Our final 2 days in China

Thursday morning, we were meeting in the hotel lobby in Beijing to head to the Great Wall of China. This was kind of funny - there were no clocks in the rooms but Marsha had brought a little alarm clock. Well we're up and getting ready and taking our time and there's a knock at the door - our clock says it's 8:15. But Bella is standing there and inquiring if we're ok since no one has seen us yet that morning. We're confused, they're confused. And I said "what do you mean? It's 8:15. I thought we were meeting at 9". To which she replies "It's 9:05 right now". I ask if she's joking and wala - she's not. Apparently the clock got changed somewhere in transition from Chifeng to Beijing and it was much later than we thought. Not a good feeling considering I was still in my pj's - hadn't even started to get ready. But, I can be fast cause I'm kind of used to pushing snooze till the last possible minute at home. So I threw on my cloths, put my hair in a pony tail and headed down to eat. Frank said we could have time to eat which I was very happy about - cause after a week in Chifeng with a rather interesting breakfast buffet - I was super excited about a more Americanized buffet at this hotel. Marsha and I were ready in about 10 minutes, ate in about 5 and we hit the road by 9:30. And we had ourselves a good laugh about the whole thing. I guess if it was going to happen - we picked the best day cause we had all day for sightseeing so we weren't in any huge hurry.

Traffic was still pretty bad even at that time in the morning. I think it took us a little over an hour to get there - we went to a less touristy part of the Great Wall. I honestly had little idea of what it'd be like - it was beautiful!!! I loved it. Much moreso than the Temple of Heaven or Forbidden City (we went there on Thursday). The mountains were gorgeous. We decided to climb the section to the left of the parking lot which Lily later told us was far more steep and difficult than the section to the right. We hiked up some seriously tall steps - many of which were up to our knees. It was a workout. But quite envigorating. Me, Kara, Sammye and Bella decided if we came all this way - we were going to the top. So we trekked on quite a bit past the rest of the team. Lily ended up heading up too - I think she was worried about us. At one point I said "do you think we're crazy?" and without hesitation she says "yes, I think you're crazy." We all laughed. Lily is the best - she has such a sweet spirit - so energetic, so positive and you can tell she loves her job. She was taking pictures with just as much excitement as the rest of us on this trip. She was great with the kids. And she took excellent care of us - the hotels were great, the food she ordered for us was awesome and she would even try it first to make sure. The common phrase we'd hear after she'd try a bite was "very nice, not too spicey". So that became our response everytime someone said "very nice" - we'd all say "not to spicey". So if you see us commenting that on each others blogs or facebook - now you'll know the inside story on that:)

Took lots of pictures at the Great Wall and when we made it to the top - the 4 of us were by ourselves up there and we decided the fitting thing to do was to sing a worship song. How can you not when you're in the midst of the beauty of the mountains God has created! The view was amazing. We sang two verses of Amazing Grace and a little bit of Mighty To Save - with very limited singing voices because we were so winded from the climb. Very cool experience.

After we left there, we had lunch nearby - it was very nice, not too spicey:) We then headed back to our hotel in Beijing where Jenny, our correspondent from America World and Mr. Shi from China Swan - our in-country travel agency met with me to discuss future trips. That was really awesome to be able to put a face to their names and to be able to chat with them in person. I was sure to let them know how wonderful we think Lily is and how great our trip has been. I also shared with them how impressed we were with the orphanage in Chifeng. They are so loving with the kids and take such great care of them - it was wonderful to see. It was hard to leave but it really helped knowing that the kids would be well taken care of. It was really nice orphanage. We were all really impressed. And they were so welcoming to us and so appreciative of us coming and of the gifts we were able to get them. The directors just truly genuinely care for the kids. It's like a family there and that made us all happy to see. I cannot say enough good things about it. I hope I get to go back again to see the kids and all those that work there. It was an amazing trip.

After my meeting with Jenny and Mr. Shi - the rest of the team met up downstairs and we went out for Peking Duck dinner. I was thinking that was the meal - Peking Duck and some rice but no... it was almost as much food as every other night and THEN they brought out the Peking Duck. We were so stuffed. And it was yummy. Great meal!

We were pretty tired after that. We walked back to the hotel, stopped at a grocery store on the way to get some candy and chocolate and then crashed pretty much the moment we got to our hotel.

