The last thing you expect to hear when reading a book to a 3 year old in the Philippines is her singing, “baby, baby, baby, ohhh…like baby, baby, baby ohhh…” Welcome to my life.
I spent the day at New Faith Children’s Home with 8 of the cutest babies and toddlers on the planet. Watching kids is a hard, dirty job; don’t let their innocent faces fool you, my friends. And just because I’m in the Philippines doesn’t mean my day wasn’t filled with snotty noses, whining and repeatedly having to say, “don’t throw the rocks!” But I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
Cedric and Colleen are the infants. Their day is filled with sleep, eat, poop, cry, repeat. Colleen is in the process of being adopted and if Cedric ever hears any of the other kids cry, he has to join in.
Alex is almost 2 and her smile brings joy to my heart. I love it when she runs to me with her hands in the air wanting me to pick her up. It’s pretty much my favorite.
Yuki. He’s 1 and a wiggler. I’m sure you can tell just by looking at him that he is all over the place. And good luck feeding him, he does not like to be strapped in that highchair.
KinKin is the sweetest 3 year old you’ll meet. His big brown eyes are going to melt some hearts one day. He makes sure to observe the situation before he joins in. He is extremely talkative in English and Tagalog; sometimes I just smile and nod to what he says.
Chris John is 3 and very shy but he will steal your heart. I love his laugh even though he hates to be tickled. It took a solid 2 hours before he would let me sit next to him but then for the rest of the day he didn’t leave my side.
Princess definitely lives up to her name. I’ve only ever seen her in dresses and she makes sure her hair is always fixed. Did I mention she’s only 3? She sings all day; yes, especially Justin Bieber! She loves books and I bet she would talk to a wall if she had to.
Paulo is 4 going on 14. He thinks he rules the world, or at least the playground. You’ll find him with all the older kids trying to get as dirty as possible and good luck trying to tell him what to do. His favorite song is Jesus Loves Me.
My team may have to pry me away from this place at the end of the month. Even when I’m not scheduled to work I find myself “stopping by.” So since I love it so much, I wanted to give you a feel for what it’s like. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I wouldn’t be able to love on these kids if it weren’t for you. So I thank you, and I’m sure the kids do too!
