Day 5 Thursday - Carnival Day!

** Disclaimer** Long day, short blog!!!!

In a nutshell, the day was absolutely fantastic!!! We held a carnival for the kids, and to give you an idea, here’s what we did:

Kelly & Rocky-face painting
Mardi-Lollipop tree
Joey-punch balloon station
Hannah & Natalie: bowling (a kickball knocking over water bottles!)
Grace-football toss in a basket
Cheryl-Basketball station-shooting hoops
Laurie-Ring toss
Delora-Noah’s Ark duck pond

We brought all the supplies over we needed for the carnival and more than 2000 prizes for the kids! The classes were brought in (no more than 30 at a time) and even the kids from Opportunity House (the special needs section) got to take part in this fun event. It went so well, we were shocked-the kids were well behaved and respectful, and even the caregivers and workers took part!

Here are a few quotes:
"What a day, what a carnival!"--caregiver
“Today is a happy day for everyone”--Jamal, teacher and driver
"Is this a holiday??" -- child

Everyone had a smile on their face, the sun was shining and God is good. Everyone had a ball and we are all absolutely exhausted to the BONE.

Just a sidenote: Laurie and I (Joey) were able to travel to an orphanage where both us sponsor a child. The adoption coordinator for Layla was able to "talk" us in the door of the agency, which is run by the government and “closed” to outsiders.

We were able to go in and meet our boys--Laurie’s, who is 11, and my boy, who is 8 were shy at first, but then they clung to us when they heard we sponsored them. We brought some soccer balls, crayons and coloring books, watercolors and toys for the kids--which they readily shared with the mass of children that surrounded us.

This orphanage is by far much poorer than Layla, with dusty play areas, 30 kids to a room with only 2 caregivers, and cramped quarters. My precious boy inched his way towards me slowly, then put his arm around my waist and snuggled in. I could feel his heart beating and prayed over him-a privilege that I will never forget.

The rest of the group for the afternoon played with babies, tutored the kids, and then headed back to our hotel. We are tired, hot and dusty, but you’ve never seen a group with bigger smiles on their faces--except, maybe, for the kids at Layla today.