Christmas Day at the Orphanage

Well, it was Christmas Day to us anyway, even though it isn't here. When we mentioned when Christmas was to us, our (soon-to-be) little girl got excited and said she was going to make us a gift. She did. She took some old Christmas cards and on the inside copied a verse that she probably read from somewhere, in English. She took another part of a card and drew us a beautiful picture and decorated it with yarn. I've noticed they recycle alot here. I probably noticed because I've always tried to do that with my kids. I decided that we needed to give her a Christmas gift also, so I took one of the gift bags I brought and gave her some of the clothes I brought for her. In this bag was some fuzzy pink house shoes I bought for her at Wal-mart. They may have cost all of $5. We also brought some little chocolate covered cakes we bought at the little market next to us. Some things cost the same here as at home and other things are very cheap. There are markets everywhere here. There is a supermarket,as well as lots of little shops, then there is an outdoor market that offers just about everything from household goods to clothes to food. There is one lady we buy crackers and cookies from, so we thought we'd try some of her little cakes. We brought several to share. Our little girl loves to share. In fact I think she gives almost everything I give her away because I see the hair clips I've given her in other girls' hair. She asked if she should share the clothes I gave her with T. I told her they were for her only. She was showing off her clothes to her friends. All of them wanted to feel the pink fuzzy house shoes. It made me want to cry when I saw the girls ooohing and aaahing over such a simple little thing that we take for granted. I've been feeling a little sad and lonely being over here so far away from my home and children. But this put things into perspective just a little bit for me. It made me realize once again how little these children have, even though they have somewhere to live, clothes and food, they have no mother to buy them little pink fuzzy house shoes. Every girl deserves to own a pair of pink fuzzy house shoes at least once in her lifetime.