Tuesday was our 2nd day at the orphanage. We decided to do the same schedule as Monday which was to spend time with the non-special needs children in the morning and spend time with the special needs children in the afternoon. After our bumpy ride over the Yangtze, we arrived and were met by children ready to play. The toddlers had their shoes on and were just waiting for our arrival. The orphanage has a wonderful playground that was donated by an Australian group. It is neat to see the older children look out for the younger children. Some of us stayed with the toddlers and some went to the room with the babies. It was hot and humid today. To entertain ourselves, we sang songs ranging from country music to Elvis to Motown to Southern Gospel. I am sure the children thought we were crazy.
When it became too hot, we took the toddlers back up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Unfortunately, the orphanage increased by one today. A baby girl was found in the village and turned in to the police. The police brought the girl to the orphanage to be taken care of. The doctor cared for the fresh umbilical cord and the baby was wrapped up and placed in a crib. There is no words to describe the breaking heart associated with seeing a newborn begin their new life in an institution when they should be with their birth mother. Our team was impacted by the moment.
There was a positive as were asked to name the little girl. After we realized there wasn’t a Chinese character to name her “Alabama”, we decided on the name Grace. Her Chinese name will be Jiang Fu Ge. We pray that she will experience the significance of her name.
After lunch back at the hotel, we returned to the orphanage to spend time with the special needs children. Each one of the children have their own individual story and personality. Some have limited handicaps and some have severe. We are able to take some down the stairs to play which they love. They are unable to go downstairs usually because there aren’t enough nannies to properly care for them. When a group comes, they are enthusiastic in taking the chance to get outside. There are few sounds greater in life than some of the laughs of these children.
It saddens us to realize the life of some of these children. They receive wonderful care from the orphanage but will still struggle their entire lives physically and mentally. We remind them in word and song they are fearfully and wonderfully made."
2 comments:
Love love love seeing the pictures! Love the updates too!
We are lifting yall up to our Saviour. I feel sure it is going to be hard to move on when the time comes.
Thank you for sharing these pictures.
A.
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