Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 9/10/2011
Today we woke up. We ate noodles and meat for breakfast.
After breakfast we walked over to Chu Hoang's house. The rice was there waiting
for us when we got there. 10 bags filled with 20 glorious kilos each. We had
brought the other food to the house the day before. It was go time- time to put
the bags together. We got to work and quickly put 10 bags of food together.
Each bag consisted of oil, detergent, soy sauce, sugar, crackers, noodles and
or course the ever necessary rice. As we saw the bags stacked on the front
porch a sense of satisfaction fell.
Last night after shopping at the market we went to visit one
family that would be receiving our bag of food. This man has 10 children. His
wife died 15 months ago giving birth to their last child. He lives in a small
house that I honestly cannot describe in great detail because we visited after
dark settled in. So our time in the house was lit by a small lantern in the
middle of a rickety table that barely allowed us to see each other's faces. I
watched as the 12 year old
boy's face lit up talking about studying math and his father's face dropped as
he told us he was unable to work because of needing to take care of the
children and the 8 year old girl sitting there smiling shyly the entire time.
The baby was in the other room sleeping already. I was in awe of this man and
his willingness to care for his children in the midst of much struggle.
Some of the people that will be coming later today are
people we know. They are friends that we have made during our 2 ½ months here.
People we have seen struggling to send their children to school and feed their
families on a daily basis. I am excited to get them one of these bags that will
help their family out even if just a
little bit.
After we assembled the bags we headed back to the house to have lunch and do
English class. The excitement is rising all day. We finally get to see this
happen. We get to see this program launched. As we go through our English words the children shout at
me "shirt", "pants", "shoes", "hat". I watched kids laugh hysterically as I
stepped out in the most ridiculous outfit to help them learn the new words. I knew that some of these
laughing faces would soon be carrying food home with their families.
As we finished up English class and passed out twizzlers to students for successfully remembering
objectives from the day's lesson we quickly got dressed to go to Chu Hoang's
house. As we walked over to the house we had a few of our students following
us. We are expecting to have a 2 hour window where the families could come at their convenience to get their
food. We step into the yard to find 7 of the 10 families already there. Oh wow!
We know some of these people. Those we don't know- we get to know quickly.
There is the little old lady who smiles the whole time we talk to them. There
is the family with the 2 special needs adult children whom I love because they
speak to me like I should know Vietnamese (I have learned that
expectation is one of the most important teachers).
After a little while
of getting to know people we start passing bags of food out. As people walk
away with their food. I watch in awe. It really is not that much food- but this
food will help sustain this family for an entire month. I am so happy
that the Lord is allowing us to be a part of what He is doing in Mang Thit and
bringing about hope in these families' lives. Thank you for all your prayers
and support in getting this endeavor going.
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 9/3/2011
Now that we are three-quarters of the way completed with our trip...Where do we stand?
We posted an update back at day 50 about what all we have accomplished, to see that blog, visit the blog Where We Stand.
Since that post, we have gotten more accomplished and we are excited to
give you an update. Below are the main areas of work that we have been
pouring ourselves into as well as an update on where we are so far in
each area.
Building:
As previously updated, we have decided to move forward with building 8
homes rather than building one large orphanage. We want to pursue this
direction because we want the opportunity for the kids who will be
living within this "orphanage" to be afforded every opportunity to live
life as a normal Vietnamese kid. We have received so many different
quotes but believe that we have come to a consensus on the costs that we
are going to incur when building here in Vietnam. We are going to be
rolling out various campaigns in the near future targeting capital
raising in order to get the building process underway. Be on the lookout
for those campaigns and ways that you can get involved!!
Licensing:
I would encourage you to read our previous update on where we stand so
that you can see how far we have come. We are still in the process of
getting our license here in Vietnam to be a recognized organization
which would then allow us to begin the process of building so that we
can begin functioning as a children's home and to start having a major
effect on this community. We have met with many more people who have
continued to give us input on how to better present ourselves and our
project to the government. We have a major meeting planned for this
coming Monday, September 5th where we are seeking to get some
assistance from an organization in Vinh Long who supports international
agencies who are coming into Vietnam. As we move further and further
along in this process, we have more and more hope that we will be able
to get through this process quickly and easily without incurring much
resistance. The people and government of Mang Thit like us just about as
much as we like them!!
