Beijing Orphanage

Agape Family House and Outreach Center

LangFeng, China 

10:25am 

I am having a cup of tea, and taking half and hour to write out my thoughts in the guest house of the orphanage where I am staying. 

I just finished teaching my morning lesson to 4 children. It was our first lesson together. The kids haven't had a teacher in a while, since theirs quit, so they were very anxiously awaiting  my arrival with their sharpened pencils and blank notebooks when I came in the classroom. 

We learned: what is your name? my name is Faith. what is your name? 

how are you? I am fine. how are you?

we drew and learned the names for panda, dog, cat, bird, monkey and fish. 

we drew and learned the names for parts of the face, and which included counting our teeth. this led to a funny bilingual discussion of how many teeth someone had swallowed while eating, how many were pulled out, and who had the most. 

it was fun. 

Ned is in the bakery, as today the teenagers work all day baking bread, cookies, muffins and cakes to sell. All the orphans here have "brittle bone" disease, which can be mild or severe. some can walk, others are in wheel chairs, some you can't even tell. but most likely, none of these children will be adopted. 

Keith and Cheryl, the directors, had started a cottage industry to give these teenagers a skill when they  have to go out into the world. Their skill is baking. Simon, a sweet boy with one hand is working with Ned today. Ned's going to teach him how to make bread. 

yesterday I held the baby Sophia almost all day. The nurses don't like me to hold her so much I think because she gets used to me, and when I leave she cries, and makes noise and then someone has to pick her up. If nobody holds her, then she stops crying after a day or two. This is the way they like it. Ned says not to let the nurses bother me, and to hold her all I want. So after I have my cup of tea, and write this, I will probably go find her. 

here is a pic of me and her, when we were about to go eat dinner. I'll take some more pics today and tomorrow. Sophia just had an xray that confirmed that she has no joints... no kneecaps, elbows, hips, or collarbones. She's 1 year old, but she's so small. Her clothing size is 0-3 months! 

here she is. what a cutie!