Samaritan's House

Samaritan's House is the site of so many of my precious memories from our last trip to Ch1na two years ago. This is where Mei Mei and Niu Niu--the much beloved sponsor children of my friend Kaisha and I--lived once upon a time, the place we held and played with them again and again for the ten days we were here. This is where we took hundreds of pictures, sang and danced down the hallways with the kids, and developed a fierce, deep love for "our girls". While many of the little ones here have gone home (either to an earthly family like Niu Niu did or a He*venly one like Mei Mei) since I was last here, several of the same faces are still here as well as many precious new ones. I have loved playing with them and reliving so many of the sweet experiences we had with MM and NN all over again with a new set of babies. Of course no girls could ever compare with those two, but the babies that are here now come fairly close!

Little Miss Macy (wearing an outfit I sent my sponsor baby Madeline before she passed away last year....precious) <3

Macy's tiny little foot

Adrian! He was here last time we visited Shepherd's Field

Poor little Vincent. He suffers from lots of major allergies and basically can only drink formula for nutrition. His skin is all cracked and red and he scratches himself all the time because he's so itchy. He just got back from a hospital stay and so has been very weak (his cries are all silent). Please be pr*ying for him!!

Vincent's little feet

Joelle...another sweet, weak baby at Samaritan's House. She has been fighting for her life ever since we were here two years ago, and now lies in her crib all day, unable to move much, see, or speak.

Joelle's precious face. She almost seemed to smile when I stroked her cheeks and told her she was a beautiful girl. <3

Heather and Tess eating chocolate that I brought (it was for the office girls, but Sara shared some with them. I guess we're giving these kids an early taste for Ghiradelli!) :)

These two are SO cute!

This is one of the chubbiest girls I've ever seen! She is 100% pudgy cuteness... :) (On a sidenote, yesterday was a milestone day for the two of us. She has never really liked visitors that much before, being fairly isolated with the other Samaritan's House kids, but when I came in the door yesterday, she ran and grabbed my finger and started walking up and down the halls with me and laughing really hard. Later she even let me pick her up. I think we're buds now...) :)

Sweet Heather. She's so shy and often fades into the background. I adore her, though, and hope that I can get her to feel safe with me and sit on my lap before I leave!

That face!! <3

Shane and his chocolate-covered lips... :)

Playing Hide-and-Go-Seek. This is how Tess started to like me!

Luke

So cute!

Adrian!

Sara and Olivia...her family is coming at the end of this month!

Heather and I are making progress! She lets me tickle her now and laughs REALLY hard. It looks like she's crying in this photo, but she really isn't! I promise!

I love her laugh!

Sharon

Grace...another favorite little girl I played with two years ago

Shanna!

Luke

Heather again...I think I'm in love. <3

Vincent trying to read a book.

Adrian and Heather