On Monday we flew in to San Juan, Costa Rica and then we had our first Costa Rican meal. Denny's!! It was late and right by the airport. ha ha We then drove about an hour to San Ramon and got checked in to our hotel.
Tuesday we went to the orphanage there in San Ramon. This was a hard day for me. I had never been to an orphanage and I didn't know how it would affect me. I was a little bit afraid to go, if I am completely honest. When we got there they had a big door, like what I had pictured the big, blue door in front of Home of Hope to be. The property was surrounded by chain link fence for security purposes. We walked down a concrete slope to something like a concrete basketball court. We saw a few children here and there and they were very curious about us. Once they realized we were there to do something for them, they were very happy and open to us. There were about 9 children in this orphanage. Some of the girls ran up to get hugs and the boys showed off on the two bicycles they had. We started out with a story for all the kids. A lady from our missionary's church came with us and told them a story which ended in telling the kids about Jesus. Then we broke out into the different activities we had for the kids.
Paul and I helped some boys make God's Eyes.
Some of the ladies painted the girls fingernails and then let the girls paint their nails. Others helped some children make bookmarks with their fingerprints on them. A couple of our girls did face painting too. It was sort of like a vacation bible school.
After this we played with the kids for a while. Paul started giving back rides, which wasn't the smart move on his part. You know, since he is old and falling apart.
The little girl did NOT want to get down. When Paul tried to put her down she would wrap her legs around his neck and hold on for dear life.
We brought ice cream and let each child pick out their own stuffed animal.
I knew there was a baby inside and I really tried to avoid going inside. I didn't know if I could handle it but how do you pass up showing just a little love to this baby. There were moments when I was looking down into the crib making silly noises that my vision was so blurred by tears I couldn't see her. Then a friend of mine came in a caught me holding her. I told her not to take the picture but she did it anyway.
It physically hurt me to put her down and walk away. I remember every bit of me wanting to turn around but I had to keep telling myself to keep walking.
This turned out to be a longer post than what I thought it would so I'll end here at the end of our time at the first orphanage.
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