Orphanage

The past few weeks Steve and I have been going to an orphanage inside Medan, not too too far from our house. There are approximately 115 kids there, ranging in age from 3-17ish! A lot of the children are orphans from the Tsunami. Steve and I have been going and playing games, singing songs, and sharing God’s love through little stories. It’s a lot of fun!

My favourite thing is seeing how the older kids take care of the younger ones. It’s so sweet how they care for one another. Not just care in the sense of general concern if one of them falls (though if a younger child does fall, ALL the older ones run to him faster than you would believe), but they take care to actually …. raise each other. To make sure they are acting fairly towards one another. I wish I could explain it better. Seeing children and youth, without constant threats or reminders or bribes or punishments or rewards, encouraging each other, helping each other, and each individually acting like…. morally responsible adults. As their normal, everyday lifestyle. They still have fun like children are supposed to- they play silly games and are immature and run around and all that. They all just have the awareness that it is their responsibility to look out for each other. I hope my kids are like that (kind and fair, not orphans).

Here are some pictures:

Playing Duck Duck Goose (Cat Cat Dog).... they get pretty into it.

Playing Simon Says

Playing Stella Ella Ola (NEVER play this game with 75 kids... unless you want to lose your voice and be there forever, in which case, it's the perfect game).

Hot Potato

Listening to Steve tell a story