Today was a very special day for our family. One of the things we have been most looking forward to in our trip to Asia was going to the orphanage near Beijing (http://harmonyoutreach.org/425567.ihtml) Our daughter has been doing fund raisers for our time there, friends from our faith family had donated items and funds for our time there, this part of our trip meant a lot to us as we take seriously our father’s mandate to take care of orphans.

Lucy and Garrett’s driver drove our family the 2 hours to the orphanage this morning. It was a hazy day and I honestly felt very tired from the many things that have happened on this trip so far. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the orphanage director, Lilith and she ushered us all in to meet the children. When we arrived the 20 or so kids, were watching television in the living room area. This particular orphanage specializes in special needs kids and the kids had various anomalies including one child, Jeremiah, who had no tone in his arms and who had to do everything with his feet. (He was incredibly smart and could draw, write, and even eat with his feet) We were able to break the ice with the kids by taking their pictures and showing them to them. This caused them to smile and it really warmed our hearts and theirs too. We sponsor one of the kids there and we found Martha, the girl we sponsor, to be very shy… but we found that just by being silly and stooping physically to the level of the Children, even kids as reserved as Martha responded.

Among the babies were three newborns who arrived just in the last few days. They were a month old but they seemed incredibly small and fragile. Much smaller than our boys were were they were born. As Roy held one of the little babies, it was amazing to watch how much the baby seemed to respond to the touch and warmth of being held. We also met Blossom, a young girl with Cerebral Palsy. Even with her broken body she seemed to light us when she saw us.

After our whole family and Lucy played with the kids for a time many of the kids were loaded up onto a bus and we took them with their nannies to McDonald’s in the city. It was quite a site watching all these tiny kids marching in a row into McDonald’s and seeing the reaction of the other patrons. You should have seen the kids faces though when the happy meals we were able to give through the generous gifts of you all partners who gave to the trip. Smiles every where as the kids ate french fries and even hamburgers. Our friend with the limited arms seemed so natural in eating with his feet. If you didn’t know better, you would have sworn he was eating with his hands. Lucy was a huge help as she translated for us and helped Lisa order the food, get us good seats and serve the food. Garrett’s driver was also getting into the action as he sat with a group of three kids and fed them, even spooning ice cream into their mouths from the tiny cones that came with the meal. Being a veteran of many happy meals, we expected the toys to be the centerpoint. Not with these kids. The food was what they were excited about with the toy being almost an afterthought for them.

After McDonald’s, we drove back to the orphanage with our hearts deeply knitted with the kids and the orphanage helpers. Most of the kids went down for naps but Charis and Jeremiah made paper airplanes together. It was clear that Jeremiah treasured these small folded creations as he put them in his “special” bucket.

After our time in the orphanage, our friends Willy & Al came out to pick us to for the trip to Beijing where we were treated to a “Anhui” meal in a restaurant that was built like a traditional “courtyard” style Beijing home. It was really great seeing Willy and his daughter Lauren again as Willy was my Chinese language helper this last semester. More about him and the rest of our time in Beijing in the posts to come….