THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU1

Meredith faithfully copied and pasted all your blog comments for us and this morning i awoke to a buffet of encouragement. thank you all so very much for taking the time to lift us up to Dad and follow along on our adventure. we needed to hear from home. the girls loved all the messages from their friends. the boys were so grateful to sarah for remembering them. and i just cried with joy from all the love expressed. thanks dear friends. keep 'em coming.

 

i will try and give names of our new buddies and translators. it is a TOTALLY different camp this week. i could not tell who were orphans and who were translators since most of the kids are teens and so BIG. they ate and ate and ate and ATE at dinner. my table (with mostly boys) had 7 extra plates of food brought out.

this orphanage is much better than last weeks. they learn math, science and ENGLISH. their english teacher even visited for dinner last night. they can read and write and are dressed appropriately with clothes that fit! i am not sure if they have extras but last weeks kids had nothing and what they did have was too small and cheap. one of our boys was even wearing a charger jersey. every boy had an athletic team shirt on! last weeks kids didn't go to school and could not read or even write their names. so this is a more diverse bunch.

our translator is named harvey. he is 20 and made an instant connection with bob. our other translator is nicki and she is a tiny little thing. i have a photo with her and my girls and i look like an amazonian. wink, kristen! harvey is from xian and brought us a terra cotta warrior gift set. it will be the envy of all my homeschooling friends in ancient china this year's history! :) nicki travelled by train for 17 hours STANDING UP the entire time to attend camp this week. these young people are amazing. have i said htat already a hundred times? so warm and affectionate and open and kind and willing to serve the unwanted children of their society.

nicki kinda burst one of my idealistic bubbles though. i am still mourning. one of my Favorite things has been eating around these huge round tables with a lazy susan thingie in the middle where we spin the food around on platters. each person takes a chopstick full of whatever they fancy and the since everyone can see the others face, i love the community and warmth this style of eating fosters. and the liberty of just digging in and sticking your cootie-covered chopsticks into the dish. freedom from all our american mores. wild. but i have loved it. well, last night nicki said that her whole family and everyone she knows just gets a bowl of rice and veggies and eats on the sofa watching TV. awwwwww! and i was enjoying my romanticized view of chinese family dinners!

okay, back ot our buddies. so our translator came with the name harvey and so we named our boys jimmy and stewart. anyone get it? any old movie buffs out there who understand my weirdness? :) they are both 16 and wear glasses and speak a tiny bit of english. they love the boys football. when bob asked if they wanted to play, at first they declined since they hadn't brought the right shoes. :) wow! big difference from last week!

kristen has two young girls. i can't remember their names right now. but her translator is named sunny and she had never been in a pool before yesterday. neither had her girls. she is going to WORK this week since both her girls are firecrackers! and since they are not sharing a translator this week, b & k will not be able to spend as much time together. talk to Dad about patience and energy for sweet kristen this week. i am already certain she will need it!

bethany SCORED on the easy going chart. she got two young teen girls (12 13 ish) who are shy and quiet and love to hold her hand. soooooo sweet. they are named donna and grace. her translator is ann, i think :0 i have good photos that i will send when i get the computer charged and have time to download.

mom has two teen boys. i forgot their NAMES too! i am sorry. i will get them so you can be talking specifically. but her translator is named enjoy and she is sweet and tiny too. mom will need help with relating to the boy-thing so chat with the Father about that. 

so just when we began to think that we had it figured out, the entire game changed. but i am so glad. it keeps us dependent on the Father and not on our selves. it should not be as physically exhausting this week (except for kristen!!!!) but i think challenging in different ways. 

for my family especially we need help with finding time to be together and enjoying each other. we were separated in two groups last week and that was not good for us so the bolts arranged for us to share two buddies and tow translators. but eating together and hanging out are nearly impossible since there are 7 of us. would you ask specifically for His hand in these things? my boys had a melt down last night just missing home and routines and familiarity. after cuddles and skippy peanut butter nad prayers, all was well but it is hard to share you daddy so much with all these other boys. thanks for understanding and standing in the gap for us.

b & k are less dependent on us for direction and guidance as they have really found their groove. which is soooo good. bu ti miss seeing them as much. and r & k always want to be near b & k so trying to keep fitz fam together for some daily unity is my biggest request right now. 

okay, gotta run. ping pong tourney. after the kids get done swimming. we have a scavenger hunt and KFC ice cream for a treat this afternoon. love kel

hopefully the girls will post with their perspective later too. i will hint! ;0