Orphanage

On Monday, Chase & I went to an orphanage here in Xiangtan with another American couple.  It was a lot of fun.  The orphanage had about 40 children as well as an old-folks home.  We were only able to play with the children for a few minutes, but what a precious time it was.  I loved making them laugh....they had the cutest little gigles.  In one room there were about 15 cribs for these little tikes.  The "Moms" of the orphanage love those kids very much, you could tell.  But I my heart still ached for them and I wanted to bring what happiness I could.  So we played peek-a-boo and tickled and laughed together.  They were so sweet.  We were only in that room less than a half hour and the kids had to stay in their cribs, but I think they had fun.  They were such sweet spirits (many of them had physical and/or mental handicaps) and it was evident to both Chase and me that Heavenly Father knows and loves these little ones.  He does not leave them alone; He blesses them with happiness and with a special knowledge that He lives.  How blessed we all are to have the same knowledge and comfort.

This little guy LOVED to be tickled!

When we first saw these, we didn't know what they were.  Why do you  need troughs next to the stairs in an elementary school?  But we learned that they are slides for the kids to go down...you know, stairs are too boring and difficult, so why not slide down?  I think Chase was a little bummed he was too big to fit.