When we got to Vietnam almost two weeks ago, I was a basketful of emotion. I was excited to be back, anxious to see my boys, nervous about our time in Mang Thit, overwhelmed by God’s goodness for allowing me to come back to Vietnam, sad to leave home again, and excited about the new beginning for Vietnam Orphans Hope Foundation here in Mang Thit.
As we spent time in Saigon we got accustomed to the new time zone, spent time with old friends, introduced Bill to Yogurt Space and Pizza Hut Vietnam style, met some new friends and of course made a couple of visits to go see our kids at the orphanage in Benh Thanh district.
As we make the bus journey over there the first day Daina and I are on the edge of our seats looking for landmarks. Remembering the bridges we crossed, looking for the “car dealership” that marked our stop. We do not see it but Tim, our friend, tells us to get off. We recognize the bridge- we had crossed last time we had passed it up. As we stand there I have monarchs flying around in my stomach. I am excited, nervous, anxious ahh!
Tim calls the house and they say one of the kids would come to direct us to the right way. As I see two older girls approaching I think I recognize one of them. She is the one April would always sit with and do beadwork. Oh wow this is really happening! I don’t even know what to do with myself. I feel awkward. She quickly takes my hand and it seems she remembers me. We walk to the house hand in hand.
As we approach the entrance I brace myself. They may not be here anymore. They may not remember you. You are different. They are different. Don’t have expectations. I kicked off my chacos under knocking knees. I walk in.
My eyes scan the wall of children ignoring the toddlers and smaller children that are already grabbing onto my legs. Where are they? Where are my boys? I quickly find the youngest, Tai. I bee line for him. He had that amazing smile that I had fallen in love with. It takes him a minute to remember but once he does I get the best hug I have ever experienced. I take him over to show him pictures of our time together before. As he looks I continue scanning the room for the other two.
I see him standing over on the other side of the room. He is playing with another boy his around his age. This is Tien’s older brother. He is deaf. I start to make my way over to him. As I get close I see his face light up and he quickly shows me his muscles and shows me he is ready to wrestle. He remembers me! That was pretty much all we had done during my time there before. We wrestled. I give him a big hug and enjoy having him in my arms for a moment.
I keep scanning the room watching the doors anxiously hoping for the other boy to walk in. We have been here about 15 minutes now and I had not seen him. I feel a little disappointed. I finally take the picture I had of the three of them and show it to the mom. I point to him and asked where he is. She tells me he is not there any more that he has gone back to his hometown to live with some family. Oh ok. Well that is a little disappointing. Probably a good thing that he is back with family. That is generally where we would like to see children. I wish I could see him. I am disappointed. I am a little worried that he may have returned to a bad situation. At least I know though. I will not be seeing him today.
I can focus on today.
We play. We climb on each other. We laugh. We learn they have been learning English. One boy does Daina’s hair up with a blue flower. An average of 6 children at a time sit on Bill admiring his flaming red hair on his arms, face and head. We read books- kids sit on our laps and read us their books in Vietnamese. We watch as they perform a couple of songs and dances for us. Mostly we just enjoy sitting with them.
As we prepare to leave I could not believe I just took all this time to get over here and now I am leaving again. Once again it feels so unnatural to leave. It feels so normal to be here with these kids in this home.
Daina and Bill reassured me that we would visit again.
Can we just talk about how much I love these guys? Seriously! How does that even happen? We have been here almost 2 weeks. Still a basketful of emotions, even more amazed by how good God is for letting me be here and live this life. I love my life! Thank you for all you have done to make this happen.