Thursday was our last day - our flight didn't leave until 9pm so we had the morning and part of the afternoon to sight see. So we went to the Forbidden City - it was neat to see but definitely wasn't as much of a highlight as the Great Wall was. We then went to lunch and after that, decided to go shopping at another one of those markets where you can bargain. We had about an hour there. I got a Chinese silk robe for only 100 yen - talked her down from 800 - she didn't want to go that low but that was all I had left - she eventually took it and I was so excited. Next time we have mission Sunday at church - I can wear it over top of jeans and a tshirt. Fun! Everyone else got their last minute items and gifts for those back home and after we were done - we headed to the airport. Lily got us Pizza Hut to eat in the van on the way there - not bad but not as much like home as we hoped. One had shrimp, crab, squid and stuff on it. Toppings were a bit unusual but we ate it and were satisfied. We checked in 3 hours early like you're supposed to with international flights and Lily stayed with us until security check. Then we had to say goodbye to her. We were all sad to say goodbye and she looked sad too - I think she started to cry. We love Lily - we will definitely be keeping in touch. Now I know why all of our past teams that have had her request her the next time. She's so great.

Our flight to LAX left about 9pm China time - it is a 12 hour flight. We arrived in LA at 6pm their time. Most of us started getting a sore throat that day so that made for a bit uncomfortable time but nothing too bad. Most of us were able to sleep almost the whole way. I think I slept on and off for about 11 of the 12 hours. Once we got to LA, we had a 5 hour layover. We had to go through customs and security, get our bags and then go to a different terminal to recheck them in for our flights home. We were able to get our baggage free since we were connecting internationally - so that was a blessing. 4 of us were flying to Atlanta and 3 to Detroit and then on to our individual cities. We ate California Pizza Cafe in LA - so yummy. And so excited to be able to pray for our food in public! We said goodbye to the 3 Indy girls when we boarded our flight to Atlanta and myself, Frank, Bella and Sammye got on. They all got to sit together - I was separate but sat next to a really nice guy who had a heart for adoption too. I told him about the VO website:) It was almost midnight in LA when we left - we got to Atlanta at 6:30 am Eastern Time. I left for Nashville at 7:30 am ET and got to Nashville at 7:30 am Central Time. So many different time zones. I was so wiped out, as I'm sure was the rest of the team, by the time we got home. I think it was like 24 or 26 hours travel time total with layovers and stuff. But totally worth it!

It was a great trip - the whole team was so fun to travel with and so great with the kids. I just loved our time together there. And I loved the kids so much. I hope I get to go again next year.

If you're interested in going - we still have several more China teams this summer and fall with space available. Check out www.visitingorphans.org.

