Day 11 The worst part of the trip....saying goodbye

Looking at the faces of everyone in the room you would have thought that 9/11 was happening all over again. Not one smile appeared on one persons face, not even the slightest hint of one. Tears were streaming down many faces and those that weren't crying wanted to, I could tell by their eyes.

 What was making us like this? What was making us show emotions we didn't want to show? Its one word. One eight lettered, two syllabled, horrid word.

   

Orphan's. 

  More like saying goodbye to them. You wouldn't think you could get so attached to little kids in five days. But our group of thirteen proved it possible. Very possible.

  Five days with four hours a day, that's 20 hours we had with the kids for the whole entire year. To think all of the stress, planning, packing, fundraising, anticipation, hoping, working, praying for this trip and now here we are saying goodbye to all the precious little kids.

 Was it worth it? Well is the sky blue? Of course it was worth it!

 Just think giving up one week in our whole year made these kids happier than they had ever been, feel more loved than they had ever felt, and smiled more than they had ever smiled.

  It changed more than just them, it changed us. It made us look farther and deeper into the bigger picture. Maybe it did more for us than it did for these kids.

 It. Changed. Us.

  Okay, so maybe I wasn't thinking ALL this as a Nannie scooped my baby from my arms and carried her off. But a lot raced through my head as our sad bunch of American's made our way out of the orphanage. We had just seen what most people don't even want to think about. Its been an experience no one will forget. And as I sent one last weary glance at the tall brick building, I smiled to myself cause I knew I would be back. . ..someday. . .