Feeding ministry:
This is an area where we have seen rapid advancement in just the past
25 days!! Only4 weeks ago we laid out the plan to start a feeding
ministry and set forth in the fundraising efforts. And in only a short
time period, we started to see people joining with us in the effort to
help take care of people through providing food for them. By providing
food for these families, we are helping them to obtain one of the basic
needs that they need for survival. It was amazing as just a few days ago
we had the honor of running the first month of our feeding ministry
where we invited 10 families to come and visit with us as we had
purchased food to give them to help them for the month. This is a
project that is ongoing so if you are interested in supporting this
ministry of VOHF, you can visit both the blog You Can Feed A Child to learn more as well as visit our fundraising site directly to make a donation.
Land acquisition: We have been blessed to have been given a
plot of land that is almost 8,750 meters squared. This is the land that
we are using to build our houses and village center upon. As we are
building, we will use the land not currently in use to continue growing
rice for food as well as to sell if surplus exists. One desire of VOHF
is to be a self-sustainable organization so we are always on the lookout
as to how to achieve that. We are wanting to purchase extra land along
the way in order to continue to grow crops on it so that we can sell the
rice in order to help fund VOHF. As we have been evaluating our
situation we have decided that land acquisition is currently not in our
best interest so the idea of purchasing further land is going to be
re-visited in the near future.
Community:
As we have continued to search out more people to get to know so that
we can further build our community, we have had the opportunity to meet
some amazing people. Just the other day we were sitting at a cafe when a
girl walked up and asked to sit down and practice her English with us,
in English. We were astonished. We got to sit and talk to her for some
30 minutes, and then we have gotten to meet with her twice since just
spending time getting to know her and her family. We have continued to
teach our English class 3 times a week and we have seen growth in the
attendance of students. We have had opportunities to visit a brick
factory, a water plant, a rice mill, as well as visit many more homes
within this community. Many people recognize us as we walk through the
market, and we are beginning to recognize more and more people also.
Fundraising:
We are currently in the process of formulating 6 separate fundraisers.
We are going to be rolling them out in waves so make sure you keep an
eye out for what is going on. We are going to be fundraising for 2
different projects, building and feeding, as well as our general
operating costs. We are currently in the process of creating 3 videos,
and 2 new blogs to keep everyone as informed as possible about the
fundraising opportunities that we are working on. As we continue to move
forward with the process of creating the children's home, we are going
to be searching for partners to join with us financially for all of our
areas of need; building, feeding, as well as our general budget.
Language acquisition: Heather
has been inundated with opportunities to further learn Vietnamese. Our
translator sits down and works with Heather constantly as well as a
friend of Heathers who texts heather all the time solely in Vietnamese
so that Heather can further her knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. As
she has been immersed in the language, it has been coming to her so much
easier than when we first got here. She is hoping to continue studying
the language once returning home so that she can become fluent and make
communication here in Vietnam much easier once she returns to start the
children's home. She is currently studying grade one Vietnamese and soon
hopes to graduate to grade two. Rosetta Stone and picture dictionaries
are also helping her tremendously. It is awesome to see how much one
person can learn in such a short time period once they are thrown into
the language head first.
75 days down and so much done, 25 days to go and so much more to accomplish yet!
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 8/24/2011
As I sat in Trinh's house visiting with this young girl about life, we discussed her
college, the things that she enjoys doing, the foods she likes- her face lit up as she told me about bánh xèo- we had it for lunch today and you
should totally try it- it is awesome. I felt a cool breeze come through the
house and asked maybe a little too excitedly if it was going to rain. She said no that she hoped not. She does not
like the rain. I just don't understand. Why would you not like the rain? It is
so great! She told me it was boring because she has to stay inside when it
rains. I made some off handed comment about how she could go play in the rain
and then she would not be bored- I mean Jesus says in order to come into the
kingdom we must be like little children, right? I drop the conversation very
clear that I am not going to convince her that she should love rain in the same
way that I do.