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Saying goodbye

Tuesday was our final day in Chifeng. We got up and went to the orphanage to pick up the director to take him shopping with the orphanage donation money some of the team members had collected. Sammye was not feeling well at all so she stayed behind to rest. We had to fly back to Beijing Tuesday evening so we were praying she'd feel better by then. She stayed at the hotel and went back to sleep, the rest of us went shopping. We first stopped at a store and were told to stay in the van - Lily said they were going in cause the director wanted to get something for us. We totally didn't want them to buy us anything but knew it'd offend them not to let them. As it turned out, they bought a CD that has songs from the night before about "the Grasslands" on it. Lily made us each a copy of a few of the songs before we left - neat! That'll be fun to listen to and reminisce. That was a perfect gift. Then we went to a department store with multiple stories. We had just over 5000 yen left - we were able to get them 3 washing machines (see photo of us poising by one) and 4 microwaves. The store even threw in 4 microwave dishes for free. The director was so appreciative and excited. We were excited that the money went that far. And that we were able to not only pay for the kids at the park, at KFC, take several kids out to Chinese dinner the next night and also get them such useful items for the orphanage. Totally awesome!
After shopping, we dropped the director and microwaves off at the orphanage and went to lunch. We then loaded up our luggage in the van, our driver took it to the orphanage, unloaded it and then came back to get us. We then went to the orphanage to see the kids one last time and say our goodbyes. We started in the baby room - we got to spend about 45 minutes in there. As soon as we walked in, they were running to the door to greet us and were all pointed at the wall with excitement. We had taken some of the best photos of the trip of us with them and printed them out at a local photo shop. Lily and the director made a great collage for each room of these photos and hung them up. The kids were totally excited to show it to us. They loved it. Jordan was sitting at the table in her usual spot with her mouth stuffed full of cheese puffs. All the kids had a mouth full when we came in. I greeted all the kids and gave them hugs. They put Jordan in the walker - this was the first time I had seen her in there. I was interested to see if she might be able to walk or not - it was hard to tell when she was sitting - it looked like her toes were curled under and since with her arms - her elbows don't really bend - I didn't know if her knees did. But they seem to and she was getting around pretty good in that walker. Shortly before we were needing to go - I went up to her and put my arms out to see if she wanted me to pick her up. She just looked at me so I put my arms down and waited a second. Then I did it again and she put her arms up toward me which totally melted my heart. YAY - she let me pick her up again. I got to hold her for about 20 minutes. Then they came to tell us it was time to say goodbye and move on to the next room. I so didn't want to say goodbye but knew I had to. I spoke quietly to Jordan and prayed blessing over her again and then handed her to one of the older girls who helps out there. I kissed her head and say goodbye. And I went around and said goodbye to all the kids. And I kept waiving to Jordan as I walked out. And as soon as that door closed, the water works came. I needed a moment so I stepped aside and waiting a few minutes before moving on to the next room - sometimes you just need to cry. It was hard to walk out of that room and say goodbye. The others had a hard time too. We each had a certain kid or a few kids that we fell in love with specifically and had a hard time leaving. One of the little guys that Sammye fell in love with was so cute - he was just snuggling right up to her - the picture of them face to face is one of my favorites. And the other picture of him holding on to her legs - he didn't want her to go and was holding on to her legs as she tried to go out. He even tried coming out the door after her. So cute and so sad. I know she wanted to bring him home.
After we sort of collected ourselves, we went into the special needs room to say goodbye to those kids. There were lots of hugs and smiles. We had a short amount of time with them and I don't think they understood that our goodbye was any more than it had been the previous days where they'd just see us again the next day. Which may be better. Goodbyes are hard. Got a great picture of Christine hugging a few of the girls. So precious.
We then went downstairs to try and catch the school kids as they got home from school. We had to head to the airport shortly after. We decided we were too full from lunch and didn't need to go out to eat so that gave us a little more time. The kids got there around 5 and we had a group photo in the entryway and gave them all hugs and said our goodbyes. The directors wanted to see us off to the airport so they came with us. We had all our luggage in the back of the van so there were less seats so we also had to take a cab for the rest of us. We got to the airport way early - hardly anyone was in there. We couldn't even check in - there wasn't anyone at the ticket counter. But better earlly than late and we were the first ones to check in once the ticket person got there. We gathered in a circle with our team, Lily and the two directors and Lily translated as we thanked them for welcoming us in and told them how much we appreciated how loving they are to the kids, how we know they are being so well taken care of and that makes it easier to go home knowing they are in good hands. They thanked us for coming such a long way to love on their kids and for being so loving with each one of them. And for the gifts. It was really sweet. They gave us hugs and left. And we headed through security to our terminal. Our flight out was thankfully much smoother than the one on the way there - which was good for all of us. Sammye was feeling better - not great but better. And she did ok on the flight. We got to Beijing and ate a late meal at McDonald's. I don't even like McDonald's back home but I tell ya what - it hit the spot after so much chinese food. I got a burger and man, those pickles tasted good. I also got fries with ketchup and a strawberry sunday. Yummy!!!! Then we all went to recheck into that hotel we stayed at the first 2 nights and we crashed. It was a long day filled with lots of emotions and activities. It was hard to say goodbye to those kiddos - I miss them already. And am praying my photos can be recovered off my laptop cause there are so many great ones that were on there. Thankfully I had saved a lot of my favorites onto a memory card and all the other team members took pictures too - so either way - I will still have some great shots.

