I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be the craft guru of this amazing Kazakhstan journey. Today was the first day we were able to spend extended time with the children at the orphanages, and yep, you guessed it, my job was craft girl.
At the first orphanage we encountered children with different learning disabilities. I don't know why I am so amazed that we packed the appropriate crafts and activities for just the occasion. (Can you say "thank you Jesus!"????) Bubbles were perfect! From four years up to seventeen years, they were loving blowing bubbles and catching them all at once, it was a beautiful sight to see. Next, scratch crosses. As I would show them how to scratch the paper with the wooden stick I would make a heart and scratch off the center and the beautiful colors would show through. Well, they liked the colors so much they just scratched the black wax off the entire cross and held it up for me to take a picture of them with their new creation! Again, it was a beautiful sight to see. Then, it was time for me to switch hats and become parachute girl. Aiman taught me how to tell the children to raise the parachute up and then down in Kazak. I already have forgotten how to say it, but I must have been saying it correctly at the time because they would raise it on my command and then lower it when I spoke again. There was one little guy who stood next to me but wouldn't grab the parachute. He was four and he would belly laugh each time the parachute would rise above his head. The joy on this sweet boy's face was priceless. Even his eyes were smiling! After the crafts were finished and the parachute was put away, it was time to hand out tennis shoes. The children were thrilled to say the least! Only one problem, we didn't have enough!! So it was time to go to the "Bazar." (How bizarre, how bizarre...)
We walked through this maze of a market until we were deep into the area where the cheese is hidden....oops, I mean until we found the tennis shoes at a decent price. Aiman talked the man down from 2900 tenge per pair to 850 tenge. Just trust me when I tell you that is a very good deal, especially when we needed to purchase 30 more pairs!! We returned to the orphanage and handed out the new shoes. Then, we headed to orphanage number 2!
The second orphanage did not have special needs children. We decided to pull out the slap bracelets and markers for a little do it yourself slap bracelet artwork, then, the "God is Love" crosses were handed out for some gluing fun. Next, the ultimate craft......God's Eyes! Who would have ever thought yarn and popsicle sticks could be so fun?!!?!?! I would show the kids how to do the craft and I would say; "over, and around.....over, and around....over, and around" until they started saying it, in ENGLISH! Some of the kids would repeat everything I said and mimic my hand motions, they even mimicked my laugh! It was comical! It reminds me that love is simply the same in any language!
I have to give props to the men of this group, they played games in this 95 degree heat for 2 1/2 hours straight at the first orphanage and 2 hours straight at the second orphanage. A shower never sounded so good when we arrived back at the hotel. There were so many boys who do not get a male influence playing games with Chris, Eddie and Chandler, they are my heroes. What awesome male role models for those young boys to see.
How could I post without saying anything about Jenny, Liz or Aiman??!?!? Jenny is the ultimate friend finder. If the orphans had a facebook account, Jenny would have 180 new friend requests! She has been amazing!! Liz, oh Liz, what a fantastic leader. She is strong and full of Christ's love. What can I say about Aiman?!? She know like 280 different languages (maybe not quite that many), she is gracious and absolutely precious. Wow, I am so grateful to have such amazing people around me, next time you see me you can just call me blessed.
1 comment:
Stacey,
Year, I am so proud of you for taking this trip to Kaz. It is a very special place for my family and one we think about every day. Taraz was to be my first destination for adoption, but God had other plans. Regann and I will be reading along with you all each day to see how things go at the different orphanages. Those children are very special to God, I am sure you already know that.
Can't wait to hear more about your trip
Kirsten (vortex 1)
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