Hugs and more hugs!

We swear...the road to the orphanage gets longer every year. As we got closer the energy in the bus was absolutely electric. The last stretch was like a winter wonderland as snow clung to trees and the road was covered in white. 

After being greeted with tea and treats, we walked out to kids looking for familiar faces. Many found who they were looking for, and quickly found new friends. Hugs were abundant and all promises made to give hugs out for you were kept many times over. Yet others were asking where their other American friends were...many of you are well loved by many!

We moved into a big room to introduce ourselves. There were 4 graduates at the orphanage today: Pavel, Alyosha, Nadia and Sasha. Months of prayers were answered when Marca walked in and saw Nadia, who she sponsored for 3 years before she graduated last year and moved onto the Medical Academy. There were happy tears on both sides when they saw each other and blessings of long conversations were amazing.

Then we split into 3 different groups to get to know the kids on a more personal basis. Autumn and Rich were impressed when the older kids stayed to hang out instead of get distracted elsewhere. Melanie and Marca loved that all of the kids stayed engaged and wanted to play games. Becky and Stephanie had a blast with their energetic and competitive kids while laughing continuously while playing group games.

After lunch we did rotation activities where Marca and Stephanie did the lesson on the fiery furnace. We talked about the miracle of Shadrach, Meshach and Abendago surviving the fire after not going along with the crowd and worshipping the golden idol. Many of the kids automatically thought it was God in the fire with them, because God does miracles and saves us. Melanie and Autumn had a favorite quote from craft where they did a stained glass craft with the 4 figures in the fire. Dima S. said, 'I am going to hang this by my bed and wait for Jesus to come.'

We just finished packing for tomorrow's activities and are weighing it to see what it is because we packed the blue beast full...Rich says it is 65 lbs. Wow! 

It is a collective mix of excitement and relief that every one of us feels like today was an incredible day! We are all waiting with bated breathe for the delicious rolls at morning tea in Velikoretskoye...but more so for our next day with the kids.

We loved the comments on yesterdays blog, and enjoyed them at team meeting tonight! Thank you! 

Spachoina nocheya!