After lunch I sat
down on the front porch with my book just as it started drizzling. I got up at
one point to walk through the house and find the entire family laying
lathargically around the house eyelids falling under the weight of the rain
falling. As I walked past one of the
aunts tells me I should go shower- I was confused for a minute "do I smell that
bad?" then I realized she meant in the rain. I quickly replied that I would if
she would. She laughed a nervous kind of laugh and I went into the kitchen to check
water levels of the back pond. As I returned she again said I needed to go
shower. Again I said I would if she would. At this encouragement she jumped up
from her reclining position in the hammock and directed me toward the door.
Being the Texas
girl that I am, I LOVE rain. I cherish it's flowing from the sky. I eagerly
await it's pouring into the ground. I yearn for it's cleansing power. I have
been joining with millions of people in desperate prayers for rain to flow down
on our homeland as it has fallen into more and more extreme levels of drought.
We jumped around
like children laughing, squealing, kicking puddles at each other. Then we took turns
pulling water from the cistern that is now overflowing and showered each other
from it's refreshingly cold abundance. She quickly swept the ground and we laid
down to allow this flow to fall on our bodies and the puddles on the ground
to saturate our backs. As we laid there
I noticed she was screaming "Thank you God! Hallelujah!" I quickly join into these
hollers of gratitude to our Father. As we layed there in the downpour I felt
the weight of my homeland. We praised God for this rain that is a welcome
relief from the oppressing heat of this land and I prayed for the same kind of
rain to fall on my homeland and bring some relief to it's dry cracking
surfaces.
 It was such a fun
day! We laughed a lot! It rained from lunch until well after we laid down for
bed. I love that the Lord provides so many opportunities for relationships to
be built and uses the substance of laughter to cement these relationships into
place.
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 8/9/2011
We are officially half way done with our trip!!!
I know details are hard to come by and hard to share,
but I wanted to update you on how things are progressing here in
Vietnam. We are at day 50 and it seems like so little has been done, but
at the same moment it seems like we have accomplished so much. Below
are the main areas of work that we have been pouring ourselves into as
well as an update on where we are so far in each area.
Building: As a team, we have met with several builders and
received quotes on building costs including labor. These quotes have
ranged from achievable to astronomical. We are excited because as we
have continued to work out the details of our building, we have been
able to narrow in on a cost so that we now have a figure to move forth
with in planning capital raising for the project. One major update we
have is that we are no longer moving forward with a plan to build one
large building to serve as an "orphanage" but rather we are planning on 8
smaller houses to accommodate the children in a family style
environment. We are excited about this because it is going to allow the
children to grow up in a family rather than in a building.
Licensing: Currently we are in the very beginning of the
processes of getting a license to be an organization here in Vietnam. We
have met with the People's Committee here in our village of Mang Thit
and they have asked us to prepare a letter to request a license. The
Committee Chair has agreed to be our representative with the Committees
of the province and even higher up. He has approved us at the village
level and he is now sending us to the "county" level and then to "state"
level. We are working on the letter and proposal to get to the higher
up Peoples Committees, but this process can take a long time, so we are
hoping that our process is smooth and short. We are always in a search
for more information on this process, so we are looking for people with
more information on getting a license in Vietnam and who are willing to
share with us their knowledge.
Feeding ministry: One area of need that we have discovered here
in Mang Thit is the lack of proper nutrition in that getting 3 square
meals a day is not a common occurrence for everyone of Mang Thit. We
have begun a fundraising campaign to raise the initial capital to get a
feeding ministry started. We are going to prepare bags that cost
approximately $20 USD each that will feed a family of 5 for a good
portion of a month. We are currently raising money for this ministry, so
if you are interested you can visit our blog with more info or to
donate directly, click here.
