What a Great Day

Wow today was a really great day.  Before I get to that though I have a few pictures from my friend and team member, Suzette, that I thought you might like.   She has done a much better job at carrying her camera around than I have.  The peace sign in the bottom picture is a joke because the Chinese all make peace signs when they get their picture taken and we wanted to fit in. :)  The signs were more from the Great Wall. 

So now for today.  We arrived at the orphanage around 9:00 and were immediately impressed.  The grounds are very nice, the inside is immaculate, and the rooms are very nice too.  We were given a tour of the facility and I was super impressed with the PT gym.  Seriously, my first thought was, "I want to work here."   Here that, babe?  They have 3 full-time staff who work with the kids in the PT room.  I am not sure about their training or how well they use the resources they have, but they were working hard and were very interested in learning more.  I plan to work with them more tomorrow to try and help out in any way possible.  You can pray that I have a clear vision for the best way to serve them. 

We gave the orphanage some of the donations today.  Specifically we delivered the flip flops and I worked with the nannies in the baby room on how to use the baby carriers.  I believe the highlight of the day was when I gave one nanny a carrier, positioned a baby in there, and then showed her how her hands were still free for other tasks.  She said, "when we get the babies back from surgery, they need to be held  all the time and now we can take care of them and still care for the other children at the same time."  Yes - that is the idea!  They were all so thankful for the donations.  I am planning to deliver the hats tomorrow.  

So on the last important note- the families of the team members should go ahead and be warned that we have all found about 5 babies each that we want to come back for.  Seriously, these children are precious.  Some steal your heart with their personalities and others steal your heart with their great need for a home.  I fell in love with a tiny blessing in the infant room.  She is 3 months old and can't weigh more than 8 lbs.  She has a heart defect and struggles for every breath.   Her breathing is so labored that it is hard for her to even eat.  In the time I was able to care for her, I sang Dennis Jernigan's song, The Blessing, over her and prayed that God would give her the strength she needs to survive.  

When the day was over, we took our driver and translator out for some "American" food.  It was their first time to have pizza and we laughed as they tried to eat it with chopsticks.  I ordered a pineapple and ham pizza which came out with carrots, corn, and peas too.  It was different but still better than some of the mystery dishes we have sampled lately.  

Tomorrow will hold more of the same.  I plan to spend most of my time in the therapy room while the others will play with children and continue to try and figure out how to bring them all home.  Pray that we will discern how to best serve the children and the orphanage.  

Thanks again for your support.