Flex & Obey

First of all - baby, call me! I need to hear your voice and although I can receive calls, I can't seem to make any! I also can't seem to be able to check email. Just remember it's 9 hours ahead here! Now that I have said that ...

If you start humming a familiar hymn, you're right on the money. First of all, this entry is a day late because yesterday, I could not find the power plug to the Mac because it had been mistakenly placed into a suitcase that was locked in a building at an orphanage on the Gulf of Finland. Part of me wanted to file the insurance claim just so I could have the joy of explaining how it had been lost while transporting 60 miniature barking dogs to orphans on the Gulf Of Finland!

What a remarkable experience. I have the awesome and unique privilege of watching a group of people go through a metamorphosis. My prayers have been answered in so many ways. This group has, is, becoming a different form of what they thought they were. Every night we debrief the day. We do a high-low and a feelings check. I pass around an object (last night it was a bottle of bubbles, tonight it was a bottle of bug-repellent!) and whoever has it has to share their high for the day, their low for the day and then a one word feeling to describe their feelings. Tonight, it was all grins & giggles - for the most part. People expressing how wonderful it is to love and work with the kids. How smooth it is all going - how they are growing and being challenged.

Last night was a completely different story. Tears. Weeping. Sadness. Broken hearts. Even amongst those that had been here two years ago, so much has changed. Some for the better, some for the worse, and some just ... changed.

Orphanage #14 - the older kids looks like a different place. New soccer (football!) court, volleyball court & basketball court all made from a soft resin. Feels like rubber. Great to run & play on. Buildings have fresher paint, but most importantly, the kids are different & the director is different. He seems to genuinely love them and they are better behaved. Even one of the kids from two years ago - Kosta - has been great. Awesome smile, great spirit, great kid! What a work God has done! I'm embarrassed to say that I was stunned when we pulled up. I'll tell you more later, but know things are very different.

Then there's orphanage #40 - the younger kids. Wow. And not a good wow. Not stunned, but overwhelmed. Fewer kids at both, but where the older kids have grown, the younger ones seem ... sadder? No, that's not the right word. Just, a little less energy than last time. Very few kids are here that were here then - less than 10. And no, "Pinky" is gone and I haven't the courage to ask where she is.

The kids at 40 seem worse. But, we have been given access to some of the kids that we could not completely engage in 2006. We are working with all the kids this year - including the very sick and very severe ones. One group has kids that are the most severely handicapped. Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, CP, and other challenges are there and these kids are not only non-verbal, some of them are almost impossible to control. The first day was exceptionally hard. Tears from everyone - including me. Too many stories to tell here (it's already too long!) but I will tell you this. Rachelle, Byron, Sarah B., Brandon, Michelle, Tad and myself are working with these most challenged children. When we walked away from their area (we're being segregated more this year), we all felt as though we had survived a plane crash. Nothing worked as planned. These kids can't color, can't sing, can't follow the story - but they still love bubbles!

Anyway, so yesterday, we walked away completely spent emotionally & physically. All were weeping, and all were wondering how we would survive. Our lead translator & guide, Masha (that's Tzarina Masha) said "Perhaps we should allow the groups to rotate so they wont be so worn out?" Not a bad thought. We were shot and terrified and wondering what secret energy source might be out there to allow us to survive this week. So, I turned to this team and asked about this idea, and I've never been so proud of a group of people in my life.

EVERYONE, every single member of this group said "Absolutely not."
"These are our kids - we love them, they're ours."
"We're not leaving them!"
I looked at Masha, with tears in my eyes, and simply turned away. What fools would do this to themselves? No language connection, no way to communicate, children that exhaust you instantly (we're talking a more than two to one ratio here) none of the plans will corral or entertain them, none of us owe them anything or have even met them before, so why the dedication? What makes them our kids? The love of Christ makes them our kids. The secret energy source is God. The ability to adapt and endure (today was awesome!) is the power of the Holy Spirit.

When I turned back to Masha, I told her that the team would not leave even if I asked them to - none of them would. All of the teams (there are four of them) are equally dedicated to their group of children. All of them are, quite frankly, in love. Do I believe in love at first sight? Yes, I do. It happened between me and my wife and it happed in a small Russian wood, on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.