To check out our blog about our feeding ministry visit You Can Feed A Child!! Or if you want to donate directly towards our feeding ministry, vist our Razoo page!!
Land acquisition: We have been blessed to have been given a
plot of land that is almost 8,750 meters squared. This is the land that
we are using to build our houses and village center upon. As we are
building, we will use the land not currently in use to continue growing
rice for food as well as to sell if surplus exists. One desire of VOHF
is to be a self-sustainable organization so we are always on the lookout
as to how to achieve that. We are wanting to purchase extra land along
the way in order to continue to grow crops on it so that we can sell the
rice in order to help fund VOHF. We have been in talks with a land
owner that has land that connects to ours about purchasing his land. We
are hoping to hear from this land owner letting us know how much it will
cost to acquire the 3,000 meters squared. This land addition will be
such a blessing towards our endeavor.
Community: Community is an important focus of our time here in
'Nam. We want to be intentional about our time, making sure we are
getting to know the people around us and allowing them to get to know
us. We want to make sure that we are not just a group of white people
moving into the village looking to open up an orphanage. We want to feel
at home, and we want the village to feel like we are a part of them. We
have made several friends including the children who come to English
class, people who live around us in the village, as well as business
people who work in Mang Thit. We want to continue to get to know many
more people so that as we establish ourselves more and more here, we
will have friends who are willing to work alongside of us.
Fundraising: We are currently in the process of formulating 6
separate fundraisers. We are going to be rolling them out in waves so
make sure you keep an eye out for what is going on. We are going to be
fundraising for 2 different projects, building and feeding, as well as
our general operating costs. We would love for you to be involved with
each of these fundraisers so stay tuned to see how you can help.
Language acquisition: Vietnamese is not an easy language
to learn to say the least. It is a tonal language which means each word
can have 3 or more meanings depending on the tone of your voice as you
pronounce it. Heather has been practicing lots and lots with everyone
she meets in order to try to get the tones down. She has a phrase book
that she has been learning words from as well as practicing with our
translator and house family.
50 days down and so much done, 50 days to go and so much more to accomplish yet!
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 8/5/2011
Her hand is heavy as it lands on my shoulder. I look around
to see her smiling face. She greets me with Xin Chau Heat Her! I can't help but
smile under the weight of her hand. Her hands are so heavy. As I look at her
life I learn. Her hands have come down
heavy on small boys bottoms. Her hands have been heavy laden in the rice fields
for days on end. Her hands are heavy holding her son's sleeping body. Her hands
have grown heavy as they picked chom chom. Her hands are heavy as they prepare
kilo after kilo of rice. Her hands are heavy on her husbands back encouraging
and comforting him. Her hands are heavy with the father's love. Her hands are
heavy with a desire to share joy with the people around her. Her hands are so
heavy.
The first few days I was here I was shocked by the heaviness
of Sen's hands. I almost winced every time she slapped my back. Having been
here for a while I have come to appreciate the absolute love that resides in
those hands. I have come to anxiously await her arrival when her heavy hand
will land yet again on my shoulder- encouraging, loving, radiating joy. I find
myself praying that my hands can portray so much love, encourage those around
me to greatness and exude a joy that changes lives.
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 8/1/2011
Twice in the bible Jesus feeds the masses.
Twice, compassion rises up and compels Jesus and His disciples to break bread and multiply what was had in order to feed and care for all of those in attendance.
We are searching for ways to leave a meaningful impact during our 100 days here in Mang Thit.
One area of need that we have come across is the simple provision of food. Having 3 square meals a day is something that many people of Mang Thit enjoy, but not all.
Mang Thit sports a population of over 101,000. The average income for a person working in the Mekong Delta hovers around $300 US dollars. That's less than $1 a day. Think about that for a second.
Many of the children cannot go to school because they cannot afford it. Many do not eat but once or twice a day. Not much can be done when a person's income is less than $1 a day.
Take a moment and think about what YOU can do on $1 a day.
Vietnam Orphans Hope Foundation wants to make a difference today. We want to start now in changing the outlook in people's lives. We want to give people hope; we want to help them where they need it most.
VOHF wants to start a feeding program that is going to help provide meals for the people in the immediate area of Mang Thit. We are hoping that this feeding program grows and starts to impact more people in the area so that we can help ease the burden of having to feed a family.
What does that look like? We want to start off with providing a bag of food to 40 families in need.
Items that we are including in our Food Bags:
20kg bag of rice
1 bottle of cooking oil
1kg of sugar
1 box of crackers
1 box of noodles
1 bag of laundry detergent
We are going to start off small, spreading the word about the feeding program, and expand in bags served as we see growth. Our team will be here until September 25th, and after that we will pass off the program in its entirety to a couple here in the community that we have been working with.
We are looking to raise the money to get the program started, approximately $1000 for the first month, then to continue raising money through donations to keep the program running. What can your donation do? $20 provides one family food for one whole month. That means your donation of $100 will provide 5 families with food for 1 month!!!
5 FAMILIES!!!
$1 a day is such a little amount. Imagine what your $25 can do. $50! Or even $100 dollars. The lives that will be impacted through donations will be dramatically affected. They will KNOW where their next meal will be coming from. They will wake up hungry, but have hope for they know that a meal will be provided for them today. You can make that possible.
YOU can make that possible.
How? Simply click here to donate. Follow the simple steps from there and know that the donation that you are making is going to impact a kid's life. You are providing meals for the elderly with that click. You are giving a hungry child a bowl of rice and meat with that click. You are giving hope with that click.
We pray that not only do you click on the above link in order to make a donation, but that you also help us out in a second way. Spreading the word. Getting the word out to as many people as possible about the things that VOHF is doing here in southern Vietnam is very important. And it is very easy for you to help. You can click share on the Facebook post that you found this link from and post it on your wall for all to see. Or you can copy the link of this blog and post it on your wall. Maybe there are some people in specific that you really want to see this blog, copy and paste the link on their wall so that they receive it directly. By doing so, you will help us to expand our reach to 1,000's of people who we would never be able to come in contact with.
We thank each and every one of you for clicking and sharing. You can follow us at our website or through this blog address to keep up to date with the things are going on in Vietnam as well as with the feeding center. Thank you so much for helping us impact lives here in Mang Thit, Vietnam!!!
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 7/23/2011
One day last week we had a meeting with a government official here in Mang Thit. As we were walking home Linh, our translator, and I fell back behind the pack to discuss our meeting. As we walked a sudden storm came up. It poured and poured. Linh, Hang and I sought shelter at a little pink gas station on the river. Bill and Daina had made it far enough ahead of us that they would continue on to the house. We stood under the awning and waited for the rain to subside. I asked Hang about the effects of the rainy season in Mang Thit. How often the river flooded. He told me the water may breach the bank in November, the late part of the rainy season, but the flood would not do much damage because of the road that had been built several years ago. The downpour got progressively worse and we finally retreated inside the shop. I spied a door on the other side of the shop that opened up to the river for approaching boats to pull alongside. I made my way over there and stood to watch the storm on the river. As I stood in the massive doorway I could not even see the other side of the river. I wondered what would happen if I fell in at this point. I laughed and dared myself to inch closer to the edge. The shop-owner came over and stood with me. She seemed entertained by my awe. After a few minutes I went to sit with Hang and Linh. He asked me if it rained like this in America and I got to tell him the story about my father and me walking through a hurricane one summer in Angleton. That was fun, I love to tell stories. Just about as soon as I was finished telling my story the rain stopped and Hang decided it would be safe enough for us to continue home.
