visit 2 goes well

We drove up to the baby house and the children we came to see were outside playing with their group. Erik recognized our vehicle right away. And his little brother soon recognized us too.

Then it was a game of running away- come catch me, over and over- with lots of laughs and hugs of course.

We brought along a bag of balloons and Erik recognized immediately what they were before even opening the pack. It seemed very doubtful that the children had ever had balloons outside before from their responses. But we all had a grand time. Of course we had taken enough for the other children around and to replace ones that popped. Eventually the boys learned that certain things make balloons pop- and so by the end of the hour and a half they were looking for ways to pop them!

The caregiver eventually took the rest of the children inside to give us some time with the boys. And then we needed to take them back inside in time for lunch. Saying goodbye was difficult. Neither of the boys wanted to go inside and Erik was very upset.

It makes us feel that we will not be able to do this visiting for very long without it being hard on the kids. They clearly are hopeful. (and so are we- but we are not saying anything certain at the moment) Erik told his caregiver this morning that he had visitors, and in particular that an "uncle" came to see him yesterday and last night. She had not known anything about it so she was a bit confused, but once we came again today it made sense.

The caregiver today also said that these are the strongest boys of the group and what they really need is a family. It was evident that the other children were smaller and only one of them really talks. They eat well, sleep well. Again she says the language just does not have the opportunity to develop well in this environment.

So we left, a bit overwhelmed with emotions- we still had a busy day ahead of us.
Hopefully tomorrow we can get the pictures out of the mobile phone and post one or two here!