Chris Bernard, 23, and his wife, Britt, 19, became the caretakers Friday of five of Britt’s young siblings, who fled earthquake-wrecked Haiti bound for Waco on a last-minute relief flight out of the troubled island nation.

Wearing just the clothing they had on, Britt’s siblings — ages 2 to 15 — boarded an Air Force relief flight after camping out at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. They were told they could board the plane as long as they had U.S. passports and took no belongings, Chris said.

Their parents, Tara and Troy Livesay, are missionaries for World Wide Village, a Minnesota-based charitable group. They stayed behind to help others in a place they’ve come to call home during the past four years.

“My parents’ main motivation for staying back is to help with the missionaries they are tied to,” Britt Bernard said as she drove to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Friday to fetch her siblings. “They don’t feel right leaving with so many people’s lives in danger down there.”

Although she lived there only 18 months, Haiti is a special place for Britt. It’s where she and Chris Bernard met while he was doing missionary work. It’s where she said she has seen so much good come from so many people who are so poor.

On Jan. 8 the couple returned from a weeklong vacation in Port-au-Prince. They celebrated their first anniversary there.

With fresh photos of the idyllic island still in his camera, Chris Bernard says he can’t wrap his mind around the horrific images he sees on TV and from the Livesays’ blog after the earthquake Tuesday.

None of the Livesays was injured in the 7.0-magnitude quake that brought down buildings and killed an estimated 50,000 people in the capital. But it’s no place for children, Chris Bernard said.

“With all the chaos down there, my mother-in-law wanted the kids out as quickly as possible so she could help and get some work done and not have to shelter the kids from the bodies that are lying in the streets,” Chris said.

Britt Bernard’s siblings who left Haiti include: Paige, 15; Isaac and Hope, both 8; Noah, 5; and Lydia, 2. They were flown to New Jersey overnight with other refugees who had been waiting at the embassy. World Wide Village on Friday bought them flights to Dallas, where the Bernards were waiting with open arms.

Just last month, the Bernards bought their first home: a four-bedroom house in Waco that will now be a refuge not only for the siblings and the Bernards but Britt’s grandmother, who is coming from South Texas to help care for the children.

“Our main priority right now is protecting the kids and getting them what they need,” said Chris Bernard, aquatics director at the Waco Family YMCA and a student at Baylor University.

When asked what they need to care for the sudden additions to their family, Chris Bernard deferred to the many thousands in need in Haiti and suggested giving to the relief agencies working there.

He also suggested visiting the Livesays’ Web site, www.livesayhaiti.blogspot.com, for more information.

The situation is dire. In one blog entry, Tara Livesay wrote, “If you don’t speak Creole and/or don’t have the ability to work with injured people, you should not come. We cannot feed you and we don’t have a place to house you.”

In an entry Friday she expressed sorrow at seeing her children off but relief that Chris and Britt Bernard were taking them in: “They left me at midnight,” she wrote. “Paige was a rock. Pray for her 15-year-old heart to be strong. Noah was very upset as was Lydia. Isaac asked, ‘Mom, is there any place to get a good haircut in America?’ ”

Britt Bernard said having her sisters and brothers safe and in Waco is the answer to her prayers.

“I’m very grateful they’re coming here,” she said.