I thought I would post some pictures from last weekend (Halloween). Mark and the kids had a slow morning while I took off to the orphanage. I have joined a group of female teachers who take turns going to help out with the babies. This was my second time. It works out to a commitment of one Saturday morning a month. I was a little nervous the first time I went because I had heard that a lot of the babies have down syndrome and other developmental problems. I pictured a really dark and depressing place. I'm not going to say it's not difficult and it doesn't break my heart but the facility is clean, they obviously receive a lot of donations because the babies all have new matching sleepers and new blankets on their beds. The ayis work very hard and are always smiling, they are saints to do what they do every day. We are only allowed in the baby room and are not allowed to take pictures. I did take this picture as we were leaving the first Saturday I went.
So basically what we do is spend 2 hours in the baby room just holding as many of the babies as possible. There are usually around 20, mostly girls, quite a few with down syndrome, cleft palates and other handicaps. I thought it would be really uncomfortable but they are as sweet as can be. It really just gets sad when I start to think about what a difficult road lies ahead of them.Ok, on to happier times. I took Abigail trick or treating on Saturday night with the other staff kids. It doesn't look like it from the picture but our group has dwindled down quite a bit since last year. They had about 12 places to trick or treat and the weather was wonderful, some friends of ours had a party so we met up with Mark and James there.
Here we are before we set out for trick or treating. Abigail was a gypsy, I was a mime. I was a horrible mime though, I talked all night. I couldn't exactly stop being a mom!
This is James and his friend John. He was a magician. I don't know why they refused to smile for me.
This is a group of the kids bobbing for apples at the Halloween party. You can see Abby in her hairnet (she had to take her wig off).
This is a group of the kids bobbing for apples at the Halloween party. You can see Abby in her hairnet (she had to take her wig off).
So October has flown by and here we are in November. We have a busy weekend starting tomorrow and I will blog about it next week. I have been busy subbing almost every day and chipping away at the online course I'm taking. I am leading a middle school girl scout troop and that started up this week as well. I have a feeling November is going to fly by just as fast as October.
That's all for now. Lots of love from Suzhou............
That's all for now. Lots of love from Suzhou............
