Day 2 of our 6 day countdown

Last night after dinner (which was very interesting for reasons I won't go into here in the blog) I decided to transfer some hand written notes which I had jotted down during the last trip, to the computer. It seems the schedule was so busy that I hadn't had the time to do anything like that. Anyway, I came across a piece that I wrote probably on one of the plane rides, but this one verse really struck me as something that truly describes my current endeavor, both here in town and also in the orphanage:

Feeding the hungry, provide for the poor.

Work and discomfort have you here in store.

Light fills the darkness and shows all His love.

Serve in the field, but we're fed from above.

Now, in preparation for going to the orphanage today I decided to load up on some goods. In the suite, the kids have a Sony Playstation 2 that they share, so I went to my favorite game vendor in the market and picked out his best 3 age appropriate games (all for less than the price of one used game at home). I also found a new movie they didn't have, and then headed down to the sweets isle. I stopped and collected an assortment of candies and a bag of cookies. Then last, but not least, I bought some sun flower seeds at the grocery store.

When I arrived the weather was nice so many of the boys were outside. We played a little bit of futbol (that's soccer for those who don't know), but then decided to go inside. That is when Vova opened the bag and found all of the loot. Boy was everybody excited! New games, hurray! They all wanted to run inside and find the custodian so she could unlock the Playstation. Inside they all had a lot of fun as they each got a chance to do something new.

Later, Vova passed out all of the candy and the cookies, but kept the sunflower seeds with us -- it was just a single bag. But then later during quiet time, many of the boys were just hanging around so I decided to pass some of them out. After their afternoon snack and all those sweets, they were all really interested in sharing some of the sunflower seeds (they were even the unsalted kind). I am truly amazed when I see how such little things can mean so much to these kids. These simple things that we take for granted on a daily basis mean something completely different to these kids who have no real opportunity to control their current situation.

This was day 2 which means there are 4 more days left. As the number of days gets smaller, I feel like they will also feel shorter. I hope that we will be able to spend the time wisely and keep the activities enjoyable. There are so many possibilities and I look forward to each new day.

Thanks again, and keep believing that all your prayers are worth the effort.

Jeff