At the Orphanage

Where to begin? I guess the beginning…our team of six people collected in our hotel lobby with all of our belongings. First we put several suitcases and boxes in storage at the hotel since it did not need to go to the orphanage. We will pick it up on our return trip to Hanoi. Then we piled the hotel lobby full with all of the stuff to go to the orphanage.

Then all these items and ourselves were piled into three mini van taxies to be taken to where our bus for the trip was parked (it was too large to drive down the street of the hotel). There we loaded everything into a full size tour bus. Yes, this bus was for six people, our translator, and the bus driver.

The three hour trip to the orphanage was uneventful. We saw beautiful countryside along the way. At the orphanage we unpacked the bus, found our living quarters for the week, checked on the babies and toddlers and handicapped children, and settled in for an exciting week. We laid out all of the items that we brought to give to the orphanage and to use as activities with the children and to make improvements on the property. This picture is just some of those items. (Thanks to all who made these purchases possible or who donated the actual items.)

As the school-age children began arriving home from school we were excited to get some time getting to know them.

We started working on giving the children eye exams to see who might need to have professional eye exams. We worked on the eye exams over the next few days to get all of the school-age children tested and some of the Sisters. Even Father Joseph asked to be tested…he needs to keep his glasses!

That evening the children put on an amazing program for us after dinner. It included children from toddler through middle school age. They performed many traditional dances and music up to modern (Michael Jackson).

The remainder of the days were filled with cleaning and painting 7 of the children’s rooms with the help of orphanage staff and hired Vietnamese workers,

Taking samples of water for testing,

Playing frisbee and ball,

Bubbles with the toddlers and handicapped children,

Holding lots of babies,

Making bracelets, bracelets, and more bracelets,

Making special photo books decorated with lots of stickers and photos of friends, themselves, and our team.

After our last dinner, we gathered the children for a couple of hours of special time. They decided they wanted our team to sign their photo books. So we had a night filled with “yearbook signing”, talking, holding little ones, and avoiding saying goodbye.
The next morning we packed up a much smaller amount of items and loaded up on a much smaller bus. The children all gathered (except the elementary children who had to go to school on Sunday!) and we had one last photo session and they lined up so we could go down the lines and give hugs. This was so hard! There were lots of tears flowing…Vietnamese and American! Even though communication was limited and sometimes very difficult, relationships were developed. These children will be in our hearts forever. We pray that we touched their hearts in a way that will let them remember how much they are loved.

Well, this is just a brief (I know it’s not been brief) summary of our time at the orphanage. Over the next few days we hope to give you some personal stories…there are many!
Deb

We are here!

Following a ride to the airport from our hubbies, three airplane rides, and a taxi ride through Hanoi, our 30 hour day ended before midnight local time last night. The travel day was really uneventfuly which is the way I like it, although it was long. The best part was the time that we were both needing to try to sleep, but we were approaching Alaska and the skies were clear. So, we stayed awake to enjoy the view then fell asleep after we crossed over the international date line. The Alaska coastline was absolutely gorgeous!

Arriving in Hanoi (with all of our luggage!) we had all of our senses remembering Vietnam. The smell is just “Vietnam” as soon as you exit the plane. The noise of all the people talking loudly and all the horns honking through the streets. The sights of people out all over the streets at 11pm as busy as if it was 11am.  We are definitely in Vietnam.

We both slept about 5 hours last night after organizing our stuff. We will see midday today if that was enough. Today we will hit the streets and re-discover some of the “tastes” of Vietnam. Right now I could enjoy some yummy fresh fruit and tea…I think Melissa is wanting some pho. I might wait til later in the day for some delicious pho. We have two days of shopping for items to take to the orphanage. Pray with us that we find the items that we “want” to take to them and that He lets us know what we “need” to take to them.

So far, no facebook access. We will see if we can improve that soon.

From halfway around the world…Deb

Bags are packed and we’re ready to go!

Tomorrow we will be on our way to Vietnam. Melissa explained in her post below what we will be doing. Last year she and I visited the precious children in the St. An’s orphanage and we are going back to love on them some more – for four days this time! If you look at the July 18th, 2010 post below you will be able to check out the photos of the children we will be visiting. They are precious and we can’t wait to love on them!

