Orphanage

We spent our first afternoon at the orphanage.  After hearing some of the stories about the condition of some of the children we were pretty nervous but we had a great day!  The conditions are sad.  The staff does a good job but they have their hands full.  Many are severly handicapped.  They have a nice, clean facility but the children aren't clean.  Lauren immediately had one handicapped blind girl in her arms.  The girl wouldn't let her go and Lauren held her for about an hour.  Lauren is amazing.  We have complete freedom to take the children from room to room. We held a blind infant girl for a long time; she fell asleep in Lauren's arms.  They haven't named her but the staff calls her Jo Jo.   By the end of the day I had a little guy following me around. The team calls him Luke.  He's about 2 and has deformed hands.  It doesn't stop him from doing anything and those chubby cheeks are irrestistable. There are too many precious children and stories to tell just from our first day.  We will try to introduce you to  a couple each day.

We got here this morning and found out that we are not at the usual hotel because the communist party is having a meeting and we got down-graded to the "Motel 6."  It's a bit rough but doable.