An Orphan's Treasure

I experienced some of the most precious, heart-wrenching, and blessing sights today while at the orphanage. First, a little girl who I had seen toting a draw string bag around all day. When she came up to me, I was curious to see what she was carrying around protecting so intently. What I found absolutely shattered my heart. The bag held a collection of her treasures: an empty neosporin tube, a random lid to a jar, a children's math book absolutely worn to shreds, pieces of cloth, and a cracked plastic cup. By American standards, this little girl was carrying around a bag full of junk. But to her, these were her most prized possessions that caused her to just beam with pride as I looked through them.
As the day continued and it became increasingly hotter, Roody came to deliver the team some cold bottles of water. As I sat there drinking the cold water, the kids around me were fighting to get their fingers on it to get even the slightest bit of the prespiration on the outside of the bottle to stick in their mouth for some refreshment. It's not as easy as going to the fridge to get a sip of water for these kids. They don't even get beverages during meals. When and if the water buckets are out, they get water. It just made me feel so unbelievably selfish to be sitting there with a cold bottle of water watching them long for even just a sip.
Now that everyone is sad a depressed, time for the joyful part of the day! I was sitting there holding sweet Julika when all of a sudden the kids just went absolutely nuts. They were running around, grinning ear to ear, and screaming what appeared to be very exciting news. Come to find out, Roody had just told them the big news about taking them to the beach tomorrow! I absolutely can NOT wait to see their faces, when many of them see the ocean for the very first time. If you read my post from last week, you'll understand just how significant of a blessing this is. For at least one afternoon, these children will not be prisoners inside the walls of that orphanage. For at least one afternoon, they'll get to experience one of God's wonderful creations and have a memory to hold tightly to. And finally, they'll be able to dream about the ocean, because they'll have seen it!