Beautiful............

As I am typing this entry I am listening to the song Beautiful by Mercy Me, and the lyrics are bringing tears to my eyes. If you are not familiar with the song, the chorus goes like this:

You're beautiful, you're beautiful. You were made for so much more than all of this. You're beautiful, you're beautiful. You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His. Yes, you are beautiful in His eyes.

Today was a day spent seeing the beauty in each one of these precious children. The teens on our team are especially amazing me, because they do not hesitate to interact and snuggle with what appears to be the "untouchables" of these children. Yes, there were a few tears today, but we feel very privileged to be placed in this position, of sharing God's love!

We began the day by bringing out the shades! We remembered how much the children loved our sunglasses last year, so this trip we remembered to bring them with us, and I'm glad we did, because they were a hit, as you can see. I spent most of the morning learning from the German physical therapist who works with a program called LIGHT. We hope to partner with her in the near future. There are some children that are in need of surgery and some she wants to get into foster care. The most exciting part was that she had an update for me on a child we had lost track of from the second year we were here. He has cerebral palsy, and last we had heard he had surgery to help him walk and that he was now in foster care. Well now we know that Min Bo, otherwise known as Timothy, is doing wonderfully, walks and talks, and in with a wonderful foster family. Not only that, but he and other foster care children have impacted the families and community around them. How amazing how these orphans, the unwanted, are being used by the father!

In the afternoon we took advantage of the unseasonal mild weather and took the children outside. Last year we bought the padding that is the outdoor play area. Hopefully in the near future there will be more toys in the area than just the merry go round, but it is a good start.

The good news at the orphanage was that the water is back on for the bottom floor. The bad news is that the water is going off for 24 hours at our hotel, beginning tonight at 8:00 pm, for some work. We are coming back a bit earlier this afternoon so that we can shower before we head over for Wednesday evening study at the local church. Please keep us in your thoughts. We definitely feel them over here!