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Our last full day at the orphanage

Monday was our last full day at the orphanage with the kids. It was a great day. We spent the morning in the room with the babies and younger kids - a majority of whom are still sick with various colds. I immediately went in and started trying to interact with Jordan. She was sitting on the floor with another little baby in the attached room where the cribs are. I picked out a white bear with wings from our beanie babies stash and gave it to her. And then I handed out beanie babies to the other kids too. Jordan seemed to like hers - she was holding on to it as best she could. They changed her diaper and then brought her out into the other room and put her in the chair at the kiddie table - there are two chairs with arms on them - and these work well for the babies - cause they can't fall out. So I went over to her and started trying to interact with her. She had a little bottle in her hand that looked like a pill bottle - empty of course - and she was having fun rolling it back and forth with me. Even saw her smile a few times while doing this. The team started bringing out the crayons so I grabbed a few and a piece of paper - wasn't sure if she'd be able to color or knew how. But she lit right up - she did a page full of dots and loved holding the crayons. She kept adjusting them and then they'd drop on the floor and she'd look at me with a "please help" look and I'd get under the table and pick it up and give it back to her and she'd give me a huge smile. It was so adorable. We did this for over an hour. One of the little girls who is probably about 4 kept coming over and trying to steal Jordan's beanie baby - of course, I was protecting it for her. I have a feeling it got stolen as soon as I left the room though. I decided to try and see if she'd let me pick her up - and to my joy - she did. She didn't cry at all. I was so happy. But I also had a wet leg - cause I sat her on my leg. She had a wet diaper. One of the girls in there changed her for me and handed her back to me and I walked around with her for a bit sort of rocking her back and forth and talking to her. She was loving her beanie baby - I think she might be teething cause she kept wanting to chew on it. I sat down with her and she started to sort of snuggle up with me - I kept talking to her - obviously in English so I'm sure she didn't understand any of it. But I wanted to speak blessing over her so I would tell her she was beautiful and God loved her and she was a daughter of the King and I also did a lot of praying for healing for her. She was coughing a lot with that nasty cold all the kids seem to have. So I just kept praying over her for healing. I snapped this picture right before they came in the room to tell us we had to go to lunch - I so didn't want to put her down. Frank finally came over to me and said "put the baby down Autumn" and we both laughed.
We went to lunch at a local restaurant and then came back in the afternoon to play with the special needs kids. We gave them beanie babies and played with balloons and so many of them were opening up so much more than usual with us - this lady in the picture with me is one example - she is a 40 year old lady with down syndrome whose family pays the orphanage to care for her because they can't. She kind of keeps to herself but this day when we went in there she totally opened up and was even giving us hugs. Christine snapped this picture of her hugging me. It was so neat to see so many of them open up. There is one kid who gets pretty aggressive - he hits and kicks. He came up behind me and kicked me pretty hard. I was a bit uncomfortable in there with him - I just always felt like I had to have eyes in the back of my head. And we were all keeping an eye on him cause he kept hitting the other kids. I think it was over-stimulation for him and some of the other kids with all of us in there, and balloons being tossed and so much interacting happening. I think he does better one on one and in a calmer environment. We were in there for about 2 hours and it just seemed like it might be good to head out - looked like the teachers wanted to give them a snack and get things calmed down. We decided to say goodbye for the day and head back to the baby room for a bit.
We had about 45 minutes in the baby room and we brought the crayons back out. The kids loved coloring. This time, Jordan was eyeing all the crayons at the other end of the table and kept wanting more. So I just gave her a whole box to herself and she was thrilled - she loved taking them out of the box and picking each one up.
We didn't have long in there with them and we said goodbye. We knew we'd be back the next day for one last goodbye so we were already getting sad thinking about it. But glad that we did get to see them one more time.
We headed to dinner and found out that the directors wanted to take us to a Mongolian restaurant. Lily was a bit nervous and called the head of the travel company Mr. Shi to make sure that would be ok and he said it would be fine. Lily did order for us so we were thankful for that because the food was quite different from the Chinese restaurants we had been going to. And our first course was a traditional tea - only it was like a milky color and had beef and cheese chunks in it. We didn't want to offend so we took some sips of the liquid but I don't think any of us were into trying the chunks. Not our favorite but Lily loved it and had 6 bowls. The food wasn't bad - not our favorite meal there by any means but not bad. We got to try several things. My favorite was some sort of ribs with this yummy seasoning on it. There wasn't much meat on the bones but the flavor was really delicious. They had ordered some mushrooms which I don't eat anyway but apparently they had sand in them - so they sent them back and negotiated that instead of a new dish, the in-house performers come in and sing for us. That was a real treat. It was a guy and a girl singer, a guy playing a 2 stringed instrument and a dude playing synth on the keyboard. He was not dressed in traditional garb like the other 3 - they were all decked out. They were pretty good but we had our own little room and they had the sound up way too high on their little portable show. We about went deaf. The songs were all in Chinese - Lily would summarize afterwards and we got to laughing later cause 4 out of the 5 were about the Grasslands. Welcome to the Grasslands, The Grasslands in your Home, Please come back to the Grasslands, etc. The Grasslands is a beautiful grassy area near Chifeng that apparently people love to go to in summer. Lily said next time we need to plan a trip there in July or August and we will go see the Grasslands. I guess all the people who live there live in tents. Sounds neat. Anyway, the performers really got into it and it was good but also funny - I tried really hard not to laugh - the guy in the photo was using his arms and really getting into it. It was very funny. But they were really great singers and the dude playing the 2 stringed instrument was amazing. Lily was really getting into it - she kept picking songs. I think they were supposed to play 2 songs but ended up playing 4.
We were wiped out when we got back to the hotel and crashed. It was a good day.

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We are safe

Hey y'all - just a quick note to let everyone know we are all fine and where we are at in China is nowhere near the earthquake. I don't have much access since my computer died but our team leader let me use his computer for a minute so I just wanted to make sure everyone knows we are safe. We leave here tomorrow night at 9pm (that's 9am Eastern time) and we get back on Friday morning to our individual cities. 

Will post more about our last few days when I get home. 

Thanks for your prayers. 

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technical difficulties

Hello all! Well, I was planning to do some more blogging but my access has been severely hindered by the fact that my mac laptop locked up last night for no apparent reason and will not restart. I am praying that all of my hundreds and hundreds of photos can be recovered since I had put them on the computer each day and deleted them off the camera to make room for more. Would love prayers that they could be recovered. I don't know what happened to the computer. 

Keep praying for everyone's health too - Sammie didn't go shopping with us this morning to buy orphanage gifts because she wasn't feeling very good. She hasn't thrown up but is feeling nauseous and has a headache. We have to leave this hotel in 30 minutes, go say goodbye to the kids and head to the airport. The flight to Beijing was a rough one on the way here - several of us felt sick. So we are praying it is better on the way there and Sammie is ok to fly. Please keep her in prayer. 

One thing I was going to put in my blog last night had I been able to get on - was that the little girl I named Jordan, I found out her real name - sounds like Jun Tien Luen so Jordan is not that far of a stretch - I got to play with her a ton yesterday and then she let me hold her. I was so happy!!! I have a sweet picture of her snuggling up to me - she is so precious. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye today. Our hearts will all be breaking for sure. This is the hard part. The kids have really opened up to us over the past 5 days - yesterday, we saw several who had not been interacting much with us just totally open up and come to life. It was so neat. This has been an amazing trip. We have all fallen in love with these kids. 

Today we were able to take the director shopping - with the orphanage donation money that some of the team raised - we were able to buy 3 washing machines and 4 microwaves. Totally awesome! This will be so beneficial to them. Praise God!

I'm gonna log off here - may not blog much until I get home. And hopefully will be able to get all my photos off my laptop to upload. 

Thanks for all the prayers. We get back to the states Friday so lots of traveling between now and then. 

Blessings,

Autumn

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A winter wonderland

Woke up about 30 minutes ago. Bella just knocked on our outside door and I opened the shades to get the door and to my surprise - it is a winter wonderland out there. It snowed during the night and is a pretty thick covering. It's so pretty. I do not think we will be going outside today. Today is our last full day with the kids - the other kids are back in school so we will spend the day with the babies and special needs kids. I'm hoping we get to see the school kids today or tomorrow morning before we go. I'm not sure if we will though. Tomorrow night we fly back to Beijing. In the morning, I think we are using the leftover money from orphanage donations to take the director shopping to get a microwave and washing machine. I can't believe today is our last day with the kids already. It went by so fast. 