As we made our way we found the beginnings of the damage this storm had done to our community in a period of only about 30 minutes. Together we moved limbs off the road. Linh picked up a bag full of fruit from one limb that had fallen. We continued sweeping small branches off the road with our feet all the way home. At home we found that our neighbor in front had a tree fallen on top of his house. We had a broken window. Our neighbor to the right had a tree fall across her fence and at Hang's house their kitchen area, a grass thatch roof had actually fallen in the storm. We got changed into work clothes and got to work. Our neighbor was already on top of the roof cutting limbs off of his fallen tree. Daina, Linh and I went to work moving the limbs to the back of the yard where they could be burned later. In the road Hang and Bill chopped away limbs from that fallen tree and eventually moved it to the side of the road. We then made our way over to Hang's house to take apart the roof over their kitchen area so it could be repaired and put back up in the coming days.
As I sit here today longing that the rain would go ahead and pour and make our coffee hour even more sweet, I watch the clouds roll on by. The clouds brought some relief from the heat. I guess I can settle for that much for the walk back to the house.
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 7/20/2011
It seems like ages ago that we sought shelter in that
increasingly narrow alley behind the shop where we were buying the sim card for
our phone when the sudden downpour began. This shop was the closest shelter we
could find. It was our first day in Vietnam. The rain was surprisingly
hard and fast. The downpour came with little warning, lasted only a few minutes
and ended just as suddenly it had begun. During that first rain I felt a mix of
excitement and dread. Is this what every day is going to be like?
Now as I sit in Mang Thit at a little outdoor shop that
serves coffee, my desire for the rain to pour down might just surpass my desire
for the ice cold coffee I just hiked 10 minutes to get. It was incredibly hot
as Bill and I walked into town. Bill makes mention of his back sweating under
his back pack- he chose to bring the small one today in an effort to avoid the
sweaty back- I laugh, but the mere mention of sweat makes me all too aware of
the sweat that is now beading up on my forehead and upper lip.
The rain has become our friend, our nearly constant
companion. We have at least some rain most days. I think of the 27 days we have
been on this trip, we have not had rain 3 days. Some days it is a quick
downpour over a few minutes and other days it drizzles off and on all day. When
the rain comes it is welcomed in with a sudden and oh-so-noticeable decrease in
temperature of at least 7 degrees. The breeze begins to blow and we watch as the
coconut trees in front of our house begin to sway. We get excited knowing that
our friend has come and brought relief from the ever present heat. During this
period there is a quick rush to get all the clothes in that are hanging outside
and to cover motos and firewood. We step out onto the porch to watch as this
sweet rain pours down. Here it comes. I feel the rain on my sleeveless arm- it
actually feels cold. It is so refreshing after having only felt my own sweat
for so many hours. We get this sweet relief every day.
Today we sit here with Nguyen and notice the looming clouds.
They are dark and grey. They sit ominously on the east side of town. They seem
to promise relief is coming. Hope grows in my heart. I point to them and ask
her "mua? Mua tam?" she shakes her head to say no. Hmm- did she understand my
accent? It is not raining right now- maybe that is why she said no. I will
choose to believe that while we sit here reading, watching, learning, it will
rain.
The forecast says the end of this blog will be in within the week...
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 7/11/2011
She is patient. She is constantly slowing down her very busy
life and stopping her activities to take time to show me about her life. Even
better is she often brings me along with her to go about her daily life. She is
encouraging. She is loving. She has the best smile and even better are her
hugs. She is kind. She is a teacher. She is a sister. She is a daughter. She
teaches me about culture. She shows me when I am being culturally insensitive.
She climbs trees with me. She laughs with me. She teaches me Vietnamese phrases
in the way that has proven most effective (she often repeats words and phrases
5-6 times until I pronounce it correctly). She introduces me to friends and
neighbors that could be our friends. Her name is Hong. She lives in the house
directly behind ours. She is 11 years old.
She is a part of the extended family
that we live with. She plays, she fishes with her brother, she climbs trees,
she eats fruit out of the trees in the yard, she learns to cook and clean, she
does laundry, she enjoys making jello
molds, she can be bossy, she has a hard time sitting through a full church
service, she is funny, she does what her mama tells her to do, sometimes she
gets frustrated with grandma's directions, she treasures drops of candy that
other kids bring by, she changes clothes 3-4 times a day (I think it is because
they shower that often to get cooled off), she smiles a LOT. She is my teacher.
