Orphan Life

Orphan life- was.... not at all what I expected.

This morning, I thought to myself, "Wait a second... I have never ever met an orphan before." I guess I thought I did, because I've met adopted orphans before, and I've watched the musical Annie 20 times, so I thought I knew all about how orphans scrub the floors and sing "Hard-Knock-Life" 24-7.

Nope. They don't do that.

The first thing I noticed was how clean it was. We had to change our shoes- it was so clean. No dust, no dirt, nothing. And- it smelled like taco soup, not feces. And the walls were pink and yellow with paintings of Disney characters and smiling faces, not white prison walls. And- the staff was friendly, and motherly, and kind to the children, holding them and hugging them and being patient when the children went slower than the staff would have preferred- not yelling and smacking their faces and whipping them into slave labor. And there was a music therapy room, and a physical therapy room, speech therapy, an autism specialist area, several specialized social workers, plus certified nurses and a kitchen staff too. They even have a daycare, a preschool, and some apartments where kids about to be adopted make a transition into family life. It's very well heated, the kids are all in clean clothes, and the children's faces are clean- not snotty or crusty or anything. Not one drunk Ms. Hannigan.

That's how I know I've watched too many movies...

Actually, orphan life seems... pretty good. Did I just say that? The only downside, and it's a HUGE downside- don't get me wrong- is having to stay in the same room all day every day every year, and having an overwhelming child to adult ratio. There's lots of love- just maybe not enough of it to go around.

So- I'm glad I came. I've got some wuv! There's lots of different rooms- and the 5 of us interns each get to work in a different one. There's a room with severely sick adults, infant babies, toddler babies, healthy kids ages 2-8, and severely disable adults. We rotated around and tried half an hour in each today. I liked all of them. The kids were happy, they laughed easily. They liked to be touched. I held a lot of hands and said the one word I'm really awesome at in Romanian, "Buna" (hello). There was a moment when I first entered the infant room, where I kinda got teary- all these children are children of God, and He loves them so much, and I bet He wishes they could have families.

I think I knew which room I wanted to be assigned to when I saw the kids waiting for me at the glass door when I walked up. All 10 of them. The room with healthy 2-8 year olds. They all want to talk to you- and I sure wanted to talk to all of them too. There was music, and so I asked them to dance with me, and we had a dance party. Then we played chase and they all chased me around. There was a moment when I was on the ground, two kids were on my shoulders, and another rammed into my lap. I loved it.

Dad- this is the part where I felt like you. All these kids simultaneously attacking you. What do you do? Body slam them, of course. Playfully take them off you and "slam" (gently, of course, but with enough force to be fun and make them laugh) them into the ground. I was in my element. It all ended too soon. I can't wait to see them in the morning. I love them already.