Please pray for our journey!
Deb

Sad News

This morning I got the news that my father-in-law, Terry Smith, passed away. He has been struggling with his health for several weeks now. It is very difficult to be half a world away from my family at this time. With the tropical storm here, I will not be able to get to Ohio for the Monday services. Please remember the entire Smith family in your prayers as we remember and miss this very special man.

Everytime we come to Vietnam…

Okay, the first time Melissa came to Vietnam she experienced an earthquake. Her second trip/my first trip, there was a typhoon that effected our ability to visit Ha Long Bay and made our stay longer. This trip (her third/my second) there is a typhoon hitting the entire country! What’s the deal?

We are attempting to go to the bay in the next couple of days, so we are awaiting the weather to see what we can do. We are currently in Hai Phong and we have been assured that we are in a safe place. We have a wonderful english speaking guide who seems to know what he is talking about. If you check out the first link below, you will see how much of the country is effected to some degree. (The second link is a map of where we are.) With the country’s living conditions and how the flooding affects so many people, please pray for Vietnam as a whole as this storm blows through (include us in those prayers, too, please).

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp201003.html#a_topad

http://www.travelpost.com/AS/Vietnam/Hai_Phong/Haiphong/map/2567622

As for our day today, I will give you a brief story. We will write more and post photos (we have alot!) later.

We went to the orphanage in Nam Dinh today. It was a three hour drive from Hanoi on some very rough roads under construction. While there we were entertained and blessed by about 80 lovely children. I could tell so many stories about so many of them, but one stands out…

 A lovely young lady, named Ha, was just lying on the floor smiling at me. I talked to her and her smile got bigger. She is mentally and physically handicapped. She could not speak. She could smile the brightest, happiest smile, though. I asked her age and was told she was 20. I was shocked (she looked much younger) and could only picture my sweet, able bodied, healthy 20 year old Kaley. I wanted to break down crying. But, instead God gave me the strength to tell her about Kaley, even though she couldn’t understand a word I was saying, and touch her arm. It broke my heart. But she seems to be very well cared for and loved. She seemed happy.

More stories to come as we wait out the storm.

HOT…HOT…HOT

I do not think I can begin to explain what the heat here feels like. I have no idea what the temperature has been, but with the humidity it is hotter than I have ever experienced. But it has not stopped us from enjoying this beautiful country. The sweat does not just drip from my body, but it pours like a faucet was turned on. It is not a pretty sight! Then we return to our hotel to find the water not working or it goes out mid-shower! (yes…that really happened)

Since our last post, we have moved on to Hoi An where we have enjoyed walking through the streets, trying to communicate with vendors, saying “hello” to all the children, handing out suckers to the children, and shopping, shopping, and more shopping (but don’t tell our husbands that last part!).  Last night at dinner at the hotel restaurant overlooking the river, we had a sweet waitress named “Vi”.

She is learning English and was asking us questions. We enjoyed gathering information about the area and the local foods while she practiced her English. She was actually doing very well and convinced us to each try a Hoi An special for our meal. I love learning from the locals.

Today we ventured out through the countryside. It is amazingly beautiful! We took a bus to a location outside of Hoi An called My Son. It is the sight of some ancient ruins, going back as far as the 4^th century. We had a guided tour through the ruins. Then we returned to Hoi An by bus and then boat ride. It was a nice way to see some of Vietnam that is outside of the city. We saw many lush green fields and people working in them, small villages and towns, the beautiful hills and mountains, and boats of all kinds!

I know that everyone is looking for photos. They are coming. We do not have good internet connections here in Hoi An. As soon as we are able to upload some photos we will have a gallery of photos.

The first glitch in our adventure

We got as far as Chicago before we received our first “glitch”. While waiting for our flight to San Francisco, we discovered it was delayed to the point of us missing our flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. While standing in line to find out what we could do, a dear friend texted me telling me she was praying. I told her what was going on and asked her to continue praying. We immediately got switched to a flight from Chicago to Tokyo then on to Saigon. We will arrive one hour later (no problem) but have one less flight (love that). So we are sitting in chicago instead of on a plane and are getting hungry! The major question right now…will our luggage arrive safely?