I see her every day for hours and she teaches me Vietnamese language, culture
and reminds about what it is to be a little girl. I am so glad that we are
already friends and can't wait to see how our relationship develops over the
next 2 ½ months.
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Posted in 100 Days In Vietnam by Heather Reed on 7/4/2011
When we got to Vietnam almost two weeks ago, I was a basketful of emotion. I was excited to be back, anxious to see my boys, nervous about our time in Mang Thit, overwhelmed by God's goodness for allowing me to come back to Vietnam, sad to leave home again, and excited about the new beginning for Vietnam Orphans Hope Foundation here in Mang Thit.
As we spent time in Saigon we got accustomed to the new time zone, spent time with old friends, introduced Bill to Yogurt Space and Pizza Hut Vietnam style, met some new friends and of course made a couple of visits to go see our kids at the orphanage in Benh Thanh district.
As we make the bus journey over there the first day Daina and I are on the edge of our seats looking for landmarks. Remembering the bridges we crossed, looking for the "car dealership" that marked our stop. We do not see it but Tim, our friend, tells us to get off. We recognize the bridge- we had crossed last time we had passed it up. As we stand there I have monarchs flying around in my stomach. I am excited, nervous, anxious ahh!
Tim calls the house and they say one of the kids would come to direct us to the right way. As I see two older girls approaching I think I recognize one of them. She is the one April would always sit with and do beadwork. Oh wow this is really happening! I don't even know what to do with myself. I feel awkward. She quickly takes my hand and it seems she remembers me. We walk to the house hand in hand.
As we approach the entrance I brace myself. They may not be here anymore. They may not remember you. You are different. They are different. Don't have expectations. I kicked off my chacos under knocking knees. I walk in.
My eyes scan the wall of children ignoring the toddlers and smaller children that are already grabbing onto my legs. Where are they? Where are my boys? I quickly find the youngest, Tai. I bee line for him. He had that amazing smile that I had fallen in love with. It takes him a minute to remember but once he does I get the best hug I have ever experienced. I take him over to show him pictures of our time together before. As he looks I continue scanning the room for the other two.
I see him standing over on the other side of the room. He is playing with another boy his around his age. This is Tien's older brother. He is deaf. I start to make my way over to him. As I get close I see his face light up and he quickly shows me his muscles and shows me he is ready to wrestle. He remembers me! That was pretty much all we had done during my time there before. We wrestled. I give him a big hug and enjoy having him in my arms for a moment.
I keep scanning the room watching the doors anxiously hoping for the other boy to walk in. We have been here about 15 minutes now and I had not seen him. I feel a little disappointed. I finally take the picture I had of the three of them and show it to the mom. I point to him and asked where he is. She tells me he is not there any more that he has gone back to his hometown to live with some family. Oh ok. Well that is a little disappointing. Probably a good thing that he is back with family. That is generally where we would like to see children. I wish I could see him. I am disappointed. I am a little worried that he may have returned to a bad situation. At least I know though. I will not be seeing him today.
I can focus on today.
We play. We climb on each other. We laugh. We learn they have been learning English. One boy does Daina's hair up with a blue flower. An average of 6 children at a time sit on Bill admiring his flaming red hair on his arms, face and head. We read books- kids sit on our laps and read us their books in Vietnamese. We watch as they perform a couple of songs and dances for us. Mostly we just enjoy sitting with them.
As we prepare to leave I could not believe I just took all this time to get over here and now I am leaving again. Once again it feels so unnatural to leave. It feels so normal to be here with these kids in this home.
Daina and Bill reassured me that we would visit again.
Can we just talk about how much I love these guys? Seriously! How does that even happen? We have been here almost 2 weeks. Still a basketful of emotions, even more amazed by how good God is for letting me be here and live this life. I love my life! Thank you for all you have done to make this happen.
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