Today we will color...

 There are many days when the best thing I can do is simply sit down grab some crayons, some coloring pages and little hands.  Then we color...

 And we talk about colors, and animals, and sharing, and all those little grace things!

New Views...

Ready and Waiting for walk to school

Exploring the feel of newly shaved heads on haircut day

French Pressing my coffee moments these days!

Sunday Fellowship!

 What a sweet "Sundae" treat to have the opportunity to attend fellowship and have a special lunch with these fellow nurses!

Mariah and Edz

A Train Whistle...

Dear Ones, 

  I adjust my arms to comfortably cradle his limp body, his head rests on my shoulder and he is unable to lift it from where it is cradled against my neck.  He chatters on and I smile as he tells me about the others who went to school yesterday, how he has to stay home, and about the DVD that is currently dancing across the screen at the far end of the room.  I turn so that he is better able to see it and pull the child next to me just a little closer.Her pixie hair cut makes her look just like a baby doll, she holds up her hand grasping one of the cookies I baked and smiles wide to show me that there is still some in her mouth.  The little guy in my arms is quick to remind me that tomorrow she will turn two and I smile because he remembers the conversation I had with her ayi this morning that her birthday was coming.  I feel hands searching my other arm up toward my shoulder and I turn so that the fingers can “see” my face.  His blind eyes are searching wondering about the new voice, the new person in his dark world.

I speak to him and he smiles as he lays his hand on my neck and feels the voice that he hears then pushes his way onto an empty knee and snuggles in just for a second before he is off again to explore and move just a little closer to the sound of the video that is playing.  There are little bodies wiggling everywhere, asking for more cookies, squealing when the lamb in the cartoon runs away from the little grey wolf and dancing with delight whenever the music plays.  I feel little guy wiggle his arm just slightly, one of the only movements he is able to muster as he waves a greeting and tells me that others are awake from their naps and have joined our Saturday afternoon activity. 

He wants to make sure they get cookies.  I stand up cradling his body against mine and ask if he wants to help he is delighted and as I hand cookies to the new comers his little mouth runs a mile a minute telling them all about the happenings and finally pauses long enough to ask if I will give him another cookie.  Through the noise I hear a train whistle, it is a frequent sound all hours of the day and night but right now it draws me to the window and I reposition his head on the opposite shoulder and ask if he can see the train, does he hear the whistle?  He is like so many other little boys…He begins asking questions and jabbering on about seeing it moving.  The question he does not ask is, “Where it is going?” He has no concept of the world that moves around him, of going places or there being anywhere but here.  I on the other hand begin to ponder how many places that train will go, the tracks carrying it here and there and all the stops along the way.  I love trains and the fact that you can enjoy the cities and scenes passing by as you whisk through the countryside stopping at big and small stations all along the way.  I think to myself how much this past year has felt like a train ride with all the moving and going, with the stops and starts along the route.  And yes, I am once again in a new city and a new unit for a period of time.  I am currently caring for the children in our Jiaozuo unit. It is a new environment, new kiddos to get to know, and new opportunities for my Heavenly Father to share with me the fact that His graces are new every morning, no matter which train ride He chooses to take me on or what stops He chooses along the route.

His Grace Alone,

Mariah