First Day at Orphanage

Wow. We had our first day at the Hohhot orphanage. We first went to meet the director and learned a lot about the orphanage. He has been there since 1999 and really seems concerned with the children's well being. He and the assistant directors met with us to educate us and answer any questions we had. There are 228 kids there total, with 12o living at the orphanage now. Those that are able to go to the public school system go as long as they can. Of the 228, 75 babies are in foster care. He feels this is the best for the child to be in foster care. There are 55 nannies that work in several shifts. He also took us on a tour of the NEW orphanage that the GOVERNMENT is building in a newer section of Hohhot--several private businesses have donated money as well. This is where a lot of our big donations will go to help buy new equipment. It is beautiful....on a huge piece of land, and will have courtyards, schools, etc. The floors even have radiant heat, which will be so helpful to these kids since a lot of them are on the floor, and it gets so cold here in the winter. The foster "village" where most foster families live will move out there as well. Lily, our guide, says the government is doing this because the perception of the orphan is changing in China and they want them to have the best of the best....they also prefer that Chinese adopt these kids and hope that the new focus on the orphanage will help encourage domestic adoptions. (I think that God is at work here for these kids). It was a very encouraging trip out there and that is what our pictures are from--we will have more tomorrow. Now, back to the afternoon at the orphanage, it was a very difficult afternoon. Most of the children have a disability which we thought ahead of time was cerebral palsy---some do have that, but we found more of a mental problem with most of the kids. We do not see the kids who are in foster care or who go to school, and the only baby is a very precious 10 day newborn girl (don't even ask me what my heart saw over her!!!). Honestly, we all struggled this afternoon. We had our expectations, and had to quickly realize that OUR plans were not the reality we found. I think most of us felt overwhelmed by the children, and by the recognition that things were not going to be the way WE thought they should be. We all left the orphanage feeling flat, confused, why were we here?? BUT, as we met tonight and read our devotionals, and shared our reflections from the day, we remembered the positives of the afternoons-the sheer joy of a few of the kids' smiles as we threw beach balls, ate Cheerios, blew bubbles, and played with a parachute (they would have played with this for hours!!). We realized that the simple things are what we need to pay attention to---how much joy a simple act provides for these kids. As they lay down to sleep tonight, I pray that they remember their yummy sucker, the bright colors on the balls and parachutes, and feel a warm fuzzy feeling. For us, who all felt out of our comfort zone, we learned that when God calls you out to serve it is not because you are capable, but because He is. Our hearts were equipped for the children we had in our heads, but our hearts were not equipped for the children we met today. We have to rely on Him, and walk back in there tomorrow again ready to love these kids. He does not ask for perfection but for perserverance!

Love,

Eve