What an amazing day!
Today was the first day with the kids at Nova Vodolaga orphanage. We've known these kids for two summers at Radooga camp. So walking into their orphanage and seeing all the familiar faces was exciting and very welcoming. The children were excited to see us also! It's unbelievable to see how much they've grown in the 6 months since we last saw them.
Introductions were made with new midtown team members and kids that weren't at camp this summer. Then we quickly jumped into a full day of activities. Of course we had an opening program with music and silly games. The kids were full of energy for craft time and rec games. We made crafts with ornaments, Christmas cards, jewelery making, and paper football. But by far the craziest and messiest craft was decorating Christmas cookies. The kids had never seen colored icing before and enjoyed piling a mountain of sprinkles on each cookie. We then played relay races, board games, cards and Wii. It's funny how kids can play simple games like keep away with a balloon for hours and not get tired. But they crave the atention and need some way to get rid of their energy in the winter. (way to go Lori, Barbara, and Betsy for playing balloon hot potato for over an hour! It looked intense!). Later in the day there were fireworks, gifts, evening program and hang out time.
It was such a wonderfully blessed day!
When we met these kids 2 years ago it took several days to get them to participate in our activities. Today the kids met us with smiles and hugs, eager to see what we had planned. Each kid has something so special about him/her and it's such a blessing to get to see their individual talents and encourage them.
But probably the best moment of the day was having the "older" boys help push the bus out of the snow and halfway down the road! Tomorrow we head to Zelenyi Gai orphanage. Pray that tomorrow is also an amazing day with the kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment