow I will be spending most of the day doing what I love best --

I have been told I'll have a chance to

be in the rice fields, see a food distribution line,

be back at the hospital - and photograph all around Dessalines.

(this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I feel privileged

it's mine to use to give back...)

Here are a few of the other pictures

I've taken since arriving in Dessalines.

Many more to come.

I have such a soft spot for the children.

Amy - an occupational therapist... doing what she does best.

It was amazing to see her at work today.

She was truly glowing.

The lizard living in our bathroom...

he eats the mosquitoes... but I have to be honest - he gives me the creeps.

On an end note...

please continue to pray for the earthquake survivors

and their families.

It's unbelievable the impact.

Even in Dessalines - it is being felt in more ways than one.

The population has grown by estimates of 100-150%.

The price of food has nearly doubled.

Many households have doubled or tripled the amount of mouths to feed.

It's a very emotionally troubling time for those who have lost family -

but it's also very apparent that a country which already

had very little resource, hope and resilience

is struggling to continue on.

We pray for Haiti.

.