The Orphanage 2012
I was so blessed to be able to visit the precious kids at the orphanage again this year. I also got to be a part of the second orphan camp. I was here for the first one in 2010. We took all the kids to a retreat center where they got to enjoy a day outside of the confines of the orphanage. It was pretty crazy to try to keep track of all the kids, since they outnumbered us. I spent most of my day walking with a non-verbal boy named NanNan. Though he couldn't tell me how he felt, I could tell he enjoyed walking around the lush grounds instead of the five tiny rooms of the orphanage. I love all the kids, but I am a sucker for the kids with Down Syndrome. I had my best orphanage moment on my last day there. A few of the kids were playing with a colorful parachute. I was having fun watching them play and then they invited me in to play with them. It was like they were inviting me into their club! What a privilege! Please pray for these precious kids.
Joy, the woman who works with these kids regularly, has a blog about them. She has been given permission to be more open on the internet about these kids. Follow her blog for updates and stories about these kids: http://www.pearlriverdiaries.com/advocacy
Joy, the woman who works with these kids regularly, has a blog about them. She has been given permission to be more open on the internet about these kids. Follow her blog for updates and stories about these kids: http://www.pearlriverdiaries.com/advocacy
The Orphanage 2011
It was so great to be able to visit the orphanage on this last trip. The place looked nicer since the last team painted the walls in bright colors. Some of the kids looked better: happier and healthier. Some kids were missing because they had passed away. So sad. But some were also missing because they had been adopted or fostered. Praise God! It was even harder for me to resist taking one of the kids home. They are just so precious! If you know anyone who wants to adopt a special needs Chinese orphan, let me know. There are some really great kids with problems ranging from mild and fixable to severe and permanent. Every child deserves a family that loves them. Please pray for these kids!
The Orphanage 2010
This was the best and most difficult part of my outreach to China. Most of my teammates felt the same way. The orphanage is pretty much just two large rooms with three smaller rooms leading off those two rooms. It's on the third floor of some sort of government-run building that also houses the elderly. Most of the children there are disabled in ways that range from very severe to mild. Our main objective and purpose in going was to love on the kids. The severely disabled kids just need to be held while the more mobile ones love to play. It was a real challenge for me to hold the little immobile kids with the twisted limbs. It made me feel so sad and I was always afraid I was hurting them. I loved playing with the little kids with Down syndrome. They were so fun and funny. I really wish they would get adopted. They would be a real blessing to a family.
We visited the orphanage three times and then were able to take the kids out of the orphanage to a nearby retreat center. Some of them had never left the orphanage so this was an incredible opportunity. We took even the most severely disabled kids in a van to the retreat center. There the kids got to swim, run, play, paint, watch movies, eat cookies and just have fun like regular kids. It was a long crazy day but it was also the best day. Here are some pictures from that day and from our last day at the orphanage.
