Two steps forward and one step back...

Today's visit started off great, Anna came right to both of us and we starting playing together. After just a short time, a few little ones from her group came in for a music class. Anna was so excited and jumped right in with the songs and motions. When it was time for them to leave she clung to her caregiver and started crying! It was really surprising because before when her group would leave she didn't seem to mind. She cried and cried while her caregiver left the room, it took us quite some time to settle her down but the day went downhill from there. A little while later another caregiver came to feed her her morning snack, again when she went to leave Anna cried for her and wanted nothing to do with us. She seemed particularly upset by them leaving her today. She would let us play for a few minutes then she would start getting sad again. After a couple of hours we realized she was only getting more upset and it seemed like the best thing would be to send her back to her group so she wouldn't be so sad. We knew this reaction was very likely at some point, but things had been going so well we were surprised to see her react this way today. I think she is starting to realize there may be a reason we keep coming back every day, and perhaps starting to resist us and the changes we bring to her normal routine. Hopefully today was just an off day and tomorrow she will be back to her happy self!

After our visit we went with the director of our orphanage to a large baby store to purchase the items with the money we received from donations. It was so much fun and a good day for some retail therapy! The director seemed very excited to purchase some "big ticket" items that she had been wanting to buy. She told us they were in need of baby strollers that they could take the smaller babies outside in during the winter and still allow them to lay down and be warm. We were able to purchase 3 of these! This was great because these type of strollers are very expensive and I am sure they will use them often. They feel it is important that the children get fresh air everyday and even take them outside as long as the temperature is above 5 degrees! We also purchased a large plastic play yard for crawling children so they can play inside a safe environment without escaping. She also chose many small baby teething type toys and a large quantity of Q-tips! I guess you go through many of those with 105 children:-) As they were loading up the van will all the purchases she told me they would always remember our family because of these items. I told her they were gifts from Anna's friends and family back home as a thank-you for the care she received from them. She told me "please tell them to come and adopt these children and babies". I was so touched by this, she truly desires to find loving homes for each of the children under her care. She is a wonderful lady.

Here are pictures of the purchases from many of you! Thank you, thank you!