We are back in Beijing Tuesday night and then we go see the Great Wall of China on Wednesday. Thursday morning we see the Forbidden City and then we fly out Thursday night. We do an all night flight again which is the best way to go - sleeping most of the way - it goes by so much faster. We fly to LAX and then we part ways to go to our homes. I fly to Atlanta and then to Nashville - arriving in Nashville around 7:30 am. I am quite sure I'll be ready to crash in my own bed at that point. The beds here are pretty much box springs - not soft at all. So my pillowtop mattress at home is sounding really great right now. 

Gotta run and get ready for another fabulous day with these precious little ones. TTYS

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A fabulous day!

Today was so much fun. We got to spend the day with the school age kids we spent yesterday with. We went to the orphanage at 10 am and went in to the room where they all do homework - they were in there waiting for us. We pulled out the arts & crafts - foam airplanes, bracelets and beads, and face paint. The face paint was hilarious - I was trying to get them to pick out a photo in the book of what I could paint on their face - they kept shaking their heads no and pointing to me. They wanted to paint me! So we never did get to paint their faces - they had no interest in that. But they had a blast painting all of us - mostly our hands and arms. The pictures tell the story best - these photos are of Kara and Bella totally painted up by the kids. The kids loved it! And we loved how we had gone in expecting one thing and the plan totally changed. These kids are so creative and amazing! We tossed balloons back and forth, bounced balls, did art and lots of laughing. Some of the kids spoke a little bit of English so we got to learn some Chinese and teach them some words in English. One very smart young boy had us use the foam letters to put our names on a piece of paper. Very great idea! The youngest boy in there is 6 - he is the one I mentioned yesterday who has two digits on his feet and small legs but gets around great and is the happiest little guy I've ever seen. He is a total ham - he is the center of attention and so joyful. I just adore him. I got to play with him so much today. In the art room - we tossed a balloon and then he had me help him make a necklace. I took tons of photos - will have to add them all on facebook when I get home - I can only pick a few for the blog. When it was lunchtime, the kids went down to the eating room to have lunch and we left for a few hours so they could rest. We went out to lunch at a place we went to a few nights ago that we all liked the best so far. It was yummy. Sammie was feeling a bit better this morning but stayed behind to rest. And Frank was much better and able to join us all day. After our lunch break, Sammie was feeling so much better - she was able to join us for the afternoon activities with the kids. Thank you all for your prayers - they are working! Praise God! 

So after lunch, our driver picked some of the kids up and brought them here to a park across from our hotel. It was very cold today but we still had fun - we got in a circle and kicked a soccer ball back and forth. And we played with the bouncy balls there too. It was mostly just the older kids that came in the afternoon. But they also brought the 6 year old boy I mentioned earlier whose name is Su-un (not sure how you spell it but it's much easier to say than most of the names so far). I'm so glad they brought him to the park. He and I had so much fun - he kept grabbing my hand and arm and wanting me to walk with him. You'll see in the attached picture how he was holding on to me - melted my heart! And I let him take pictures with my camera and he was so happy to be doing that. Needless to say, I have a lot of pictures of my forehead, the ground and other random items. But he was having fun so that's all that mattered. I'm attaching a picture that he took of me and him - I showed him how I do that and he picked it right up and did it too. Most of the time, our heads were not fully in the picture but this one was pretty good. Isn't he so adorable? My goodness, I want to bring him home. He is a joy! Unfortunately, I found out today that single women cannot adopt at all from China. That is so sad. There are 20 million orphans here and they have all these strict rules on adoption. Lily said even a new rule about body mass - so basically you can't adopt if you are over a certain weight. I'm gonna be praying that China changes some of their policies to make it easier for kids to be adopted here. Lily asked me at dinner if I could adopt Su-un and I told her I would love to but I'm single. She said "you get married and then you adopt from China!" Sounds like a plan to me:) We'll have to wait and see what God's plan is though. All in His timing. In the meantime, I get to go around the world and love on His precious little ones. What a joy and honor. It's also hard because everywhere I go - I fall in love with the children and leave part of my heart there when I leave and go home. I love all the children here but there are 2 in particular that I have fallen in love with and would love to bring home and be a mother to - Su-un and Jordan. Jordan is the toddler I've been talking about a lot - she had the IV put in and her head shaved the other day. I haven't gotten to see her for 2 days - I am looking forward to checking in on her tomorrow. And we are going to bring the beanie babies - I am going to pick out one for her. Maybe she'll warm up to me tomorrow and actually let me hold her. We'll see. 

My favorite part of today was this next part - about 4:30, we were really cold and ready to take the kids indoors. So... we took them across the street to the place we had lunch - it was awesome. Way better than KFC - and so much more like a family meal. There were about 7 kids with us, us 7 plus Lily, one lady from the orphanage and our bus driver and we got a room with a round table and had a delicious meal together. We had SOOO much food - eggplant, green beans with pork, breaded chicken, beef with green peppers, beef on a bone with potatoes (kind of like pot roast), a mushroom dish with cabbage, sweet and sour pork, tofu with seaweed, salad (which we didn't eat to be safe) and pepsi! The kids ate a ton - we could not believe how much they were able to eat. Come to find out - they had never been out to a restaurant like that before. They were so happy and so enjoying the food. Su-un sat next to me and he ate quite a bit for a little guy too. And the best part was that every time he would take a drink of his pepsi - he would cheers glasses with me. There is a photo here of us doing that - it was so much fun. I loved it! He is a little talker - he is always saying something. The nice thing about the round table was that we could talk to the kids during the meal and Lily could translate what they were saying and what we wanted to say to them. Su-un said "thanking you very much" in English and the way he pronounced it was so cute. I got a great video of that which I will post on facebook when I get home. Too cute! The kids told Lily to tell us thank you and that they were so happy we came to see them and took them for such a great meal. We had her tell them that we were glad they could come with us. At one point, we were asking the kids how to say some words in chinese and one of the girls said "if we tell them how to say it in Chinese, they will forget when they get home". We all laughed. I told her to tell them - we may forget the Chinese words but we will not forget them. They all said "thank you" in English and smiled really big. They said they hope we come back every year. Su-un gave me a kiss on my cheek - I think Lily told him too - but nevertheless - it was so cute. Yup, he has my heart. 

After dinner, was sat at the table for quite a while talking with the kids. A few of the girls were eating and eating and eating. We were afraid they were going to get sick. Lily said they said they were loving the meat - they don't get meat like that very often - so they were really enjoying it and not wanting to waste any. We told them not to worry, we would take the leftovers back for the other kids. In fact, Su-un told Lily after he tried the beef and potatoes - that he wanted to take it home and share with the other kids. So sweet that he was thinking of them and wanting to share. They really all look out for each other there. It was a delicious meal. And so neat to see their joy in us spending time with them and doing that with them. I truly feel that we have made them feel special this week - that they truly matter. And that is exactly why we came. They are precious, beautiful children. 

When we got back to the hotel, we hopped online and looked at the photos on visitingorphans.org from the last team who came here two years ago. All of the kids in the pictures were the same kids there now, except for 2 or 3 we didn't recognize. The kids and staff speak often of that former team - they really made an impact - I will make sure to contact them when I get home to let them know that. They have not been forgotten. In fact, today - Lily took about 80 of our best pictures that I put on a disc for her to get printed to give to the kids. And she had some saved from the last team and printed those out for them too. I know they will love that. I think we can give them to them tomorrow. I tried to pick pictures out so that every single kids was in at least one. I hope that we didn't miss anyone. If we did - we will take more to get developed to make sure. 

I am already thinking how hard it will be to say goodbye. Part of my heart was left in Costa Rica in March and part of it is definitely being left here this week. I hope to return next year to see these kids again. And we do see that they are being well cared for and loved here by the amazing orphanage staff. They are very loving and this orphanage feels very much like a big family. That really makes me glad to know - it's even harder to leave a place when you do not feel like the kids are being cared for. But here, thankfully, that is not the case so I know they are in good hands. But I also know I would love to see a lot of them adopted into loving families because I know so many of these kids long for that. And that is most definitely the way God originally intended for it to be. 

I long for the day when I can adopt. Every time I go to visit orphans, the deeper that desire gets. I know the Lord is working on me, continuing to prepare me for the day when that desire will become a reality. And I know that in His perfect timing, that will happen because I know it was Him who put that desire in my heart. It is a fallen world - and sadly, there are many, many orphans who have been abandoned and rejected by their parents. But the Lord has not forgotten them - He uses hearts like mine and yours - who are willing to be opened up to these precious children and who will go and care for them and who will be willing to open up their hearts and their homes to adopt them in to our families. What a perfect picture of the father heart of God. 

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